Pet FBI: Reuniting Owners with Lost Pets, with guest Leslie Poole

DrG: 00:00:20

Hi, and welcome to the Animal Welfare Junction.

DrG: 00:00:22

This is your host, Dr.

DrG: 00:00:23

G, and our music is written and produced by Mike Sullivan.

DrG: 00:00:26

Today we have a great topic.

DrG: 00:00:28

We're going to find out how to increase the chances of getting our

DrG: 00:00:31

animals back if they are lost, and to talk about that we have a special

DrG: 00:00:35

guest, Leslie Poole from PET FBI.

DrG: 00:00:38

Welcome Leslie and thank you for joining us.

Leslie Poole: 00:00:40

Thank you.

Leslie Poole: 00:00:41

Thanks for having me.

DrG: 00:00:42

Can you first start by letting people know about you, who you

DrG: 00:00:46

are, about your background and what brought you to where you are today?

Leslie Poole: 00:00:49

Yeah, absolutely.

Leslie Poole: 00:00:50

Um, so I'm the executive director of PET F B I.

Leslie Poole: 00:00:53

I joined PET F B I in 2017.

Leslie Poole: 00:00:57

Um, my background is in nonprofit administration and fundraising.

Leslie Poole: 00:01:01

Um, but always had a love of animals.

Leslie Poole: 00:01:04

Um, always had pets, um, and, you know, had a couple, uh, Go missing

Leslie Poole: 00:01:10

and felt that terrible fear of not being able to locate my pet.

Leslie Poole: 00:01:14

Um, so Marisa Fanelli actually is the founder of PET F B I and she started it

Leslie Poole: 00:01:20

back in 1998, and so we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year.

Leslie Poole: 00:01:27

And so in 2017 she was ready to retire.

Leslie Poole: 00:01:30

Uh, she's still very involved with us and still sits on our board

Leslie Poole: 00:01:33

of directors, but she was looking for a replacement right about the

Leslie Poole: 00:01:36

time I was looking to do something different as well on a volunteer side.

Leslie Poole: 00:01:40

Um, and so we connected, um, actually through my son who does our web design

Leslie Poole: 00:01:46

and our database building and all of that.

Leslie Poole: 00:01:49

And, um, it was, it felt like a great fit.

Leslie Poole: 00:01:51

And so I joined the organization in 2017 and I've been there ever since.

DrG: 00:01:56

This is such a great service because when I was in veterinary school,

DrG: 00:02:00

I had a cat and my cat went missing, and this was before this existed.

DrG: 00:02:05

So I'm freaking out not knowing what to do, and I'm trying to make flyers

DrG: 00:02:09

and I'm trying to figure out what, and computers, like the internet

DrG: 00:02:12

was not used that widely back then.

DrG: 00:02:15

So something like this would've given me a great peace of mind.

DrG: 00:02:18

And in the end, my cat just ran out of the house and hid in the bushes

DrG: 00:02:21

and sat there for like, 10 hours until I went outside and found him.

DrG: 00:02:25

So it was thankfully a, a pretty quick and easy reunion.

DrG: 00:02:29

But I know firsthand that fear that you get when you can't find your

DrG: 00:02:34

pet and you go outside and you call them and they're not coming, and

DrG: 00:02:39

you just find yourself so helpless.

DrG: 00:02:42

So let's let people know how your organization works.

DrG: 00:02:46

So let's start with the basics.

DrG: 00:02:47

What does PET FBI stand for?

Leslie Poole: 00:02:49

Pet FBI stands for pets found by Internet.

Leslie Poole: 00:02:53

Um, when Marisa founded the organization back in 1998, it was, um, you know,

Leslie Poole: 00:02:57

the very beginnings of the internet.

Leslie Poole: 00:02:59

So not everybody had home computers, they were just kind of getting started.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:02

Um, but she definitely saw, uh, a gap in services where there was just

Leslie Poole: 00:03:06

no central place to post a lost pet.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:09

Um, and she had the experience of losing a pet at the time.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:13

Realized that there was no one place to go.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:15

It was a cat.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:16

Cats don't always end up at the shelter with a whole, you know, cats.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:19

Are very different from dogs when they go missing.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:21

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:22

Um, so the whole process is different.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:24

And so that's why she formed PET F B I, um, which is a central database.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:29

So anybody can go online and post a lost or a found PET report is completely free.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:35

It goes into the central database.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:37

Um, and then it's searchable.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:38

So you can go online and search in your area.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:41

You can search cats, you can search timeframes, um, location and see

Leslie Poole: 00:03:45

pets that are posted in your area.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:47

Um, to help you find it.

Leslie Poole: 00:03:48

We also send out email alerts, so, So when you post a lost or found pet, an

Leslie Poole: 00:03:52

email alert goes out to everybody in the area who's either signed up for

Leslie Poole: 00:03:56

our alerts or if you're posting a found pet, it'll be sent to all of the lost.

Leslie Poole: 00:04:01

If it's a found cat, it'll be sent to all the lost cats in the

Leslie Poole: 00:04:04

area that have posted reports.

Leslie Poole: 00:04:07

Um, so you get those potential match alerts as well.

DrG: 00:04:10

It's important that you bring up as far as the cats, uh, the

DrG: 00:04:12

difference between cats and dogs.

DrG: 00:04:14

I was discussing with my staff not too long ago about the fact that

DrG: 00:04:17

you see a cat outside and you don't immediately assume that the cat is lost.

DrG: 00:04:21

You figure it's an outdoor cat, or it's a stray, or it's a feral.

DrG: 00:04:25

Whereas when you find a dog, you do think that it's lost,

DrG: 00:04:29

it's missing, it's stray, right?

DrG: 00:04:31

Because we don't have street dogs like other countries would, would have them.

DrG: 00:04:35

So when somebody is going to post, how detailed should

DrG: 00:04:39

they be or should they not be?

Leslie Poole: 00:04:42

I think it's important to give a really good description.

Leslie Poole: 00:04:47

Um, if you have, if you, the person who's lo who's lost that pet, um,

Leslie Poole: 00:04:51

sometimes we tell people who have found a pet, they may wanna withhold a detail

Leslie Poole: 00:04:54

or two when they're posting just to, you know, that's a proof of ownership.

Leslie Poole: 00:04:58

Um, but try to be detailed when you're posting your lost PET report.

