Do you know what to do if your pet gets lost? Or if you find a lost pet?

Leslie Poole, Executive Director of Pet FBI, shares the history of Pet FBI, how to utilize the services or the organization, and what we can do as pet owners to increase the chances of reuniting with our pets.

For more information, visit www.petfbi.org.

Hi, and welcome to the Animal Welfare Junction.

This is your host, Dr.

G, and our music is written and produced by Mike Sullivan.

Today we have a great topic.

We're going to find out how to increase the chances of getting our

animals back if they are lost, and to talk about that we have a special

guest, Leslie Poole from PET FBI.

Welcome Leslie and thank you for joining us.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Can you first start by letting people know about you, who you

are, about your background and what brought you to where you are today?

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, so I'm the executive director of PET F B I.

I joined PET F B I in 2017.

Um, my background is in nonprofit administration and fundraising.

Um, but always had a love of animals.

Um, always had pets, um, and, you know, had a couple, uh, Go missing

and felt that terrible fear of not being able to locate my pet.

Um, so Marisa Fanelli actually is the founder of PET F B I and she started it

back in 1998, and so we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year.

And so in 2017 she was ready to retire.

Uh, she's still very involved with us and still sits on our board

of directors, but she was looking for a replacement right about the

time I was looking to do something different as well on a volunteer side.

Um, and so we connected, um, actually through my son who does our web design

and our database building and all of that.

And, um, it was, it felt like a great fit.

And so I joined the organization in 2017 and I've been there ever since.

This is such a great service because when I was in veterinary school,

I had a cat and my cat went missing, and this was before this existed.

So I'm freaking out not knowing what to do, and I'm trying to make flyers

and I'm trying to figure out what, and computers, like the internet

was not used that widely back then.

So something like this would've given me a great peace of mind.

And in the end, my cat just ran out of the house and hid in the bushes

and sat there for like, 10 hours until I went outside and found him.

So it was thankfully a, a pretty quick and easy reunion.

But I know firsthand that fear that you get when you can't find your

pet and you go outside and you call them and they're not coming, and

you just find yourself so helpless.

So let's let people know how your organization works.

So let's start with the basics.

What does PET FBI stand for?

Pet FBI stands for pets found by Internet.

Um, when Marisa founded the organization back in 1998, it was, um, you know,

the very beginnings of the internet.

So not everybody had home computers, they were just kind of getting started.

Um, but she definitely saw, uh, a gap in services where there was just

no central place to post a lost pet.

Um, and she had the experience of losing a pet at the time.

Realized that there was no one place to go.

It was a cat.

Cats don't always end up at the shelter with a whole, you know, cats.

Are very different from dogs when they go missing.

Mm-hmm.

Um, so the whole process is different.

And so that's why she formed PET F B I, um, which is a central database.

So anybody can go online and post a lost or a found PET report is completely free.

It goes into the central database.

Um, and then it's searchable.

So you can go online and search in your area.

You can search cats, you can search timeframes, um, location and see

pets that are posted in your area.

Um, to help you find it.

We also send out email alerts, so, So when you post a lost or found pet, an

email alert goes out to everybody in the area who's either signed up for

our alerts or if you're posting a found pet, it'll be sent to all of the lost.

If it's a found cat, it'll be sent to all the lost cats in the

area that have posted reports.

Um, so you get those potential match alerts as well.

It's important that you bring up as far as the cats, uh, the

difference between cats and dogs.

I was discussing with my staff not too long ago about the fact that

you see a cat outside and you don't immediately assume that the cat is lost.

You figure it's an outdoor cat, or it's a stray, or it's a feral.

Whereas when you find a dog, you do think that it's lost,

it's missing, it's stray, right?

Because we don't have street dogs like other countries would, would have them.

So when somebody is going to post, how detailed should

they be or should they not be?

I think it's important to give a really good description.

Um, if you have, if you, the person who's lo who's lost that pet, um,

sometimes we tell people who have found a pet, they may wanna withhold a detail

or two when they're posting just to, you know, that's a proof of ownership.

