Lost and found PETS
Advice and information when you have lost or found a pet
Value of microchips for identifying lost pets
A microchip is a permanent ID that your pet cannot lose. Every few seconds a pet is lost or stolen. All WCGHS adoptable pets receive AVID microchips. This helps ensure that if the animal is lost or stolen, it can be identified by all AVID participating shelters, animal control personnel, veterinarians, and others equipped with an AVID reader. Pets with microchips adopted from our shelter always gets a second chance, even if they are taken to other shelters or animal impoundment facilities.
If you have lost your pet...
Tips on locating your pet by Kat Albrecht, author of "The Lost Pet Chronicles"
Plan ahead. Before your pet is lost, make it easy to be found.
Cats and dogs are rarely 'stolen.' Most are prevented from coming home from fear or injury, or have been 'adopted' by their finders. Always put ID on your pet, and consider microchipping.
Notify the neighborhood about your lost pet
Put a notice in local newspapers about your lost pet. Read the paper to see if anyone is advertising that they have found your pet. Post notices in the neighborhood at least three houses in each direction beyond your animal's territory. Include a photo and all phone numbers. Give notices to the mail person, delivery drivers, joggers, newspaper service, garbage hauler, and neighbors. Put a notice up at all the veterinarians in the area. Offer kids a reward to find your pet. Post a notice at nearby schools.
Search the area where you live
Get permission to check under all of your neighbor's houses within a 3-house radius of the farthest edge of your animal's territory. If you have lost a cat, it will probably seek out a quiet place with no dogs. Especially check basement windows, outbuildings, crawl spaces, and garages. It may be trapped or injured and hiding in fear. Your neighbor will most likely not look thoroughly, or the cat may not respond to a stranger.
Notify animal control and your local animal shelters
Most lost pets do not get turned in to shelters or humane societies, but you should still file a lost pet report and post photo notice with them in case the animal is brought there.
Use the Internet
Post information, including a photo, about your pet on Petfinder.com where they maintain a national database of lost and found pets, and perform a SEARCH for your pet in case someone has found it.
When you can expect your pet to come home
Most animals get thirsty and hungry enough between 7 and 10 days after they've gone missing and this will often bring them home. Most lost animals, especially cats, return between the hours of 3:00 and 6:00 AM.
Don't give up! Many lost pets quickly become part of a new family, so continue to widen your search and keep up the advertising. The minute you stop looking, your pet's chances of being returned to you end. Stick with the search. Your pet is counting on you to bring it home!
If you have found a 'Lost' pet...
If you have found a stray pet, make every effort to help reunite the animal with its home. It is likely to be someone's loving pet!
Check for identification
Look for tags and/or a collar that might have information about the pet.
Notify the neighborhood about the pet
Post photo notices in the neighborhood, and with local businesses and others who deliver, walk, jog or play in your area. The owner may have asked them to look out for the pet you have found. Advertise in the local newspapers and read the papers to see if someone has lost that animal.
Notify animal control and your local animal shelters and scan for a microchip
Take the animal to a veterinarian or animal shelter to be scanned for a microchip. Post notices at the shelter and at the vet's office notifying people about the pet. Check with animal control services to see if a report has been filed for the animal.
Use the Internet
Check Petfinder.com where you can look through a national database of lost pets, and perform a SEARCH for lost pets in your specific area. Post a description and photo about the found pet on this web site.
Surrendering a lost pet to a 'No-kill' animal shelter like WCG Humane Society may be best if you cannot care for the animal until the owner is found. Many owners of lost pets go to shelters to look for their lost pet.
Animals found on rural roads
Do not assume that a pet found on a rural road has been 'dumped' as unwanted or abandoned. Animals out in the country are accustomed to roaming farther afield than city pets.
Trapping a Fearful Cat
If you have found a fearful cat, or own a timid cat that will not come back inside, trapping is often the best way to capture the skittish animal. Before trapping, keep the following in mind:
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Do not assume a skittish cat has been 'abused.
It may simply be fearful at having become lost. -
Borrow a humane trap and learn how to use it.
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Place the trap where you see signs of fur which may mark an area the animal is using to hide.
- If kitty has a favorite spot she uses in the yard for a litter box, place the trap there. Cats will return to their own scent.
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