Missing People vs. Lost Pets – How the Search Differs

When a person gets lost, 911 is contacted and the person’s family receives sympathy and support. Assistance is offered whether it’s asked for or not! When it comes to losing pets, things seem different. Here’s some of what happens when a pet is lost. How do you think each examples compares to lost people? 

1. There is no “911”. Instead there are locations like pounds, rescue groups, or humane societies where a found pet could end up. 

2. Pet owners usually experience a form of grief that’s unacceptable to others. In other words they can be shunned by friends and family who don’t care that much about animals and tell the pet owner to “get over it.” 

3. Typically, the pet owner is blamed and considered irresponsible for their pet running lose even if it was an accident beyond their control. 

4. When a lost dog is found, it’s common that the rescuer self-adopts the pet or turns it over to an organization that will find the dog a new home without making effort to find the original owner. 

5. When a pet is lost, there’s no one to call or to assist in the search effort. 

6. Burden is on the pet owner to take action to find their lost pet and relying on people who are untrained in lost pet behavior or in the differences of how to search for a missing dog vs. a missing cat is a major contributing factor to the homeless pet population. 

7. Assistance is usually refused when a pet owner calls and asks someone to come out and help them search for their missing pets. 

8. No nonprofit has existed for the purpose of missing pet education or in developing lost pet services. 

9. Reasoning is rarely used when searching for lost pets. Untrained owners follow gut instincts and use no reasoning and do everything from stapling dirty underwear to trees to leaving a scent trail for their pet to follow. Basically they use acts of desperation. 

10. Microchip systems are in place that could be used to identify pets but only a small amount of pet owners use them. 

11. Animal Control Officers do NOT scan a carcass they find on the road for microchips and neither do road crews. 

12. The problem of “homeless pets” is only being addressed through aggressive spay/neuter education for unwanted dogs and cats. However, there are many reasons why pets become homeless, including lost pets that are never found.

Lost Cats – Collars, Tags, and Tatoos

There are a number of methods that cat owners can use to identify their beloved pets, from collars and harnesses with engraved tags to more permanent solutions such as tattoos. There are pros and cons to each so we’ll take a look!

Collars and Tags 

Collars come in a wide variety of colors, materials, and styles as do the identification tags they hold. In towns requiring registration, collars and tags are sometimes mandatory just like some places that require rabies vaccinations for cats. ID tags should contain the owner’s name, phone number, and the veterinarian’s phone number. 

Pros and Cons:

• Inexpensive, easily available, and do not have to be installed by a professional.
• The information you can put on an ID tag is limited because of the small size.
• Can easily be removed by someone who wants to steal your cat.
• Must be replaced as the collar wears out.
• Some cats just don’t like collars.
• Collars can cause issues in the fur of long-haired cats. 

Tattooing 

Tattoos can be placed either on the inner leg of the cat or inside of the outer portion of the ear. Both methods will require shaving. Tattooing is usually associated with a registry which assigns a number and keeps the information on file for the cat associated with the number. There are several registries so the finder of a lost cat may be confused as to which registry to call. Tattoos should be administered by a trained specialist. 

Pros and Cons:

• Permanent but may fade over time and become illegible.
• Doesn’t take a long time to administer to the cat.
• The tattoo registries themselves don’t move but there are multiple registries which make locating an owner more difficult.
• May lessen the possibility of theft
• Can be altered by someone that really intends to steal the cat.
• A tattooed kitten will grow and so will the tattoo so it might become disfigured over time
• Many people don’t even think to look for a tattoo on a lost cat.
• Anesthesia is required to administer a tattoo – this could be dangerous to an older or sick cat. 

Whatever you choose, it’s important to choose something. All pets need an identity. It does no good for a stranger to find your cat only to be unable to locate you. Proper identification of cats can greatly increase their odds of going home.

Trailing Dogs 101

Trailing dogs are trained to track the scent trail of lost dogs. In their training they are often cross-trained to track the scent of other animals that can travel great distances such as horses, ferrets, and even cats under certain circumstances. 

Many different breeds can be trained in the method of trailing. Trailing dogs are trained to follow scent trails left by a missing animal that’s moved out of the area. This will be scent that has become airborne, settled on the ground, or attached itself to plants. The scent also can be concentrated in certain areas if the animal remained in one area long enough and created a “scent pool.” 

Trailing dogs don’t usually make “walk-up finds.” Yet they often provide critical information such as a direction of travel that can result in other resources making the actual find. Trailing dogs can find the path of a missing dog and help in developing witnesses who can provide more information as to the direction of travel. They can provide a direction of travel and help the pet owner know which direction their dog initially went, thus helping them know where to place their missing pet posters. Only in cases where they are called out within hours will they likely catch up to a lost dog.

There are two instances where a trailing dog is used to search for a lost cat. One, the cat is an indoor-only cat that escaped outdoors or tow, is an outdoor-access cat that was lost in unfamiliar territory. Trailing dog shouldn’t be used to search for an outdoor cat that goes missing in its own home area is that the cat will have created one giant scent pool, making it very difficult and confusing for a trailing dog to pick up a trail. Cat scent pools are usually easy for detection or specific scent dogs to work, but it’s too overwhelming of a task for a trailing dog. But when a cat is lost in an unfamiliar spot, a trailing dog can usually pick up a single scent trail.

 The best dogs chosen to train as trailing dogs are dogs that love to play with other dogs. A dog that takes an intense interest in other dogs, has a curiosity to use its nose on the ground and follow ground scent, and goes crazy when another dog runs away and hides are the best candidates.