Um, but try to be detailed when you're posting your lost PET report.

I think it's really helpful, especially in the case of cats, because, You know,

an orange cat looks like an orange cat.

If there's something that distinguishes that cat, um, that is helpful information.

, so we do try to tell people to.

Place where they're last seen, the intersection, where they're last seen.

Um, as much detail as you can give, I think is really helpful.

Um, posting flyers, we tell people, I mean, there's like lots of tools in the

Lost Pet Toolkit and as many of those tools that you implement, the the higher

your chance of success is gonna be.

And flyers are really important, um, to get the word out in the neighborhood,

especially with cats because people don't know if it's a new feral in

the community cat, um, group, or if it, this is somebody who's lost cat.

And colors are sometimes subjective, right?

Like as a veterinarian, we get a lot of cats that people bring them in

and they say, my cat is a gray tabby.

And you looked at it and you say, no, this is a classic brown tabby.

So there's, there's a lot of discrepancy into what one person thinks is a

yellow cat versus an orange or a buff.

And even with dogs, that people will say white and it's really white with

black spots and that kind of stuff.

So being detailed, but then having pictures.

And the importance of having pictures, I suppose.

Uh, something good would be kind of like with children that you wanna

take a lot of different pictures for identification purposes.

So how would you say that people should update pictures

of their animals over time?

Yeah.

Um, so I think a lot of people don't realize, especially with dogs, that the

markings will change as the dog ages sometimes, and especially if you've

lost your dog when they're fairly young.

Um, those markings could change.

So we always recommend that you have an updated picture of your pet at all

times, and so you're ready to have that a full body picture is best.

, so you can see markings and everything.

, we did have a situation not too long ago, , where a owner contacted a Finder

because they saw their dog posted and they sent them the, the report that they had

uploaded of their lost dog, and the finder immediately discounted it and said, no,

that's not your dog, because the markings don't match, and didn't even respond.

I had, I got involved and kind of interceded.

But they discounted it completely.

It turned out that the person had uploaded a puppy picture of their dog, and at

the time when the dog was a puppy, it had a brown marking around one eye.

Well, the dog was now 14 years old, and its face was completely

white, and so the finder didn't recognize it from the picture at all.

So after some back and forth, we got some updated pictures, , exchanged

and the dog got back home.

But great example of if your dog is 14, that puppy picture is not accurate anymore

and you really need to upload the most recent picture you have of your pet.

And I think also not having kind of like a picture of only part of your

pet, like just to face like a lot of.

Again, with cats, a lot of tiger or tabby cats can look similar.

So being able to have a lot of different descriptors, right?

Yeah.

Right.

Like the face could look very similar, but they may have white mittens or they

may have a white tail or you know, some other markings that are distinguishable.

So absolutely have that full body picture.

So when Pet F B I started, did it only start in one area and then grow?

Or was it a national database from the get go?

Yeah, it, um, started here in central Ohio and only served

the central Ohio area for a long time.

Um, and then it just continued to grow.

So around 2016, uh, we went national and started to serve the entire United States.

Um, and then in 2021 we merged with another organization

called Helping Lost Pets.

Um, and they were based in Canada.

And so, um, after that merger, so we serve all of the US and Canada.

Um, at this point.

So yeah, we've grown quite a bit since our beginnings in 1998.

And that's important 'cause people don't realize how far animals can

travel and not just a cat and a dog traveling on their own, but sometimes

they get a little bit of help, but by some good Samaritan that gives them a

ride to another county or another state.

Um, recently we had a, a case of a cat that was picked up in another county.

Uh, found as a stray.

Somebody saw it and contacted an individual rescuer, and that

person from two counties away went and picked up the cat.

Nobody scanned it, nobody checked it.

Thankfully, they brought him to one of our clinics to microchip it.

And before we microchip anybody, and especially when people say that they

found it stray, we always scan it.

We found the microchip and contacted the owner.

That person had lost the cat six months ago and they were actively trying to

find it, but they didn't know about the different resources to do so.

