Let’s hope they have nine lives.
More cats have gone missing in New Jersey than in any other state in the US — and it could be a result of the Garden State having some of the “deadliest” roads.
A new study conducted by Pet911.org, which maintains a national database of missing pets, found there were 18,580 reports of missing Jersey cats in 2024.
Utah followed with 15,165 missing felines, while 13,010 vanished in Massachusetts followed by 12,905 and 12,470 in Illinois and Michigan, respectively. In New York, 11,385 cats were reported missing — ranking the Empire State No. 7.
Andrey Chernyshev, CEO of Pet911.org, offered his theory on why more cats were reported missing in New Jersey than anywhere else.
“The key insight is that New Jersey has created the perfect storm for cat loss through a unique combination of factors that no other state matches: Extreme density creating territorial confusion; deadliest road network and brutal commuting culture,” with 400,000-plus out-of-state commuters daily,” Chernyshev told The Post.
Northeast professional pet tracker Carmen Brothers also said Jersey residents, in her experience, “are more proactive about finding their missing pets” than those living in Southern states, like Alabama and Mississippi.
“The further north you go, the better people are about reporting missing pets, and that’s just a sad reality,” Brothers explained. “I also think people are more in tune with animal welfare in the Northeast, and I find that to be true of cats and dogs.”
Yet, Texas was the state with highest number of missing dog reports with 82,515 last year. Tennessee ranked No. 2 with 58,036 reports, and Arizona was close on its tail with 56,370.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers reported 30,890 dogs missing in 2024, putting it at No. 23. With 37,090 dogs reported missing, New Jersey ranks No. 17.
The study further found huskies and chihuahuas were reported missing more than any other dog breed, with Siamese and tuxedo cats vanishing the most.
Additionally, the study determined Friday is the day of the week when most pets are reported missing.
As for names, dogs named Bella, Luna, Max, Coco and Rocky go missing the most, while cats named Luna, Milo, Leo, Simba and Oliver are most often reported to have disappeared.
“When a particular name is very common among pets nationwide, it naturally appears more frequently in lost pet reports,” the study notes.
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