How to bring back your beast

I know it's after the fact, but over the many years and pets I've had, one trick to always bring them back home was making sure they heard me tapping their food can or some other metal item with a metal spoon right before I fed them. This way they develop a pavlovian response to hearing a certain sound when food is available. Should the animal find it's way outside, repeating this sound after a certain amount of time may trigger the response of finding it's way back home while thinking of food upon it's return. Good luck.