And being a cat, I mean, how many cats that looked the same.

But it was a great reunion because it was a single dad with his five-year-old

daughter, and the cat belonged to the daughter and the little girl

is looking for her cat every day.

So we were able to get them back, you know, two counties away and reunite them.

So do you have any stories as far as what's the furthest that somebody

has been able to reunite a, a pet?

Yeah.

I mean, I, I should have those.

At the tip of my tongue, but I, we do, we do see them that go, you know, we

see dogs who have crossed state lines.

Um, people like, like you said, a good Samaritan will pick them up and take them.

Uh, we had a cat a couple years ago.

Uh, somebody was staying at a hotel.

The cat was lost at a hotel.

Somebody else picked the cat up, took it home out of state.

I think it was a trucker and taken, had taken the cat back home.

Um, Then came back because this was his normal route, and saw the flyers that the

owner had posted, um, for the lost cat.

Went back, brought the cat back and reunited them with the owner.

Um, so again, I mean, it wasn't a microchip situation, but they had

put flyers out, um, and plastered the area to get the word out.

And fortunately he saw that, um, and brought the, brought

the cat back to, to Ohio.

Um, Yeah, we always tell people, if you find a pet and you're going to have to

take them to the shelter, please try to take them to the shelter in the camp, in

the county where, where you found them.

It just makes it so much harder for an owner to recover a pet if

they're taken out of the area.

And, um, the microchip like we always recommend, have your pet's microchipped.

Yeah.

And that's something that people, I don't think, think of to do immediately

once they find a, a dog or a cat, is to take it somewhere to, to get it scanned.

, and also the different resources of places that they can take, , these

animals to get them scanned.

And this is a bone that I have to pick with my own profession because as

veterinarians, I think that's sometimes our clients, if they find a dog or a

cat, the first place that they're gonna call is their veterinarian and they're

gonna say, Hey, I found a dog or a cat.

And so many veterinarians.

Then give them the resource of, oh, take it to the shelter, take it to the pound.

And then have them worry about it.

But as veterinarians, it's so easy for us to tell them, Hey, stop by.

We have a scanner.

We'll scan 'em, we'll help you look up through PET F b I.

Um, multiple times that happened at the clinic where I work, and we

have been able to reunite people.

A lot of the times they're even,

they live nearby.

Right?

Because they're lost close to where Right, where they were at.

Right?

Yeah.

So as you said, like look first where you're at, uh, what would

you say are the concerns as far as taking them to shelters?

Um, instead of calling, you know, a veterinarian,

Yeah, I mean right now, and this is not just in our county, but it's

nationwide shelters are really crowded.

Um, it is very difficult for them, um, to take intakes right now.

A lot of 'em are overcrowded.

A lot of them are asking finders to please hold onto the pets, um, and try

to find the owner on your by yourselves.

Um, the other thing is, A lot of times that county shelter may

be a long way away from home.

And for people who don't have good transportation, who maybe can't afford the

reclaim fee, that presents a hardship for them to even get to the shelter, let alone

pay the reclaim fee to get their pet out.

Um, and the shelter's just a really stressful environment.

Um, you know, pets don't always do well in that shelter environment, so that's

just a, a huge amount of stress, for them to have to go into the shelter.

So I mean, it's, they're there, it's an option.

If you don't have any other option, if there's any way to hold on to a pet,

uh, we do recommend that finders get the pet, um, scanned for a microchip at a

vets, even a pet smart with a, a clinic.

Um, you know, there are a lot of places where you can go

to get, to get them scanned.

Um, we've equipped a lot of our local police departments with

microchip scanners as well.

So, um, there are options if you can, um, to get the pet scanned

for a microchip before you transport them up to the shelter.

So what would be the process if, somebody loses their dog or cat?

How do they start the process of going through your organization

to try to find their pet?

Yeah, so the first step is just to go to our website@petfbi.org.

Once you get to the website, you can just click on, create a report and

it'll walk you through the steps of creating an account, uploading your

photo, and entering your report.