Leslie Poole: 00:05:02

I think it's really helpful, especially in the case of cats, because, You know,

Leslie Poole: 00:05:06

an orange cat looks like an orange cat.

Leslie Poole: 00:05:09

If there's something that distinguishes that cat, um, that is helpful information.

Leslie Poole: 00:05:14

, so we do try to tell people to.

Leslie Poole: 00:05:16

Place where they're last seen, the intersection, where they're last seen.

Leslie Poole: 00:05:20

Um, as much detail as you can give, I think is really helpful.

Leslie Poole: 00:05:24

Um, posting flyers, we tell people, I mean, there's like lots of tools in the

Leslie Poole: 00:05:29

Lost Pet Toolkit and as many of those tools that you implement, the the higher

Leslie Poole: 00:05:33

your chance of success is gonna be.

Leslie Poole: 00:05:34

And flyers are really important, um, to get the word out in the neighborhood,

Leslie Poole: 00:05:38

especially with cats because people don't know if it's a new feral in

Leslie Poole: 00:05:41

the community cat, um, group, or if it, this is somebody who's lost cat.

DrG: 00:05:47

And colors are sometimes subjective, right?

DrG: 00:05:50

Like as a veterinarian, we get a lot of cats that people bring them in

DrG: 00:05:53

and they say, my cat is a gray tabby.

DrG: 00:05:55

And you looked at it and you say, no, this is a classic brown tabby.

DrG: 00:05:59

So there's, there's a lot of discrepancy into what one person thinks is a

DrG: 00:06:03

yellow cat versus an orange or a buff.

DrG: 00:06:06

And even with dogs, that people will say white and it's really white with

DrG: 00:06:09

black spots and that kind of stuff.

DrG: 00:06:11

So being detailed, but then having pictures.

DrG: 00:06:15

And the importance of having pictures, I suppose.

DrG: 00:06:19

Uh, something good would be kind of like with children that you wanna

DrG: 00:06:22

take a lot of different pictures for identification purposes.

DrG: 00:06:25

So how would you say that people should update pictures

DrG: 00:06:29

of their animals over time?

Leslie Poole: 00:06:31

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:06:32

Um, so I think a lot of people don't realize, especially with dogs, that the

Leslie Poole: 00:06:36

markings will change as the dog ages sometimes, and especially if you've

Leslie Poole: 00:06:40

lost your dog when they're fairly young.

Leslie Poole: 00:06:41

Um, those markings could change.

Leslie Poole: 00:06:44

So we always recommend that you have an updated picture of your pet at all

Leslie Poole: 00:06:49

times, and so you're ready to have that a full body picture is best.

Leslie Poole: 00:06:53

, so you can see markings and everything.

Leslie Poole: 00:06:55

, we did have a situation not too long ago, , where a owner contacted a Finder

Leslie Poole: 00:07:00

because they saw their dog posted and they sent them the, the report that they had

Leslie Poole: 00:07:05

uploaded of their lost dog, and the finder immediately discounted it and said, no,

Leslie Poole: 00:07:10

that's not your dog, because the markings don't match, and didn't even respond.

Leslie Poole: 00:07:14

I had, I got involved and kind of interceded.

Leslie Poole: 00:07:17

But they discounted it completely.

Leslie Poole: 00:07:18

It turned out that the person had uploaded a puppy picture of their dog, and at

Leslie Poole: 00:07:23

the time when the dog was a puppy, it had a brown marking around one eye.

Leslie Poole: 00:07:27

Well, the dog was now 14 years old, and its face was completely

Leslie Poole: 00:07:31

white, and so the finder didn't recognize it from the picture at all.

Leslie Poole: 00:07:36

So after some back and forth, we got some updated pictures, , exchanged

Leslie Poole: 00:07:40

and the dog got back home.

Leslie Poole: 00:07:41

But great example of if your dog is 14, that puppy picture is not accurate anymore

Leslie Poole: 00:07:47

and you really need to upload the most recent picture you have of your pet.

DrG: 00:07:51

And I think also not having kind of like a picture of only part of your

DrG: 00:07:55

pet, like just to face like a lot of.

DrG: 00:07:57

Again, with cats, a lot of tiger or tabby cats can look similar.

DrG: 00:08:01

So being able to have a lot of different descriptors, right?

Leslie Poole: 00:08:05

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:05

Right.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:06

Like the face could look very similar, but they may have white mittens or they

Leslie Poole: 00:08:10

may have a white tail or you know, some other markings that are distinguishable.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:13

So absolutely have that full body picture.

DrG: 00:08:17

So when Pet F B I started, did it only start in one area and then grow?

DrG: 00:08:22

Or was it a national database from the get go?

Leslie Poole: 00:08:25

Yeah, it, um, started here in central Ohio and only served

Leslie Poole: 00:08:29

the central Ohio area for a long time.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:31

Um, and then it just continued to grow.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:34

So around 2016, uh, we went national and started to serve the entire United States.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:41

Um, and then in 2021 we merged with another organization

Leslie Poole: 00:08:45

called Helping Lost Pets.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:47

Um, and they were based in Canada.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:49

And so, um, after that merger, so we serve all of the US and Canada.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:53

Um, at this point.

Leslie Poole: 00:08:55

So yeah, we've grown quite a bit since our beginnings in 1998.

DrG: 00:08:59

And that's important 'cause people don't realize how far animals can

DrG: 00:09:03

travel and not just a cat and a dog traveling on their own, but sometimes

DrG: 00:09:08

they get a little bit of help, but by some good Samaritan that gives them a

DrG: 00:09:12

ride to another county or another state.

DrG: 00:09:16

Um, recently we had a, a case of a cat that was picked up in another county.

DrG: 00:09:21

Uh, found as a stray.

DrG: 00:09:22

Somebody saw it and contacted an individual rescuer, and that

DrG: 00:09:27

person from two counties away went and picked up the cat.

DrG: 00:09:31

Nobody scanned it, nobody checked it.

DrG: 00:09:33

Thankfully, they brought him to one of our clinics to microchip it.

DrG: 00:09:37

And before we microchip anybody, and especially when people say that they

DrG: 00:09:40

found it stray, we always scan it.

DrG: 00:09:41

We found the microchip and contacted the owner.

DrG: 00:09:45

That person had lost the cat six months ago and they were actively trying to

DrG: 00:09:49

find it, but they didn't know about the different resources to do so.

DrG: 00:09:53

And being a cat, I mean, how many cats that looked the same.

