Lost and Found Pets – STOP the Overpopulation of Pets

TIPS AND LINKS FOR FINDING YOUR BEST FRIEND OR LOCATING A FOUND PET’S OWNER

Follow the steps on this page for ideas to help you locate your lost pet or locate the owners of a found pet. Good luck!

STEP 1. CHECK ANIMAL CONTROL DAILY!

In the Mat-Su Borough and Anchorage Animal Controls, you can list your lost and found pet information in a notebook kept at the counter. Be sure to check that notebook when you go in each day. Do not trust that calls will be enough; you need to physically go there and look for your pet. Remember that pets are not kept alive very long at animal controls, and after 3 days a stray dog or cat can be euthanized or adopted out.

STEP 2. READ THE ARTICLE BELOW

How to Find Your Lost Pet and What to Do if You Find a Pet
(Click here for an MS Word version of the article)

Preventing the Disappearing Pet Act

Losing a pet is distressing to both the pet and its owner. There are many dangers for stray pets, including cars, starvation, research laboratories, and disease. A lost cat or dog can’t "phone home," and many pet owners have known the terrible grief of losing a pet forever.
However, there are also many pets and owners who have been reunited, and there are ways to prevent your pet from disappearing, as well.

If you don’t already have one, order at least one identification tag for your pet’s collar today. ID tags are inexpensive. You can usually buy one at a pet store or pick up an order form at your veterinarian’s office.
You should also purchase the required Mat-Su Borough license for your dog. This is an excellent identification clue for others to locate you if your pet should become lost. The cost is only $5; purchase licenses at the animal control shelter.
Another useful key to preventing pet loss is to get your pet microchipped, said Betty Vehrs of the Mat-Su Animal Care and Regulation Board. The Mat-Su Animal Control shelter does microchipping for $20 for a pet with a license and $25 for one without. Also, check with your veterinarian: many vets are also providing microchipping services.
Don’t let your pet stray.
Your dog’s collar should fit properly. To find this out, you should be able to fit two fingers between your dog’s neck and his collar.
Cat collars are still a debatable issue with some pet owners and veterinarians. The Alaska Humane Society recommends that you keep your cat indoors, but if you do let your cat out, be sure to provide it with a proper stretch collar so if it gets caught it has a chance to escape without choking.
It is also not a good idea to leave your pet unattended in your car for long. Certainly, in the summer months, this is especially important, since just a few minutes in a hot car can kill an animal. If you do enjoy traveling with your pet on cooler days, take precautions so that your pet is not stolen and does not escape. Your pet should have his or her collar (with identification) on, and you should keep a leash in the car in case you need it.
Be sure all your windows are screened to keep your cat in.
If you have to take your cat outside, transport her in a carrying case or on a leash. Cats often panic when carried and escape this way.
Don’t tie up your pet and leave him alone. Don’t let him run loose. Sadly, some pets are stolen and sold to laboratories for experimentation. Some are stolen for other reasons. Also, if you do have a dog that you tie out a lot, the Cottage Grove (Oregon) Humane Society said, “you should question whether you are providing a good, loving home for this pet. Is he really a part of your family, or is he just a ‘nuisance,’ kept out of your sight? Please treat your pets with the love and kindness they deserve.”
Have your pets spayed and neutered. This will reduce their tendency to wander in the first place. According to Pets & Pals of Sacramento, a male animal will travel many miles to visit a female in heat.

What to Do if You Lose Your Pet

Immediately upon losing your pet, begin to look for it. Check in your neighborhood. Ask children, for they are often the first to know if a new pet appears.
Go to the Mat-Su Borough Animal Control shelter and look through the cages. Betty Vehrs, volunteer coordinator at the shelter, said to return to the shelter every day to check. “We get over 300 animals a month, and the shelter is not responsible for matching lost and found animals. It is the owner’s responsibility to come down and look visually.”
After the visual inspection, fill out a lost report for the lost pet notebook up at the main counter at animal control. Vehrs advises pet owners to bring a picture of their pets to put in the notebook.
Also, while at animal control, check the section of the same notebook that contains found animals that is located on the front desk.
Also check the DOA (dead on arrival) records, located in the same notebook as the lost and found records, at the Mat-Su Borough Animal Control Shelter.
Check with the local police department if you lost your pet in Palmer.
Check with area veterinarian clinics to see if your pet has been brought in or reported found.
Place an advertisement in the lost and found section of the local newspaper (the Frontiersman, 376-5225, offers free listings for lost and found pets; Anchorage Daily News 376-4101; Talkeetna Good Times, 733-8463). Radio stations will sometimes announce lost and found pets for free. KMBQ Valley Radio (99.7 AM), 373-0222, keeps a lost and found list but doesn’t air them. KJNP, Big Lake, 892-2216, airs them on the Trading Post Bulletin Board but it will be quicker if you call the North Pole number at 907-488-2216. KTNA (88.5 FM), Talkeetna, 733-1700, airs them. As for Valley television, Rogers Cable System does not currently air lost and found pet ads on its community access channel.
Make signs or flyers with a description of your pet (dog or cat, breed, age, size, sex, and any distinguishing marks). If you have a clear photograph of your pet, include this. Photos usually copy pretty well, and color copies are now available, although they cost more. In your flyers detail the date lost, the area the animal was last seen in, and your name, address, and home and office phone numbers. Place these signs on local bulletin boards and stores where your pet disappeared and where you live. (Check with the store owners to be sure it is all right to put your flyer up, and date your flyers.) Place some also at the animal control shelter and veterinarian offices. See if you can put some up at local schools and churches.
Ask your mailman, your newspaper delivery person, and anyone else who frequently visits the neighborhood to keep an eye out for your pet. If you know them, you might also ask neighborhood children (or ask their parents to ask them) to keep an eye out for your pet.
Put a bowl of your pet’s favorite food outside your door in case he returns while you’re gone.
Dogs often latch on to people, but cats are even harder to find when lost. Humane societies recommend looking up and down when you’re searching for a lost cat. Call your cat by name, checking trees, under cars (sometimes cats hide under car hoods to keep warm), behind garbage cans, under trailers and houses, and any small place your cat might have crawled in, up to, or under to hide.
Most importantly, do these things immediately. Remember that animal shelters are so overcrowded due to the severe pet overpopulation problem that they can often only hold strays for three days.

What to Do If You Find a Pet

If you find a pet, place advertisements in newspaper and radio stations (see the lost pet article in this issue). Leave information with veterinarians, humane societies, and animal shelters.
Go to or call the Mat-Su Borough Animal Control Shelter and fill out a form to put in the “Found Pets” notebook.
Make flyers for nearby stores, veterinarian offices, local bulletin boards, etc.
If you find a dog that’s been groomed, check with dog grooming shops to see if they recognize him.
Never turn an animal loose. After several unsuccessful days or weeks of trying to locate the owner, try to find a home for the pet. If you are unable to keep the pet in your own home while searching for a good home for it, take it to the Mat-Su Animal Control shelter.

STEP 4: CHECK AND LIST WITH THE LINKS LISTED HERE.

Click here to go to petfinders.com and search for lost and found and adoptable pets in Alaska.
Click here to go to Adopt a Friend (Mat-Su Valley).
Check out the animal control and humane society agencies listed on STOP’s links page.

Please donate if you can. All donations are tax-deductible. STOP is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization that has been paying to spay and neuter Alaska’s pets since 2002.

Individual Membership

$25

Family Membership

$50

Help spay/neuter 2 pets

$75

Help spay/neuter 3 pets

$100

Lifetime Membership

$500

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