WAIT FOR 48
HELPING RGV FAMILIES AND LOST PETS
What is Wait for 48?
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Wait for 48 is a program that Palm Valley Animal Society (PVAS) and many other shelters in the US are piloting to get more lost pets back home to their families more quickly. PVAS will be partnering with Hidalgo County Animal Control Services, which serves anyone who is living in any unincorporated areas of the county (outside any municipal boundaries).
People who find friendly, healthy pets are asked to hold them for up to 48 hours (and longer if they are able) and make efforts to get the pet home without them entering the shelter. PVAS is providing food, supplies, and other support such as help posting on social media to people who can temporarily foster the lost pet for this short time.
Why is PVAS participating in this program?
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Recent research has shown that most lost pets are found very close to home. They have a higher likelihood of being reunited with their family if they have a safe place to stay in the neighborhood they were found for just a short period of time.
Nationally, the typical reclaim rate is only 17% when a pet comes into the shelter. But when a pet stays in the neighborhood where they were found, that reclaim rate jumps to 70%. Currently, PVAS is seeing a reclaim rate at less than 10%. As a community, we must be working together to implement new lifesaving strategies to improve this number.
We are very excited about how this new effort can get more lost pets back to their homes, where they belong.
Find a Dog? Here's How Wait for 48 Works!
Step #1. Click a few good photos of the dog, making sure to leave any collar on and feature any identifying marks. Don't change the appearance of the dog!
Step #2. Post the photos and information in your neighborhood social media pages, including NextDoor, Craigslist, and Facebook.
Step #3. Fill out our Found Pet Form!
Step #4. Take the pet to a pet store or veterinarian or bring to the shelter to have it scanned for a microchip!
Step #5. Walk around the found neighborhood and see if anyone recognizes it. Most pets travel less than a mile when loose.
Step #6. Create a LOST DOG FLYER. Register the pet with Petco Love Lost, a database that uses facial recognition tools to help lost pets get back to their owners.
​Step #7. Post the found animal on our PVAS PASS Program page. PVAS PASS is a program to help keep pets of RGV owned by the public out of the shelter system by reconnecting owners and pets along with providing other resources.
​Step #8. ​Click above to see a list of all the lost animals that have been submitted to PVAS. If one of the descriptions sounds familiar, contact the owner and see if it is the pet you found!
Step #9. If you’re willing to hold the pet for up to 48 hours while looking for the owner, reach out to us at prc@pvastx.org, on our main line at 956-686-1141, ext 2007 or 2012 or on our cell phone (text capable!) at 956-329-0128. We can provide you with pet food, supplies, and help posting found pets to various social media outlets.
If the pet is sick, injured or unsafe, you can and should still help! Post photos of the animal on social media with their found location, and make sure to contact Hidalgo County Animal Control Office at (956) 383-0111.
What Happens After the 48 Hours Have Passed?
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We’ll keep in touch with anyone who participates in the 48 Hour Practice, and if, after the time period has passed, the finders have still not been able to find the owners for the pet and need to bring that pet to the shelter, we’ll make arrangements with the finder to get that pet into the shelter or to turn the finder into a finder to foster and allow the finder to continue to foster the found animal.
FIND HEALTHY CATS OR KITTENS?
Be careful--you might be kit-napping!
Kittens need their mom, and though it may look like they have been abandoned, mom is likely right around the corner.
If you find kittens, don't touch them! Kittens survive much better outside waiting for their mother, who is probably hunting nearby, than in a shelter - any shelter.
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You might think you're helping by picking them up, but you may be 'kitnapping' them.
Leave them be and reach out to our Community Cat Program if you have questions.
Not sure if you're kitnapping? Check out our Community Cat Program page for more info on kitnapping.
SUPPORT OUR MISSION
Our organization relies on community support to do the lifesaving work we do. Be a part of this work and donate today! Your donation will allow us to grow our programs and help more animals across the RGV.