DrG: 00:09:57

But it was a great reunion because it was a single dad with his five-year-old

DrG: 00:10:01

daughter, and the cat belonged to the daughter and the little girl

DrG: 00:10:04

is looking for her cat every day.

DrG: 00:10:06

So we were able to get them back, you know, two counties away and reunite them.

DrG: 00:10:12

So do you have any stories as far as what's the furthest that somebody

DrG: 00:10:16

has been able to reunite a, a pet?

Leslie Poole: 00:10:20

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:20

I mean, I, I should have those.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:23

At the tip of my tongue, but I, we do, we do see them that go, you know, we

Leslie Poole: 00:10:27

see dogs who have crossed state lines.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:30

Um, people like, like you said, a good Samaritan will pick them up and take them.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:34

Uh, we had a cat a couple years ago.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:37

Uh, somebody was staying at a hotel.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:39

The cat was lost at a hotel.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:40

Somebody else picked the cat up, took it home out of state.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:44

I think it was a trucker and taken, had taken the cat back home.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:48

Um, Then came back because this was his normal route, and saw the flyers that the

Leslie Poole: 00:10:53

owner had posted, um, for the lost cat.

Leslie Poole: 00:10:56

Went back, brought the cat back and reunited them with the owner.

Leslie Poole: 00:11:01

Um, so again, I mean, it wasn't a microchip situation, but they had

Leslie Poole: 00:11:04

put flyers out, um, and plastered the area to get the word out.

Leslie Poole: 00:11:08

And fortunately he saw that, um, and brought the, brought

Leslie Poole: 00:11:11

the cat back to, to Ohio.

Leslie Poole: 00:11:14

Um, Yeah, we always tell people, if you find a pet and you're going to have to

Leslie Poole: 00:11:19

take them to the shelter, please try to take them to the shelter in the camp, in

Leslie Poole: 00:11:22

the county where, where you found them.

Leslie Poole: 00:11:24

It just makes it so much harder for an owner to recover a pet if

Leslie Poole: 00:11:27

they're taken out of the area.

Leslie Poole: 00:11:29

And, um, the microchip like we always recommend, have your pet's microchipped.

DrG: 00:11:34

Yeah.

DrG: 00:11:35

And that's something that people, I don't think, think of to do immediately

DrG: 00:11:39

once they find a, a dog or a cat, is to take it somewhere to, to get it scanned.

DrG: 00:11:44

, and also the different resources of places that they can take, , these

DrG: 00:11:48

animals to get them scanned.

DrG: 00:11:49

And this is a bone that I have to pick with my own profession because as

DrG: 00:11:53

veterinarians, I think that's sometimes our clients, if they find a dog or a

DrG: 00:11:57

cat, the first place that they're gonna call is their veterinarian and they're

DrG: 00:12:00

gonna say, Hey, I found a dog or a cat.

DrG: 00:12:03

And so many veterinarians.

DrG: 00:12:04

Then give them the resource of, oh, take it to the shelter, take it to the pound.

DrG: 00:12:09

And then have them worry about it.

DrG: 00:12:11

But as veterinarians, it's so easy for us to tell them, Hey, stop by.

DrG: 00:12:16

We have a scanner.

DrG: 00:12:16

We'll scan 'em, we'll help you look up through PET F b I.

DrG: 00:12:20

Um, multiple times that happened at the clinic where I work, and we

DrG: 00:12:24

have been able to reunite people.

DrG: 00:12:26

A lot of the times they're even,

DrG: 00:12:28

they live nearby.

DrG: 00:12:30

Right?

DrG: 00:12:30

Because they're lost close to where Right, where they were at.

DrG: 00:12:33

Right?

DrG: 00:12:34

Yeah.

DrG: 00:12:34

So as you said, like look first where you're at, uh, what would

DrG: 00:12:38

you say are the concerns as far as taking them to shelters?

DrG: 00:12:43

Um, instead of calling, you know, a veterinarian,

Leslie Poole: 00:12:47

Yeah, I mean right now, and this is not just in our county, but it's

Leslie Poole: 00:12:51

nationwide shelters are really crowded.

Leslie Poole: 00:12:53

Um, it is very difficult for them, um, to take intakes right now.

Leslie Poole: 00:12:58

A lot of 'em are overcrowded.

Leslie Poole: 00:12:59

A lot of them are asking finders to please hold onto the pets, um, and try

Leslie Poole: 00:13:04

to find the owner on your by yourselves.

Leslie Poole: 00:13:06

Um, the other thing is, A lot of times that county shelter may

Leslie Poole: 00:13:10

be a long way away from home.

Leslie Poole: 00:13:13

And for people who don't have good transportation, who maybe can't afford the

Leslie Poole: 00:13:17

reclaim fee, that presents a hardship for them to even get to the shelter, let alone

Leslie Poole: 00:13:22

pay the reclaim fee to get their pet out.

Leslie Poole: 00:13:25

Um, and the shelter's just a really stressful environment.

Leslie Poole: 00:13:28

Um, you know, pets don't always do well in that shelter environment, so that's

Leslie Poole: 00:13:32

just a, a huge amount of stress, for them to have to go into the shelter.

Leslie Poole: 00:13:37

So I mean, it's, they're there, it's an option.

Leslie Poole: 00:13:40

If you don't have any other option, if there's any way to hold on to a pet,

Leslie Poole: 00:13:44

uh, we do recommend that finders get the pet, um, scanned for a microchip at a

Leslie Poole: 00:13:49

vets, even a pet smart with a, a clinic.

Leslie Poole: 00:13:52

Um, you know, there are a lot of places where you can go

Leslie Poole: 00:13:54

to get, to get them scanned.

Leslie Poole: 00:13:56

Um, we've equipped a lot of our local police departments with

Leslie Poole: 00:14:00

microchip scanners as well.

Leslie Poole: 00:14:02

So, um, there are options if you can, um, to get the pet scanned

Leslie Poole: 00:14:06

for a microchip before you transport them up to the shelter.

DrG: 00:14:10

So what would be the process if, somebody loses their dog or cat?

DrG: 00:14:15

How do they start the process of going through your organization

DrG: 00:14:20

to try to find their pet?

Leslie Poole: 00:14:22

Yeah, so the first step is just to go to our website@petfbi.org.

