When You Find A Lost Dog Or Cat

Found

I’ve mentioned before that I seem to be a magnet for lost and stray dogs—so much so, that I now carry an extra leash in the car.  Fortunately, all but one of the dogs I’ve found were reunited with their people or were adopted.  I still think about the puppy we found when we lived in a studio apartment with 2 cats that we had to take to the city animal shelter.  I hope he was adopted by someone who loved him.

If you ever find a lost dog or cat, here’s a good run-down of what the best steps are to reunite them with their owner.

I’ll add to that list that because most of the dogs I’ve found have been in my neighborhood, I’ve taken them to our neighborhood vet to have them scanned for a microchip.  Your neighborhood vet can be especially helpful if the dog isn’t chipped because they just might recognize the animal and know where it lives.  This happened with one of the dogs I found with no tags and no microchip.  I’m really lucky because if they have room, our vet will actually hold the animal for a short time.  Check with your neighborhood vet—they might be really helpful!

 

Woman Hiker & Cat Found

Margaret Page and her cat Maya were found alive in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.  They’d been missing for 3 1/2 weeks.  Page (who has a history of mental illness) and her cat sheltered together in her sleeping bag in below freezing temperatures.  Maya the cat stayed with Page the whole time and was in better shape than the woman when found.  Page had run out of food, but the cat apparently hunted for herself.