Once you submit that report, then an email alert will go out in

the area with that information.

Um, and then it'll be in our database so anybody can see the report if

they're searching the database.

The next thing we would advise you to do is then search the database

to see if somebody else has already, um, reported your pet as being found.

And that happens a lot.

Um, you'll start getting alerts.

, sent to your email, but we always recommend that you go in and

search, um, and search the area.

Franklin County does a great job of, of sending us their intakes as well,

so you can see those on our database.

, so that would be the next thing we want you to do.

And then while you're on there, there's a flyer template and so you can go ahead

and create your flyer, print it out, and start distributing those flyers in, in

your area, um, because that is a great way to raise awareness in the area.

Also sharing social media too, and which we will do, but we recommend that

everybody do that themselves as well.

Yeah, and social media has such a great reach and people

love to share information about trying to help find pets.

Like I see that those probably get the highest number of shares of any other

animal related posts that that you see.

And kind of important too, if you lost your pet and it's been found, make a

note and say Update, pet has been found so that people know to kinda move on.

Stop looking from there.

Stop looking.

Yeah.

We do send out a lot of reminders, email reminders to please update

your report in PET F B I because that takes it out of the search results.

Um, you know, and people are, are.

Pretty good, but a lot of people forget to go in there and, uh, update that report.

'cause we like to hear the good stories too.

We wanna hear the reunions as well.

Um, and it gives other people hope to see that that pet has gotten back home.

If you've lost a pet and you see that other pets are getting home, it kind

of gives you hope to keep looking.

What are the other things that pet owners should be doing in addition

to posting, uh, like especially if they have microchips and that kind

of stuff, what other steps should they take to try to increase their

chances of their pet coming home?

Yeah.

Well, if your pet is microchipped, we recommend calling the

microchip company immediately and reporting your pet is lost.

Um, one, you wanna make sure that your contact information is up to date.

So if you've had that pep for a while and you've canceled your landline or you've

moved, or you have a different cell phone number, you wanna make sure that

that contact information is up to date.

So, um, call that microchip company and let them know.

They'll also flag the chip at that point, so if anybody else calls it

in, um, or checks on it or tries to reregister it, that's, it's flagged

as a missing pet at that point.

So first thing you wanna do is call them, and a lot of your microchip

companies do have a lost and found pet service, and they will send out

an alert, um, in the area as well.

So do that.

Um, print out your flyers, go door to door, um, passing out flyers,

posting them, um, you know, in public places, on public bulletin

boards to try to get the word out.

share on social media.

Contact your local police department.

'cause a lot of times the police are the ones who get the call about a loose dog.

Um, so give them a call as well.

They may have seen a dog or received a report of seeing a dog in the area.

And then, you know, we also tell people, especially with cats, put some nice smelly

food out, put their blanket and bed out.

Um, sometimes those scents, um, lures are really helpful.

So, um, put out some tuna.

If it's a cat that's missing some smelly tuna or something

like that, put their bed out.

Same with dogs.

Put out their, their favorite blankie or their favorite bed, or

some of your clothes for a dog.

, To use those scent lures to try to, to draw them in.

Um, cats, a physical search is really important.

'cause like you said, with your cat, it was under the bushes hiding.

That's typical cat behavior.

So doing that physical search is really helpful.

and, and one thing for the owners too is like microchips and

tags both serve a different purpose.

So really important to not pick one over the other.

Right?

Like would you say that that increases the chances of them

being recovered, having both?

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, definitely the tag is great if the tag stays on and, and your

pet is a couple houses away and your phone number is right there.

That is an easy way to get your pet back home.

Um, but we know that collars and tags don't always stay on.

Um, so that's why it's really important to have that microchip in addition to a tag

with your up-to-date contact information.

One of my technicians was saying about her concern

about people scamming people.

So thinking about, you know, pretending that they have found

the pet to try to claim a reward.

What kind of things can you tell people to help prevent them from being scammed?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's unfortunate.

We have had a lot of, um, reports of people being approached by scammers.

