A Microchip Can Bring Your Pet Home

By Eliza Wynn

Uh-oh. Little Bootsie went out the doggie door, and you had no idea someone had left the gate open. Now you can't find her. If someone else does, will that person be able to find you?

As a loving and responsible pet owner, you want your pet to be safe at all times. In the event that your pet gets loose and starts roaming the streets, getting her back home is essential. Home escapes aren't the only potential dangers, though; pets can also find themselves alone and vulnerable after accidents and natural disasters. Pets with microchips are much more likely than those without them to be reunited with their owners. This means that if your dog or cat doesn't have a registered microchip, you're taking a huge risk.

In early August, a Pomeranian named Koda was reunited with his family in Arkansas after somehow making his way to a shelter in California. Shortly before that, Wobbles the Shih Tzu went home after being missing for about a year. Not to be outdone, a Massachusetts cat named Charlie was recently found 25 miles from home after just 1 day. What do these pets have in common? They all experienced the joy of a happy reunion simply because they had registered microchips.

Are You Prepared if Your Pet Gets Lost?

By Linda Cole

No matter how careful you are as a pet owner, sometimes the unexpected happens. I've had my share of frantic moments racing around the house searching for a pet I feared had gotten outside and was lost. And I have also had those fears come true. Finding a lost pet can be difficult, but if you're prepared before it happens, you won't have to waste valuable time searching for what you need before you can start looking for them.

The first thing to remember is, don't panic. There's a good chance your pet will be found by someone else or wander back home on their own. However, you don't want lose valuable searching time by sitting back and waiting to see if your cat or dog can find their way home. One of the best tools you have is knowing your pet's personality. That makes a big difference in where to start your search, especially for a lost cat.

The more people friendly your cat is, the better chance they have of being found by someone else and taken to a shelter or local vet clinic. A friendly or curious personality, though, can also cause them to wander farther from home than a more fearful cat. The scared/timid feline is more likely to hole up in a place where she feels safe and that's where she will stay until hunger, thirst or another animal scares her away from the area. She may even ignore your calls and could be hiding somewhere in your yard or anywhere within a block of home.

Dogs can be gone in a flash, especially if they see a rabbit or something else that gets their prey drive in high gear, and they can cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. Both cats and dogs have traveled very long distances, at times, to find their way home after becoming lost, but there’s no guarantee yours can do the same.

How Do Pets Find Their Way Back Home?

By Linda Cole

There's no shortage of stories about pets that become lost and then somehow were able to find their way back home. Some of these pets had to travel thousands of miles in order to get home. They had to navigate over rough terrain and cross obstacles many humans couldn't handle, yet they were able to survive and find their way back home, even if it took a year or longer to get there. The 1993 remake of “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey” was based on a true story of the survival and determination of two dogs and a cat to find their way home through 250 miles of the Canadian wilderness. We know some pets can find their way back home, but how do they do it?

This is a topic I've always found intriguing. It's one thing for a pet to find their way back home over short distances, but it's another thing when they set off to find their owner in a completely different state or town they've never been in. One story recounts how an Irish Terrier dog named Prince went searching for his owner, a soldier serving with the British army during WW I. Prince had grown so depressed when his owner was shipped overseas to France that he stopped eating. Finally, he ran away from home. No one knows how Prince was able to cross the English Channel, but once he was in France, he started searching for his owner in the war torn land with bombs and bullets whizzing all around him. Prince found his owner in Northern France in a foxhole.

How lost pets can find their owner or their home remains a mystery to scientists. There is, however, one interesting theory: the homing instinct, which is broken up into two types. The first type is when a pet finds their way home using something other than the usual five senses. A sixth sense, if you will. It's known that animals have the ability to make a sort of “map” in their mind of landmarks, scents, sounds and familiar territory. It's believed pets are sensitive to the earth's magnetic fields and this gives them the ability to know which direction they're going by using an inner compass. But the question still remains, how do they know which way to go? No one knows, but researchers do know if magnets are attached to a dog or cat, the homing ability is taken away.

How Facebook Helps Pets In Need

By Linda Cole

Anyone with a Facebook account understands the addictive nature of this social networking site. It's a place where anyone can go to meet new people (with the proper precautions), get information and find pets that are in need of homes. The site even helps lost pets that have gone through natural disasters get reunited with frantic owners who were searching for them. Facebook is helping to change the plight of pets, one animal at a time.

Natural disasters affect not only the people who experience them directly, but those of us who only witness them via TV reports and now, social media. This year's violent and deadly tornadoes have given new meaning to “keep your eye on the weather.” People who live in tornado prone states aren't taking warnings and watches for granted this year. We can't do anything about the weather, but we can help those affected by it in ways that weren't possible five years ago.

