THIS JULY 4TH, PETCO LOVE LOST AIMS TO KEEP PETS WHERE THEY BELONG: SAFE AT HOME WITH THEIR FAMILIES

Petco Love encourages pet owners to prevent pet loss and aid found pets by easily registering pet photos online.

SAN ANTONIO, June 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The summer holidays — from travel and loud gatherings to a lack of routine — can be stressful, but not only for humans. Pets can experience the effects of holiday season stressors as well.

About half of pets entering shelters are free-roaming or lost. In fact, estimates suggest one in three pets goes missing in their lifetime — a staggering 10 million annually — and many never return home. This heartbreaking number is why Petco Love created Petco Love Lost, a searchable national pet lost and found database — which is fast, free and easy to use. Petco Love Lost can be used by anyone who loses or who finds a pet and seeks to reunite pets directly with their families.

"The fact that 1 in 3 pets will go missing in their lifetime is simply too many, and a simple way to find them and bring them home is by coming together on a single platform that connects shelters, pet parents, and good neighbors," said Petco Love president, Susanne Kogut. "Petco Love Lost helps keep people and pets together for a lifetime of love, so we encourage pet parents to join us and register their own pets now should the unthinkable happen," adds Kogut.

Unique pet facial recognition technology enables Petco Love Lost's national database — populated by more than 1,800 shelter locations — to identify and bring these lost and found pets home quickly, reducing potential danger for the pet and heartbreak for the pet owner.

Petco Love Lost is the effective evolution from the "lost pet" photo on a local telephone pole into a national digital community bulletin board, so folks can see if any pets are lost or found in their area. This unique approach helps engage people on a grass roots level, enabling pet lovers to act wherever the lost or found pets may be, whether across town or across the country.

Before the holiday season rolls in this summer, Petco Love asks pet parents to take the following steps to prevent pets from getting lost and to bring them home if they are found:

• Register your pet on Petco Love Lost: Before the unthinkable happens and your pet goes missing, make sure their profile is up to date in order to help find your pet as soon as possible. And you don't need to have a pet in order to take action to bring pets home, you can list any found pet too. To set up your pet's profile and help families reunite with their lost or found pets, visit lost.petcolove.org.
• Make sure your pet's identification is up to date: Regularly update microchip and collar or tag information to ensure your pet can be reunited with you quickly and easily (all pets, even those who remain indoors full-time, should always wear collars with ID tags). Microchips are an effective tool to help identify missing pets but even so, 35% of lost microchipped pets are never reunited with their families due to out-of-date microchip information.* Having multiple forms of identification for your pet is critical when they are found.
• Ensure your pet's collar or harness is secure: During noisy celebrations or when traveling to new environments, pets can be easily spooked. Ensure your pet is leashed or harnessed securely to prevent the possibility of their going missing.
• Offer a secure crate with your pet's favorite items: Any time of the year, offering your pet a secure and familiar place where they feel safe is crucial. Make sure the crate has some favorite toys or blankets, so they have a safe space to retreat when they need to. Crates can help ease anxiety during loud festivities and/or fireworks at home or on the road.

Petco Love endeavors to make home the place where pets can receive a lifetime of love; Petco Love Lost helps make that mission possible.

Petco Love is a life-changing nonprofit organization that makes communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we've empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $330 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We've helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide.

Our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Join us. Visit petcolove.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we lead every day.

*According to a study by The Ohio State University's Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Microchip World: Recent Advances and Options for Shelters and Veterinarians

Contact: Petco Love, [email protected]

SOURCE Petco Love