Venice Cat Coalition

We have put together a suggested plan of action to help you in case your pet gets lost. These tips are based on our experience of helping to bring thousands of American pets back to their owners and families. We hope they are useful for you.

Prevention is the best intervention. We hope you never need the following tips compiled by your PetLink Team. But just in case...

Remember the "Three Rs of Locating a Lost Pet:"

1. Remain Calm
2. Report & Review
3. Recover

Remain Calm

• Take a deep breath and know that you have the protection of a PetLink microchip and registration on your side. Make sure you have your PetLink login details

Report & Review

• Log into your PetLink account and complete a lost pet report
• Review your PetLink contact information and update if needed
• Print PetLink lost pet posters, as many as 200, and BE SPECIFIC: mention any special markings your pet may have, where and when your pet was lost, medical conditions, etc. Words such as "family pet" and "reward" (but don’t indicate an amount) tend to motivate people. Avoid terms like "show dog," "breed dog," "rescue dog," etc. that may indicate monetary value.
  (Note: We recommend using a laser printer, photocopier or even laminated pages for posting outside. Avoid using inkjet printers for outside posters as the ink tends to run.)

Recovery

• Mobilize a team of family, friends, and/or neighbors and canvas a two-mile radius of your home. (It's important to do this within the first two hours of your pet going missing. Ideally, you should combine this with "report and review"—have one person log into PetLink and start making phone calls while another person immediately starts canvassing the neighborhood.)
• Begin posting & distributing your lost pet posters while you canvas the neighborhood. Leave them with neighbors, veterinarian practices, shelters, neighborhood parks etc.
• Bring a favorite toy or treat. Often pets respond to the sound of a toy or a favorite word like "treat."
• Contact local shelters, veterinary offices, Humane Society, and Police departments
• Extend your search if needed. Attach posters to high visibility areas, even those beyond a two mile radius of where your pet went missing such as gas stations, grocery stores, parks, etc. Remember to also include delivery drivers such as FedEx and UPS or other "regulars" in the neighborhood and surrounding areas including bikers, walkers and joggers

Cautionary Tips:

Although we're here to help protect your pet, we're also concerned with your safety too. Protect yourself from scams and unscrupulous people who seek to take advantage of you in a vulnerable state.

• Avoid calls asking for money or train, bus or air fare
• Always meet in a public place and never go alone
• Before calling off a search, verify that a found pet is, in fact, yours

Stay hopeful. In a study of US Animal shelters, cats with registered microchips were over 20 times more likely to get back home and dogs with registered microchips were more than twice as likely to be reunited with their families.

Sincerely,
Your PetLink Team