One out of three pets will get lost at some point in their
lives. This statistic strikes fear in all pet owners, but there are services
and strategies to boost your odds of finding your dog or cat. From simple to
high tech, here are 10 things you can do to help bring a missing pet home
safely.
1. Collar and ID Tags. Only 2 percent of cats
and 15 percent of dogs without tags or microchips will be reunited with their
owners, states the
American Humane Association. So make sure your cat or dog is
wearing a collar and identification tag that bears your
current contact
information, including phone number.
2. Microchips.
Many different companies manufacture
pet
microchips, which are read with scanners provided to veterinarians, animal
control agencies and shelters, etc. According to the American Microchip Advisory
Council for Animals, it is best to
pick a microchip that operates at the American standard of 125
kilohertz. Be sure to register your contact information and keep the
information up to date. Many microchip companies will now accept registration
information for another manufacturer's microchip, so consider cross-registering
you and your pet with several different microchip databases.
3.
Use GPS to locate your pet. Satellite technology can be used to
track your
pet's movements inside and outside your house -- provided your cat or dog is
wearing a special GPS-enabled collar. If your pet should go missing, products
such as the
SpotLight GPS Locater can locate your pet with "pinpoint
accuracy" anywhere in the U.S. The
RoamEO Pet Location
System is another device that uses GPS to track pets.
4.
Distribute "Lost Pet" fliers and posters. Nothing beats good
old-fashioned footwork when it comes to finding a lost pet. Get outside and
scour the neighborhood; knock on neighbors' doors and call your pet's name. Time
is of the essence, so don't wait to see if your pet will return on its own.
Make
fliers and posters bearing a color photograph of your pet and include a
description of your pet, when and where it was last seen, and your phone number
and email address. Don't include your name or home address for safety
reasons. Post them at local businesses and veterinary offices and give them to
your local letter carriers who travel extensively through the neighborhood.
According to pet detective Kat Albrecht,
dogs are
more likely to roam farther from home and be picked up by a Good Samaritan,
while cats usually stay within the immediate area. Consider offering a
reward, but beware of getting scammed.
5. Visit local animal
control agencies and shelters. File a lost pet report with all animal shelters and animal control
agencies within a 60-mile radius of where your pet was lost, recommends the
Humane Society of the United States. If your town has no animal control agency,
contact the local police department. It's also important to personally visit all
shelters and animal control agencies within a 20-mile radius at least every
other day, states Albrecht on her
Missing Pet
Partnership website."
6. Send out an animal Amber
Alert. Thanks to clever technology, companies such as
Pet Amber Alert and
FindToto can instantly
broadcast a personalized telephone message to homes and businesses in the area
where your pet went missing. You can choose to broadcast the message to hundreds
or thousands of your neighbors, depending on the plan you purchase. (Plans range
from $79.95 for 300 neighbors to $875 for 10,000 neighbors.)
7.
Broadcast it on the internet. Sounding the alarm via Facebook, Twitter
and other social networking sites can work. Just ask Shane and Nicole Meide of
Minnesota, who
found their lost cat through Facebook.
8.
Check "Found Pets" sites. Microchip maker,
HomeAgain, has launched a
free new iPhone/iPod/iPad application called "PetRescuers"
that keeps a running database of lost pets that are reported by owners. Those
who download the application are provided with alerts about lost pets that are
geomapped to their local area within a 5, 10 or 25 mile-range. There are also
numerous websites, such as
FidoFinder.com,
TabbyTracker.com and
LostPetUSA, where people can post and search for lost pets by
zip code. (Also check the "Found Pets" section of your local
newspaper.)
9. Set out a humane trap. You can also try
luring your lost pet home using a humane trap that is filled with your pet's
favorite food, treats or an item of clothing that smells like you and
can capture the animal
without harm. That's how
Rue the Chihuahua was finally caught after 19 nerve-wracking
days of being missing in a Florida swamp.
10. Hire a
professional pet detective. You can always enlist professional help by
hiring a licensed and certified pet detective. Albrecht's Missing Pet
Partnership organization provides a
national directory of reputable pet detectives who have
undergone Missing Animal Response (MAR) training.
Finally, do not give
up! That's the message Florida resident Tracie Steger posted on Craigslist after
her
cat Giggle-Blizzard crawled home on two broken legs after
nearly two weeks of being missing. Be persistent -- and visible.
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