Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘Finding lost pets
Facebook page helps to get 1,500 pets home
IT’S every dog owner’s worst nightmare — waking up one morning to find your best friend isn’t curled up at the foot of your bed.
Lost dogs are, sadly, nothing new — and the Tele has reported on its fair share of missing pets over the years.
Many owners are reunited with their beloved companions within hours of them being reported lost, but for some the agony and uncertainty goes on for longer.
In the past, desperate owners have resorted to pinning notices on community notice boards in the hope of hearing some good news.
However, with the advent of social media, the probability of reuniting lost dogs with their owners is higher than ever.
Katie McCandless-Thomas can testify to that. As the founder of the Missing Pets Perth and Kinross Facebook page, she has helped to reunite more than 1,500 pets with their owners over the last five years.
She set up the page after her own pet, lhasa apso Charlie, went missing, knowing the worry that comes after a pet disappears.
The page has been such a success that it now has 13,000 members and has been visited about five million times by people from all across the region and beyond keeping an eye out for beloved cats and dogs.
On top of that, tortoises, birds of prey, horses, chickens and even an iguana have been traced and returned to their owners thanks to the page.
The page is probably familiar to many Dundonians due to its part in coordinating the search for Rosco, a border terrier puppy stolen from a home in Dryburgh in August 2016.
Thanks to the efforts of Katie’s page, and the Missing Pets in Dundee group, Rosco was traced to the south of England and returned home.
“I never imagined when I started the Facebook page that it would do so well,” said Katie, whose pet dog Baxter served as ring bearer at her wedding to husband Laurie.
“A combined effort with Missing Pets in Dundee resulted in a border terrier, stolen in Dundee, being found in Luton and there have been many other less dramatic reunions.
“People from all over have been on the Facebook page, even folk from Australia.
“Since its inception five years ago, the page has gone from strength to strength.”
Now Katie is set to expand. As well as Missing Pets Perth and Kinross, she also runs the Facebook page Dog Friendly Perthshire, which promotes dog-friendly businesses such as cafes and restaurants, as well as popular dog-walking routes across the region. The page, which has 7,000 supporters, also organises social gatherings in the Fair City from time to time.
Dog Friendly Perthshire has been such a hit that Katie is expanding out of Facebook and giving it its own home on the web, with constantly updated listings of pooch-compatible destinations.
The website is being launched with a “puppies and prosecco” party at Perth’s Green Room on April 29.