Um, we do have warnings on our, our website and, um, as you're entering

the report, um, so one of the things that we do is we do mask your email

address so that email address is not made public and you do have the

choice of making your phone number public or not making it public.

Um, but we do, um, try to warn people that this is a possibility.

If you do get somebody contacting you saying, um, I found your pet,

but I need you to send me a six digit code first, definitely a scam.

Don't do that.

Or if they're asking you for gift cards or money, um, that's a scam.

So if somebody, most people have good intentions, if they found your

pets, um, they're gonna contact you and they wanna get it back to you.

So we always recommend that you ask for a photo, uh, before

you agree to meet anybody.

You want the proof that they do have your pet.

Um, always agree to meet people in a public place.

If there's any sense that you feel uncomfortable, you can recommend,

you know, meeting somebody at the shelter or at the police

department or someplace like that.

If you have a sense that something may be a little, um, suspect.

But don't give them any money.

Um, you know, don't meet somebody until you're sure that

they do indeed have your pet.

Um, but yeah, that six digit code or asking for money upfront,

that's a definite red flag.

Um, and unfortunately there are people who take advantage of those who.

Folks who have lost a pet because they know they're, they're

emotional, they're vulnerable.

Um, they wanna believe that their pet's been found.

And so, um, they're more likely to, to fall for the scam.

I had never heard about that six digit code, and that's what she

said, that she was sent a, a text.

Saying, uh, you have to send me this first.

And she told them like, don't contact me again.

Then they left her alone.

Yeah, that's

exactly.

But that I had never heard about it.

Yeah.

So what they're doing is, um, that's a verification code.

So they're basically setting up a Google Voice account with using your cell phone

number, but they need the six digit verification code to complete the setup.

And so that's what they're trying to do.

Um, so yeah, just, uh, block them.

If you get, if they're asking for a six digit code, you wanna block that number.

Geez, people I know.

It's very sad.

It's very sad because, you know, everybody loves their pets.

I mean, they're like our kids and it's a really soft spot.

So we don't, we don't think about anything other than how

can we quickly recover our pets.

So it does make us very vulnerable in that situation, so we have

to protect each other and, and protect everybody else about that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And like I said, we try to do warnings on our website and in

our emails, but um, again, people.

When you've lost a pet, you are, you are upset, you're not

reading everything that you sent.

You're, you know, you're very emotional.

So it's easy to, to fall for those.

And people are embarrassed when it happens, but it's nothing

to be embarrassed about.

I mean, it's just human nature.

You're upset and you want your pet to be home.

Um, and there's another scam out there now currently where they're saying that pay

up front and they'll do a drone search.

Um, and that also is a scam.

So just.

Research, you know, research that company.

If they're saying they're gonna do something for you, don't pay

upfront until you know it's legit.

So just be careful and report scams, report it to the Better Business Bureau.

Um, if you, if you are or the F T C, um, you can go online and report those scams.

Yeah, it's kind of like, uh, buying things from Craigslist,

like the, as you mentioned, like meet in a, in a public place.

If somebody says, meet me in the evening or at night in the back of

a abandoned mall, that's a red flag.

Don't do that.

Don't, don't do that.

Yeah.

So, another thing for people that find animals is so many people make assumptions

that a dog or a cat is neglected because they're messy, or that they're

dirty or that they have lost weight.

And then they'll say, well, I'm not gonna return it home even if I find an owner,

because clearly these people don't care about it and it's better off in my home.

What would you have to say about that?

Yeah.

Um, well first of all, it is amazing how disheveled and dirty

an animal can get after being lost for a very short period of time.

Um, so that's not an indication of neglect or abuse in any way.

Um, you know, you don't know how long the, the dog or the cat has been missing.

Um, first of all, they could have been missing for quite a long period of time.

So they may have lost weight, they may be matted, um, they may be dirty.

Um, That does not mean that dog or cat is not loved and wanted and

being searched for by an owner.

Um, you, we have a responsibility under the law to try to find

that that pet's owner, um, you, it's not finder's, keepers.

