lost a pet? | found a pet? | avoid loosing a pet

Pet Finding Tips

News Flash!!! You can now have your pet microchipped, all shelters in Delaware now have the scanning capabilities for microchips. If you are not familiar with a microchip call your veterinarian or contact Delaware Humane in Wilmington or you local shelter for more information. It is permanent identification.

If you have lost a pet:

Follow these simple steps to help recover your pet. Most of all DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE!.

• First, think about the tags your pet was wearing, and call the appropriate agencies. For example, if your pet was wearing a tag with a shelter phone number, call that shelter; if your pet was wearing a vaccination tag, call the veterinarian that inoculated your pet; and call Lost & Found of Delmarva to notify us about your missing pet so that I might be alerted if anyone calls who has found your pet.

• Second, call the local animal shelters. Give the shelter a full description of your pet. *IMPORTANT - keep calling; call every day to see if your pet has been picked up. Most shelters do not log every call and you are likely not to speak to the same person twice. To be even more assured, go to the animal shelters in person. Many pets can be mis-described and never identified by the owner over the phone. Here is a list of the shelters you might try:
  • S.P.C.A. Sussex County - (302) 856-6361
  • S.P.C.A. Kent County - (302) 734-7029
  • S.P.C.A. Stanton Rt. 7 - (302) 998-2281
  • Humane Society of Worcester Co. - (410) 213-0146
  • Humane Society of Wicomico County
    5130 Citation Drive, Salisbury, MD 21804
    Ph: 410/749-7603 Fax: 410/543-0756
    · E-Mail: HSWC
  • or go to the national directory of shelters at www.aspca.org

• Third, prepare a flyer giving only a physical description of your pet. Do not give the name of the pet (it may not answer to its name when it is lost and frightened); do not give any behavioral information (behavior changes dramatically when a pet is lost); do not give exact location lost (it is not a question of how far your pet will travel on its own - what often happens is that people who find a stray take it to their home quite distance away, and then they either put it out again or it gets out. Your pet can be anywhere!; also keep in mind that 40% of pets recovered are lost with a collar and are found with no collar or a different one.

• If you have a photo of your pet, try making one copy. If the copy depicts your pet accurately, then use it. If not, then using it can do more harm than good. To get the best results have the photo scanned and put it on a flyer. It will look alot more accurate than a photo copy. Lost & Found of Delmarva has this capability, if you would like to have this done for a nominal fee contact us via e-mail: [ lostnfound@mgrafix.com ] or phone: [ (302) 436-9471 ]. If you already have the photo in digital format (.jpg or .pic or .gif file) you upload the listing directly to Lost & Found of Delmarva.

• Write the word REWARD on top of the flyer in large print, and your phone number on the bottom. If you think your pet was stolen, do not indicate that because the person a stolen pet is most often recovered from, had nothing to do with theft, and you will scare them off. DO NOT even say, "no questions asked."

• Make a list, using the yellow pages of all veterinarians, animal hospitals, pet shops, grooming shops, and any other facilities listed under pets. Visit each facility, carry your own roll of masking tape, and ask permission to hang up a flyer. Whenever possible do not leave it for them to do. One flyer put up in one veterinary office, will be seen by 30 to 40 animal owners a day - and it is animal owners that will take in strays. Lost & Found of Delmarva offers a blast fax service for the Sussex County, Delaware, Wicomico & Worcester Counties of Maryland. We will fax a flyer regarding your pet for 50¢ per location.
• Other excellent places to post flyers are
  • Convenience stores and gas stations
  • Food stores
  • Schools
  • Banks
  • Post offices
• People who you should give your flyer to:

• Trainers...both dog and horse trainers may be willing to help.
  
• Farriers...if your dog is out in the country with someone, farriers can help to keep open eyes on farms and ranches that may have dogs not visible from the road.
  
• Schools...ask the principal of any area schools if you can give a flyer to each teacher to show the class. Kids are great at spotting dogs.
  
• Delivery people and agencies
  
• Gas and Oil Delivery
  
• Postal employees (post one in post office lobbies too, and ask if one can be posted at the time clocks of the employees)
  
• Florists
  
• UPS offices and delivery employees
  
• Road crews and construction workers
  

• As you travel, look for community bulletin board sin shopping enters, churches, synagogues, or anywhere else that you can post a notice of general interest. Also put flyers on the streets at busy intersections. (Be sure to remove these signs once your pet is found.

• In the morning, go to the location your pet was lost with a pen and pad. Write down the company name of services making deliveries at that hour. Some examples are bread, milk and newspaper delivery services. Call the dispatch offices for those companies, give them a description of your pet and ask that they alert their drivers. Most pets recovered while still on the street, are found during the quiet early morning hours and then hide when the tempo picks up. If possible, follow up with a flyer.

• After you have done a through job of postering, follow up your earlier phone call with a visit to the municipal shelter for your area. Even if the shelter told you they do not have any animal fitting the description of yours right now, or that they well call your if one comes in, or even that they did not pick up any strays since your pet was lost, you must visit the facility. If you do not visit the shelter, you are jeopardizing the life of your pet!!

• Don't be discouraged! If you follow these suggestions we have given you, there is every reason to believe that your pet will be recovered. But it often takes time, and almost always takes hard work. When you do call back, let the Lost & Found of Delmarva know that you have read this information.

If you have found a pet:

• Follow the same general guidelines for a lost pet.

• Call or e-mail Lost & Found of Delmarva to give a description of the pet you found. Call the S.P.C.A. and fill out a "found dog report"

• Realize that SPCA shelters will put to sleep many stray animals within 10 days if the animal is not claimed. This window frame of time is even shorter if the animal is not collared and does not have its vaccination tags. Delaware shelters kill 15,000-20,000 animals per year. So don't think they will hold the dog or cat indefinately. For dogs or cats that might be pure bred I suggest trying this list of breed rescues that may take the dog or cat.

How to avoid loosing a pet:

• Make sure your pet has his/her tags on at all times. If your pet is an escape artist, get him/her a harness. they have to be Houdini to get out of one of those. They are comfortable and safe for your pet. It may save their life. 95% of all pets that are lost without identification do not return home. 95% of all pets that are lost with identification do return home.
• If you move locations, make sure your pet is well supervised outside during the first 3 months of relocation. Many pets are strange to the surroundings and may get confused by the new scents.
• If you are having someone watch your pet while you are away, and it is not at your home. Make sure the pet-sitter is extremely careful if the animal is let outside. The animal is already confused by your absence and can easily be led astray from strange surroundings.
• Never let your pet run loose in an area that you are not familiar with.

You can save thousands of lives by neutering just one animal.

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