It’s always hard when something you love disappears. If you have a dog, you already know that the worst thing that could happen to you, as a pet owner, is that you return home from work and discover that your dog has made all your chocolates disappear. And thrown up all over the carpet.
No, that’s not the worst thing that could happen. The worst thing that could happen is that your precious pup has disappeared without even leaving a farewell note.
A missing pet can be quite devastating, no matter what type of pet you have: dog, cat, rabbit or fish.
Yes, even fish can go missing. But unlike other pets, fish usually do not get very far, partly because they haven’t learned to Uber. Public transportation is also a challenge for them.
Dogs, on the other hand, sometimes travel great distances. Here, for example, is how the New York Post described what happened to one dog: “A terrier-mix dog named Mishka is back with her family in San Diego after escaping eight months ago, turning up some 2,300 miles away in Metro Detroit.”
Please don’t take offense at the word “escaping.” Not all dogs want to escape their owners, but some do. This is especially true when a dog has just been adopted by humans it doesn’t know. Imagine if you suddenly ended up with people you didn’t know who put you on a leash, fed you dry food and kept asking, “Who’s a good boy?” You’d want to escape too.
The natural tendency of some dogs is to try to escape, at least until they grow close to their owners and feel reassured that the ketchup in the refrigerator is intended for a different kind of dog.
Our dog, Lulu, is a natural escape artist — at least that’s what my wife says, and Lulu has done nothing to refute this. She’s always eager to escape, always eager to pursue the life of her dreams, chasing rabbits all day and raiding trash cans all night.
As for Mishka, I don’t know if she really “escaped,” but she somehow managed to travel from California to Michigan. How did she do this? No one really knows, but the most plausible theory, in my opinion, is that Mishka stuck out a paw and hitched a ride with a truck driver.
Many truckers are single men who enjoy having a little company on a long drive and can’t resist stopping for a cute female. Just picture a trucker saying, “Where you headed, sweetheart?” and Miskha pointing her snout eastward, as if to say, “Anywhere but California.”
Another theory is that Mishka was stolen from her owners. The thieves transported her to Michigan, hoping to sell her, but Mishka managed to escape. She was found on the street and taken to the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society. A microchip between her shoulder blades identified her and helped reunite her with her grateful owners, Mehrad and Elizabeth Houman.
Mishka’s story should give hope to anyone with a missing pet. Losing a pet can happen to any of us and we need to be prepared. Here are some important tips:
Take good portraits of your pets, so they can be easily identified from all the flyers you place around the neighborhood and all the posts you place on websites such as Facebook.com, NextDoor.com and LostFish.com.
Get your pets microchipped. Almost any pet can be microchipped, though it’s a little more challenging to microchip a fish. If your fish goes missing, follow these two steps: (1) search your aquarium thoroughly; and (2) search the nearest pet store for an identical fish. (Don’t tell my kids, but that’s how we’ve had the same goldfish for the last twenty years.)
Make sure your pet has a collar with an ID tag on it. An AirTag or GPS tracker may also help you find your pet. Get your vet’s help if you’re having trouble putting a collar on your snake.
Get to know your neighbors. Make sure you have their phone numbers, so you can easily summon them for a search party. Some neighbors can be very helpful. Just the sight of them can scare your cat into returning home.
Check all the animal shelters to see if anyone has turned in your pet. Also, visit your local truck stop to see if they’ve received any reports about hitchhiking animals.
Having lived in Detroit for ten years, I'm not sure why Mishka decided to "escape" to that locale. Yes, Comerica Park is a nice intimate place to take in a ballgame, and there are those two competing hot dog joints, where you can get an iconic Coney Island hot dog (which is strange because Coney Island is 633 miles from Detroit, but, I've heard San Diego is lovely too.