The Very Best Tips For Getting Your Lost Pet Home

 

The first thing to do immediately after your pet goes missing, is to try not to panic. Try to keep calm and focus on taking action.

1- Start by placing your pet's food and water bowls outside on your deck, porch, open garage or front steps. (Make sure the food and water are fresh and the food has a strong scent.) Along with a blanket or piece of clothing with YOUR scent on it. A box with a blanket and some of their toys, is also a good idea to place outside. Especially in winter. Cats like the safety of a "hiding place."

2- Start searching immediately. Bring a pen and a small notepad with you to hand out your contact information to neighbors. Put everyday tasks on hold. You probably won't be able to concentrate on them, anyway. Do whatever it takes to make time to search for your pet.

3- Make copies of the clearest photo you have of your pet. Print photos from your phone at home, or take them to a store that can print them for you, such as Staples. Buy bright colored or neon poster boards, cut in half and glue the photo of your pet to it. (Dollar Tree is a great place to purchase these).

*Use an eye-catching headline, such as: Missing Dog! Lost Cat!, Missing Our Sweet Boy!, or, Our Precious Girl is Missing!

*Include your pet's name, a brief description of your companion, (Black haired Labrador mix, Female,  with a white muzzle, wearing a bright pink collar). Include date and location last seen and your contact information (phone number). You can even offer a reward.

*Use large text and keep it concise. Most people will be driving by the posters, so your information needs to be easily and quickly read.

4- Take copies of your printouts to vet hospitals, police stations, neighbors homes, and local  convenience and food stores. Be sure to ask a manager if you can hang a flyer on their door or in their entrance.

5- Plaster telephone poles with your posters (borrow a staple gun if you have to), and put a super huge poster in your front yard.

6- SOCIAL MEDIA: Put a LOST DOG/CAT post on ALL of your social media platforms. Ask local friends to "Please Share"  your pet's information on their pages, as well. 

7- MAKE SOME PHONE CALLS: Call all your local police stations, so they can be on the lookout while they are out patrolling. Most police stations have social media and can place a Lost Pet post on their page for you.  Call veterinarians, shelters, and local animal rescues.

8- If you can afford to, offer a sizeable reward or donation to the person who finds your pet.

9- Keep your phone with you at all times, and answer every call even if you don't recognize the number. It could be someone who saw or has found your pet. 

10- BEWARE of scams where someone will TEXT you and say that they found your pet. If they won't call YOU immediately, it's a scam. This happened to us, and I'm warning you, it will break your heart after you realize that it's not for real. But don't lose hope!  Keep going.

11- Follow any and all leads. Also, be open to suggestions from family and friends. They feel for you and are doing their best by trying to help. You are going to feel distraught, but they are there for support. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

12- SEARCH: Search your neighborhood like you've never done before. Ask your neighbors, friends and family to help you search. Form a few groups in the evenings, to go out looking together. Use a flashlight to search small spaces where pets might hide, inside drains, under porches or parked cars. Also look around streams and lakes, especially in hot weather. With permission, check inside neighbor's garages, especially if they leave them open all day.

*Our dog, Alabama went missing on July 1st, last summer. She was missing for a week! Every night, our neighbors would form a group and would go out searching for Bama with us. We would communicate through the app, Next Door.  It was a very kind neighbor, down the street from us, who spotted Bama in her back yard  a week later, because her dogs had been barking. Her son and my husband followed her, and her teenage son was able to comfort her so she stopped running. (We gave him a reward, a few days later!)* We were grateful beyond words!

                                                                                                                                                                     The help of your neighbors is invaluable in this heartbreaking situation. There are amazing and kind people out there who are more than willing to help. Children too, are very observant and see things we often miss.

13- Go outside at night, when it's very quiet and call your pet's name. Listen carefully for the faint meow or whimper of your pet. They could be stuck or afraid to move.

14- Remember to check those items with your scent on them. The ones that you placed outside that first day. Keep water and food fresh, and change up the blanket or clothing so your scent is recent. Your pet may find his way home at night, when your home is quiet.

15- Therefore, it's very important to check RING CAMERAS, if you have one, and ask your neighbors to do so, as well.

16- Be sure that your pet is microchipped and has up to date identification tags.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, never give up.

This post was inspired by my neighbors, who's cat Bella, went missing on December 29th. A month later, Bella is still missing, Neighbors have kindly and actively been helping look for Bella since day one. We know she'll be home soon. 

To all you empathetic pet parents who are missing beloved companions, I sincerely hope you will have them back home very soon. Don't give up hope.

If you're thinking of purchasing an Apple Air Tag or something like it, it's a great way to be proactive. We didn't have one for our dog when she went missing, but we do now! She wears it on her collar when she goes outside.  It's a great comfort and gives us peace of mind to know our dog's whereabouts at all times.

(NOT SPONSERED):  Link to  Apple Air Tag

Findings of First National Lost Pet Survey

93 percent of dogs and 75 percent of cats reported lost were returned safely to their homes. Only 6 percent of dog owners and 2 percent of cat owners found their lost pets at shelters. 15 percent of dogs were found because they were sporting identification tags or microchips.