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No one wants to lose his or her animals or pets but you should be prepared for the event.
A little planning is invaluable:
- Take a colour photograph of your pet at least once a year.
This is of immense value and help in locating and claiming your animal if it does disappear.
- Take a really good look at your animal - can you describe it accurately? E.g. what sort of ears and tail does it have, what colour are its' feet? Is it long or short-haired? Does it have any unusual or distinguishing marks? (You'd be surprised just how many people can't describe their pet in detail). If you can't describe it, how can you find it?
- Look at our lost and found registration pages for the information that will help with identification.
- Identification tags.
Some pets don't have distinguishing marks - one short-haired black cat looks much like the next short-haired black cat - so this is where identification becomes so important. Laws do vary from state to state and council to council on collars, tags and microchipping however
the fastest way that anyone can get your pet back to you is if you pet is wearing an ID tag with your phone number on it.
In Victoria it is compulsory that both cats and dogs wear a collar with council tags and a tag containing your name, telephone number and address on it any time it is outside your yard. Since many pets stray after a gate is accidentally left open it makes sense that this collar should be worn anytime your pet is outside your house. Fines are quite steep for unregistered pets.
- Microchips.
Collars do get lost. Often dogs come into shelters that have collar marks and when the claimed the reason for it straying was it slipped or snapped its collar. This is where microchips are so successful. Microchips can't be lost (except in very rare circumstances usually involving nasty injuries). There one down side is scanner problems. A chip can be missed and you should not put complete faith in one. Collar ID with a phone number usually results in faster return of your pet as the original finder can contact you and the pet does not need to go to a shelter or pound to be scanned.
- Microchipping is now compulsory for dogs in NSW. Other states may follow suit and you should follow your state requirements.
- Keep your address and contact details up to date with the council and the microchip database registry. A priority if you move house. Pets often stray because of the new surroundings after a move so organise new ID tags before you move and put them on as soon as you reach the new house.
- Check the disks your pet is wearing regularly to ensure they are still readable and don't need replacing. Also check the collar itself for signs of wear. Remember cats need collars that are elasticised so they can slip them if they get caught in a tree. As they wear they can stretch until they are too loose and can become a health hazard to cat. They should be replaced regularly.
- Many cat collars have bells. These may help to protect our native birds however the top priority is an ID tag. Some cats do remain successful hunters despite bells.
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