Cats have been found weeks after they go missing. Since the conception of the micro-chip, dogs have been returned home long after their replacement has arrived.
When a pet goes missing it is vital to act fast and to never stop the search. Grab a powerful flashlight even during daylight hours, we learned this from watching “CSI”. Search dark spaces. A frightened or injured cat will hide in dark spaces and will not come to you when called. An injured dog may also.Immediately search your property thoroughly. Small dogs and cats can get into some incredibly strange places. Look in EVERY nook and cranny. Don’t assume that your pet would never crawl into a tiny space. Especially cats.. felines are a curious group. Look behind, under, and inside washing machines, clothes dryers, stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers, bookcases, behind water heaters, under furniture, under beds, in closets, in cabinets, in drain pipes, in sewer drains, in culvert pipes, under vehicles, under the hood of your car, in crawl spaces under the house, inside sheds and barns, etc. In the case of cats, also look in attic crawl spaces, on the roof, in roof gutters, and up in the trees.
Make some noise while you walk around the neighborhood! Animals can hear you from great distances. If your pet has a favorite “squeaky toy” bring it along and use it to help you make familiar noises. It’s also important to stop regularly, be quiet, and listen for your pet to make a noise in reply. Especially at dawn and dusk.
Place strong-scented articles outside your home to attract your pet. Leaving the pets bed, a piece of your clothes or personal blanket. They will help to give the pet an anchor to stay near or on if he or she is lost when you are away from home or if you have to leave the last area where you saw your pet.
Put flyers everywhere. It is extremely important to post MANY flyers within at least a 1-mile radius of where it was lost. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME OR ADDRESS ON YOUR FLYER! List the date and place your pet was lost, breed of dog or cat, sex, age, weight, color, markings, and your telephone number. Offer a reward, but don’t state the amount. It is very important to always withhold several identifying marks and characteristics of your lost pet. Beware of the scammer. Post the flyers at waist level on telephone poles and at eye level in such places as veterinary offices, pet shops, beauty shops, grocery stores, community bulletin boards, churches, pizza parlors, convenience stores, near schools, and on school bulletin boards, on windshields, in mailboxes, fire stations, Starbucks, food trucks and construction worksites. Examine your posted flyers frequently and replace the ones that are missing or damaged.
Walk the neighborhood and talk to everybody. Go to each house in the area where your pet was lost and talk to the residents; give them your flyer. If no one is home, leave the flyer attached to his or her door, don’t forget to bring tape. Talk to everybody you run across ie, neighborhood children and parents waiting at the school bus stop.
This also includes the paperboys, school crossing guards, neighborhood crime watch groups, garbage pick-up crews, postal workers, sanitation workers, construction workers, etc. Give them your flyer.
Place an ad in your local newspaper. Some will do this for free. Be sure to advertise in the Sunday edition as well as during the week. Also place an ad in any “Penny Saver” type of publications. Check the newspaper “found” ads every day. Also check online “Lost and Found”. Most newspapers provide free ads to people who have found lost pets.
Call local veterinarian offices during the day. After 5 PM, call veterinarian emergency clinics. If an office has taken in or treated any animal that even remotely resembles your pet, VISIT THE OFFICE IN PERSON. Your description of your pet and their description of the same pet rarely match. YOU MUST GO SEE FOR YOURSELF!
Get phone numbers of local rescue organizations. The free Pet Press (at the library and pets stores) has current lists. Call each of the rescue organizations and ask for their help and find out if they have your pet. These groups generally network with each other and will pass the word about your case. VISIT your local Animal Control, humane societies, and animal shelters, including the ones in surrounding areas. You must actually visit the animal control and humane shelters every day or two. It works well if several family members can take turns visiting the shelters. Be sure to check all areas of the shelter, including the infirmary. Also be aware that dogs may be housed in the cat section and vice-versa.
Leave a picture of your pet and your phone number at each shelter, befriend them. Find out the holding period of each animal control and humane shelter. Be aware of how much time you have to claim your pet before it is euthanized!
Check shelters out of your area in person and online. A Good Samaritan may have taken your pet in only to have it escape a week or more later.
Don’t ever give up! Pets have been known to find their way back home after being lost for several months.
PREVENTION: Get your pet Micro-chipped, keep tags current.
Keep pet tags current and check that they are still in place and legible. A good idea is to write your phone number directly onto the collar. I do not remove my dog’s collar even when she is being bathed. I have heard the excuse that the lost pet was not wearing a collar and id because they were just bathed.
Your tag should have more then one phone number, your home number, cell, your vet etc.. I keep two collars and tags on my dogs as well as a microchip.
Get an “Acme Dog Whistle”. Blow the whistle whenever you feed or give treats to your pet. Leave the whistle next to the treats so that you will remember to use it, this really works. The high-pitched sound from these whistles can carry up to a mile or more. Cats are attracted to this sound as well as dogs. (It is also a great way to teach a pet the “come command”.)
Keep fence gates closed securely. Self closing gates area good idea. Always transport a cat in a carrier. Never take your cat to the Vet or anywhere else unless it is secured. A hand carried cat can bolt and hide if frightened by loud noises. When a cat is frightened in strange surroundings, especially with traffic noise around, it will hide and will not come to you.
was made documenting the translocation from England to Kenya. In this footage, a year has passed and it looks like this pet lion has adapted to living with a pride of lions when his old friends come back to visit him.
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