Leslie Poole: 00:14:27

Once you get to the website, you can just click on, create a report and

Leslie Poole: 00:14:30

it'll walk you through the steps of creating an account, uploading your

Leslie Poole: 00:14:34

photo, and entering your report.

Leslie Poole: 00:14:37

Once you submit that report, then an email alert will go out in

Leslie Poole: 00:14:40

the area with that information.

Leslie Poole: 00:14:43

Um, and then it'll be in our database so anybody can see the report if

Leslie Poole: 00:14:47

they're searching the database.

Leslie Poole: 00:14:49

The next thing we would advise you to do is then search the database

Leslie Poole: 00:14:52

to see if somebody else has already, um, reported your pet as being found.

Leslie Poole: 00:14:55

And that happens a lot.

Leslie Poole: 00:14:57

Um, you'll start getting alerts.

Leslie Poole: 00:14:59

, sent to your email, but we always recommend that you go in and

Leslie Poole: 00:15:02

search, um, and search the area.

Leslie Poole: 00:15:04

Franklin County does a great job of, of sending us their intakes as well,

Leslie Poole: 00:15:08

so you can see those on our database.

Leslie Poole: 00:15:10

, so that would be the next thing we want you to do.

Leslie Poole: 00:15:13

And then while you're on there, there's a flyer template and so you can go ahead

Leslie Poole: 00:15:17

and create your flyer, print it out, and start distributing those flyers in, in

Leslie Poole: 00:15:21

your area, um, because that is a great way to raise awareness in the area.

Leslie Poole: 00:15:26

Also sharing social media too, and which we will do, but we recommend that

Leslie Poole: 00:15:30

everybody do that themselves as well.

DrG: 00:15:33

Yeah, and social media has such a great reach and people

DrG: 00:15:35

love to share information about trying to help find pets.

DrG: 00:15:39

Like I see that those probably get the highest number of shares of any other

DrG: 00:15:44

animal related posts that that you see.

DrG: 00:15:47

And kind of important too, if you lost your pet and it's been found, make a

DrG: 00:15:51

note and say Update, pet has been found so that people know to kinda move on.

Leslie Poole: 00:15:55

Stop looking from there.

Leslie Poole: 00:15:56

Stop looking.

Leslie Poole: 00:15:57

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:15:58

We do send out a lot of reminders, email reminders to please update

Leslie Poole: 00:16:01

your report in PET F B I because that takes it out of the search results.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:05

Um, you know, and people are, are.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:08

Pretty good, but a lot of people forget to go in there and, uh, update that report.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:13

'cause we like to hear the good stories too.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:14

We wanna hear the reunions as well.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:16

Um, and it gives other people hope to see that that pet has gotten back home.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:20

If you've lost a pet and you see that other pets are getting home, it kind

Leslie Poole: 00:16:22

of gives you hope to keep looking.

DrG: 00:16:25

What are the other things that pet owners should be doing in addition

DrG: 00:16:28

to posting, uh, like especially if they have microchips and that kind

DrG: 00:16:31

of stuff, what other steps should they take to try to increase their

DrG: 00:16:35

chances of their pet coming home?

Leslie Poole: 00:16:36

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:37

Well, if your pet is microchipped, we recommend calling the

Leslie Poole: 00:16:39

microchip company immediately and reporting your pet is lost.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:43

Um, one, you wanna make sure that your contact information is up to date.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:46

So if you've had that pep for a while and you've canceled your landline or you've

Leslie Poole: 00:16:51

moved, or you have a different cell phone number, you wanna make sure that

Leslie Poole: 00:16:54

that contact information is up to date.

Leslie Poole: 00:16:56

So, um, call that microchip company and let them know.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:00

They'll also flag the chip at that point, so if anybody else calls it

Leslie Poole: 00:17:03

in, um, or checks on it or tries to reregister it, that's, it's flagged

Leslie Poole: 00:17:07

as a missing pet at that point.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:09

So first thing you wanna do is call them, and a lot of your microchip

Leslie Poole: 00:17:12

companies do have a lost and found pet service, and they will send out

Leslie Poole: 00:17:16

an alert, um, in the area as well.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:19

So do that.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:20

Um, print out your flyers, go door to door, um, passing out flyers,

Leslie Poole: 00:17:25

posting them, um, you know, in public places, on public bulletin

Leslie Poole: 00:17:29

boards to try to get the word out.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:32

share on social media.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:34

Contact your local police department.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:35

'cause a lot of times the police are the ones who get the call about a loose dog.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:39

Um, so give them a call as well.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:41

They may have seen a dog or received a report of seeing a dog in the area.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:46

And then, you know, we also tell people, especially with cats, put some nice smelly

Leslie Poole: 00:17:51

food out, put their blanket and bed out.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:53

Um, sometimes those scents, um, lures are really helpful.

Leslie Poole: 00:17:58

So, um, put out some tuna.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:01

If it's a cat that's missing some smelly tuna or something

Leslie Poole: 00:18:04

like that, put their bed out.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:05

Same with dogs.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:06

Put out their, their favorite blankie or their favorite bed, or

Leslie Poole: 00:18:10

some of your clothes for a dog.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:12

, To use those scent lures to try to, to draw them in.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:16

Um, cats, a physical search is really important.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:19

'cause like you said, with your cat, it was under the bushes hiding.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:22

That's typical cat behavior.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:24

So doing that physical search is really helpful.

, DrG: 00:18:28

and, and one thing for the owners too is like microchips and

, DrG: 00:18:32

tags both serve a different purpose.

, DrG: 00:18:35

So really important to not pick one over the other.

, DrG: 00:18:38

Right?

, DrG: 00:18:39

Like would you say that that increases the chances of them

, DrG: 00:18:41

being recovered, having both?

Leslie Poole: 00:18:43

Yeah, absolutely.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:44

Um, definitely the tag is great if the tag stays on and, and your

Leslie Poole: 00:18:49

pet is a couple houses away and your phone number is right there.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:52

That is an easy way to get your pet back home.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:55

Um, but we know that collars and tags don't always stay on.

Leslie Poole: 00:18:58

Um, so that's why it's really important to have that microchip in addition to a tag

Leslie Poole: 00:19:03

with your up-to-date contact information.

DrG: 00:19:06

One of my technicians was saying about her concern

DrG: 00:19:10

about people scamming people.

DrG: 00:19:12

So thinking about, you know, pretending that they have found

DrG: 00:19:15

the pet to try to claim a reward.

