A blind golden retriever found in Town and Country is now back with her owner, thanks to a new lost pets website.
A dog found in Town in Country has been reunited with her owners thanks to a new website, www.stllostpets.org. The site covers the St. Louis area, as well as much of Missouri.
Stllostpets.org launched March 1 and it posts cats and dogs found around the state of Missouri. St. Louis County Animal Care and Control, the Humane Society of Missouri and APA are all working together and posting found pets on this one shared site. The pets photos and info are typically posted within one hour of an animal being brought to a shelter, so the pet owner can search the site for their missing cat or dog immediately.
Stllostpets.com helped an 8-year-old blind and arthritic golden retriever find her Town and Country family Wednesday.
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According to Town and Country Police Captain Gary Hoelzer, a Town and Country resident found the lost golden retriever standing at the Thornhill gate (at Mason Road) around 10:00 a.m. Sunday. The dog had a collar, but no tags. The dog is blind in one eye, partially blind in the other eye and has arthritis in her back hips.
According to Becky Smail, program manager with St. Louis County Animal Care and Control, the resident who found the lost dog kept her for a day trying to find her owner. With no luck, the the resident took the dog, which was microchipped, to Veterinary Specialty Services (VSS) in Manchester. There, the dog was treated for the arthritis pain, and then handed over to St. Louis County Animal Care and Control.
"I think they thought the dog had a better chance of being found if it were someplace people might look," Smail tells Patch.
And that is exactly what happened. The dog's microchip did not locate her owner. It traced back to Indiana, where the owner previously lived. Animal control then began the process of putting the lost dog up on stllostpets.org. It's an idea that Smail said was created by the Humane Society, so all lost pets could be posted in one place.
Every hour the website scans the databases of St. Louis County Animal Care and Control, the Humane Society of Missouri and the APA. Stllostpets.org then pulls the new information and photos and adds it to the website.
"It's a one-stop shop for people to find their pets," Smail explained.
It worked for the golden retriever's owner who found her missing dog on the site Wednesday and was able to pick up her pet the same day.
"They were shocked and very, very excited," Smail tells Patch. "You know, you have a blind dog with arthritis, it needs veterinary care as soon as possible."
Smail points out the success for this family finding its four-legged friend, is also a success for this new website that she hopes will continue to reunite people with their lost pets.
"The more people we can get to know about the website, the more pets we can get home," Smail explained.
The Town and Country woman who initially found the golden retriever did inquire about the process of what happens to a lost dog. She also asked about keeping the dog if her owner was not found, according to animal control records.
Source: http://townandcountry-manchester.patch.com/articles/lost-dog-reunited-with-owner-95194868#photo-9627913
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