Lost and Found Pet Issues

Long Missing Cat Reunited !

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Spooky has been missing from his Delaware County home since September. Our Capital Area Humane Society volunteer Lisa R. recognized him from his Pet FBI Ohio post when she was checking out new arrivals at the shelter. Ten-year-old Spooky is now microchipped and on his way home to reunite with his kitty sister. Mom and Dad want to thank the Good Samaritan who brought him in.

Moral of the Story for Pet Parents: Don’t give up hope too soon!
Moral of the Story for Shelters: Please take advantage of the lost and found pet database at PetFBI.org! Assign a volunteer to follow and post reports. People cannot get to the shelter often enough and long enough to assure recovery! 

Quick, Efficient Reunion for a Lost Dog via PetFBI.org

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happy reunion of lost doghappy reunion of lost doghappy reunion of lost dog

The darling little chihuahua snuggled up to the little boy in this photo went missing in Columbus, OH. At the time, she was not wearing a collar or ID tag. She was picked up by a Good Sam who submitted a Found Dog report to the Pet FBI database. Fortunately, the pooch’s family also thought to use the Pet FBI database, searched the “Lost Dog” reports, and there she was! A speedy, efficient reunion, thanks to technology and the Pet FBI site which is well known and widely used, especially in Ohio. We have been helping people recover lost pets in Ohio since 1998 with great success.

This story was reported to us by Pet FBI Special Agent, Teresa. She heard about the virtually instantaneous reunion when she contacted the person who posted the Found Dog Report only to learn that there had already been a reunion. All too often, people who have lost or found a pet only post in one place and stop there. This is where our Special Agents like Teresa come in. They look for match-ups on many other online resources  like Craigslist and alerts from microchip companies, and they often contact posters to remind them of other important resources.

Our goal at Pet FB is to achieve the same high level of success that we have in Ohio on a national scale. It has been just a little over two years now that we extended our database to cover the entire US, including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. We were awarded a Google Adwords grant which allows us to have our link show up high in search results, but what is really needed is a grassroots effort for people to tell their friends about Pet FBI.

We have a Facebook page for Ohio with almost 43,000 friends but to be optimally effective, more people need to use the database. Nowadays, lost and found pet Facebook pages are hugely successful in recovering lost pets, but only for people who have a Facebook page (and there are still plenty who do not!) and only in the short term. Posts tend to get buried pretty fast and that is where a searchable database is especially effective.

You May Need to Trap Your Lost Cat!

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kids and cat that had to be trapped

“Sam” snuck out but stayed close to home and could not be snagged. His Mom borrowed a humane trap and Sam was finally captured

Until you have actually faced the situation, you may not realize that your lost cat will not come to you readily. Inside cats that end up lost outdoors are especially likely to be fearful. In a strange environment, with new smells and unfamiliar surroundings, they suddenly revert to their wild instincts. Even you, their cherished “human”,  provider of food and comfort, will be perceived as a threat by a nervous lost cat.

Here’s an account of such a situation by Shain. He had tried all the tricks we suggest on our Tips To Lure A Cat Back Home page without success.

Ok sorry to bother you but I wanted to let you know I came home from work and went searching again. Mitty must have been stalking me. I was about to call it a night and as I turned around to come back there she was. Terrified. Would not let me near her; kept growling and making a loud breathing sound right before she would hiss. I let her smell my hands and she let me pet her head. But when I grabbed her she scratched but I didn’t let go and when I brought her to my chest she didn’t scratch anymore. Once we got home she started to calm down but not completely. She ran straight to her food bowl and is now still in predator mode watching every move me, my wife or our other cat makes. She’s giving me the soft slow blink though so she’s calming down. Thank you so much for your help and I hope your page helps many more cat lovers find their babies.

Later Shain reported that the kitty hissed and even attacked if he got close, but as soon as he went to bed she jumped up on the bed with him and and ran up to his neck as she used to, curled up and went right to sleep. Finally she is back to her old self.

lost cat recovered

Mitty, back home!

Shain was fortunate that his kitty let her presence be known and he was brave enough to hold on even when she scratched. For others dealing with a cat that won’t come to you, you may have to consider setting a humane trap. You may be able to borrow a trap designed to catch cats from a local TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) group in your area, or from your local animal control. If you are in a remote or rural area.consider ordering a trap online or buy one from a tractor supply or farm store or even Walmart. You will find detailed instructions about trapping in many places online.

Moving Day Advice For Pet Owners

Lost and Found Pet Issues, Uncategorized, WARNINGS! - , , -
Cat on mantel

R.I.P. Josie

We are writing this at the request of the Josie’s family. It is a sad story but may help prevent another tragedy.

