Have you ever been at the groomer’s, veterinarian, or dog park and seen the same breed of pet standing next to each?  Have you wondered, wow, they look so similar down to the patch on their chest, or the stripes across their body?  It can be really difficult to distinguish and identify who is who!

We were recently in Ballwin, MO for one of our Check the Chip Clinics.  A family came to visit us with their dogs.  As we were scanning the dogs, they began to tell us the story of their family member who had dropped their small, white fluffy dog at the groomer.  They picked their dog up later and took her home.  As the first day passed by, they thought some of her behavior seemed unusual.   A second, then third day passed by, and something just seemed off.  They took the dog back to the groomer.  They knew that their dog was not microchipped.  They asked the groomer to scan the dog.  Lo and behold, it was not their dog!  With some investigation by the groomer’s facility, it was determined that they had two of the same breed dog in that day.  The dogs had been swapped and sent home accidentally!

One of our Missouri Lost & Found Paws team members was involved with a search for a dog named Teddy in the summer of 2016.  He had been missing for four months in total before he was found.  During that time, the search team had set up wildlife cameras in various spots where there had been potential sightings of Teddy.  As the team would go through the images to determine whether any of the animals seen on the footage was a match to Teddy, the identification process proved difficult.

At that time, our team member shared a great suggestion, one that is probably not something many of us think to do.  But it certainly would come in handy when trying to identify a potential match to a lost pet.  Measurements!  We feel that if you have a pet that has doppelgangers times 1000, this is for you!

Measure your pet!  Though we originally wrote this tip sheet for dogs, it is just as applicable to cats and other household pets such as rabbits, birds, snakes, you name it.  The concept applies to all!