Catsters, here’s an article you probably should check out!

Pet finders, and I know you folks are part of the online pack, any suggestions you want to offer to Catsters and Dogsters on how to increase the chances their furbabies will be found if, dog forbid, one of them goes missing? Bark in!

Thanks to Science Daily for this article!

Lost Dogs Found More Often Than Lost Cats, Study Suggests

Science Daily — A lost dog is more likely to be reunited with its owner than a lost cat, according to two new studies.

In one city in southwestern Ohio , researchers found that 71 percent of lost dogs were found, compared to just 53 percent of lost cats.

More than a third of the recovered dogs were found by a call or visit to an animal shelter. More than one in four dogs were found because the animal wore a dog license or identification tag at the time of its disappearance.

“The animal control system is a key component in the recovery of lost dogs, but owners have to be vigilant about calling and visiting these agencies,‿ said Linda Lord, the lead author of both studies and an assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine. “Some form of visual identification is also critical to the recovery of a pet, and can result in a faster recovery.‿

Although Ohio law requires that dogs be licensed, just 41 percent of the lost dogs in the study wore a license at the time of their disappearance. Less than half (48 percent) of dogs had an identification tag or microchip when they went missing. Microchips, which are implanted under the skin, provide permanent identification about where a pet belongs. Cat owners aren’t required to identify their pet, and 19 percent of lost cats had a tag or microchip at the time they were lost.

More than half of the cats returned on their own, but less than one in 10 dogs did.

The results of the two studies appear in the January 15 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Lord and her colleagues restricted their four-month study to Dayton , Ohio , and the surrounding county. They collected information on lost cats and dogs by scanning classified advertisements in the local newspaper and by contacting the county dog warden and two area humane societies. Each agency kept a log of the phone number and date of contact for any owner who called or visited the agency regarding a lost cat or dog.

Researchers interviewed by phone owners of lost pets who agreed to participate in the study. Collectively, these owners reported the disappearance of 138 cats and 187 dogs. Owners answered a series of questions related to the recovery of their pet, including what kind of methods they used to search for the missing animal.

The researchers also asked the owners if the animal was wearing an identification tag; a rabies tag; a dog license tag (applies only to dogs); or had a microchip at the time it disappeared. Each shelter scanned animals for microchips.

Two out of three (66 percent) of the lost cats came home on their own. Only 8 percent of lost dogs returned home on their own.

“Many people think that a missing cat just comes home on its own,‿ Lord said. “Most of the lost cats that were recovered in our study did return home on their own, but nearly half of the cats reported missing were never found.‿

More than one out of three owners (35 percent) found their lost dogs at a shelter. Just 7 percent of cat owners who recovered their pet found it at a shelter.

“Cat owners tend to wait longer to call and visit a shelter,‿ said Lord, adding that cat owners waited about three days before contacting a local animal shelter, while dog owners waited about a day to do so.

“The cats that stayed missing during the study may have been in a shelter, and could have been euthanized because their owner didn’t call or visit the shelter,‿ Lord said.

One of the best ways to locate a pet may be to post a sign in the neighborhood, the study showed.

Posted signs resulted in the return of 15 percent of recovered dogs and 11 percent of found cats. Six dogs (4.5 percent) and two cats (3 percent) made it home because of an advertisement in the newspaper.

“Less than half of the pet owners in this study hung signs around their neighborhood,‿ Lord said. “But this could be a very effective way to find a pet. If someone loses a pet, they should get something visible out there to let people know about the missing animal.‿

Lord says that many pet owners may not know how to go about finding their lost cat or dog.

“For many of the owners in this study, it was the first time their pet had disappeared,‿ Lord said. “Pet owners should think about having a plan in place in case their pet is lost. Both animal shelters and veterinarians can educate their clients and the public about the best course of action to take when a pet is missing.‿

Lord said that websites dedicated to helping people find missing pets are a lesser-known alternative to finding lost pets.

“Most important, though, is adequate identification of a pet,‿ she said.