You're not allowed to just.

Just keep that pet for yourself.

You do have a responsibility, um, to find that pet's owner.

And again, you don't know the story.

Um, you know, don't know how long the pet's been missing.

You don't know if there are medical conditions that are

leading to the way the pet looks.

So, um, yeah, we always advise finders, you, you do need to locate the owner.

You do need to, you know, make your best attempt to find that owner.

And if you have any hesitation, um, You, you know, you can go to

the shelter, you know, you can turn the pet in at the shelter and

let them make that determination.

If you don't feel comfortable, um, if you suspect that there's

a problem, then you can get, um, the proper authorities involved.

And it's really, um, it's not a private citizen's role to do that,

that is animal control, the shelter or the police to make those decisions.

Um, but you do have an obligation to find the owner.

I have a, story about that.

We once received a dog that was extremely skinny, really skinny,

almost like skin and bones.

Um, so of course the person that found it immediately assumed

that the dog had been neglected.

The dog comes in, uh, and we were able to find a picture from

the owner on the pet f b I site.

And the dog on the picture looked really, really healthy, and the

dog had only been missing for probably about a week to 10 days.

So clearly , something did not make sense.

So as a veterinary clinic, we were clearly, we wanted to make sure that

the dog was okay, that it was not a neglect or a cruelty, uh, situation.

So what we did was we contacted Animal Control to do a well check.

And they contacted the owner to find out what was happening.

And what ended up happening is that the dog had a really long history

of diabetes and it had been treated and it had been losing weight

for a really long period of time.

But the pet owner never took a picture of the dog in its sick state.

So the picture that they had to share was a picture of the dog

when it was, when it was healthy.

So you know, everything was okay, as far as the condition of the

dog there was a reason for it.

And contacting the humane officer, contacting animal control is not always

about getting somebody in trouble.

It's about finding out what's, what's happening again.

They're called well checks.

So we were able to find the home for, for this dog, make sure that it, that

it returned to the owner and we found that, you know, there was a condition

that it needed to be to be taken care of.

So not making the assumptions as far as why the animal looks the way they do.

Yeah, that's a great example.

Um, yeah, you can't make the assumptions.

You don't know what's going on.

And, um, like you said, animal control or the humane agents that they're

trained to investigate and that's what they do and they can, that's not

about getting someone in trouble, it's just determining, um, who the rightful

owner is and what the situation is.

So that's a great example.

Um, you know, I, we had a dog go missing.

She was only gone for maybe, I don't know, a half an hour, but in

the time she was gone, she, uh, ran through the neighborhood, jumped in

a retention pond, swam across it, jumped out, crawled under a car.

By the time she got home, she was disheveled and dirty and looked like she'd

been missing for, um, a really long time.

And, uh, you know, she'd slipped out of her collar.

She had no identification.

Um, all the things that, you know, would make somebody suspect.

But, um, yeah, it was just a matter of that's, That's how she behaved.

And dogs, when they are loose or something has scared them, their behavior changes.

So a lost dog's behavior is not necessarily typical of what your dog.

What you think your dog is going to behave.

Um, so we always tell people too, you know, don't expect your lost dog to come

running back to you when you call them.

They may, but it depends on the temperament.

But sometimes lost dogs, if something is spooked them, they'll slip into that

survival mode really quickly and everybody is then at that point, seen as a predator.

Um, so you can't chase them.

You can't expect them to come back when you call.

Um, you know, so we caution everybody.

Don't, don't chase your lost dog.

Please tell everybody searching not to chase them, not to call them.

Um, because what's gonna happen is you may inadvertently push

them out of safe territory into unknown and unsafe territory.

Um, so yeah, lost pet behavior can be very different than what we expect it

to be.

Yeah, I noticed that in, in a lot of signs that I see that it says if found,

don't chase call so that the owner and, and some dogs are not necessarily

extremely friendly even to strangers.

So the owner knowing and acknowledging that to make sure that, that, that they

have a higher chance of getting retrieved.

