Missing Pets - Experiences & Rescue/Vet Staff questions

[BazandGem]

For those whose pet has gone missing now or in the past
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What do you find the most frustrating aspect of trying to locate your pet (other than the obvious problem of not hearing anything)
If you were successfully reunited with your pet - how did this come about?

Any other information you think may help also welcome.

The lack of a centralised database (I would agree that the National Pet Register is one of, if not the, best database).

Animal Search website - seems to be well-used but I have responded to a few potential matches to my missing cat and never had a reply so don't know if the people who found the cats got the messages, didn't think it was him, haven't bothered to reply, or what.

The local council (who I actually work for but in a different department) being, not unhelpful, but just not having any obvious procedures in place for the general public to know who to contact (e.g. I contacted the street cleansing people and also the waste team as I happen to know via work that pets' bodies have been found in wheelie bins before now and are taken out at the recycling sorting plant  ). Having more advice or a central person to contact at the council's website or by email/phone would be helpful. All ours has is an "Animal Remains" page for cats etc; the stray dogs have their photos put online and a found and rehoming date.

In spite of following all the advice from posters, door-knocking, contacting vets and rescues, the local papers, all big online lost & found sites, through to scattering vacuum contents up and down the road, Bazza is still missing after 7 months  He is microchipped but I have a suspicion that someone may have taken a liking to him and "adopted" him. Scanning for microchips at all initial vet appointments (at an absolute minimum, every time would be idea) could, I'm sure, save a lot of heartache for owners of missing cats. I believe there was a petition a while ago (Dolly's Directive - 2007 ish?) for this very thing but the government side-stepped the issue by saying different chips needed different scanners or some such nonsense (I've since discovered this isn't true)./

[MrsR]

What do you find the most frustrating aspect of trying to locate your pet (other than the obvious problem of not hearing anything)
Phoning the local council to see if my cat had been hit by a car and was picked up by them - they were horrible phone calls I still do not know how I made myself strong enough to do.


If you were successfully reunited with your pet - how did this come about?
For Poppy a poster was seen in my local Spar shop - she was stuck in a local warehouse.
For Bunty no replies to any postering, Bunty just came back by herself - we think she got locke din someones garage/shed when they were on holiday.

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

For those whose pet has gone missing now or in the past
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What do you find the most frustrating aspect of trying to locate your pet (other than the obvious problem of not hearing anything)

The lack of a centralised database (I have found that the National Pet Register is very widely used is I would say is definitely one of, if not the, best database)

If you were successfully reunited with your pet - how did this come about?

As a result of a fast and very intensive poster campaign I was reunited on both occasions with my furbabes.   The first time my little lad was missing for 8 days.  The second time my little girl was missing for 48 hours.

[Janeyk]

I have just seen this in another section and cant remember where but think it should be limited cos otherwise replies are going to cross over.

I agree, it's in The Rescue Room, do you want to merge Gill to here?

eta: I've merged the two 

Best of luck with this Kirsten!

[Feline Costumier]

What do you find the most frustrating aspect of trying to locate your pet (other than the obvious problem of not hearing anything)
It is the lack of a central body to report your pet missing to that is well publicised for both owner and finder.

If you were successfully reunited with your pet - how did this come about?
I had done all the flyering and door knocking, online reporting etc and heard nothing. Three months later the PDSA called me as Chilli had been taken in by her "new" owner (Chilli chose her, not through a rescue) and was scanned and hey presto. Luckily all my details were up to date. Second time round (bit of a history of this has my Chilli!) she just wandered back home, she was gone a few weeks and we think she was locked in somewhere.

I have also been a finder very recently and again, the lack of somewhere well known and centralised to get in touch with was very frustrating. I put in quite a lot of effort to find her owner, which in all honesty, not many outside of these sites would do. I door knocked, put a note on her collar, refrained from feeding her for several days and even took her to the vet to be scanned, all to no avail. There have been no posters or flyers in the local area and so now she has become my third resident. I do still wonder if someone is missing her.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I have just seen this in another section and cant remember where but think it should be limited cos otherwise replies are going to cross over.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

As a pet owner I would love to see vets and councils imparticularly make more effort and for their to be a central place where missing cats could be put and aslo those found.

We have had a case on Purrs where a cat was found and ended up at RSPCA and put up for rehoming at 7 days I think, The owners were searching of it and only heard about the cat being found about the time it was rehomed and I think it had already moved and this happened very quickly after being at RSPCA.

The RSPCA refused to allow the original owners to have their cat back,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,afraid the search facility not good enough to find this one as I cant remember sufficient to make it a meaningful search.