Lord conducted the studies with Thomas Wittum and Päivi Rajala-Schultz, both in the department of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State; Amy Ferketich, division of epidemiology, School of Public Health at Ohio State; and Julie Funk, with National Food Safety and Toxicology Center in East Lansing, Mich.

The research was supported by a grant from the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust, a KeyBank Trust.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Ohio State University.

Categories: Lost Dogs and Cats, Dogs and Science
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Thanks to Liz M., Cody’s foster furmom, for barking in this sweet story from TCPalm.com!

Dogs & Cats Forever gives Hurricane Katrina victim, pet ’storybook ending’
By TYLER TREADWAY

“Jill” is “Elsa” once again.

Shortly after noon Tuesday, Jenna LaFuentes, who lost her New Orleans home in Hurricane Katrina, was reunited with her cat Elsa, who has been known as Jill at the Dogs & Cats Forever shelter in Port St. Lucie for the past 1 1/2 years.

When she saw the cat in its carrier at the Delta Air Lines counter in Orlando International Airport, LaFuentes broke into tears.

“It was wonderful,” Andrea Nicholson, a volunteer at the no-kill shelter who helped reunite the pet and owner, said at the airport after the reunion. “At the shelter, Jill always ran from strangers; but not today. She acted like she wanted Jenna to pet her. Jenna is convinced that this is her cat, and we’re convinced this is her cat.”

Nicholson reported that LaFuentes peeked in the carrier and said to Elsa, “How are you, baby? I thought I’d never see you again.”

Just before Katrina hit in August 2005, LaFuentes and her 11-year-old daughter, Destiny Taylor, fled their ground-floor apartment in St. Bernard’s Parish and left the gray, tiger- striped Elsa in the care of neighbors upstairs.

But the rising water threatened the upstairs apartment, too; and the neighbors were forced to abandon their home and the cats.

After the storm, LaFuentes searched Web sites for animal shelters that took in animals left homeless by Katrina. In October, she saw a photo of “Jill” on the Dogs & Cats Forever site and was convinced it was Elsa.

Once shelter officials were convinced as well, the reunion was arranged thanks to an anonymous donor who paid LaFuentes’ airfare from New Orleans to Orlando and back home.

Nicholson and Jay Apicella, the shelter director, drove Jill from Port St. Lucie to Orlando for the rendezvous.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Categories: Dog News, Rescue Groups and Information, Lost Dogs and Cats
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How terrible! Is this becoming a national trend, thieves stealing breedable dogs? If that’s true, its another reason to crack down on puppy mills that would be the beneficiaries of these stolen dogs!

Thanks to Lynn H. for barking in this article from Boston.com.

Police: LA puppies dognapped in LA

LOS ANGELES –A pair of gunmen men posing as prospective buyers of four Yorkshire puppies forced their way into a home and stole the terriers worth $2,500 each, police said.

They also fled with the family’s grown terrier.

After seeing a newspaper ad, the men made an appointment to see the 8-week-old puppies on the night of Feb. 23 at Kelly Lee’s home in Koreatown. When they showed up, she said, she asked them to remove their shoes before entering.

One suspect told her they would get slippers from his vehicle, Lee said. When he returned, one pointed a gun at her and three family members.

“They yelled at us to get down” on the floor of the living room, Lee said.

As one man held a gun, the other chased after the puppies scampering around the room and underneath a coffee table, home surveillance video released by police showed. He snatched one of the dogs from Lee’s hands.

After stuffing the dogs one by one in a plastic garbage bag, the men fled in a silver car, police said.

No one was injured.

“It appears the suspects answered the ad, knowing the value of the puppies,” police Lt. Paul Vernon said.

Although the puppies were valued at $2,500 each, the victims were most concerned about the loss of Tan-ja, the family pet for more than three years.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Thanks to Debra for barking in this video about the crime!

I saw this very distubing video on AOL news and thought it should be viewed by the Dogster community. Perhaps the attempt to sell these puppies may bring about the arrest of the individuals involved.

Original post by Joy and software by Elliott Back

Categories: Dog News, Crimes Against Dogs and Cats,