It happens every day. Pets escape from a backyard, house, or vehicle. Few are wearing tags when it happens and still fewer ever find their way back home.
 
Garland Animal Services has some tips for owners of lost pets. First of all, the old saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" applies in this situation. Check your fence regularly. Keep it in good repair. A padlock on the back yard gate can prevent inadvertent opening of the gate by a passerby.
 
Place identification tags on your pets (dogs and cats). Current city registration tags are required by city ordinance on all cats and dogs ages three months and older. Garland Animal Services, like most other municipal animal shelters, has a longer holding period for tagged animals than untagged animals (6 day minimum for tagged animals versus 3 day minimum for untagged animals). This helps to ensure that a pet is still at the shelter in the event an owner is out of town or otherwise unavailable. The longer holding period applies to an animal with ANY type of tag, including rabies tags from veterinary clinics and city tags from other municipalities. All animals are also scanned for micro chips as they enter the shelter.
 
Garland Animal Services will attempt to trace any type of tag. Over the years, animals with tags have been returned to owners in other cities and several other states. One dog was even flown home to Canada.
 
Be sure that the tags on your animals can be traced. Your veterinarian or city animal shelter personnel need to be informed of any changes in your name, address, or telephone numbers. The advantage of a city registration tag over other types of tags is that animal shelter personnel have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week access to information that will allow them to contact an owner. This is especially important if the animal is picked up injured at night or on a weekend. If an owner can be contacted, an animal services officer can transport the injured animal to a nearby emergency clinic for prompt treatment.
 
When leaving your pets in the care of friends, family, or pet sitters, provide the caretaker with the phone numbers of your local animal shelters and your pet’s veterinarian. Be sure that the caretaker has access to the owner’s telephone messages as Shelter Attendants will attempt to contact the owners of lost animals immediately. It is important that caretakers know to visit local animal shelters if a pet is missing, and that the caretaker can positively identify the animal. (It helps to leave a current photo with the caretaker.)
 
Pet owners should check with local animal shelters as soon as possible after learning that their pet is missing. Personal visits to the shelters are extremely important. Descriptions of animals often vary greatly from person to person, especially if the animal is a mixed breed. While at the shelter, a lost pet report can be completed, including a photo, if available. It is a good idea to check animal shelters in all the surrounding cities, especially if you live near city boundaries. Lost pets may end up at any local animal shelter depending on who finds it and where the pet is found.
 
Animal shelter personnel do not mind if you look for your pet every day, and they urge owners to keep looking for several weeks. Often, a "good Samaritan" will take in a lost pet and keep it for an extended period of time before deciding to contact the animal shelter for help in reuniting the pet with its owner.

You may view all animals in the shelter lost and adoptable at http://www.petharbor.com/ this is updated daily.