Abby, home again!
This darling pooch went missing near a strip mall where there is a pet supply store. Abby’s Mom posted a lost report to the Pet FBI database and also messaged our Facebook Administrator, Char. Char advised Mom to use the Pet FBI flyer template and take it to the pet supply store. Good thing because an employee had found Abby the night before!
OBJECT LESSON: When your pet goes missing create and distribute flyers in the immediate area ASAP.
Remi and his little “sister”, Isabella
Remi went missing in a rural area and his family was worried sick because it was hunting season and Remi could be mistaken for a deer! They posted to our Pet FBI Ohio Facebook page.
Days later he ended up in a Humane Society shelter in Madison County, many miles away and was posted on their Facebook page as a found dog. Thanks to Amanda, one of Pet FBI Ohio Facebook’s “special agents”, she connected the two just hours later and Remi is back home safe.
Note: Pet FBI “Special Agents” are unofficial volunteers who cross-post and cross-check lost and found reports and have been responsible for many happy reunions. You can act as a special agent for your area, too!
OBJECT LESSON:
1. Dogs can travel fast and far, Check for reports well beyond your immediate area.
2. Use as many sources of information as you can to post and search lost and found reports. Ideally everybody should post to a single, central, efficiently searchable database like PetFBI.org. Realistically, you need to cast a wide net and research various Facebook pages, Craigslist and other online resources as suggested on Pet FBI’s advice page.
Oliver is now “grounded” after being recovered a month later, eight miles from home through Pet FBI Automatic Alerts!
This is a message from someone helped by Pet FBI.
Hello,
I can’t thank you enough for your service that you provide! On September 23, 2015, our company’s cat “Dash” was reported as missing. Dash roams the grounds of Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) in central Ohio during the day, and is taken inside at night. When it was time to come in that night, there was no sign of Dash. He is very well cared for, including his vet visits and collar, but he had lost his collar and it had not been replaced.
Back on the job!
I am an employee of CAS and was devastated when I learned he was missing a full week after it happened! I immediately started to brainstorm how we could bring him home. I posted a lost report on Pet FBI the day I found out, and ironically, Bryan, a fellow co-worker, found my posting and contacted me about Dash. We began to work together to locate him. I created a lost cat poster, and my co-worker put them up in the neighborhood around our property. On Sunday, October 11th, a neighbor contacted CAS and said that he had been in their care, and he is now home!
Dash is such a loving and wonderful creature, and he provided many services to the Employees of CAS, including love and stress relief. Thanks for your services to help find our pets! Without it, I am not sure that my co-worker and I would have found each other to help solve this!
Thank you, thank you!
Sincerely,
Molly
CAS Employee
Mason’s Dad posted his lost dog’s picture to our database and our Pet FBI Ohio Facebook page. Char, our Facebook Ohio Administrator suggested he check the shelter. He let us know he struck out there. Char then posted Mason to our main timeline. Within 20 
minutes “Alma” left a comment that she had just seen the dog at a certain intersection. Char, who somehow manages to stay on top of numerous reports, immediately called Dad to alert him to the sighting. Phone went straight to voice mail. Fortunately Char pursued the matter, texted the sighting tip and got an immediate reply. Mason’s Dad and his wife drove separately to the area to search. About 15 minutes later he texted Char to let her know they had their guy! Thanks to Alma for her tip and to Char for being persistent and conscientious.
OBJECT LESSON:
1. Sightings can be important! Please post!
2. If you have a report out on a missing pet try to keep your phone covered at all times. What if texting were not an option? Most people will phone first – it’s fastest and most convenient. In a sighting situation, minutes matter! A dog can travel far and fast in very little time.
A miracle reunion! Our good Sam, Thleese, found this sweet pooch and immediately posted to our Pet FBI Ohio Facebook page. She could not keep him so she called the dog warden who came, scanned for a microchip and ….FOUND ONE! Dad could not believe his eyes when he found the notice on his door. Sammy had been missing for five years!
Ironically, “Auntie Diane” shared his found post the same day, not realizing it was her brother’s very own long lost dog. Thanks to Auntie Diane for this great reunion photo.
Sammy and Dad
OBJECT LESSON: Microchips are not fail-safe! People have to be aware that there is such a thing and have a found pet scanned. Obviously someone found Sammy the first time he was lost and has been taking care of him probably not realizing all along that he could have been reunited.
Another Happy Reunion
Thanks to Pet FBI Ohio Facebook
This 10 year old Boston Terrier named “ABK” had been missing for about a week when his Dad posted to Facebook/PetFBI Ohio.
Super sleuth Teresa and her niece Cara immediately launched into action researching other sources of information and came up with a match on Craigslist. However, when the Good Sam “Mindy” was contacted she insisted it could not be the same dog because ABK was described as having a microchip and the dog she had found did not register a microchip when scanned. Char, our ace Facebook administrator was persistent however, and reasoned that in 10 years, a microchip may have migrated. So the family went to see the dog who had been found and a happy reunion ensued!
OBJECT LESSON:
1. Utilize all possible sources of information to post and to search
2. Do not discount a possible match because one piece of information does not fit
3. Microchips are not foolproof!
This darling Pomeranian was found in an area of Columbus Ohio known as German Village. This neighborhood has its own Facebook page and they posted to Pet FBI. Lily’s Mom found her by using the Facebook search box and inputting “Found Pomeranian Columbus”. And there was the post! This is a great tip. We will add it to our advice page.
So if you need to research lost and found pets in your area, just follow the example above to pinpoint information posted on Facebook quickly! But please note – it is critical to use the precise search terms.
Franco: Reunited after two+ months
Franco went missing in June. He slipped away from a cat-sitting friend. Needless to say it was pretty distressing for all concerned.