When Josie’s family moved from Ohio to Texas they had the movers pack for them. They did not want to stress Josie and their other cat by confining them all day so they were not shut up and Josie’s Mom monitored the open doors in case they should run out, although both cats were “inside” cats.

When the truck was packed and ready to leave Josie could not be found. The family was anguished and paid the movers extra to unload all the boxes they had just packed – open, inspect and reseal them. They were terrified that Josie had jumped in and been shut up. But Josie was not found in any of the boxes.

The family delayed their own departure as long as they could. A very kind and helpful neighbor borrowed a trap from Pet FBI and faithfully set it out every night in hopes that Josie had somehow slipped out of the house on moving day and could be caught. Meanwhile, days later, the moving truck arrived at the warehouse in the other state but the contents could not be delivered due to a delay in being able to occupy the new house. Josie’s parents who were anguished with worry even had a friend go to the warehouse and again inspect the boxes.

Hopes ran high when a cat resembling Josie was spotted in the old neighborhood. Finally after a week the cat was trapped and all were elated …. until it was confirmed that the cat that was finally trapped was not Josie.

Eventually, the family was able to take delivery of their household possessions and the father carefully inspected each item personally to spare his wife any unpleasant surprises.

This story does not have a happy ending. Josie was found dead on the shelf of a sewing cabinet where she had evidently hidden. The cabinet had been shrink-wrapped and thus sealed, Josie probably died of asphyxiation. The only consolation in all this is that it was a at least a gentle death. The family had feared that she would die of heat and thirst in the moving van.

Josie’s family has asked that we share her story in order to spare others a similar tragic experience. Confine your pets on moving day.

We would also add, in regard to moving, that when you arrive at your new home – do not let your pets out without supervision. It may take several weeks before a cat gets the lay of the land and the risk of getting lost is reduced. Pet FBI gets a great many reports of cats gone missing right after a move. In any case it is always safest to keep cats inside –  there are just too many hazards for a free-roaming cat.

Our heartfelt condolences to Josie’s family and the faithful neighbor who helped. Josie’s little feline companion is reportedly also grieving. The temptation to be overwhelmed by guilt is great, but Josie’s family should take comfort in knowing that they did everything possible to help Josie and that while she was with them she enjoyed the best life a cat can possibly have. That is so much more than 9 out of 10 cats born in our great country ever have.

Pet FBI Featured on WOSU / NPR “Tech Tuesday”

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Ann FisherThis morning our founder and Executive Director, Maresa Fanelli, was interviewed by Ann Fisher on Central Ohio’s National Public Radio affiliate, WOSU. “All Sides With Ann Fisher” examines topical issues and events in lively and informative interviews with an entertaining style.  Listeners participate via telephone, e-mail, Facebook and Twitter to add to the conversations. As always at WOSU, the coverage is fair and balanced with a civil tone.

Each Tuesday, the second hour of Ann’s broadcast is devoted to technology in today’s world. In her “Tech Tuesday” interview, Fanelli discussed the impact of the Google Ad Grant that Pet FBI was awarded.

Since its inception in 1998, Pet FBI has always depended on word of mouth to attract visitors. Fanelli explained the concept of pay-per-click and how the Google Ad Grant enables Pet FBI to come up at the top of online search results.  As more people post lost and found pet reports to one single central database, the better the chances of a successful reunion.

For people who have lost pets to connect online with those who have found them, there must be a “critical mass”.  Pet FBI  has been active in Ohio since 1998, and is well known. About 40% of Ohioans who submit a lost or found pet report eventually update the status to “reunited”. But it has only been two years since Pet FBI went national and scaled up the database, so the success rate nationally is less than 20%. But it is growing every day, and the Google ads are the major factor in that.

Fanelli also explained how petfbi.org works and how it is unique among the many lost and found pet web sites. For one thing users can do a well-defined, targeted search by timeframe and area. Moreover, Pet FBI keeps records for up to five years, unless the user inactivates it, which is a simple procedure. Perhaps most importantly, since Pet FBI is strictly non-commercial and non-profit, we can link to other sources of information online.

The problem with looking for a lost or found pet report online is that information is scattered everywhere. While Facebook and Craigslist are popular venues for posting lost pet reports, it is not possible to do a targeted search on those sites. Most other lost pet sites are for profit and charge a fee. Still, all-volunteer, not for profit Pet FBI has the largest, best designed and easiest to use of all the public lost pet databases online. Now with the Google Ad Grant we are closer to achieving our goal of getting more lost pets back home by consolidating the most information in a single central database.

Here’s a link to a podcast of our 15 minute opening segment on “All Sides With Ann Fisher – Tech Tuesday:

Tracing a Lost (or Found) Pet Online

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 Lost or found a pet?
This post is about using online resources.