DrG: 00:19:17

What kind of things can you tell people to help prevent them from being scammed?

Leslie Poole: 00:19:22

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:19:23

Yeah, that's unfortunate.

Leslie Poole: 00:19:24

We have had a lot of, um, reports of people being approached by scammers.

Leslie Poole: 00:19:28

Um, we do have warnings on our, our website and, um, as you're entering

Leslie Poole: 00:19:33

the report, um, so one of the things that we do is we do mask your email

Leslie Poole: 00:19:38

address so that email address is not made public and you do have the

Leslie Poole: 00:19:41

choice of making your phone number public or not making it public.

Leslie Poole: 00:19:44

Um, but we do, um, try to warn people that this is a possibility.

Leslie Poole: 00:19:49

If you do get somebody contacting you saying, um, I found your pet,

Leslie Poole: 00:19:55

but I need you to send me a six digit code first, definitely a scam.

Leslie Poole: 00:19:59

Don't do that.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:00

Or if they're asking you for gift cards or money, um, that's a scam.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:06

So if somebody, most people have good intentions, if they found your

Leslie Poole: 00:20:10

pets, um, they're gonna contact you and they wanna get it back to you.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:14

So we always recommend that you ask for a photo, uh, before

Leslie Poole: 00:20:17

you agree to meet anybody.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:19

You want the proof that they do have your pet.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:21

Um, always agree to meet people in a public place.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:24

If there's any sense that you feel uncomfortable, you can recommend,

Leslie Poole: 00:20:28

you know, meeting somebody at the shelter or at the police

Leslie Poole: 00:20:30

department or someplace like that.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:32

If you have a sense that something may be a little, um, suspect.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:36

But don't give them any money.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:38

Um, you know, don't meet somebody until you're sure that

Leslie Poole: 00:20:41

they do indeed have your pet.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:43

Um, but yeah, that six digit code or asking for money upfront,

Leslie Poole: 00:20:46

that's a definite red flag.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:48

Um, and unfortunately there are people who take advantage of those who.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:51

Folks who have lost a pet because they know they're, they're

Leslie Poole: 00:20:54

emotional, they're vulnerable.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:56

Um, they wanna believe that their pet's been found.

Leslie Poole: 00:20:58

And so, um, they're more likely to, to fall for the scam.

DrG: 00:21:02

I had never heard about that six digit code, and that's what she

DrG: 00:21:06

said, that she was sent a, a text.

DrG: 00:21:09

Saying, uh, you have to send me this first.

DrG: 00:21:11

And she told them like, don't contact me again.

DrG: 00:21:14

Then they left her alone.

DrG: 00:21:16

Yeah, that's

Leslie Poole: 00:21:16

exactly.

Leslie Poole: 00:21:16

But that I had never heard about it.

Leslie Poole: 00:21:18

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:21:19

So what they're doing is, um, that's a verification code.

Leslie Poole: 00:21:22

So they're basically setting up a Google Voice account with using your cell phone

Leslie Poole: 00:21:25

number, but they need the six digit verification code to complete the setup.

Leslie Poole: 00:21:29

And so that's what they're trying to do.

Leslie Poole: 00:21:31

Um, so yeah, just, uh, block them.

Leslie Poole: 00:21:34

If you get, if they're asking for a six digit code, you wanna block that number.

DrG: 00:21:38

Geez, people I know.

Leslie Poole: 00:21:41

It's very sad.

DrG: 00:21:43

It's very sad because, you know, everybody loves their pets.

DrG: 00:21:46

I mean, they're like our kids and it's a really soft spot.

DrG: 00:21:49

So we don't, we don't think about anything other than how

DrG: 00:21:52

can we quickly recover our pets.

DrG: 00:21:54

So it does make us very vulnerable in that situation, so we have

DrG: 00:21:59

to protect each other and, and protect everybody else about that.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:02

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:03

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:04

And like I said, we try to do warnings on our website and in

Leslie Poole: 00:22:07

our emails, but um, again, people.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:10

When you've lost a pet, you are, you are upset, you're not

Leslie Poole: 00:22:13

reading everything that you sent.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:15

You're, you know, you're very emotional.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:18

So it's easy to, to fall for those.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:20

And people are embarrassed when it happens, but it's nothing

Leslie Poole: 00:22:23

to be embarrassed about.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:24

I mean, it's just human nature.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:26

You're upset and you want your pet to be home.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:28

Um, and there's another scam out there now currently where they're saying that pay

Leslie Poole: 00:22:34

up front and they'll do a drone search.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:36

Um, and that also is a scam.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:39

So just.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:41

Research, you know, research that company.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:43

If they're saying they're gonna do something for you, don't pay

Leslie Poole: 00:22:46

upfront until you know it's legit.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:48

So just be careful and report scams, report it to the Better Business Bureau.

Leslie Poole: 00:22:52

Um, if you, if you are or the F T C, um, you can go online and report those scams.

DrG: 00:23:00

Yeah, it's kind of like, uh, buying things from Craigslist,

DrG: 00:23:03

like the, as you mentioned, like meet in a, in a public place.

DrG: 00:23:07

If somebody says, meet me in the evening or at night in the back of

DrG: 00:23:10

a abandoned mall, that's a red flag.

Leslie Poole: 00:23:13

Don't do that.

Leslie Poole: 00:23:13

Don't, don't do that.

DrG: 00:23:16

Yeah.

DrG: 00:23:16

So, another thing for people that find animals is so many people make assumptions

DrG: 00:23:21

that a dog or a cat is neglected because they're messy, or that they're

DrG: 00:23:25

dirty or that they have lost weight.

DrG: 00:23:27

And then they'll say, well, I'm not gonna return it home even if I find an owner,

DrG: 00:23:31

because clearly these people don't care about it and it's better off in my home.

DrG: 00:23:35

What would you have to say about that?

Leslie Poole: 00:23:37

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:23:38

Um, well first of all, it is amazing how disheveled and dirty

Leslie Poole: 00:23:43

an animal can get after being lost for a very short period of time.

Leslie Poole: 00:23:49

Um, so that's not an indication of neglect or abuse in any way.

Leslie Poole: 00:23:53

Um, you know, you don't know how long the, the dog or the cat has been missing.

