hakea kissojen ja koirien kanssa

Literally, “to search with cats and dogs”; hakea (“to search”) kissojen (“of cats”) ja (“and”) koirien (“of dogs”) kanssa (“together”); indicates that all available means have been utilized in the search. Normally, one would expect to use a dog for sniffing something out, but when one adds more dogs plus the cats, everything disposable has really been taken into use.

hakea kissojen ja koirien kanssa (transitive, usually atelic)

1. (idiomatic) to look for something thoroughly or energetically

• In addition to hakea, synonymous verbs may be used, notably etsiä, but also kaivaa, tutkia and penkoa.

• 2013, Raimo Summanen (interviewee), Summanen vihjailee HIFK:n muutoksista – ”Haetaan kissojen ja koirien kanssa”, Uusi Suomi:

  On ihan älyttömän iso aukko keskellä. Sentteriä haetaan kissojen ja koirien kanssa. Se on yksi syy, miksi me ollaan näitä pelaajia myyty.

  There's an insanely large gap in the middle. We are vigorously looking for a centre. That's one reason why we've sold some players.

• “Miksi haetaan kissojen ja koirien kanssa?”, in Kysy.fi‎ (in Finnish), Helsinki Public Library, 2007 October 5, archived from the original on 13 March 2016