Here is an example of a narrowly missed reunion due to the multiplicity of online resources:

10:23  Woman with missing dog posts this on the Pet FBI Ohio Facebook page

lost dog

 

10:26  Teresa, a  devoted Pet FBI Facebook follower finds a matching Found Dog report on the comprehensive  searchable  database at petfbi.org and posts it to Facebook:.

found dog report matching

Comments follow: Pooch is quickly recovered

comments FB

Teresa is a self-appointed Pet FBI “special agent”  who makes it a daily endeavor to “connect the dots” . Without her vigilance, the people who lost their dog might not have recovered it – at least not so quickly. All the while, there was a link on our Facebook page for our web site and database. If the Facebook poster had used it, she would have found her pooch’s Found Dog report without further ado! But the petfbi.org link is easily overlooked, especially since people who lose a pet are generally in a state of panic. The good Sams, in their turn, might have come across the Facebook post, but generally good Sams tend to be less less motivated.  Once they have posted a found report they expect that the owner will find it.

OBJECT LESSON: To recover your lost pet using web based information, you must be thorough and use all possible resources. We are here to say that the best place to start is the database at PetFBI.org because it is arguably the most comprehensive and the easiest to use. If this sounds like self-promotion, or bragging, we invite you to compare. You will find links to the most helpful online resources on our web page Other Online Resources..

Say your pet goes missing. Your first impulse  – using web based resources – is probably to post on your Facebook page and ask your friends to “share”. But you must not stop there!

You could use a search engine like Google with search terms like “I lost my dog, what should I do?” Or “lost pet website”. Then you probably find yourself confronted with a zillion results. Information about lost pets is scattered everywhere, not just on dedicated web sites, like Pet FBI, but also on Facebook pages, Craigslist, neighborhood sites, shelter sites, etc.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a single, central source of information, just as there is a central registry for stolen cars? If everybody used the same database, lost pets could be recovered quickly and efficiently. This could avert the traumatic – and risky – stay at the pound.

Realistically there will always be multiple sources of information about lost pets. One reason is that there is profit potential in offering various types of assistance for locating a lost pet. Your online search will yield numerous web based businesses. They offer – for a fee – to contact shelters, or neighbors via flyers, faxes, robo-calls, postcard mailings, etc. (For an analysis of the relative merits of pet finding contact services go to our page Other Online Resources.)

Our vision at Pet FBI is to attract as many lost and found reports as possible to optimize the chances of “losers” and “finders” connecting with each other. In Ohio where, after 18 years we have reached a critical mass of users, our success rate is about 40%. Since we only went national in May of 2014, the overall success rate is about half that. But still we have the largest of all lost and found pet databases and all features are FREE!  Most importantly, our web site provides links to other national databases and educates people about how to identify the most helpful online resources for their area.

The bottom line is that your success in recovering your lost pet through online resources is determined by knowledge of where to look and how thorough and persistent you are. It is not enough to use only one resource.

 

Senior Dog Reunited With Senior Dad Via Pet FBI Ohio

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Senior dog and Dad

Bear and his grateful Dad, happily reunited

Bear went missing in Ohio and was found by Good Sam Kait who posted on our Pet FBI Ohio Facebook page.

Nikki, one of our numerous followers, remembered that her uncle had helped a senior citizen search for a lost dog the day before. She informed her uncle who fortunately had made note of the Dad’s phone number.

Bear’s Dad had never heard of Facebook and did not understand how  “the FBI” was involved. Hehe! But thanks to the wonders of modern technology and our dedicated Admin, Char, Bear and his Dad are back together again.

Miracle Reunion For Lost Ferret

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ferret and family

Stella the ferret, happily reunited thanks to Pet FBI Ohio Facebook!

As reported by our Pet FBI Ohio Facebook admin, Char:

“HOORAY for Stella from the Columbus area!!

Please file this under MIRACLE along with the importance of posting your lost or found pet on our page yourself.

Stella’s Mom posted her lost ferret on the side of our page yesterday. Good Sam Kathleen posted this morning that she spotted a ferret in her yard and was wondering if anyone was missing it.

A magical reunion eventually transpired thanks to both the pet finder and the pet owner posting on the Visitor Posts area of our page!

Good Sam’s family and Stella’s Mom searched 3 acres of wooded area for 2 hours. Everyone searching was astonished to receive word from a kiddo indoors that Stella showed up on the deck and he snagged her. Yay Kiddo!”

