Is there anything worse than that dreadful moment of panic when you realize that your beloved pet has gone missing? The shrieks of grief from the children and the sense of loss in your own heart is enough to send you mad. Whether it’s a cat, a dog, a rabbit or any other animal that can break free from a house or garden, a pet is something that you get very attached to and they become a member of the family. If they manage to escape it can cause massive problems for you and your family. Don’t despair – if your pet goes missing we have plenty of ideas for you on how to try and locate it:
Draw Up an Advert
Using a computer, draw up an advert which details your loss. You will be using this advert a lot, so make sure you get it right. Put your contact details, a description and photo of your missing pet along with his or her name on the advert and make sure the writing is big and bold enough to be read from a distance. Use a photo which is a good representation of what your pet looks like, and add a line saying how much he or she is missed. If you’d like to, you could offer a reward for its safe return. Head to a local printing shop and have lots of these adverts printed.
Start Distributing
Your next step is to start spreading the word. Take your adverts and put them up in shops, on lamp posts and on community notice boards. Hand them out in your local high street too – and cover any area that you think your pet might have reached. Go to all the local pet shops and vets and put your signs up in there too – you never know, your pet may have ended up being taken there anyway! You’ll need to speak to all of the local cats and dogs homes too to make sure that they haven’t collected them.
Look Online
There are plenty of online community sites where people can advertise their ‘losts’ and ‘founds’. Check all of these sites out and post your own advert too in case anybody sees it and wants to get in touch. You should also take a JPEG version of your advert and post it on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The more you can spread the word, the better your chances are of getting your pet back safe and sound. Ask all of your friends to share your advert and it shouldn’t be long before word gets around. If somebody subsequently finds your pet, they will know exactly where to return it to.
When a pet goes missing it can be easy to assume the worst, but a lot of the time they are found safe and well and returned to their owners. If your pet has disappeared then you need to do all that you can to bring him or her back to the family home.