Um, another thing that, that I know some people will say is if

their pet has medical conditions, they will share that information.

If an animal has seizures and that kind of stuff.

, and I think that the importance is, you know, so that if somebody finds this

animal, they know that they need to come back to their owner a little bit faster.

I.

But also if it's found that they take 'em to a veterinarian because

they may need, uh, additional care.

, are there any other specifics that people should be sharing about their

animals as far as behavior, health or anything like that when they're posting?

Yeah, I mean, anything that you can share I think can be helpful.

Um, One of the things that we do caution people about is, um,

putting on their pet flyers.

And I've seen people do this, that their pet was stolen.

Um, so we are very cautious about this one.

If your pet was stolen, if I see a flyer that says pet stolen, I'm not

necessarily gonna be looking around for that pet because I'm not gonna

expect to see it, you know, just wandering through the neighborhood

because it's in somebody's possession.

Um, so I don't think that people are searching for stolen pets

like they would for lost pets.

Um, the other problem is that pet may not be stolen.

Very few pets are actually stolen most of the time.

They're either just lost or a good Samaritan may have picked them up

thinking they were keeping them safe and put them in their car to protect them.

Now they see a flyer that says stolen.

They don't feel as comfortable bringing that pet back home.

They may just release it, take it to the shelter.

Um, so.

In that case, we always recommend, you know, less is better.

Um, just put that it's a lost pet.

Uh, don't necessarily put all the details about why you think it's

stolen or what happened, because those may not be accurate and may not help

you in getting that pet back home.

Um, otherwise, you know, putting information about your pet's behavior

may be helpful, but again, lost pet behavior is very different

from your pet's behavior at home.

So, They may not be friendly, um, excited, tail wagging, um, pup once

they've been missing for a couple days.

Um, so yeah.

Yeah, it's kind of a, um, a mixed bag there.

And it's important for people to understand what the stray laws are

in Ohio or in their state, because how long a shelter has to keep an

animal before they either transfer it.

Place them for adoption or even euthanize if it's a place that has to euthanize

for space or behavior, um, dust.

So kind of like the importance of getting, like calling as many

places, uh, as soon as possible.

Can you tell people as far as kind of like what those rules are?

Yeah.

Um, well there are really no rules in Ohio for cats.

Um, so if a cat ends up at the shelter there, there's no law that says how

long they, they hold onto that cat.

Um, if a dog ends up at the shelter, um, with no identification, it's

a three day stray hold before they can be put on the adoption floor.

Um, So that's not long.

Um, they do keep them longer.

If there is identification, they do, um, hang on to them to try

to, for a longer period of time to try to contact the owner.

But if they come in with no tags, um, no microchip, um, it's three days and that

is not a lot of time to locate your pet.

So that's why we say if your, if your pet is missing, go to the shelter in person.

Um, shelter staff don't have time necessarily to field phone

calls to describe pets, to try to tell you if your pet is there.

So, um, if you feel like your pet is, could be there, please go in person and

check, um, and make sure and go every day, because again, that three days is

not very long at all, um, before your dog could be on the adoption floor.

Um, and again, with cats, there's, there's no stray hold in Ohio for cats.

I know that some shelters will post new intakes on their, on their

Facebook pages and on their website.

Yeah.

So really important to go in and see if you can identify your pet, but

like you said, like going in and, and checking because a picture may look

different than, than how the pet.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I know, um, you know, not, they can't always get pictures

depending on the temperament of the dog or if the dog is ill.

Like, it's not always feasible for them to get a picture right away and post it.

Um, so that's why we say it, it is safer just to go in, in person and make

sure that, um, your pet is not there.

So , Rascal Charities has a special event coming up on September 24th of 23.

, and that's the Dublin Pet Fair.

And that is a free event for people and we're gonna have, adoptable animals.

We're gonna have vendors with animal related items.

We're gonna have nonprofits, advocacy groups.

And then you guys have made a great donation for the first 50 pets

that come to the wellness clinic.

So do you wanna talk about that and about why do you feel it's important to do

so?

