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Is there anything much worse than the fear you feel when you realize your beloved pet has escaped from home, a petsitter, a boarding kennel, or a friend's house?
When you first discover your pet is gone, your pulse races, and your heart and your tummy both feel as if they've dropped all the way down to your toes. You hope for the best, but usually fear the worst. But fear can cause your search efforts to become frantic and not be well planned out.
What should you do, then, when you realize your pet is missing?
Take a few minutes to systematically check out hidden or sheltered places, both inside the house and outdoors. If you were an animal and were scared, where would you try to hide?
Make a quick trip to the kitchen to get some favorite treats. Carry them with you to help entice your pet to come to you. In lieu of treats, an open can of moist pet food often works very well because the scent is so strong.
Call your pet both inside the house and outdoors.
If your pet doesn't respond to being called, call an animal communicator for help as soon as possible. Be sure the person is experienced when it comes to locating lost or missing animals.
Not every case has a happy ending, so you need to be prepared for any kind of news, but hopefully an animal communicator will be able to make a connection with your pet and give you some helpful information.
Here's just one of my success stories involving a missing pet:
One morning, I received two e-mails and an answering machine message from a previous client. She was desperate because Eddie, her 10-year-old indoor cat, was missing.
Apparently Eddie had gone missing the night before, but my client didn't even realize it until the next morning. She said her son had had a get together with some friends, and someone must have left a door open during the evening long enough for Eddie to slip through it.
She'd already searched the entire neighborhood, but couldn't find even a single sign of him. Frantic, she remembered that contacting a pet communicator, as soon as possible after animals go missing, can be a major key to finding them.
She sent me a quick e-mail and also left me an answering machine message. Then she checked the Lost Pets section of my website (www.petcommunicator.com). There, she found, and quickly filled out, the missing pet questionnaire and e-mailed that to me, and she also posted her PayPal payment.
Sometimes, I need to wait for humans to fill out that short questionnaire with important answers that will more effectively help me to help them, or sometimes I'm waiting for their payment, but in every case, as soon as I become aware of a lost pet, I immediately do everything I can to start talking with that pet in order to reassure him or her that someone cares and is already searching for them.
So, I connected with Eddie immediately upon receiving Kerri's e-mails and answering machine message at 8:30 a.m. when I started work that morning. I then called Kerri to let her know I had all of the information I needed.
We concluded that phone call quickly so that I could "separate" myself from any fearful energy and get right to work. I asked her to wait by the phone for my next call. I then quickly began to gather as much specific information as I could from Eddie.
Ten minutes later I called Kerri to say: He's just fine . . scared out of his wits, but just fine. He can hear you calling, but he's too scared to come out, or to even meow for you, so you'll need to go out looking for him. He's very close to you, probably at your neighbor's house. The picture he sent me showed me that he'd been scared about something or someone while he was in his backyard and he'd climbed a wall, but I couldn't tell if it was the wall to the right or to the left. He's found a spot where it looks like a little cave to him, and he's all the way back inside that space, so go to your neighbor's house with a flashlight to look for him. He's there!
Kerrie quickly hung up the phone and went searching. Within 10-15 minutes, the Caller ID on my phone flashed her number. My stomach jumped half with excitement, and half with worry. I answered the call on the second ring.
Kerrie was elated! She'd found Eddie safe and sound in the neighbor's side yard. He was hiding under an overhang but was refusing to come out so she needed to reach in and pick him up. Once he was home safe and sound, he enjoyed a good meal, and then headed to his comfy bed for a leisurely rest.
Needless to say, Kerrie knew she'd done the right thing by contacting me right away, and she's forever thankful.
There used to be a time when I didn't want to look for lost pets because emotions always run so high, and animals can't always tell me exactly which direction they've gone, or give me a clear enough picture of their surroundings, especially in rural areas.
However, I have so much empathy for both people and pets in these situations, and I've had so many successes, that I usually can't refuse a lost or missing pet case. Even if missing pets won't, or can't, give me sufficient information to clearly identify their whereabouts, at the very least, I may be able to find out if those missing pets are still alive, or if they've already made their transitions back into Spirit.
Some of you may be wondering why I request payment in advance when I'm asked to help find a lost pet. Regretfully, in the past, quite a number of people have refused to pay once their pets were found and back home again. So, even after I've spent a considerable amount of time working for them, maybe even several days or weeks, and have successfully provided information that has enabled them to find their missing pets, I haven't received any compensation for all of my time and effort. Because my work is my livelihood, I do have to count on fair reimbursement for the services I provide, but while I'm waiting for a PayPal payment, I do immediately connect with the missing pet to provide love and reassurance.
And what purpose does the questionnaire serve? Usually, I don't want to receive any specific information at all before talking with pets, but in the case of trying to find a missing pet, it's actually very helpful to know certain things, such as:
- date and time of day or night when the animal went missing
- where was the animal when it went missing (home, pet sitter's, vet's office, boarding kennel, friend's house)
- who was with the animal before he or she went missing
- have there been any sightings of the missing pet -- when, where, and by whom
- does the pet have a pattern of leaving home or trying to escape
- were there any new people coming and going, or any major changes in the family's life or the pet's life shortly before the pet went missing
Answers to these and a few other questions often help me locate a pet much more quickly because I can then ask the pet some very specific questions and often receive much more specific answers.
The moral of Kerri and Eddie's story is, you may have to go out looking for your lost pets because they may be too scared to come home on their own, but with the help of an experienced animal communicator, you may be able to more quickly focus your search in the right direction.
If you, too, ever need this kind of help, I'm here for you!
You can contact me by e-mail at [email protected], and/or by phone at 714-772-2207. You'll find the questionnaire and payment options at www.petcommunicator.com under the Lost Pets section.
I welcome the opportunity to help both you and your pets if you ever have this kind of a need.
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