“Baby” is Home From the Vet

Happy Tails, Lost and Found Pet Issues, WARNINGS! - , , , , , , , -
Girl and emaciated dog

Baby and Bri – on the first day of his new life

A few posts back we reported on a poor emaciated pooch with what looked like a huge tumor on his side. Thanks to the compassion and generosity of a good Sam, a 16 year old girl with a big heart and the “kindness of strangers” – the many Pet FBI Ohio Facebook friends who donated to help him get proper vet care, “Baby” has begun the rest of his new, transformed life with a caring, loving family.

The big mass on his side was an abscess not a tumor, it has been drained and Baby is much younger than he appears, about three years of age. Here are some exchanges from our Facebook page:

From the Mom of his the 16 year old gal who rescued him:

“Baby is home with us. Brianna and Jordan pick him up this evening. He has a lot of recovering to do, but we made a promise to him to have the best life from this point on. God chose us to care for him by sending him to Bri. She loves him completely. He is such a sweet, gentle, and loving little guy. They are curled up sleeping together now.”

A concerned comment from Julie, a Pet FBI Ohio Facebook friend:
“So glad he is safe and loved by your family! I hope the vet gave you instructions on how to feed him and put weight back on in a very controlled manor. These emaciated dogs are very prone to bloating/torsion of the stomach. It happens if they eat too fast or too much at once. It can kill a dog within a hour. Please Google symptoms of bloat so you know what to look for. The symptoms are not obvious. It sounds like he is in good hands with you all.”

From Bri’s Mom: “Julie, ty so much for the info. Bri wrote down everything the vet told her to make sure she wouldn’t hurt him in the process of trying to help him. She has a food/calorie intake set up on her phone so she can keep track of it.”

From Bri: “The vet went over feeding schedule with me and informed me how many kcal to feed him, when to increase it, how much to increase it, etc.“

Our hearts and prayers go out to Baby, to Bri and to their whole family.

A WARNING TO GOOD SAMS:
If you find a companion animal that is obviously starving, please seek vet care immediately as Bri did. Do not give feed it too much too quickly. You can harm a starving animal with only the best of intentions. It is OK to give water in small amounts at intervals.

Persistence Pays – The Story of Recovering a Lost Cat

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Today we received a thank you message from a woman named Rosanna. She used our cat attracting tips and sheer dogged (why don’t people say”catted”?) persistence to recover her lost cat. Here is the story in her own words:

I lost my cat in Astoria Oregon on May 6th at 6pm at the Astoria Oregon Co-op grocery store.

cat in repose

Stella

I am from Seattle Washington but I have a vacation home in Gearhart Oregon, about 25 minutes away from the co-op where  I stopped  to buy groceries. I did not notice it at the time, but my cat Stella jumped from my car when I was loading the groceries.

When I got to my home in Gearhart, I was horrified to discover that Stella was missing from my car! I immediately went back to Astoria with my friends and looked everywhere for Stella.

The neighborhood around the co-op helped a great deal as did the employees of the grocery store.The local public radio station KMUN 91.9 began broadcasting announcements about Stella being lost.

In the meantime I was given your website from my daughter who lost her cat in Columbus Ohio.  I followed your advice and began doing all the things you recommended.

I got up at dawn,  went to Astoria and began searching for Stella and looking everywhere in the vicinity of the co-op. I scoured the community and put flyers everywhere and talked to many people. They were so helpful. I went to the area dawn and dusk. I printed flyers, put them up with her photo and posted on local FB pages.

I went every night to the co-op. I parked in the same place where I had lost her. I put out her scratch pad, cushion and a towel with my scent on it. I put out sardines and smelly tuna fish, to lure her back to the front of the store. I did this every day!

Items to lure a cat back

Items left to lure Stella out of hiding: her scratch pad, tuna, towel with Rosanna’s scent

I did not sleep at night. I was pretty exhausted and depressed. Stella is like a member of our family. She is very important to my youngest daughter who is a freshman in college. I had to find her!

I did this for four days and nights. On the fourth night I got a call from the Clatsop County Animal Shelter saying they had a sighting of her. I went to the spot, talked to the people and left photos and food.

I thought to swing by the co-op to see if there was any activity. There were sightings of Stella at night around 9:30. Then I saw two employees by the dumpster. They recognized me. They said they had heard a cat meow…they closed the gates of the fenced garbage area  and Stella came came out!!!!! We could not believe it!

woman and lost cat after recovery

Stella and Rosanna, happily reunited

I followed your advice and even went further and tried to be there waiting for her. The lesson I learned was not to give up – you were right – cats do not go far from where they are lost.

Thank you for your helpful advice. It worked!  I reached out to the community and they helped so much!  But it was by being tenacious that I found Stella.

Thank you, PET FBI!

Warmly,

Rosanna

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