Fast forward five or six weeks. A Good Sam noticed him. He was so shy she thought he must be feral. Thank God for this Good Sam! She was persistent and after three weeks finally caught him using a humane trap. She took him to a vet to be scanned for a chip. No chip – but the vet told her about the Pet FBI database. He wasn’t in bad shape so she checked the last two months, July and August. No match. Then she checked June. SCORE!!! He was found only a few blocks from where he went missing.
Object Lesson:
1. You may need to trap in order to catch a stray.
2. Persistence pays!
3. Most cats are found quite close to home.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: Most lost pets are reunited through a shelter.
REALITY CHECK: Relatively few strays are reclaimed before being euthanized or adopted out to others.
What is the recovery rate for stray dogs in shelters?
According to the ASPCA “About twice as many animals enter shelters as strays compared to the number that are relinquished by their owners. [2/3 vs. 1/3]” But only 17-30% of dogs are ever reclaimed by their owner. (See the ASPCA’s page on Shelter Statistics https://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics)
What is the recovery rate for stray cats in shelters?
For cats the stats are truly appalling – only 2 – 5% of cats ever get reclaimed.
(See The Humane Society of the United States site: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html ) In major metropolitan areas like Columbus, OH, for example, the numbers may even be worse. Of the 6,000+ cats taken in by Franklin County’s only open admission shelter in calendar year 2014, only 27 were successfully reunited and half of those only because they had a microchip.
Why is the recovery rate so low?
Given the odds against people getting to the shelter during that very small window of time when their pet might still be there, it is little wonder that the recovery rate is so low. Dogs have a better chance because they get picked up sooner and most states have laws requiring a minimum holding period for dogs. It may only be a few days or weeks for dogs, but in most states there is no mandated holding period for cats. In “kitten season” it is not unusual for a cat turned in to a shelter to be euthanized the same day. There is simply no holding space in adoption wards already full of more adoptable kittens.
What can be done to help people recover their lost pets in shelters?
If there were a generally accepted protocol for shelters of posting all strays to a public database it would save a lot of lives. This would spare people the trouble of having to get to one or more shelters almost every day when often the shelters are located on the other side of town and are only open at certain hours. Many sensitive people dread going to shelters and having to look at all those little faces knowing many if them are doomed.
Why Don’t Shelters Post Their Lost Pet Intakes?
Few shelters take advantage of available recent technology to post their intakes. Some shelter management software products have a module that facilitates posting lost pet intakes to the net, but they are usually very expensive and far out of reach for private humane societies. Fortunately, there are some free public databases that any shelter could use, including PetFBI.org. Which is strictly non-commercial and absolutely free, but there is a reluctance on the part of shelters to post stray intakes. The reason given is that they don’t want to invite “shopping”. Apparently there are people with dishonest motives who will claim a purebred dog, for example, with the intention of re-selling it. Or they will claim a breed of dog perceived as a “fighting” breed with the intention of fighting it. (Dog fighting is a cruel “sport” that is much more widespread than imagined.) But I find it hard to accept this reason as an obstacle to not posting strays. Surely, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks and people who claim an impounded animal have to pay a redemption fee. It is unlikely the same person would claim a pet fraudulently more than once.
How would posting lost pets to a public database help shelters?
A necessary condition of course would be that people know they can look online without having to call or come to the shelter. It would still be necessary to come in whenever there is a likely match, but people would be less likely to give up too soon. This would also ease things for shelters. If more of their “stray” intakes were reclaimed, it would lower their euthanasia rate, increase their adoption rate, and save them the trouble of dealing with repeated phone calls and visitors needing to go through the holding areas. Of course, there will always be some cases where it is absolutely necessary to go to the shelter (s). Many lost pets look so much alike.
Why Is There No Single Central Database?
Just as there is a national database for stolen cars, ideally, there would be one central database for lost and found pets. But realistically, this will never happen. There are multiple lost and found pet sites and most of them are for profit. Some offer useful contact services, like postcard mailings to many neighbors. Others offer services of dubious value like robo-calling or contacting shelters (You need to GO there in person!). Unfortunately a number of the online lost and found pet services are really just out to make a quick buck by exploiting people’s desperation. (This is possibly another factor why shelters are wary of online lost and found pet databases.)
What is a good resource for people who have lost or found a pet and for shelters? In 1998, Pet FBI was set up as a public database for individuals and shelters to use. Over the past 17 years it has evolved into the best designed and easiest to use public database online, strictly non-commercial and free. Pet families and Good Samaritans can readily connect before the stray needs to be turned into the shelter. There are many people who are hesitant to take a stray to the shelter because of the risks for the animal. Yet, the shelter is the obvious place a pet owner would look for their lost pet so shelters should have someone dedicated to searching reports of lost pets online. There are numerous sources of information besides the various databases. There are Facebook pages, Craigslist and newspaper classifieds. Even Twitter and Instagram are possible sources of information. Unfortunately, with the current state of affairs, anyone who has lost or found a pet needs to turn over many stones.
However, our experience with Pet FBI has shown that by achieving a critical mass of users reunion rates in excess of 35% for cats and 50% for dogs can be achieved. This is our documented success rate in Ohio where we have been helping people recover lost pets since 1998. In May of 2014 we overhauled the Pet FBI web site and database to service the entire United States and Puerto Rico. Already we have the largest database of lost and found pets anywhere online. (Just do a random comparative search!) Our national success rate is about 20% and growing steadily. In addition to the database we have comprehensive advice and contact information for other reliable resources. There is a great new feature: Once you post a report you will automatically be notified of any new potentially matching reports for 90 days. This system of automatic alerts is unique to Pet FBI.
Please help us save lives and by urging your local shelter to take advantage of this free resource. If they don’t want to use the Pet FBI database to post intakes, they should at least refer individuals to it.
More users = more happy reunions!