Several days after the Joplin tornado, my Facebook news page was filled with posts from people who’d found pets in a demolished home or wandering aimlessly among the rubble. I also saw a number of posts from pet owners asking if anyone had seen their pet. It struck me then that Facebook had become a sort of “bulletin board” for lost and found. This is not what we see on TV news reports. Oh sure, we get some personal stories, but we don't get the day-to-day activities that go on after a natural disaster. I gladly shared each post I saw hoping it might help reunite pets with their owners. It was my only way of trying to help. But the power of social media cannot be denied, and I know that sharing someone else's post might lead to a person who was able to help in a way I couldn't.

Why Responsible Owners Microchip Their Pets

By Suzanne Alicie

Pet identification microchips are becoming a common step for pet owners to take in order to protect their pet. A microchip about the size of a grain of rice is inserted under the pet’s skin. This is not a surgical procedure and doesn’t usually require sedation. The microchip is inserted using a large needle, into the area between the pet’s shoulder blades. Many times pet owners have a chip inserted while their pet is being spayed or neutered.

These tiny chips have unique numbers embedded on them, and the owner must register the number which will link the pet to the owner. If your pet happens to get lost, most vets and animal shelters have a scanner to check found pets for microchip numbers. Once the chip is scanned and the number is retrieved, the microchip company can be called and given the chip number. With the chip number it is easy to look in the database and find the owners information in order to get the pet back home safely.

If you travel with your pet, either by air or by car, it is always a good idea to have a microchip implanted in them. Between airline mishaps, and pets that run away at rest areas, the chance of becoming separated or losing your dog or cat while traveling are fairly high.

If your pet is an indoor only animal, you might think there is no need for a microchip, but many times indoor cats and dogs may not wear a collar or tags all the time. This means if something happens and your pet slips out the door, he has no identification to separate him from the other strays that are picked up. With a microchip you stand a much better chance of getting your pet back safe and sound.

You might think that this much technology packed onto a tiny chip implanted in your pet would be expensive, but you may be surprised. The insertion fee varies from vet to vet, but generally costs between $30 and $50. Registration with a microchip company is usually a onetime fee of around $20. There may be an additional fee if you need to change the information at a later date.

There are several microchip companies to choose from, but the two most widely used in the United States are Home Again and AVID. No matter which microchip company you choose, any scanner will indicate the presence of a chip whether it can read the chip or not, so once someone finds your pet and determines that a chip is present it is simply a matter of using a different scanner to read the chip. Additionally, some microchip companies now produce universal scanners and provide them to animal shelters and animal control agencies at no or very low cost.

These microchips often make the news when they help reunite a lost pet with their family, sometimes after many years of being apart. Such was the case recently for a cat named Shusha, who had gone missing and ended up living in a tack room several miles from its home. The woman who owned the tack room took Shusha to the vet to have her scanned for a microchip. Because of the presence of a tiny piece of technology, the Johnson family was reunited with their beloved cat after 3 long years.

The many pleasures our pets bring into our lives make the small expense of inserting a microchip a worthwhile expenditure. Microchipped pets that accidentally become lost are much likelier to be quickly reunited with the family who loves and misses them.

Read more articles by Suzanne Alicie

What to Do When Your Dog Gets Loose

By Ruthie Bently

As a responsible pet owner you never want anything to happen to your dog, but what about those times you have no control over? We have a fenced yard for Skye, but accidents sometimes happen. A delivery person drops off a package and forgets to close the gate or Steve goes to work and forgets to latch it. Like most dogs, Skye loves to play and go for walks and car rides; an open gate is a different matter altogether.

To a dog an open door or gate means freedom – real freedom, not the kind of freedom they get at the end of a leash or at the dog park. It’s the “I'm on my own and can go where I want” freedom. All of the neighborhood smells are very enticing to dogs. The female dog in heat six blocks away or the smells coming from the neighbor’s garbage can; even the smell of something to roll in can trigger their wanderlust.

If this happens to you, what do you do when your dog gets loose? The most important thing is not to panic. You need a clear head to find your dog, and panic will only detract from you doing that in a timely fashion. Time is of the essence, don't waste it. Enlist your family and friends, as they can help you complete multiple tasks at one time. Call as many neighbors as you can, as well as any veterinary offices and animal shelters in your area. Contact the local police animal control officer and make them aware of the situation. They’ll want to know how long the dog has been missing and from where. Unfortunately, dog theft is on the rise and the more information you can remember, the better you can help the police recover your dog if this is the case.

If you have a photo of your dog, make up flyers with their picture as well as your contact information. Include your dog's name, age, gender, any scars your dog may have, whether or not they were micro-chipped or tattooed, and where they were last seen. Be as specific as possible. Get the flyers made as quickly as possible and begin distributing them. Make sure to get copies to the vet offices, shelters and police departments you contacted, as well as your neighbors. If there is a grocery store or mall nearby, ask the store owners if they've seen your dog or if they will put your flyer in their window. If you know which direction your dog went, take flyers, a leash, spare collar, dog treats and their favorite noisy toy with you. Get in the car and begin driving in that direction. Make sure you leave someone at home to man the phones in case your dog is found while you are out looking.

