Losing a pet can be a traumatic experience for any pet owner. The feeling of helplessness when your pet goes missing is an emotion that no pet owner should have to experience. Thankfully, there are several sites and apps available to help lost dogs and their owners be reunited. Knowing that you have access to these resources can be reassuring and provide hope in a difficult time.
The best sites and apps for lost and missing pets available in 2020 include Find Shadow, PetHub, Missing Animal Response Network, Lost Dogs Of America, Helping Lost Pets, BarkHappy, Whistle Legacy, DOTTpet, Finding Rover, and Dog Monitor & Pet Cam.
Find Shadow is a free app that helps owners use technology combined with volunteers to reunite with their lost dogs. Once you post that you have lost your dog, you get a personalized action plan and a personalized lost dog street flyer to download and distribute locally. Volunteers help comb through databases of local missing and found pet websites, shelters and other online listings in an attempt to match missing and found pets.
Pet Hub is another great resource for reuniting lost dogs with their owners. They use a combination of methods and technologies to reunite lost dogs with their owners. The organization is award-winning, and a vast majority of the pets they recover reunite with their owners within 24 hours.
The Missing Animal Response Network is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that lost pets are reunited with their families. They partner with animal welfare agencies and educate owners on how to avoid losing their pets. They offer courses in loss prevention, as well as typical animal behaviour once the pet is away from the safety of home. Knowing how your pet is likely to respond to the stimuli of being lost can help you understand the best way to find them.
Lost Dogs Of America utilizes volunteers who want to help owners reunite with their dogs. The organization focuses on decreasing the number of strays in shelters. Helping Lost Pets provides a database where every lost and found pet can be listed. These listings then create a network where the information goes into social media. In addition, alerts are generated based on location and relevant to the owners’ needs.
BarkHappy is an app designed for dog owners to find other dog owners nearby. You can then set up playdates and let other users know about great dog parks and spaces. Most importantly, it has a feature that enables owners to report lost or found dogs. BarkHappy uses local information proving useful to alert the entire community of nearby dog owners when a dog is missing. The local alerts ensure that the community of dog owners close by can mobilize to help search for a lost or missing dog.
Whistle Legacy is a free app designed to keep your pet healthier by determining the activity and location of your pet. The app provides the temperature, pulse, and weight of your pet. Most importantly, GPS technology provides accurate tracking of your pet, including text alerts, when the dog leaves the safe zone you have listed.
DOTTpet is a pet app designed to help you keep your pets safe. It is a free app that provides lost and found alerts in your local community. You can meet other pet owners, find out about local scams and dangers, and put out lost pet broadcasts.
Finding Rover found acclaim within the last few years because of its success in helping pets and owners reunite. It works using highly advanced technology to match the photos of found animals with the photos provided by owners reporting lost pets. Finding Rover is using facial recognition software to match found pets located on websites and in shelters with pets listed as missing.
Finally, investing in a dog monitor or pet cam allows you to keep a check on your pet when you are away from home. Some monitoring systems and apps enable pet owners to communicate with their pets from anywhere. Most importantly you can ensure that your pet is safe and OK, and if there is a problem, you will find it out very quickly.
Prevention is always the best way to keep your pet safe. Invest in sturdy tags with updated contact information on a collar that fits your pet safely. Consider having your pet microchipped. Microchipping is relatively inexpensive and it increases the chances that a lost pet returns home safely. If you move or your contact information changes, remember to update the information with the company that manages your pet’s microchip. Unfortunately, the microchip is useless if owners forget to update their contact information.
We all want our pets to be safe and healthy. Knowing that there are sites and apps available to help in the case of a lost pet is so reassuring. Utilizing modern technology, we can all be better pet owners and ensure that our pets remain safe during their time with us. Familiarizing yourself with the apps available, and potentially serving as a volunteer to help reunite pets, can be a lifeline if your pet goes missing.
By taking the necessary steps to ensure your pet’s safety, you can rest assured that your pet is safe and sound. Investing in a dog monitor or pet cam, having your pet microchipped, and utilizing the best sites and apps available to help lost dogs and their owners be reunited are all great ways to keep your pet safe and sound.
