The disappearance of a beloved animal can be all-consuming, especially when the owner realizes that he or she could have done something differently to avoid it. While the best policy to guard against pet loss is to be vigilant about keeping animals enclosed safely within the confines of your home or land, the following steps can help you find a missing pet in no time.
One night in October 2009, my cat snuck out my front door after I’d left it ajar while I was doing laundry in my garage. When I got back upstairs, I didn’t realize he’d left the house, so I locked the door and went to sleep. Not until the next morning, when I awoke to find his bed empty, did I put two and two together and realize that he must have been trapped outside all night. I live in a huge neighborhood where all the streets and houses look the same even to humans—let alone a disoriented cat—so I began to panic when I realized how far he might have strayed already. As that day stretched into the next, and then the next, without any sign of him, my anxiety turned into full-blown devastation as I found myself having to face the possibility of never seeing him again.
This scenario surely strikes a chord with anyone who’s ever had a pet run away. If you find yourself in this situation, follow these five tips for safely finding a missing pet.
1. Contact local animal shelters and animal control agencies.
If you haven’t tracked down your pet within a couple of hours after his or her disappearance, search online or in your phone book for every animal shelter and animal-control organization within a sixty-mile radius of your home. Contact each of these locations and file a lost-pet report, then follow up with them in the days following your pet’s disappearance. If you don’t have a shelter in your area, provide your local police department with a photograph and a thorough description of the animal.
If you haven’t tracked down your pet within a couple of hours after his or her disappearance, search online or in your phone book for every animal shelter and animal-control organization within a sixty-mile radius of your home. Contact each of these locations and file a lost-pet report, then follow up with them in the days following your pet’s disappearance. If you don’t have a shelter in your area, provide your local police department with a photograph and a thorough description of the animal.
2. Look around your neighborhood.
While you’re waiting to hear back from the animal shelters you’ve been in touch with, continue to search for your pet close to home by walking or driving through your neighborhood several times each day. Often, runaway pets are overwhelmed by unfamiliar stimuli (traffic, strange smells, and loud noises, for example), so some of them—especially cats—lie low during the day but emerge at night to try to find their way home. Therefore, it’s a good idea to conduct at least one thorough search after the sun has gone down. As you go, call out your pet’s name frequently in a loud, clear voice.
While you’re waiting to hear back from the animal shelters you’ve been in touch with, continue to search for your pet close to home by walking or driving through your neighborhood several times each day. Often, runaway pets are overwhelmed by unfamiliar stimuli (traffic, strange smells, and loud noises, for example), so some of them—especially cats—lie low during the day but emerge at night to try to find their way home. Therefore, it’s a good idea to conduct at least one thorough search after the sun has gone down. As you go, call out your pet’s name frequently in a loud, clear voice.
3. Alert your neighbors and local business owners.
Chances are, you’ve taken more than a few photographs of your adorable dog or cat over the years, and they could prove very useful in your search now. Look through your collection of pictures, and select one or two clear, close-up images that you believe best capture your pet’s physical appearance; then create a flyer featuring the photos and the animal’s name, age, sex, weight, breed, color, and special markings, as well as your contact information and any reward you’d like to offer (even a small sum can be a very attractive incentive).
Chances are, you’ve taken more than a few photographs of your adorable dog or cat over the years, and they could prove very useful in your search now. Look through your collection of pictures, and select one or two clear, close-up images that you believe best capture your pet’s physical appearance; then create a flyer featuring the photos and the animal’s name, age, sex, weight, breed, color, and special markings, as well as your contact information and any reward you’d like to offer (even a small sum can be a very attractive incentive).
The Humane Society of the United States recommends that you omit one identifying characteristic from your description; when people claiming to have recovered your pet call to report it, you can ask them to describe it and therefore gauge whether they’re telling you the truth and have the correct animal. Once you’ve created your template, make a stack of photocopies of your flyer and post it all over your neighborhood.
Now is the time to set your shyness aside—even if you’re new to your area or don’t associate much with your fellow residents—and ask as many of your neighbors or local business owners as possible if they have any information about your missing pet, and if they’d be willing to keep an eye out, as well as to spread the word to other people who live nearby. Once you begin publicizing the fact that your pet is lost, you might be pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of goodwill from complete strangers.
4. Know how to spot a scam.
If someone calls you and claims to have found your pet, your first response will naturally be to jump for joy. However, it’s important to remain calm until you’ve established beyond a shadow of a doubt that the caller is a credible source who not only has the right animal but also doesn’t expect anything suspicious in exchange for returning your pet to you. When you talk to this person, ask him or her to describe your pet in detail, including the characteristic that you chose not to include on your lost-pet flyer. If your instincts tell you that the caller does in fact have your pet, move forward with planning a handoff, but if he or she makes an unusual request, such as that you wire him or her money beforehand, unfortunately, you’re probably dealing with a scam artist.
If someone calls you and claims to have found your pet, your first response will naturally be to jump for joy. However, it’s important to remain calm until you’ve established beyond a shadow of a doubt that the caller is a credible source who not only has the right animal but also doesn’t expect anything suspicious in exchange for returning your pet to you. When you talk to this person, ask him or her to describe your pet in detail, including the characteristic that you chose not to include on your lost-pet flyer. If your instincts tell you that the caller does in fact have your pet, move forward with planning a handoff, but if he or she makes an unusual request, such as that you wire him or her money beforehand, unfortunately, you’re probably dealing with a scam artist.
5. It's Better to Be Safe Than Sorry
If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid a pet disappearance up until this point, count your blessings—and then go to the nearest animal shelter or vet’s office to discuss giving your pet a more permanent form of identification than any collar or name tag can provide:
If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid a pet disappearance up until this point, count your blessings—and then go to the nearest animal shelter or vet’s office to discuss giving your pet a more permanent form of identification than any collar or name tag can provide:
- Microchips: The size of a grain of rice, a microchip is a transponder that’s implanted with a needle just under an animal’s skin; when police officers, animal-shelter staff members, or veterinarians scan a lost pet, the chip’s radio frequencies provide unique identifying information that allows them to trace the animal back to its owner through the chip’s manufacturer. Many vets and shelters can perform the chip implantation for you; however, simply subjecting your pet to this procedure is only the first step. In order to complete the process, you must register your pet’s chip number with the microchip company itself (typically for a nominal one-time or annual fee). In return, the company will often send you a tag for your pet’s collar that lists the chip number and the pet registry’s phone number.
- Tattoos: Easy-to-read pet tattoos are a nontoxic, permanent way to identify pets in the event that they lose their collar or ID tag. This method also helps prevent pet theft, as would-be thieves are loath to steal an animal that can be traced so easily. This routine process has been popular among pet owners for several decades; after the virtually painless, five-minute procedure is complete, owners must register their pet’s tattoo ID number with a nationwide organization, such as the American Kennel Club’s Companion Animal Recovery program, which has reunited hundreds of thousands of animals with their human companions since its inception in the '90s.
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