Leslie Poole: 00:23:58

Um, first of all, they could have been missing for quite a long period of time.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:01

So they may have lost weight, they may be matted, um, they may be dirty.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:06

Um, That does not mean that dog or cat is not loved and wanted and

Leslie Poole: 00:24:11

being searched for by an owner.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:13

Um, you, we have a responsibility under the law to try to find

Leslie Poole: 00:24:18

that that pet's owner, um, you, it's not finder's, keepers.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:22

You're not allowed to just.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:24

Just keep that pet for yourself.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:25

You do have a responsibility, um, to find that pet's owner.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:29

And again, you don't know the story.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:31

Um, you know, don't know how long the pet's been missing.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:33

You don't know if there are medical conditions that are

Leslie Poole: 00:24:35

leading to the way the pet looks.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:38

So, um, yeah, we always advise finders, you, you do need to locate the owner.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:43

You do need to, you know, make your best attempt to find that owner.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:46

And if you have any hesitation, um, You, you know, you can go to

Leslie Poole: 00:24:52

the shelter, you know, you can turn the pet in at the shelter and

Leslie Poole: 00:24:55

let them make that determination.

Leslie Poole: 00:24:56

If you don't feel comfortable, um, if you suspect that there's

Leslie Poole: 00:24:59

a problem, then you can get, um, the proper authorities involved.

Leslie Poole: 00:25:02

And it's really, um, it's not a private citizen's role to do that,

Leslie Poole: 00:25:06

that is animal control, the shelter or the police to make those decisions.

Leslie Poole: 00:25:10

Um, but you do have an obligation to find the owner.

DrG: 00:25:14

I have a, story about that.

DrG: 00:25:16

We once received a dog that was extremely skinny, really skinny,

DrG: 00:25:20

almost like skin and bones.

DrG: 00:25:21

Um, so of course the person that found it immediately assumed

DrG: 00:25:24

that the dog had been neglected.

DrG: 00:25:26

The dog comes in, uh, and we were able to find a picture from

DrG: 00:25:31

the owner on the pet f b I site.

DrG: 00:25:34

And the dog on the picture looked really, really healthy, and the

DrG: 00:25:37

dog had only been missing for probably about a week to 10 days.

DrG: 00:25:40

So clearly , something did not make sense.

DrG: 00:25:43

So as a veterinary clinic, we were clearly, we wanted to make sure that

DrG: 00:25:46

the dog was okay, that it was not a neglect or a cruelty, uh, situation.

DrG: 00:25:51

So what we did was we contacted Animal Control to do a well check.

DrG: 00:25:55

And they contacted the owner to find out what was happening.

DrG: 00:25:59

And what ended up happening is that the dog had a really long history

DrG: 00:26:02

of diabetes and it had been treated and it had been losing weight

DrG: 00:26:06

for a really long period of time.

DrG: 00:26:08

But the pet owner never took a picture of the dog in its sick state.

DrG: 00:26:13

So the picture that they had to share was a picture of the dog

DrG: 00:26:16

when it was, when it was healthy.

DrG: 00:26:18

So you know, everything was okay, as far as the condition of the

DrG: 00:26:22

dog there was a reason for it.

DrG: 00:26:24

And contacting the humane officer, contacting animal control is not always

DrG: 00:26:29

about getting somebody in trouble.

DrG: 00:26:30

It's about finding out what's, what's happening again.

DrG: 00:26:32

They're called well checks.

DrG: 00:26:34

So we were able to find the home for, for this dog, make sure that it, that

DrG: 00:26:39

it returned to the owner and we found that, you know, there was a condition

DrG: 00:26:42

that it needed to be to be taken care of.

DrG: 00:26:45

So not making the assumptions as far as why the animal looks the way they do.

Leslie Poole: 00:26:50

Yeah, that's a great example.

Leslie Poole: 00:26:52

Um, yeah, you can't make the assumptions.

Leslie Poole: 00:26:54

You don't know what's going on.

Leslie Poole: 00:26:55

And, um, like you said, animal control or the humane agents that they're

Leslie Poole: 00:26:59

trained to investigate and that's what they do and they can, that's not

Leslie Poole: 00:27:02

about getting someone in trouble, it's just determining, um, who the rightful

Leslie Poole: 00:27:06

owner is and what the situation is.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:08

So that's a great example.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:09

Um, you know, I, we had a dog go missing.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:13

She was only gone for maybe, I don't know, a half an hour, but in

Leslie Poole: 00:27:16

the time she was gone, she, uh, ran through the neighborhood, jumped in

Leslie Poole: 00:27:20

a retention pond, swam across it, jumped out, crawled under a car.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:25

By the time she got home, she was disheveled and dirty and looked like she'd

Leslie Poole: 00:27:29

been missing for, um, a really long time.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:32

And, uh, you know, she'd slipped out of her collar.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:34

She had no identification.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:36

Um, all the things that, you know, would make somebody suspect.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:39

But, um, yeah, it was just a matter of that's, That's how she behaved.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:43

And dogs, when they are loose or something has scared them, their behavior changes.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:49

So a lost dog's behavior is not necessarily typical of what your dog.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:54

What you think your dog is going to behave.

Leslie Poole: 00:27:57

Um, so we always tell people too, you know, don't expect your lost dog to come

Leslie Poole: 00:28:02

running back to you when you call them.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:04

They may, but it depends on the temperament.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:06

But sometimes lost dogs, if something is spooked them, they'll slip into that

Leslie Poole: 00:28:09

survival mode really quickly and everybody is then at that point, seen as a predator.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:16

Um, so you can't chase them.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:18

You can't expect them to come back when you call.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:21

Um, you know, so we caution everybody.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:23

Don't, don't chase your lost dog.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:24

Please tell everybody searching not to chase them, not to call them.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:28

Um, because what's gonna happen is you may inadvertently push

Leslie Poole: 00:28:32

them out of safe territory into unknown and unsafe territory.

Leslie Poole: 00:28:37

Um, so yeah, lost pet behavior can be very different than what we expect it

DrG: 00:28:41

to be.

DrG: 00:28:43

Yeah, I noticed that in, in a lot of signs that I see that it says if found,

DrG: 00:28:47

don't chase call so that the owner and, and some dogs are not necessarily

DrG: 00:28:52

extremely friendly even to strangers.

DrG: 00:28:55

So the owner knowing and acknowledging that to make sure that, that, that they

DrG: 00:28:59

have a higher chance of getting retrieved.

DrG: 00:29:03

Um, another thing that, that I know some people will say is if

DrG: 00:29:06

their pet has medical conditions, they will share that information.

