How to find a lost pet

Your dog slips out of their collar and takes off after a squirrel, leaving you holding an empty leash and a sick feeling in your gut. You come home and are filled with anxiety to find that your rattlebrain roommate left the balcony window open and the cat jumped down and disappeared.

What should you do if your best buddy gets lost?

The first thing to do is jump immediately into action. Walk the neighborhood and alert neighbors, mail carriers, storekeepers—anyone. Listen at closed garage doors and crawlspaces. If you have an area outdoors, even a front stoop, leave items there that have scent familiar to your pet, such as a litter box, a toy or your jammies. Then, hoof it over to the local shelters and see if anyone’s found the pet and taken them in. Go back every day, if you can.

Some municipal shelters aren’t open to the public daily. Long Beach Animal Care Services (LBACS) has public hours Wednesday through Sunday, which can be frustrating if your pet has taken a powder. What they do have is an online page titled Pet Reunion. Every pet in the shelter and when they were taken in there. The listing includes a thumbnail photo, intake date with the latest listed first, and a name. The names often aren’t the original names of the pets, but they’re used for listing purposes only, so ignore them if you suddenly see your dog, Boo, and he’s identified as Archibald. A list of instructions for redeeming your pet lets you know which documents to bring with you when you come in to reclaim your pet.

If your friend isn’t at the shelter the first day you look, go home, make a lost pet flyer, and print copies. Google Documents has free templates that you can save as PDFs, and convert to JPEGS, and share on social media and plaster the neighborhood.

You can also post your flyer on Nextdoor and the lost-pet Facebook pages in your area. Locate the pages by typing “lost pets” and nearby cities. A bunch of them will probably pop up before you’re done typing “lost.” Here’s an example of a local Facebook lost-pet page — it covers Long Beach, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Cerritos and Signal Hill.

Take down the flyers and social media posts when you find your pet. If you don’t (sigh) after a while, take down the flyers, but leave the social media posts up. You never know.

You can be your own Scooby-Doo if you follow the detailed steps on LBACS’ If You Lost Your Pet page. The page also gives resources for organizations that keep databases of lost and found pets from shelters and neighborhoods.

LBACS’ pages provide resources to help you look. What to do if you lose your pet: If You Lost Your Pet. Petco Love Lost is one such resource — you can even register your pet on it now in case they get lost. Lost My Doggie (they do cats as well, and bunnies and turtles and birds and everyone) can generate a flyer and send out alerts to shelters and social media; PawBoost has its own database and app, and they’ll also generate a flyer. All three resources are free, although there may be charges for additional boosts.

Speaking of free, block any correspondence from anyone who offers pet detective services and asks for money. Also, if someone says they have your pet and demands a reward, get all the information and report it to the police and animal care services. Scammers have no conscience.

If you find an animal that seems lost, get them to a vet, a shelter or a rescue to scan for a chip. If no chip is found and no owner comes forth, the pet will wait for a specified holding time and then will be eligible for adoption. You can also use the links suggested on If You Lost Your Pet, and you can post a description of the pet on social media or check for a pet who matches the description online and on neighborhood flyers.

Note that LBACS doesn’t accept healthy cats because the cats may be owned and allowed to roam. (No, they shouldn’t be). LBACS has a Found Animals page, which has information about lost cats.

If there are best practices for lost pets, they’d begin with “Try not to lose them in the first place.” Random bad stuff can happen, but mitigate that by making the cats and bunnies prisoners of love indoors, with lots of diversions, and walk your dogs on a sturdy leash and harness. Collars and harnesses embroidered with the dog’s information are available, so you don’t have to worry about the tag falling off. CNN has a list of pet ID products that includes traditional tag iterations, high-tech IDs with QR codes, and even medical-alert tags.

Sturdy collars or harnesses with attached tags provide further safety. Just to be on the safe side, put the pet’s name and your phone number on the tag, leave off your own name and address.

When you adopt a pet, the rescue or shelter usually implants a microchip, which you then register on the chip manufacturer’s website. If your pet gets lost, a veterinarian, an animal control officer, shelter staff or anyone with a scanner can take the first step in reuniting you all.

The best way to track your pet is with a microchip. If your pet doesn’t have one, a vet or a low-cost clinic can implant one. Pets who’ve been lost for extended periods have been reunited with their humans thanks to the chips. Recently, a news story featured Dodger, an orange cat who’d run off when his family was moving to another state. Seven years, a grungy life and an ear tip later — it appeared that Dodger didn’t dodge the TNVR folks — a vet scanned the cat and found the chip number. Dodger’s now back home, basking in affection and gorging himself with tuna.

As Dodger’s folks would tell you, don’t give up.

YOURS DROOLY

Dogs, cats and other pets on this shelter link were lost in one way or another: their humans may have abandoned them to the street or maybe lost the ability to care for them and had to surrender them to the shelter. They’re all waiting for someone to find them and take them home forever to love.

