| RESOURCES FOR FINDING YOUR LOST PET IN THE TWIN CITIES Most lost pets are found in the neighborhood they were lost in. The most important thing you can do in the early stage of your loss, apart from walking around looking for your pet, is post LOST PET notices around your neighborhood, preferably with a photo. Postal workers and UPS/FedEx delivery people are excellent people to leave notes for. Post your notices anywhere people congregate — gas stations, cafes, lamposts near busy crossings, parks, dog parks, etc. Dog owners always look at other dogs and are motivated, so hand out notices to all the people walking dogs that you see. Talk to neighbors. PLACES TO CHECK & CALL Minnesota shelters are only required by law to keep pets for 5 days before adopting them or killing them. Animal Control are scared of liability so they won't even attempt to identify your dog over the phone. As a result, you need to visit their shelters but there are an impossible amount of shelters to visit. A centralized website to which holding facilities daily posted photos of found animals would save a lot of heartache, time, and expense. Visit the shelters nearest you and quickly mail, phone, fax or e-mail the rest to file reports where possible. Many have bulletin boards where you can post your LOST PET notices, so take those with you. Animal Control
Animal Emergency Clinics In case your pet was injured, call and file lost and found reports with each of these clinics.
PLACES TO POST LOST & FOUND REPORTS ONLINE Online bulletins boards such as Craigslist are very useful in getting the word out quickly and widely. Be sure to dig out a photo or two of your pet and be sure to clearly describe:
A free online service provided by the Alabama Pet Registry, found at www.lostfoundpets.us. The very detailed questions on their sign-up form will force you to compile your pet description information from the beginning, which is why they are listed first on this page. Craigslist Two places to post but title and word both of your posts differently so that the automated system (which doesn't allow simultaneous postings into multiple categories) lets them through.
Dog Detective File a free report (they ask for donations) at www.dogdetective.com. Fido Finder File a free report (with optional pay-for-service upgrades) at www.fidofinder.com. FindToto.com FindToto.com is "the amber alert for pets". A proactive, pay-for-service company, FindToto literally calls your neighbors with telephone messages about your lost pet. How many called and how wide the radius is depends on how much you pay. In a dense urban area such as the Twin Cities Metro area, the 5,000 call package costs $425. In a sparsely populated suburban area, 1,000 calls costs $165. The more rural the area, you less you will need to pay. While I haven't found my dog yet, the day after the alert went out, three strangers I spoke to in the local park had received the message. It clearly delivers as advertised and now there are a large amount of people in the neighborhood my dog was lost who have now been alerted. The alert was very professional and well-crafted and audio samples can be found in the FAQ. |