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!

 

Dog Stuck In Car Grill Survives

A cute little poodle mix is one lucky dog even though she did get hit by a car.  The driver saw her run into traffic and hit the breaks.  He thought he’d missed her when he didn’t couldn’t see the dog in the road behind him, so he kept driving.   He didn’t see the dog because she was wedged in his car’s grill.  After another driver alerted him, he drove to a police station where the dog was removed almost unharmed.  She really only had a concussion and a bruised bladder.  Amazing!

The sweet dog is microchipped, but her information isn’t up-to-date.  Don’t forget to keep your pets’ contact information current!  I need to double-check our furred ones’ contact info. myself and make sure the phone numbers are current.

10 Emergency Preparedness Tips You May Not Have Considered

Catster has a terrific list of easy-to-do things that can help your pets get through an emergency and includes several tips I hadn’t considered.  These are three I thought were particularly good.

  • Together Tag registers your pet in a national network  and  allows you to have multiple contacts listed.  This means you can have an out-of-state contact in the event that local calls aren’t going through.  Microchips are still important, but getting access to someone with a scanner may be impossible after a disaster.  The Together Tag is more insurance that you’ll be reunited with your pet.
  • Scan or photograph the labels of your pet’s medication and upload to a photo-sharing site.  Be sure to black out your personal information.
  • Make detailed Emergency Instruction cards for your pets—include information on medications, food, who you want to have custody of your pet if your’re incapacitated or killed—and put the cards in a prominent place like the back of your front door.  Consider one for your wallet, so if something happens to you, emergency responders will know your have animals dependent on you.

Rocco The Beagle Back Home After 5yrs. Thanks To Microchip

Rocco escaped under a fence from his home in Queens, NY 5yrs. ago, only to turn up earlier this month in Liberty Co., Georgia. Animal Control officers scanned the beagle, found his microchip, and contacted the Villacis Family. No one is sure how Rocco got to Georgia, but he is in good health, so it seems someone has been taking care of him.

Microchips can mean the difference in getting a lost pet home and this story shows how important it is to keep you contact information up to date.