DrG: 00:29:11

If an animal has seizures and that kind of stuff.

DrG: 00:29:14

, and I think that the importance is, you know, so that if somebody finds this

DrG: 00:29:18

animal, they know that they need to come back to their owner a little bit faster.

DrG: 00:29:23

I.

DrG: 00:29:23

But also if it's found that they take 'em to a veterinarian because

DrG: 00:29:26

they may need, uh, additional care.

DrG: 00:29:29

, are there any other specifics that people should be sharing about their

DrG: 00:29:32

animals as far as behavior, health or anything like that when they're posting?

Leslie Poole: 00:29:38

Yeah, I mean, anything that you can share I think can be helpful.

Leslie Poole: 00:29:42

Um, One of the things that we do caution people about is, um,

Leslie Poole: 00:29:48

putting on their pet flyers.

Leslie Poole: 00:29:49

And I've seen people do this, that their pet was stolen.

Leslie Poole: 00:29:53

Um, so we are very cautious about this one.

Leslie Poole: 00:29:57

If your pet was stolen, if I see a flyer that says pet stolen, I'm not

Leslie Poole: 00:30:01

necessarily gonna be looking around for that pet because I'm not gonna

Leslie Poole: 00:30:04

expect to see it, you know, just wandering through the neighborhood

Leslie Poole: 00:30:07

because it's in somebody's possession.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:09

Um, so I don't think that people are searching for stolen pets

Leslie Poole: 00:30:13

like they would for lost pets.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:15

Um, the other problem is that pet may not be stolen.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:18

Very few pets are actually stolen most of the time.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:21

They're either just lost or a good Samaritan may have picked them up

Leslie Poole: 00:30:25

thinking they were keeping them safe and put them in their car to protect them.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:29

Now they see a flyer that says stolen.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:32

They don't feel as comfortable bringing that pet back home.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:34

They may just release it, take it to the shelter.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:37

Um, so.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:40

In that case, we always recommend, you know, less is better.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:44

Um, just put that it's a lost pet.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:46

Uh, don't necessarily put all the details about why you think it's

Leslie Poole: 00:30:49

stolen or what happened, because those may not be accurate and may not help

Leslie Poole: 00:30:52

you in getting that pet back home.

Leslie Poole: 00:30:55

Um, otherwise, you know, putting information about your pet's behavior

Leslie Poole: 00:30:59

may be helpful, but again, lost pet behavior is very different

Leslie Poole: 00:31:03

from your pet's behavior at home.

Leslie Poole: 00:31:05

So, They may not be friendly, um, excited, tail wagging, um, pup once

Leslie Poole: 00:31:11

they've been missing for a couple days.

Leslie Poole: 00:31:14

Um, so yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:31:15

Yeah, it's kind of a, um, a mixed bag there.

DrG: 00:31:20

And it's important for people to understand what the stray laws are

DrG: 00:31:23

in Ohio or in their state, because how long a shelter has to keep an

DrG: 00:31:28

animal before they either transfer it.

DrG: 00:31:31

Place them for adoption or even euthanize if it's a place that has to euthanize

DrG: 00:31:36

for space or behavior, um, dust.

DrG: 00:31:39

So kind of like the importance of getting, like calling as many

DrG: 00:31:42

places, uh, as soon as possible.

DrG: 00:31:44

Can you tell people as far as kind of like what those rules are?

Leslie Poole: 00:31:48

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:31:49

Um, well there are really no rules in Ohio for cats.

Leslie Poole: 00:31:52

Um, so if a cat ends up at the shelter there, there's no law that says how

Leslie Poole: 00:31:58

long they, they hold onto that cat.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:00

Um, if a dog ends up at the shelter, um, with no identification, it's

Leslie Poole: 00:32:04

a three day stray hold before they can be put on the adoption floor.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:08

Um, So that's not long.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:11

Um, they do keep them longer.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:13

If there is identification, they do, um, hang on to them to try

Leslie Poole: 00:32:16

to, for a longer period of time to try to contact the owner.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:19

But if they come in with no tags, um, no microchip, um, it's three days and that

Leslie Poole: 00:32:24

is not a lot of time to locate your pet.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:29

So that's why we say if your, if your pet is missing, go to the shelter in person.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:33

Um, shelter staff don't have time necessarily to field phone

Leslie Poole: 00:32:37

calls to describe pets, to try to tell you if your pet is there.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:40

So, um, if you feel like your pet is, could be there, please go in person and

Leslie Poole: 00:32:45

check, um, and make sure and go every day, because again, that three days is

Leslie Poole: 00:32:49

not very long at all, um, before your dog could be on the adoption floor.

Leslie Poole: 00:32:54

Um, and again, with cats, there's, there's no stray hold in Ohio for cats.

DrG: 00:33:01

I know that some shelters will post new intakes on their, on their

DrG: 00:33:06

Facebook pages and on their website.

DrG: 00:33:08

Yeah.

DrG: 00:33:08

So really important to go in and see if you can identify your pet, but

DrG: 00:33:12

like you said, like going in and, and checking because a picture may look

DrG: 00:33:16

different than, than how the pet.

Leslie Poole: 00:33:20

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:33:20

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:33:21

And I know, um, you know, not, they can't always get pictures

Leslie Poole: 00:33:24

depending on the temperament of the dog or if the dog is ill.

Leslie Poole: 00:33:28

Like, it's not always feasible for them to get a picture right away and post it.

Leslie Poole: 00:33:32

Um, so that's why we say it, it is safer just to go in, in person and make

Leslie Poole: 00:33:35

sure that, um, your pet is not there.

DrG: 00:33:39

So , Rascal Charities has a special event coming up on September 24th of 23.

DrG: 00:33:44

, and that's the Dublin Pet Fair.

DrG: 00:33:46

And that is a free event for people and we're gonna have, adoptable animals.

DrG: 00:33:51

We're gonna have vendors with animal related items.

DrG: 00:33:53

We're gonna have nonprofits, advocacy groups.

DrG: 00:33:56

And then you guys have made a great donation for the first 50 pets

DrG: 00:34:02

that come to the wellness clinic.

DrG: 00:34:03

So do you wanna talk about that and about why do you feel it's important to do

Leslie Poole: 00:34:06

so?

