Should You Offer a Reward?
Rewards are most important if your lost cat is very outgoing and friendly, a kitten or a high-value purebred. Rewards are not always recommended for extremely skittish cats because they can encourage people to try and catch your cat.
Many people WILL keep an eye out for your cat or even help look for your cat without a reward.
I often recommend starting without a reward. IF you don't get any sightings within a week or two, then you can consider adding a reward. This can also be a way to generate new interest in your search.
Pros and Cons of Rewards
Pros to Offering a Reward
Cons to Offering A Reward
What to Offer for a Reward
Whether or not you include a specific reward amount on the poster is up to you, but if you do not put an amount, people will either call you asking what the reward is or they will probably assume the reward is not very much - unless you put something like "large cash reward".
I generally recommend reward amounts between $100-$500. Larger rewards can attract the attention of scammers. If multiple people provide information that leads to the capture of your lost cat, then best practice is to divide the reward among them.
If you strongly believe that someone has your cat, you might consider offering a very large reward "for their safe return" and "no questions asked." However, I generally do not recommend including the word “stolen” on your poster. People are less inclined to get involved when they believe a pet was stolen unless it is something high profile like a car theft with a pet inside.Avoiding Scams
Coming soon.