Yeah, I would love to talk about that.

We have, um, we are very fortunate.

We are a 5 0 1 C three nonprofit and we have very generous donors.

And so we maintain a good SAM fund and that allows us to do fabulous

things like donate microchips, um, for the Dublin Pet Fair.

So we are donating the microchips for the first 50, um, pets that come.

And that is a free microchip with a lifetime registration.

So, This is so important.

If you haven't had the opportunity to get your pet microchipped, this

is a great time to, to bring your dog up, um, get them microchipped,

lifetime Regi registration.

Um, it's a great deal and it's so important.

If your pet ever does go missing, um, this is a, you know, will

help get that pet back home.

Uh, we do the registration, um, because we found that, you know, studies

show that only 60% of microchips are actually registered to the owner.

The microchip doesn't do you any good if it's not registered.

So we actually will do the registration for you.

Um, make sure that it's, it's correct and again, that's a lifetime

thing, so it's a great deal.

So,

Yes.

And we're, we're super thankful that you, that you are doing that.

We always recommend people to, to get microchips.

We're always on people to get the registrations, and we also, as a

clinic, we do our registrations ourself for, for our clients just because

it's so easy to procrastinate or to forget and to set it aside and then,

Something happens and you can't find the microchip number or, I mean, life

happens we're, we're all busy, so easy enough for us to just go ahead and do it.

But then making sure that you are as an owner updating that information.

Another thing that we will do is anybody that has pets that are

already microchipped, we will scan 'em to make sure that that microchip

is still in place because we have concerns about microchips migrating.

Uh, microchips are not supposed to ever expire, but occasionally

we'll scan an animal that's supposed to be microchip that is not.

So we wanna give people the peace of mind that the microchip is

still there and that, and that they can get their, their pet back.

Yeah, that's great.

And we do that at, at events as well.

Um, so we'll be scanning microchips at our booth and we do have people

who come, um, like every year just to have their, um, chip checked.

And so we'll scan it and make sure it's still functioning and

we can look it up and tell them where it's, where it's registered.

Um, so if they need to update that information, they have it.

But yeah, it's always a good idea.

Um, every year if you go to the vet, have your vet scan the

microchip too, just to make sure.

We have had cases where we've found them that migrated down

to the chest or into the leg.

Um, it happens occasionally, but it's good to know.

And you also wanna make sure that your pet is scanned before inserting

a microchip, because some people think, oh, it has a microchip, but

I didn't register it, so let's put another one and register that one.

And that's not how that works because then it's a 50 50 of which

microchip is gonna get scanned.

Exactly.

Which one are they gonna find?

The one that's registered or the one that's not?

and I think a lot of people don't realize that you don't

have to necessarily register the microchip with one organization.

Like there are different organizations that can register your microchip.

So if you're not sure where the microchip came from, there are

different groups that that can do that.

And I'm sure that anybody coming to the pet fair can come contact you guys

or come to us and we'll, we'll help walk them through that whole process.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

So is there anything that we have forgotten to tell people as far as finding

pets or reporting pets or what to do to prevent the, the loss of their pets?

Well, I think that we've touched on the most important

things, which is make sure that your pet is microchipped and they're

wearing a good quality collar and tag with your contact information.

Um, that's the best prevention.

Um, and then if, you know, we have lots of tips on our website, if you do have

the unfortunate experience of losing a pet, um, rest, most pets are recovered.

So there's that bit of hope, like most.

Lost pets are found.

Um, and you can go to our website@petfbi.org and file a

report and see all of the tips there that'll help you through the process.

Excellent.

Well, thank you Leslie, so much for being part of this very informative podcast.

I think that if anything, it'll give people a peace of mind and it will give

people information, even if they don't remember immediately, all the different

things that we have talked to because we have covered a lot of information.

At least if they can remember pet f bi.org, they can go there, go

through the resources and then, uh, do the best that they can to

get their, their beloved pets back.

Absolutely.

So . Thank you so much for being here, and we'll see you at the pet fair.

Thank you.