Tips for Finding Lost Pets

One of the Gums, Gams, and Gumshoes’s PIs, Colleen Collins, wrote a piece this week about our one-time experience being pet detectives: “The Day We Learned to Respect Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.” Through that experience we did indeed learn to respect the work of qualified pet detectives, who apply many of the same skills that investigators use to track missing persons.

As a follow-up to that article, today we’re offering some general tips for finding lost pets as well as resources for locating lost cats and dogs.

General Tips for Finding Lost Pets

Start the search immediately. The sooner you start, the less time has passed for the animal to have traveled. Check the immediate area first, and check it thoroughly. Inform neighbors of your search so they’ll also be on the lookout. Follow leads for any directions your pet may have been seen traveling.

Carry a flashlight with you at all times. Check places your pet may have crawled into or under (inside ducts, under decks, inside garages, underneath heavy vegetation, behind/inside furniture, etc.).

Look for clues. Paw marks, ripped screens, feces, fur. These clues indicate the direction the pet traveled, how the pet escaped the home, etc.

Search any areas where the pet might have been trapped. Sometimes a pet might get accidentally trapped (or accidentally locked) in vehicles, neighbor’s home, sheds, etc. We once found our cat who’d gotten trapped in a neighbor’s garage.

Contact local animal shelters, clinics, and pet rescue organizations. Visit local shelters every few days to check for your pet. If your pet was hurt, it might have been taken to a clinic, so call local vets’ offices and animal clinics in your area. Also, your pet might have been taken to a rescue organization in your region, so contact those groups as well.

Post flyers. Put these up in your neighborhood, surrounding area, and (if your pet was seen traveling in a certain direction) farther into that area as well. Use bright, florescent paper/boards to attract attention. Put the words LOST CAT or LOST DOG in big letters. Include a large picture, a description, date the pet went missing, location last seen, a phone number to contact you (and it’s helpful to add that calls are welcome 24/7). For your safety, do not include personal information such as your name or home address. Also, do not meet strangers who contact you in their homes — instead, meet in a public area or even in the parking lot of your local police station. Some pet detectives say it’s not a good idea to put a reward amount on flyers as that can invite people only wanting to make money.

Tips for Finding Cats

Several pet detection and finder sites offer tips specific to finding a lost cat (click link to read article):

Missing Pet Partnership: Recovery Tips – Lost Cat Behavior

PetStyle: Guide to Finding a Lost Cat

Tails of Hope Sanctuary: Lost Cat Behavior

Tips for Finding Dogs

Pet detection and finder sites that offer tips specific to finding a lost dog (click link to read article):

Missing Pet Partnership: Recovery Tips – Lost Dog Behavior

FidoFinder.com: How to Find Your Lost Dog

“Finding Your Lost Dog” by Kathy “Kat” Albrecht, Pet Detective

Have a great weekend, Writing PIs

Related articles

• Think Your Pet Is A Lost Cause? Test These Guidelines For A Well-Mannered Pet! (mypetkingdom.info)