Leslie Poole: 00:34:07

Yeah, I would love to talk about that.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:09

We have, um, we are very fortunate.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:12

We are a 5 0 1 C three nonprofit and we have very generous donors.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:15

And so we maintain a good SAM fund and that allows us to do fabulous

Leslie Poole: 00:34:20

things like donate microchips, um, for the Dublin Pet Fair.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:25

So we are donating the microchips for the first 50, um, pets that come.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:30

And that is a free microchip with a lifetime registration.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:34

So, This is so important.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:36

If you haven't had the opportunity to get your pet microchipped, this

Leslie Poole: 00:34:40

is a great time to, to bring your dog up, um, get them microchipped,

Leslie Poole: 00:34:45

lifetime Regi registration.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:47

Um, it's a great deal and it's so important.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:50

If your pet ever does go missing, um, this is a, you know, will

Leslie Poole: 00:34:53

help get that pet back home.

Leslie Poole: 00:34:56

Uh, we do the registration, um, because we found that, you know, studies

Leslie Poole: 00:35:00

show that only 60% of microchips are actually registered to the owner.

Leslie Poole: 00:35:04

The microchip doesn't do you any good if it's not registered.

Leslie Poole: 00:35:07

So we actually will do the registration for you.

Leslie Poole: 00:35:09

Um, make sure that it's, it's correct and again, that's a lifetime

Leslie Poole: 00:35:13

thing, so it's a great deal.

Leslie Poole: 00:35:15

So,

DrG: 00:35:16

Yes.

DrG: 00:35:17

And we're, we're super thankful that you, that you are doing that.

DrG: 00:35:20

We always recommend people to, to get microchips.

DrG: 00:35:24

We're always on people to get the registrations, and we also, as a

DrG: 00:35:27

clinic, we do our registrations ourself for, for our clients just because

DrG: 00:35:32

it's so easy to procrastinate or to forget and to set it aside and then,

DrG: 00:35:37

Something happens and you can't find the microchip number or, I mean, life

DrG: 00:35:41

happens we're, we're all busy, so easy enough for us to just go ahead and do it.

DrG: 00:35:45

But then making sure that you are as an owner updating that information.

DrG: 00:35:50

Another thing that we will do is anybody that has pets that are

DrG: 00:35:54

already microchipped, we will scan 'em to make sure that that microchip

DrG: 00:35:57

is still in place because we have concerns about microchips migrating.

DrG: 00:36:01

Uh, microchips are not supposed to ever expire, but occasionally

DrG: 00:36:05

we'll scan an animal that's supposed to be microchip that is not.

DrG: 00:36:08

So we wanna give people the peace of mind that the microchip is

DrG: 00:36:11

still there and that, and that they can get their, their pet back.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:15

Yeah, that's great.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:17

And we do that at, at events as well.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:19

Um, so we'll be scanning microchips at our booth and we do have people

Leslie Poole: 00:36:22

who come, um, like every year just to have their, um, chip checked.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:26

And so we'll scan it and make sure it's still functioning and

Leslie Poole: 00:36:28

we can look it up and tell them where it's, where it's registered.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:32

Um, so if they need to update that information, they have it.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:35

But yeah, it's always a good idea.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:37

Um, every year if you go to the vet, have your vet scan the

Leslie Poole: 00:36:40

microchip too, just to make sure.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:42

We have had cases where we've found them that migrated down

Leslie Poole: 00:36:45

to the chest or into the leg.

Leslie Poole: 00:36:47

Um, it happens occasionally, but it's good to know.

DrG: 00:36:51

And you also wanna make sure that your pet is scanned before inserting

DrG: 00:36:54

a microchip, because some people think, oh, it has a microchip, but

DrG: 00:36:58

I didn't register it, so let's put another one and register that one.

DrG: 00:37:01

And that's not how that works because then it's a 50 50 of which

DrG: 00:37:04

microchip is gonna get scanned.

Leslie Poole: 00:37:06

Exactly.

Leslie Poole: 00:37:06

Which one are they gonna find?

Leslie Poole: 00:37:07

The one that's registered or the one that's not?

DrG: 00:37:10

and I think a lot of people don't realize that you don't

DrG: 00:37:13

have to necessarily register the microchip with one organization.

DrG: 00:37:17

Like there are different organizations that can register your microchip.

DrG: 00:37:20

So if you're not sure where the microchip came from, there are

DrG: 00:37:23

different groups that that can do that.

DrG: 00:37:25

And I'm sure that anybody coming to the pet fair can come contact you guys

DrG: 00:37:28

or come to us and we'll, we'll help walk them through that whole process.

Leslie Poole: 00:37:33

Yeah.

Leslie Poole: 00:37:33

Absolutely.

DrG: 00:37:35

So is there anything that we have forgotten to tell people as far as finding

DrG: 00:37:39

pets or reporting pets or what to do to prevent the, the loss of their pets?

Leslie Poole: 00:37:45

Well, I think that we've touched on the most important

Leslie Poole: 00:37:47

things, which is make sure that your pet is microchipped and they're

Leslie Poole: 00:37:50

wearing a good quality collar and tag with your contact information.

Leslie Poole: 00:37:55

Um, that's the best prevention.

Leslie Poole: 00:37:57

Um, and then if, you know, we have lots of tips on our website, if you do have

Leslie Poole: 00:38:02

the unfortunate experience of losing a pet, um, rest, most pets are recovered.

Leslie Poole: 00:38:07

So there's that bit of hope, like most.

Leslie Poole: 00:38:09

Lost pets are found.

Leslie Poole: 00:38:11

Um, and you can go to our website@petfbi.org and file a

Leslie Poole: 00:38:15

report and see all of the tips there that'll help you through the process.

DrG: 00:38:19

Excellent.

DrG: 00:38:20

Well, thank you Leslie, so much for being part of this very informative podcast.

DrG: 00:38:24

I think that if anything, it'll give people a peace of mind and it will give

DrG: 00:38:28

people information, even if they don't remember immediately, all the different

DrG: 00:38:32

things that we have talked to because we have covered a lot of information.

DrG: 00:38:35

At least if they can remember pet f bi.org, they can go there, go

DrG: 00:38:39

through the resources and then, uh, do the best that they can to

DrG: 00:38:43

get their, their beloved pets back.

DrG: 00:38:46

Absolutely.

DrG: 00:38:46

So . Thank you so much for being here, and we'll see you at the pet fair.

Leslie Poole: 00:38:51

Thank you.