Yesterday was National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, but who needs a calendar to remind you to do something good like that? Here are three LBACS pets who would love to be adopted into a forever home. To adopt or foster any pet, email PetAdopt@longbeach.gov or petfoster@longbeach.gov. Better yet, come down to LBACS and meet them in person. Shelter hours are Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 7700 E. Spring St. at the entrance to El Dorado Park (no parking fee for shelter visitors).

Paisley (ID#A739902), 4 years old, recently completed a full year as a shelter resident. An anniversary that marks spending a year in a kennel with a few breaks for love and exercise is nothing to celebrate, and Volunteer Patti knew it. So, Patti put together a celebration for Paisley: a Fido Field Trip that included a nature walk at Rivers End Park in Seal Beach, a stroll to the pier, a car ride to Heartwell Park to relax on the grass and have a healthy snack, and finally a visit to Patti’s house. Paisley wandered the backyard for a while until she was ready to go back to the shelter.

During the special day, Patti learned a few things about Paisley that she’d like to pass down to prospective adopters: Paisley likes apple slices but not carrots (go figure), she’d be a great companion for a trucker or anyone who likes driving long distance, and she needs time to adjust to new surroundings and new humans. Paisley was wary of Patti’s husband for about 60 seconds and then sat at his feet lovingly. Many animals who’ve been abandoned or mistreated need to learn to trust new people. Whoever adopts Paisley and earns her trust will be rewarded for it forever.

Put ’er there, pal! Meet Malaika (ID#A738692), an active 1-year-old German shepherd mix with speckled feet and a playful, loyal personality. She has been at LBACS for over a year, and, she needs to go home. She’s with a foster now and is getting the structure she needs as well as trust and opportunities to learn new things, which she enjoys doing.

Malaika is an apt pupil — she responds well to guidance and positive reinforcement. Staff and volunteers said that she’s seems comfortable around other dogs after introductions and enjoys toys and spending time with people, especially if toys are involved. If you love shepherds and can extend the consistency, structure and lots of love and outdoor play that Malaika’s foster is giving her, this youngster can spend the rest of her good life in a forever home.

In March a stunning, white and brown, longhair female cat was rescued from a dangerous situation. Her name is Frankie, (ID#A758208), and she’s 8 years old. She was found when her owner died, and no one had been caring for her. Volunteer Janet and the other cat volunteers love Frankie.

Janet notes that Frankie is somewhat shy and quiet, often hiding inside the cubbyhole in her kennel at LBACS. She's healthy now and enjoys pets, treats and company when offered. She needs a good loving home where she can cuddle with her owners forever. Please hurry and grab up this elegant little lady!

TAIL-WAGGIN' AND NOSE-BOOPIN' EVENTS

Pug Nation’s fifth annual Fashion Show

You think you can rock that striped hoodie with the matching yoga pants? Wait till you see it on Winnie or Winston! Meet up with Pug Nation Rescue of LA, a nonprofit pug-specific rescue, and take some much-needed joy at the sight of adorable adoptables taking the runway wearing duds from doggie designers. Enjoy great drinks, delicious food and desserts; bid on silent auction items; shop at the vendors; and bid live on the outfits the pups are modeling. If you can’t resist the outfits but have no pug, you can adopt one from Pug Nation, likely already dressed up!

Pug Nation’s fifth annual Fashion Show takes place Saturday, May 2, 2 p.m.–6 p.m. at Beachwood Brewing and Distilling, 3630 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach. Tickets and more information available here.

Pet Loss and Illness Support Group

The worst day in the life you share with a pet is the day you have to say goodbye forever. Grief is personal on the one hand, and on the other hand, you have a lot of company who get what you’re going through. Helen Sanders CatPAWS rescue gets it, too, and offers a space for anyone who also gets it, who’ll never say to you, “But it was just a cat.” Or a dog, or a rabbit, or a horse, or a goldfish. The members of this group will listen, connect, and support you, and you’ll do the same for them.

The Pet Loss and Illness Support Group takes place Saturday, May 16 at 11 a.m. at the Bay Shore Church, 5100 E. The Toledo, Long Beach. No cost for the meeting, but let the leads know that you’re coming here.

Kitten Pilates and Play Therapy

Enjoy a gentle workout session and even gentler workout companions! For the first 30 minutes, introduce yourself to adorable, adoptable kittens through wand-toy play. Then, take part in a Pilates session — a full-body flow with a focus on light core work, stretching and breathing as the kittens supervise your workout. After the session, you’ll have 15 minutes to cuddle and play with the cats once more. All ages of well-behaved humans are welcome — a parent or a guardian must accompany participants under 18. Your ticket purchase will help save lives — every dollar will go to The Little Lion Foundation cat rescue to pay the vet bills for cats and kittens in need. Spaces are selling out fast, so purchase tickets at the link below.

Kitten Pilates and Play Therapy takes place Saturday, May 16 at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. at Level Up Dance Studio, 3202 E. Willow St., Signal Hill. Tickets are available here.

Need a low-cost veterinarian, information about trapping community cats, places to volunteer, pet food, veterinary assistance, rescues and shelters to adopt from — anything pet related? Follow this link for resources. Please add your own ideas in the Comments section.