Lost/Found Tips

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR PET – or – FOUND A LOST PET?

The following tips (most are free) can help you find your pet or the owner of a lost pet.

  • Email the Humane Society of Cherokee County at humanecherokeecounty@gmail.com. Include your name, phone #, the area where animal was lost or found, the date it was lost or found, include a good quality photo and any other information that would be helpful in getting the animal back to its owner. We will post it on our Facebook page.

  • Post a picture, or information about the animal, anywhere you can online. Facebook pages are great. Here are some.

    Tahlequah OK: Lost Found Homeless & Pets LOST: Lost or Stray Pets of Tahlequah (The Original Tahlequah Found Pets)

  • Enter the information and a photo about the animal on Petcolovelost.org.

  • Enter the information at Pawboost.com and it will be sent to rescues in the area.

  • Talk to your friends, neighbors, mail carriers, etc. Most of the time word-of-mouth works best.

  • Call the Tahlequah City Animal Control at 918-456-1241 to see if someone has reported the animal missing or found.

  • Call, or email, area vets to see if someone has called them about the pet or if they know the pet:

  • Associated Veterinary Clinic, 2255 W. Choctaw, Tahlequah; Phone 918-456-8281

  • Lakeside Veterinary Services , 25352 HW 82, Park Hill; Phone 918-453-2655; Fax 918-453-0859; http://www.lakeside-vet.com.

  • Hobbs Veterinarian Clinic, 16031 West Mud Valley Road, Tahlequah; 918-456-5280

  • Premier Pet Clinic, 223 North East Avenue, 918-207-5867

  • Walnut Grove Animal Clinic, 18110 West Grandview Road, 918-414-5476Create a flyer and post it in the area where you found or lost the pet or on any public bulletin board.

  • Call the Tradewinds Show on KEOK-KTLQ radio 1350 at 918-431-1350, Monday –Friday 8:00-9:00 AM and talk about the animal on the air – or post on their Facebook atwww.facebook.com/tradewinds1350.

  • Place an ad (not free) in the Tahlequah Daily Press; the Wednesday and Sunday papers provide the most coverage. You can contact the Tahlequah Daily Press at 106 W. 2nd. Street – or – 918-456.8833 – or – email classified@tahlequahdailypress.com.

  • Place a (free) ad in The Weekly Leader newspaper. Call them at 918-458-8001 – or – email them at weeklyleader@att.net.

 

FREE TO A GOOD HOME

All of the above tips will also work to help you find a good home for a pet.  The contacts are all the same, just tell them you have a pet that is Free to a Good Home, instead of a lost or found pet.  Below are a couple of other things you can do as well.

  1. If the animal appears to be a certain breed, search online for breed-specific rescue groups and notify the ones in Oklahoma and surrounding states. Breed-specific rescues are usually very helpful in placing their breeds.

  2. Add your pet’s picture and information on rescueme.org, adoptapet.com, and petfinder.com; however, these are national sites and you must be very careful in checking out the people you speak with.Note: the newspaper ads are still a great idea and an FTGH ad is FREE in both papers.

  3. Advertise the pet on your Facebook page and encourage your friends to share your post. Also, try the local pet pages of Facebook.

!!CAUTION!! 

If the animal is not “fixed” we urge you to have that done first for the animal’s safety and if possible, we will help you.  Please check the SPAY/NEUTER button on our web page for options.

Before you let a pet go to a stranger, (1) write down their name, address, and phone number and ask to see their driver’s license (2) ask where the pet will be kept and if they can provide vet care (3) ask the name of their veterinarian (4) ask if you can come by later to visit the pet (4) it is always best to drive by their home before releasing the pet.  If they are out of town, check them out on the internet at vpike.com.

If you feel uncomfortable with the person at any point, there is probably a good reason! Some people want animals for bad reasons. Oklahoma is a haven for puppy mills, dog dealers, and brokers who sell to medical labs and dog auctions. We suspect that many animals are acquired or stolen for these purposes.

If you list a pet online, we suggest you (1) create a secondary email address through YAHOO or HOTMAIL and mention in your ad that you WILL NOT SHIP this pet and that only locations within traveling distance need apply.

This Best Friends link provides valuable information on posting pets online and taking pictures – http://www.bestfriends.org/archives/forums/online.html.

The Humane Society of Cherokee County is a no kill shelter. Therefore, we have limited amount of space. We wish we could take every animal but when all pens are full, we can’t accept another until we have an adoption. Everyone with the Humane Society sincerely wishes that we had room for every abandoned pet at the shelter. Our ultimate goal is to be able to take all surrenders but since we are a no kill shelter, we cannot do this now and we must rely on the public to help resolve this community problem. It is important that you understand that the Humane Society is simply a small group of people – like you – who volunteer their time and money to help abandoned and abused animals. We work very hard but the need is much greater than we are able to meet.  The HSCC is funded by donations, membership dues, and fundraisers – we are NOT supported by tax dollars or any national shelter organizations.  We are always looking for good volunteers.