The best thing to do is to be prepared. If you have a plan in place before your dog becomes lost, you can accomplish finding them that much faster. Have a current photo of your dog taken and update it every six months. Write down a detailed description of your dog. Include the information mentioned above, as well as your current contact information. Make sure your dog's identification tag has your current address and phone numbers on it. You may want to have another family member's phone number on it as well. Take your dog for a walk in the neighborhood and stop and introduce yourself and your dog to the neighbors. Your neighbors will be less afraid of a strange dog wandering the neighborhood if they have already met it in person.

Consider a GPS collar for your dog. There's a company in Minnesota that manufactures one that you don't need a cell phone or monthly subscription to be able to use. It has a hand held GPS system that uses current satellite technology to find your dog. If your dog is not microchipped or tattooed, you might want to consider that. Shelters are required by law to have a microchip reader, and many dogs have found their way home due to this technology. Many veterinary offices also have chip readers and if a stray is brought in they'll do what they can to return your dog.

No one that lives with a dog ever wants to be separated from them. The emotions we feel for our canine companions run as deep as those for a human family member. By being prepared you can help bring your beloved dog home quicker, and the reunion will be that much sweeter.

Read more articles by Ruthie Bently

What To Do With a Stray Dog

By Ruthie Bently

Has this ever happened to you? You’re traveling on a country road, a busy interstate or even at your favorite store and you see a dog without their human owner. What do you do? First of all, if you decide to approach this dog, do so with caution. You don’t know how long it has been on its own, and it may have been traumatized by its experience. Though this may be someone’s four-legged baby and might be the most wonderful dog in the world under normal circumstances, it has sharp teeth and could be frightened by what it has been through so far.

A biscuit or a food item may be a good thing to have in your hand, as this will distract their focus and may also endear you to them. You should check to see if the dog has a collar, and hopefully tags as well. You can also check with any neighbors in the area to see if anyone has lost a dog. If you are uncomfortable taking the dog home, then contact the local animal shelter or humane society. Sometimes these are linked to the police department animal control unit. If you want to take the dog home, you should still contact the local shelter or humane society to let them know you found a dog. Giving them as complete a description as you can is important, as this will facilitate getting the dog home sooner.

If you take the dog home with you, they should be provided with food, water and a safe place to rest. Check the local papers every day for listings of a lost dog, as well as with local veterinarians. You can either keep the dog until the owner is found or take them to the shelter after 24 hours. However, if you take the dog to the shelter, check to see what their policies are on euthanasia as some have a seven day limit for keeping lost pets. Ask if they are a “no kill” shelter, and what will happen to the dog if they are not reunited with their owner within a week.

Do your best to make sure the dog gets home by hanging flyers, and place an ad in the local paper (many local papers offer free “found dog” ads). Also make sure the information gets to your local police department and vets, as well as those in the town where you found the dog (if it’s a different city than yours). Many dogs are micro-chipped now, so check with your local shelter or vet to see if they have a universal chip reader. This may also get the dog home sooner.

I had an interesting experience with a lost dog once. Though it took a bit of ingenuity, I was finally able to reunite the dog with his owner. It was early one Sunday morning at the store where I worked as pet department manager. A customer came in and mentioned there was a German Shepherd sitting by the front door. I went out to see the dog; it was waiting patiently so I thought he was waiting for his owner to come out of the store. He seemed friendly so I gave him a pat and went back to work. Little did I know, I would become more involved in this dog’s life.

I checked to see if he had tags on his collar, and he had a rabies tag but no name tag. While this was a bit of a setback, I knew I could still find his owner. You see, the rabies tag had the phone number of the county that issued it. I called the number, and with a bit of research they were able to give me the dog’s name and told me that his rabies vaccination was up to date, even though the tag had been issued more than a year before. Unfortunately the phone number she gave me for the owner was no longer valid, as he had moved since the dog was vaccinated.

The story still has a happy ending. Because I called the county that issued the rabies tag, they were eventually able to get in touch with the owner, and he and his dog were reunited. It turns out the dog lived in Wisconsin and was loaned to a friend in Chicago while his owner went out of town. The problem was the “babysitter” didn’t realize the dog’s commitment to his owner. I am a fan of Sheila Burnford’s book “The Incredible Journey,” and this dog must have been also. He got loose one day while on an outing with the babysitter and decided to go home.

This dog had a lot of heart and just wanted to go home to the person who loved him the best. And isn’t that what we all want in the end? Bless you and yours, be they two or four-legged.

Read more articles by Ruthie Bently