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Pet Action League - How To Protect Your Pets Now
Safeguard your pets before they are lost by following the common-sense tips below. Ensure that YOU can be located if your pet is found. Always keep a collar on your pet with a tag that has your CURRENT PHONE NUMBER on it. Always have a CURRENT rabies tag and pet license tag attached to your pet's collar. You can be found by the number on the tags. ( If you put a collar on a cat, it must be elasticized or break-away. Do not make it too tight or too loose. You should be able to slip your little finger comfortably underneath.) The collar and phone tag are the most important form of ID you can have for your pet. However, pets can lose collars while on the streets. For real security, a backup is needed. (See next two items.) Talk to your vet about a microchip implant. A chip provides positive and reliable identification for your pet and most modern shelters scan animals for this ID device. Find out which brand of chip is prevalent in your area and go with that one. If you have a choice, we like the HomeAgainTM microchips. The HomeAgain TM microchip is distributed by Schering-Plough Animal Health. The American Kennel Club maintains a nationwide database of these microchip numbers. The chip is constructed in a way that tends to prevent migration from the injection site. Call (800) 234/6373 to find a Vet near you who offers this product. Also ask your vet about pet tattoos. We don't like tattoos as well as we do microchips, but they also provide positive identification if done correctly. A tattoo is often very difficult to read because hair has grown over it and/or the lost animal is frightened and will not allow inspection. If you do use a tattoo, we feel that the best place to apply it is on t he inner thigh. Pet thieves have been known to cut off a tattooed ear! More about rabies tags. It is absolutely vital that your pet have a CURRENT rabies tag on it at all times! If a county happens to be under a "Rabies Alert" or a "Rabies Quarantine" and your pet is picked up without a current rabies tag, they WILL kill your loved one! It's a public health issue, so you will have no recourse. Pet proof your yard fence so your cat or dog will be safely confined. Be sure to check your fence regularly for new escape routes. Keep fence gates securely locked. This is for the safety of both your pet and any visitors (wanted or unwanted). Never allow your pets to roam free in the neighborhood. Leash them at all times. The Pet FBI would add that stolen pets are much more common than people think. We get numerous reports from people whose pets were missing from a fenced yard. NEVER NEVER leave your pet unattended.Always transport a cat in a carrier. Never take your cat to the Vet or anywhere else unless it is secured. A carried cat can bolt and hide if frightened by loud noises. When a cat is frightened in strange surroundings, especially with traffic noise around, it will hide and will not come to you. The same goes for dogs. Always leash them when taking them anywhere. If a dog gets loose in an unfamiliar area its chances of ever finding its way home are practically nil. Get some good photos of your pet now, before it's too late. Take close-up shots so that details show up well. Keep taking shots until you get a few good ones that really look like your pet. Most snapshots of pets look like any other cat or dog. You want your photos to be unique and your pet to be unmistakable. These photos will be invaluable to you later if your pet is ever lost. Train your pet (cat or dog) to associate an "Acme Dog Whistle" with pleasant things. Blow the whistle each time just before you feed them. They will then be more likely to come running to you when you use the whistle to find them when they are lost. And, finally, spay or neuter your pets!!! Both males and females will be much less likely to wander if they are "fixed." An added benefit is that they will live a longer, happier. PET FBI would add that neutered pets are less vulnerable to theft by "backyard breeders".PET FBI thanks the Pet Action League for this page. We refer our visitors to their excellent web site: www.petrescue.com |