Protect your pets
It is a gut-wrenching feeling when you realise that your beloved dog or cat, who has become part of your family, is missing.
Dogs and cats go missing every day out of gardens, most often the owner will accidentally leave the gate open or the dog will slip past them when they are not looking.
Manager of the Springs SPCA, Celeste Kleyn says the first thing people should do is report their pet missing at their local SPCA.
“The SPCA is the legal pound. As soon as you notice your animal is missing, contact the SPCA and leave your details with us,” Celeste says.
She says it is up to you as the owner of the animal, to keep in contact with the SPCA at least once a day to find out if your pet has been brought in.
Each SPCA has a lost and found book in which they keep a record of all the pets who are reported missing.
“We keep dogs in our pound for 5 working days and cats for 4 working days. If we think there could or might be a match, we will call you right away and you will need to come in to see if the animal is your pet.”
After that holding period, any animals still in the pound will be moved into the re-homing section to try and place them in new homes.
Celeste says this is why it is important to go through the SPCA to find your pet. If someone brings your pet into the SPCA and you haven’t notified them about your pet being missing, it can be placed in a new home.
There are various ways of identifying your animals so that if they do go missing, it will be easier to find them.
“With dogs, we suggest either a collar and tags or microchipping, but with cats, I would say rather go for microchipping because they climb so much, their collar could get caught on a tree branch and they can injure themselves,” says Celeste.
Micro chipping can be done at most vets and is a once-off process where a small tag, which is non toxic and doesn’t harm your pet’s body, is surgically implanted underneath the animal’s skin.
Once the animal comes into the SPCA, they will check for tags and scan for a microchip and will be able to call yo right away to say your do has been found.
Celeste advises if you find an animal in the street, rather bring it to the SPCA than trying to find the owner yourself.
If your pet is found and handed in to the SPCA, there is a pound fee that you need to pay and you must present your ID, the animal will only be handed over to the owner of the pet.