In London I found a cat and resorted to lamposts to advertize the find, in once case the owners had gone aaway and got in touch very quick and in the othercase the cat was taken by Battersee Dogs Home and the owner didnt see the posters until after but then got him back for the second time cos this little cat had a history LOL.

I can underestand that rescues who are vastly overloaded can only keep a cat for a short time before rehoming cos this is a massive problem but what needs to be ensured is that RSPCA in particulaily do not PTS cats after them not getting a home within a short space of time.

I think it is essential for councils to have scanners and this whole subject is very emotive for cat lovers.

I think chipping should be mandatory like Angie and every cat taken to a vet should be checked for a chip, not just the first time but everytime. I have the chips checked every health check but its not offered, I have to ask.

I wish you lots of luck in constructing your paper and although a central register would be great I just dont see it happening cos it would cost so much to maintain .

[Angiew]

Questions for Rescues
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How long do you hold onto a found animal before it goes up for adoption/rehoming?

Typically we do nowt for a week and then it goes up.

What steps do you take to locate owners?

Scan the cat, inform our local petsearch. Don't have the time or energy to do anything else. It IS up to the owner to try and find their own pet after all.

Have you ever been in a situation where an cat/dog has been rehomed only for their original owners to show up to claim them? And if so, how was this dealt with?

nope. usually the other way, animal is chipped and owner cannot be found, this is by phone and by going to the last known address.

do you have any statistics around the number of found cats/dogs in a year and how many of these are reunited with their owners? (I'm finding it really difficult to find such data, and I think it would add credence to the document to have some statistics in it).
On average, how much time do you think you spend trying to trace an owner?
Of those animals that have been reunited with their owners, was there any one method which seemed to work better than others?  Or were most reunions as a result of the owner contacting you in the hope you had their pet (but without having seen any advertising you may have done).

Did petsearch in coventry for several years and very rarely were cats reunited.

All cats should be chipped by law.

[KIPA]

For those of you who also frequent the CatChat web-forum, you may already be familiar with what I'm about to say.

There has been some dialogue over the last couple of weeks regarding lost pets and what happens to them ( http://www.catchat.org/forum.html    Lost and Found section - Where do all the lost cats go??   as well as comments included within other threads ) .  Several contributors including myself, feel strongly that the current system is failing many pets and owners and that action to remedy the situation is warranted.  We need as many people on board to support this initiative as possible if we are to stand any chance of success.  Many of us participate in these forums because we care about animals (and cats in particular) and I believe that we should all pull together to work towards this common goal. 

With this in mind, I am currently putting together a discussion document which, when finalised, will be sent to the main UK Animal welfare organisations as well as other targetted companies/organisations who may be able to assist us in taking this matter forward towards a successful resolution.  The document will cover three main areas:-
   - The need for a single centralised database of UK lost and found pets which would automatically flag potential matches
   - The need for better education of the general public as to what a stray is and what they should do if they find one
   - The need for a formal policy regarding microchipping - preferably with mandatory chipping for cats & dogs, and all pets being mandatorily scanned when presented at a vet practice for the first time (regardless of age of the animal).

right now however, I need to gather a bit more data and I would really appreciate the help of those of you who work/volunteer for a rescue organisation and/or veterinary practice as well as any of you who have lost a pet (whether reunited or not).

If you don't want to post your responses publically, then please reply to my personal email address (kirstein_payne@hotmail.com).

When responding, please state whether you are refering to cat or dog.  (This does not exclude other pets being included in the initiative, but for simplicity of data gathering, I need to restrict to the two main species).

Questions for Rescues
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How long do you hold onto a found animal before it goes up for adoption/rehoming?
What steps do you take to locate owners?
Have you ever been in a situation where an cat/dog has been rehomed only for their original owners to show up to claim them? And if so, how was this dealt with?
do you have any statistics around the number of found cats/dogs in a year and how many of these are reunited with their owners? (I'm finding it really difficult to find such data, and I think it would add credence to the document to have some statistics in it).
On average, how much time do you think you spend trying to trace an owner?
Of those animals that have been reunited with their owners, was there any one method which seemed to work better than others?  Or were most reunions as a result of the owner contacting you in the hope you had their pet (but without having seen any advertising you may have done).

Questions for Vet staff
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What steps do you take to locate owners?
Is there a common guideline on scanning pets for existing microchip when they are first registered with you? And do you actively encourage owners to get their pets chipped if they are not already?


For those whose pet has gone missing now or in the past
******************************************************************
What do you find the most frustrating aspect of trying to locate your pet (other than the obvious problem of not hearing anything)
If you were successfully reunited with your pet - how did this come about?


Any other information you think may help also welcome.

Thank you in advance