What to do if you lost your cat

first, look around your area, call your cats name. If your cat is an inside cat that has never been out he might not have gone far. Be sure to look under portches and cars.
Make signs, with a picture if possible, and put them up within at least a 10 block radius, cats can travle very far. Make sure not note all types of ID your cat had at the time they went missing (collar, tag, microchip).
Ask any local stores if you can post the lost sign there as well.
Contact your vet to let them know your cat is missing, post a lost sign at the clinic as well. You can also contact other vets in your area.
Tell your neibhours your cat is missing, they might have seen him and not realised your looking.
Go down to the local shelter, look to see if your cat is there. If not (specific to the Humane Society of Ottawa-Carleton, check with your shelter to see what they do) go to the desk and fill out a lost report. Check the "found" book, and the (even though it's hard) "DOA" and "before time" books. Check the Humane Society regularly for your cat, they might turn up a few days after they get lost.
If you think your cat might have been stolen, offer a reward for thier return (say no questions asked).
Keep looking around your area, call your cats name.
Cats can turn up after being lost for 3 months or longer, do not give up hope your cat will come home or be found. (we had a cat turn up at the shelter that had been lost for 2-3 years, but because she had a microchip her owner, who lived in Toronto was able to come and be reunited with his cat!)
Suggestions to do once kitty is found or to help kitty if she gets lost
To help your lost cat be returned home, you should consider getting a microchip if you do not have one already. When you think about it, it's very little money to spend, and if your cat was ever lost or stolen you can easly get your beloved friend back.
Even inside only cats should always wear a collar and tag, you never know when something might happen.
get your cat spay/neutered, they will be far less likely to want to go out (if an inside cat) or rome.

What to do if you found a cat

Check the cat for ID, look for: Collar, ID tags, Tattoo (normaly only found on purebreeds). If you find a Tattoo contact a vet or the shelter with the tattoo number and they will be able to track down the owner.
walk around your neighbourhood (with the cat safely in a box or carrier) and ask if anyone knows whos cat it is.
call local vets to see if anyone lost a cat.
put up "found signs" withing a 10 block radius of where you found the cat. Give a breif discription of the cat. (be sure to ask people to bring a photo or somehting to ID the cat when you talk to them, while most people are very honest and will tell you it not thier cat, some will not. This will make sure you have given the cat back to it's rightful owner.)
If the cat has no collar or ID tag (or you can't read the tag). (and you wish to keep kitty till her home is found) bring her to the shelter or a vet clinic and ask them to scan her for a microchip, if she has one they'll be able to find her owner in a matter of a few moments!
If you are going to keep the cat while searching for her rightful owners, drop by the shelter and fill out a "found report".
You can also post a found ad in most papers for very little to free, contact the papers and ask them about it.
Be sure to keep looking for about 2-4 weeks for her owners. (personaly we once found a kittens and looked for 2 months, in the end we DID find his owners, they had gone on holidays and left him with a "babysitter" who didn't look for the lost kitten, he was 3 blocks from home the whole time!)
If after all this you still haven't found kitties owner and you wish to find him a home, be sure not to say "free to good home" your intentions are right but it attrackes the wrong people, tell them your charging something for the cat, if they have no problem with this then you can go ahead and ask them questions about the "adoption". If you feel asking a fee is unfair you can do a few things, first you can have kitty seen by a vet and get a vaccination (and fixed if need be), charge this fee, tell them what the fee was for. You can have them make a check out to an animal shelter (like the Humane Society of Ottawa-Carleton) for a certian amount as the adoption fee for the cat.

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