Community Resources for Reuniting Pets with their Families
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Lost Pets
Have you lost a pet? Below you will find ways to bring your furry family member home. Give these a try, and if anyone has any other tried and true ways to locate a lost pet, please feel free to contact us and share!
- Make a Facebook post about your missing pet, with pictures of your pet, location lost from (doesn’t have to be the exact address, but street, city, and county are helpful), whether the pet is microchipped, and if they have a collar and tags on. Be sure to include if the animal is skittish, or any other attribute that can help the finders get the animal back to you.
- Share your Facebook page on as many area Facebook Groups you can find (ask to join if you are not already a member). For Carrol County and NW Arkansas, try – What’s Happening Carroll County, Lost and Found Pets of Carroll County Arkansas, Carroll County Arkansas Lost and Found “Fur-Babies”, Lost Pets NWA, Eureka Springs Community Support, Holiday Island, any Lost and Found Groups for the MO counties located right above us, and any for the cities in the area.
- Post on your area’s Nextdoor neighborhood App. This has been especially successful in reuniting pets with owners in Holiday Island.
- If you have lost a cat, try putting their litter box outside to hopefully let the scent guide them back home.
- If you have lost a dog, try putting some of your worn clothing either on your front porch, or in the area where you lost them (a few success stories of dogs found in state and national parks can be attributed to this action).
- Call your local animal control offices (call the non-emergency number for the police department and ask for animal control). This is especially important if you live within one of the municipalities, but dogs do wander or get picked up and driven away, so call each one even if you do not live in or near one of cities.
- Call your area animal shelters and humane societies. Include the shelters in neighboring counties (including those in MO) and let them know if you have made a Facebook Post so that they can more easily identify your pet if any are turned in. Share your name, phone number, description & name of pet, location pet was lost from, and how long your pet has been missing.
- Post your missing pet on Pawboost.com
- Make a post for your pet on lost.Petcolove.org
- Visit NWApethub.com and make a post for them there as well.
- Make flyers to hang up around your neighborhood, at gas stations, the post office, and grocery stores in the area.
- Speak with your mail carrier and ask them to be on the lookout for your lost pet
- Have your pets microchipped! In the event your pet is picked up by a good Samaritan and taken to a vet or shelter, they can be scanned and your contact information (if up to date!) can be accessed and you will be contacted.
Found Pets
Have you found a potentially lost dog or cat? Things to consider before picking up a dog or cat in Carroll County are 1) many pets in this area are free-roaming and return to their homes nightly, 2) are you prepared to keep the animal for a couple of nights to a couple of weeks in the event that area shelters are full, 3) are you from the area you are picking the animal up from, or are you visiting? It may be better to call area animal shelters or animal control offices to alert them of a sighting than to pick them up and transport them to areas they are not familiar with. This greatly reduces the chances that animals will be returned to their owners. Below are some ideas on how you can reunite a found pet with its owner.
- Take a picture of the animal and post it on the area and regional Facebook groups, and include gender (if known) and where the animal was found. Area Facebook Groups include, but aren’t limited to – What’s Happening Carroll County?, Lost and Found Pets of Carroll County Arkansas, Carroll County Arkansas Lost and Found “Fur-Babies,” Lost Pets NWA, Eureka Springs Community Support, Holiday Island, Arkansas, Barry County Missouri Lost/Found Pets, etc.
- Post on Neighborhood App for specific communities (Particularly successful for reuniting pets in Holiday Island).
- If you found the animal within the city limits, please first call the animal control office for the city in which you are located. Call the city’s local, non-emergency police department number and ask for animal control. The county’s animal control officers work with shelters in the area, so there is no need to worry about the animals safety in their hands.
- Call the area/regional animal shelters to report a found dog or cat. If the shelter is unable to take them in, give a description of the animal and your name and contact information so that they can put the owner in touch with you should they call to inquire about their lost pet.
- Post the animal on Pawboost.com
- Post the animal on NWApethub.com
- If you live in the area, post flyers at the local grocery stores, gas stations, post offices and any other establishment that has heavy local traffic.
- Take the animal to a local veterinary clinic or animal shelter to have them scanned for a microchip.