A MISSING PET - CRITICAL & TIMELY ACTIONS FOR THE OWNER

For your MISSING Dog or Cat, your timing and actions are CRITICAL.  The first thing that people do is PANIC.  …and that’s AOK. But if you want to find your pet, the following are the critical steps that you should take in the first hour, within a day, and by week's end. 

THE FIRST HOUR

• Look very carefully nearby.  Cats typically don’t travel far.  Dogs may be within the neighborhood.  Yelling for your dog helps.  Yelling for your cat probably won't.
  

• For cats, look under steps, in pipes, in sheds, garages, and any place close by where it may hide.  Then look again!!!  Cats love to hide and they're good at it!

• Visit MissingCritters.com and click "LOST A CRITTER" to search and post your missing pet.  It’s 100% free, easy, and highly efficient.  Visit often.  Search up to 100 miles from where your pet was last seen.

THE FIRST DAY

• Check with neighbors and especially ask children.  A wondering dog is likely to have been spotted and, if you pet is friendly and found by an animal lover, it is likely in someone’s possession. (I speak from experience!)

• Flyers should be posted in the neighborhood by day’s end.  A cat is probably still close, but a dog has been following smells and other dogs, chasing critters, and exploring the neighborhood.  

• Visit the local shelter near the end of their work day.  You can call them, but it’s much better to visit.  If the loss occurs on a weekend or holiday, it should be the first place you go when they are next open.

THE FIRST WEEK

• VISIT YOUR LOCAL SHELTER EVERY OTHER DAY (NO LESS THAN EVERY 3 DAYS).   Your window of opportunity is between 3 days and a week before an unclaimed pet is either euthanized, moved to adoption quarters, or transported to another shelter.

• One visit to the shelter is NOT enough.  Leaving a description is NOT enough!  Shelters don’t have the resources to match each stray brought in with all the notices on file.  What I typically hear is, “They have my name and a description. They’ll call.”  WRONG!!!!

• Posters/flyers should be up not just in the neighborhood, but within a mile from where your pet went missing.  Also, a daily visit to MissingCritters.com  is easy, efficient, and cost free.

Meet the MissingCritters Girl - Instructional Video

Post by Missing Critters.

The Lives of Shelter Cats Need Protecting

Advice for Saving the Lives of Shelter Kitties

Seven out of ten cats that enter into the nation’s shelter system are killed. Beautiful, healthy creatures, killed because there is no room, no funding and they cannot find their way home. The fault is not the shelters, they do the best they can with the resources they have. Shelters need our help, but not in the place that may be typically assumed.

MissingCitters.com, a leading pet lost and found website, provides advice for those working with

shelters to help solve this problem and bring the cat’s back home.   The situation is analogous to the story of The Little Dutch Boy who plugged a dyke, made a small personal sacrifice, and prevented a flood.

I am a neutered male, buff and white Domestic Shorthair.  The shelter staff think I am about 6 months old.

Shelters spend almost all of their time at the “back door” of the shelter trying to get animals adopted, focusing on “the flood.”  If no one rescues a stray from the shelter or if they are not someone’s ideal pet, they are getting euthanized.  With just a bit of attention on the "front door", as strays are brought to shelters, abysmal return-to-owner rates can be significantly improved.

MissingCritters.com offers some tips and solutions for what shelters and local communities can do to support animal rescues and get cats back home where they belong:

-            Websites. Almost all shelters have websites, but many are old, not kept up, or do not clearly display where recently found cats can be viewed online.  They are just not being used to their fullest potential.  Shelters can use their website to post missing cats, pictures and keep in contact with missing pet owners in their local community.   If a website savvy individual was able to spend time helping shelters to make their site more user friendly and provide a platform of information for visitors, those looking for their missing cats would have a place to start.

It takes only a moment to be the difference that saves a kitty’s life.

-           The Internet. All it would take is a post to a free online lost and found site to give the owners one more chance to find their beloved pet.  High school students who are required to perform community service and community volunteers can increase the chance of stray cats being found by just twice-a-week visits to a local shelter.  They need only enter newly arrived cat’s information into one of these sites that are free and require minimal effort – e.g., a posting on Craigslist.org takes only a moment and a photo can be easily uploaded from a computer; with MissingCritters.com, a stray cat can be posted instantly with a cell phone or on a computer by taking a photo and emailing it to post@MissingCritters.com.

-          Lost and Found. Most shelters have some sort of lost and found program on their website, fliers, or other local means. Providing help to get the cats found, instead of just focusing on adoption, can make the number of cats being euthanized decrease dramatically.

MissingCritters.com was created to provide lost and found solutions for lost pets. They aim to educate the community, offer assistance to shelters and advise on how to help get animals back home where they belong.

Cancer Victim Needs Pet Re-Homed

I know your page doesn't cross post dogs in need of adoption but I thought this may be an exception: Neysa Arena is a devoted pitbull advocate and rescuer in Levittown PA who has been battling colon cancer for 2 years and is now in stage 4 . Her dog, Kevin Bacon, needs to re-homed.  Neysa states:

It is no secret that I am dying. Kevin will have no where to go once I am gone. I have been unable to give him the attention he needs since I can barely walk and it is not fair to him. He needs a home where he can run and have a lap to lay in.

Neysa will turn 32 in August. She will also leave behind 2 young children, but would like to find a home for Mr. Kevin Bacon soon, so his transition is easy and she can focus more time on herself...transportation has been offered by friends..please spread the word for her sake and Kevin's...Thank you!!

If you can re-home Kevin, contact http://facebook.com/neysielyn

Missing Kittie Advice => Don't give up! :-)

Too many give up when their cat disappears!!!  Indoor or part-time outdoor cats have behaviors that are TOTALLY unexpected.  Please see what is suggested by an expert for your particular case!

http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/recovery-lostcat.php