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Survey Shows a Gap in Perceptions of Prevention and Return-to-Home Methods

WENATCHEE, WA, USA, June 30, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- PetHub, Inc. and the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA) collaborated with the assistance of 'cause Digital Marketing to survey animal welfare professionals and U.S. pet owners about their perceptions of lost dog prevention and reunion strategies. PetHub and NACA compared the responses of the two survey groups to identify the similarities and differences in how pet owners and animal welfare professionals utilize lost pet prevention and recovery methods, and to determine the gaps in perception that need to be addressed by the industry. These findings emphasize the importance of PetHub’s Lost Pet Prevention Month (LPPM) and will influence the strategies, content and tools provided to pet parents to help pets return home quicker and safer.

“Overcrowding is a prevalent issue faced by animal shelters across the country,” said Jerrica Owen, Executive Director at NACA. “Our joint survey with PetHub revealed that more than 4 million dogs are lost annually, yet only 1.3 million are found in 24 hours, which results in nearly 3 million dogs being at risk of entering a shelter. According to survey respondents, the average time to find a lost dog was 28.2 days. Our goal is to combat this ongoing problem through our collaboration with PetHub and their innovative lost pet recovery tools such as QR coded pet ID tags. I’ll be providing more insight about this on the Pet Lover Geek podcast episode airing on July 15.”

Additional findings and insights uncovered from the joint study included:

-There is a gap between the perceptions of animal welfare professionals and pet parents about why dogs are becoming lost in the first place. According to pet owners, the top three reasons pets became lost were due to running out the door, getting out of the backyard and wandering off. However, there was very little to no consensus among animal welfare professionals about the top three reasons that pets become lost. All of these situations are likely preventable with the proper prevention methods, which supports the need for lost pet prevention education in communities.

-Another gap identified was what animal welfare organizations were doing with their return-to-home efforts and their teams’ knowledge about these efforts. Almost 75% of respondents either don’t know if their organization does or does not implement reunification strategies such as implanting microchips, offering low-cost ID tags or utilizing social media.

-According to dog owners, the top three most effective return-to-home methods were physically searching, social posting and notifying shelters. They ranked pet ID tags and databases as the fifth most effective method of bringing home lost dogs. Interestingly, the ranking of smart ID tags was higher for dog owners who already take advantage of visible technology-powered identification tools. These respondents ranked it as the 2nd most effective method for lost pet recovery. Yet, this method was ranked eighth by animal welfare professionals. Interestingly, animal welfare professionals ranked microchips as the most effective method, but it wasn't one of the top five methods for pet owners. However, despite the high numbers of dog owners using pet identification, few pet owners actually take advantage of the lost pet alert features of digital tag services, which emphasizes the need for raising awareness.

“It was important for us to work closely with NACA to identify how our industry can improve lost pet recovery in the United States to help pets return home quickly and safely with minimal impact to shelters,” said Lorien Clemens, co-founder and CEO of PetHub. “Educating pet parents has been a priority for PetHub for years. We launched Lost Pet Prevention Month in 2014 to provide useful resources, tools and best practices for lost pet prevention and reunification. We’ve helped more than 100,000 lost pets return to their families safely, and of those, 96% have been reunited in under 24 hours. We will use insight gained from the survey findings to enhance our work with the municipalities, shelters and veterinarians we work with across the country to build custom identification programs that provide more than a tag and help keep animals out of shelters.”

For more information about the “Bridging the Gap: 2022 Lost Pet Research Study,” fill out the form here. New educational resources will be available on July 1 at www.pethub.com/caboodle.

Mackenzie Smith
+1 574-524-5916
mackenzie@labearcommunications.com
Labear Communications (on behalf of PetHub)

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