Product · Mobile app · Coming soon
SpotKat
Lost your cat? Don't just wait. Search actively, start early, and let your neighbours help. Netherlands first.
Why I built it
We lost our cat. She is chipped, so we registered her as lost in the national databases. We posted in local Facebook groups, put up posters around the neighbourhood, and walked the streets looking for her ourselves. Weeks went by, and we still hadn't found her.
So I started reading the research on how lost cats behave and how they actually get found. It showed me a lot of what we had done wrong in the first days. The clearest lesson: active searching is one of the best ways to find a lost cat, especially when it starts early. Most cats don't go far. They hide close to home, often in exactly the places nobody thinks to check. She was most likely somewhere nearby, and we just didn't look in the right places.
If we'd had SpotKat from day one, I think we might have found her. We haven't given up, and maybe once the app is out it will help us too. Until then, I want other owners to start their search the right way, and much sooner than we did.
For owners: a plan, not just a listing
Report your cat
Install the app, mark your cat as missing, and fill in the details: photos, where and when it was last seen, what makes it recognizable, and how it behaves.
Know what to do next
Clear, research-based guidance on what to do and when, instead of guessing in a panic during the days that matter most.
Poster and share page
A well-designed poster with proper photos, ready to print, and an online page you can share in Facebook groups and neighbourhood chats.
Know where to look
An estimated search area based on your cat's behaviour, age, sex, indoor or outdoor habits and the neighbourhood, shown as circles on a map that change day by day. You know where to search, and where to hang posters.
For everyone: a network of spotters
Snap any cat you see
Volunteers install the app and photograph cats they come across in the neighbourhood. Location and time are added automatically, and owners only see the area, never the spotter's address.
AI matching
An AI check confirms there's a cat in the photo, reads its colours, pattern and markings, and scores it against lost cats nearby: does it look like the cat, and could the cat be there that day? The owner gets a notification right away and makes the final call.
A bit of a game
Spotters earn points for every photo, more when it looks like a lost cat, and the most when their photo brings a cat home.
Owners become spotters too
You know the pain, and you're out walking anyway. Whenever you see a cat, take a picture. It might be the one someone else is looking for.
Screenshots
How it's built
- Expo (React Native) app for iOS and Android, in Dutch and English.
- Next.js website for the owner flow, public listings and posters.
- Go API with Postgres. Background jobs run in the same database, and locations are grouped into H3 cells, so it needs no PostGIS.
- Sighting checks with a small vision model, chosen after a blind comparison of five models on real street photos.
- A typed API client generated from OpenAPI and shared design tokens across app and web.
Every cat you see could be someone's cat.
Visit spotkat.nl