General Question

Kardamom's avatar

Do you keep a good current photo of your pets in case they get lost?

Asked by Kardamom (33289points) August 27th, 2017 from iPhone

Over the last few months, it seems like about 3 pets went missing, and my friend, who lives about a mile away, collected 3 dogs, on separate occasions that were running loose.

I assisted the neighbors on my street whose pets went missing by scouring the neighborhood, helping to make and hang “Lost Pet” signs, and relaying the info on our neighborhood Facebook page.

One lady had an old, somewhat blurry picture of her cat. One lady had no pictures of her cat. Luckily, the third neighbor had a decent recent picture of her pet.

As I recall, none of the pets were chipped. I was rather surprised by that, considering that these folks were frantic about their pets.

I pet sit quite often. The last people for whom I sat had 7 sweet rescue dogs. Only 3 of them were chipped. As soon as I arrived, I took photos of each of the dogs, from multiple angles, and then made a notation about each dog’s description, to keep in my phone in case of a situation.

Do you keep updated photos of your pets in your phone or computer? Are your pets chipped? Do they wear tags with your contact info?

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19 Answers

chyna's avatar

It’s pathetic how many pics I have of my dog. Regular poses, feet in air, belly pics, her favorite sleeping position which is with her neck on the wall. My dog has a tag, but not chipped. The chip will only recognize who she is if found and taken to the vet, it’s not a tracking device, so I didn’t chip her.

Dutchess_III's avatar

Well, no. But I have a ton of pictures of my dogs.

Dutchess_III's avatar

Dutchess and the cat are chipped. Dakota isn’t. As Rick said, “She can barely get out the door any more. She’s not going to run off!”

ragingloli's avatar

If it runs away, it probably has its reasons.
Saw a note in the convenience store recently, by a family looking for their escaped budgie. “Have you seen this bird?”. Hate to say it, morons, the bird is GONE.

Dutchess_III's avatar

In my experience, when they were both younger, they ran off when the opportunity presented itself. A hole in the wooden privacy fence that we didn’t know about was the usual culprit.
It’s funny because they’ll sit on the back deck all day long without running off. I’ve even gone to the store, came back and realized I’d forgotten to put the dogs in, and when I got back they were just laying on the deck looking at me like “You fool!”

Zaku's avatar

LOL I take more pictures of my pets than anything else.

Tropical_Willie's avatar

I have photos and the Vet does too (the Vet’s computer file has their pictures and the chip numbers)

canidmajor's avatar

Hahaha, I’m one of those annoying facebook people who is constantly posting pics f my dogs. I have lots and lots and lots of current pics. The young dog is chipped, the old old old guy isn’t. he doesn’t like going far from the couch.

Coloma's avatar

I have photos yes but I don’t worry about my two getting lost. I live on a rural property and my cats only go out for a few hours in the morning. No traffic or city to get lost in. If a cat goes missing out here is is usually Coyote dinner.

PullMyFinger's avatar

We are presently dog-sitting my wife’s sister’s cute-but-annoying little dog while she is in Scotland, dancing to bagpipe music and ogling men in kilts (the sister, not the dog).

Five days down, 16 to go…..

My sister-in-law did not leave any photos, and we are not taking any.

I thought if the dog runs away I can just post photos of the dog we had 20 years ago.

Close enough….

Earthbound_Misfit's avatar

Not because they might get lost. I have many current photos of my pets just because they’re cute and they will stay still while I take pics of them. My cat does give me ‘that look” that appears to say “take that camera and shove it…”.

chyna's avatar

@Earthbound_Misfit Cats are like that.

Darth_Algar's avatar

Being a hobbyist photographer I’m always using my cats as test subjects, so I have a ludicrous amount of photos of them.

SQUEEKY2's avatar

We have a ton of photos of the cat, nothing to worry about,that and the fact she is an inside cat and quite happy about being an inside cat, she is more spoiled than a chunk of cheddar left a week in the hot sun.

Dutchess_III's avatar

Ok that was gross @SQUEEKY2! My cat is spoiled too but like fresh cheddar.

Kardamom's avatar

Chips will help in the event that your pet is lost, and their collar and tags (if they had them) end up coming off, or being removed, which can happen easily, especially with cats. The chips can be read not only by veterinarians, but by the pounds and shelters that find them. Please chip all of your pets.

You cannot believe the anguish a pet parent feels when their pet goes missing, and people realize that their pets were neither chipped, nor were they wearing identifying tags, nor did they have current, clear pictures of their pets.

If someone else finds your pet, and they are chipped but have no collar or tag, they can take them to a veterinarian or shelter or pound and find out who they belong to.

Please take, and keep on file, current pictures and descriptions of your pets.

Dutchess_III's avatar

We chipped our cat when the damn animal control dude trapped OUR cat on OUR property and took her to the pound! Boy this town turned blue on the day I realized it….

Jovayer's avatar

Yes, I always try to keep the current photos of my pets. Because in case of lost, those photos help me find my pets easily. As I always take photos of my pets, so there has no need to take an extra photo for them.

Dutchess_III's avatar

I do not keep photos of my pets for that reason. I do HAVE photos of them, though. Dogs don’t change that much over the years.

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