Top tips of what to do if you find a dog or cat.

With the recent surge in dogs going missing from around the area, we asked the admins of the Helping Lost/Found and Re-homing Horses/Dogs/Cats on Facebook for any tips on what we should do if we found a dog or cat. This is what they said:

Top tips of what to do if you find a dog or cat.

by Alex Jones

Firstly, check to see if the dog or cat has a collar on. By law, under the Control of Dogs Act 1992, all dogs should have a name tag with contact details on.

If the dog or cat does not have a collar on or there is no information on the collar, the next step would be to see if the animal is micro-chipped.

All veterinary practices, animal charities and dog wardens have access to a microchip scanner. The best option is therefore to get the animal to your local veterinary practice or to a charity such as the RSPCA, Blue Cross or Dog’s Trust, where they can scan the animal for a microchip.

If you are unable to get the animal to any of these organisations, then it may be worth asking a family member, friend or neighbour if they are able to help.

If there is absolutely no way of getting any help or if you believe that the animal may be a stray, then contacting your local dog warden would be advised. Contact details can be found on your local council’s website, under Environment and Planning, then Dog Warden Service.

For Carmarthenshire, you can click on the following link: http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/english/environment/pages/straydogs.aspx

You can also now report stray dogs online via the above link.

If you don’t make an attempt to inform the warden (except weekends and out of office hrs) it’s considered theft & illegal! You can be prosecuted for theft if you’re keeping the animal and not making any reasonable attempt to locate the owner.

Only a dog warden is legally allowed to keep an animal, for 7 days thereafter if an owner has not been found, then they are allowed to re-home ie to a re homing centre. So e.g. if you’re keeping the dog until Monday morning to hand over then you’re technically not breaking the law because you’re making a reasonable attempt.

The police should only be contacted if the animal is causing problems or is behaving dangerously. They will then work with the dog warden to remove the animal.