Eloise, a wonderful good samaritan, found Q-Tip several months ago, and she had been trying to get him back to his family ever since. "I have had him for several months. After repeatedly trying the email and the telephone number, I went to the physical home address. Since he is an older dog and he was clean when I found him, it was obvious that someone was taking care of him up until shortly before he got lost, but he was found far away from the address on his record."
#MicrochipHunters received an email from Eloise. It said, "Q-tip is registered to an owner, but the address, phone number, and email associated with the chip are no longer good. I have been unable to find a current address for this person. I saw a story on Facebook about your volunteers finding the family of a lost dog in Texas." She had filled out the form and I began working on the case right away. After trying all the information listed from the microchip company, I went to work to find Nazil, the registered owner, or anyone related to her, to see if they were looking for Q-tip. I texted several related names and numbers, and by evening, I received a phone call from Nazil. She told me her sister-in-law got a message from me about Q-tip, and she told me he had been missing for over 2 years. I could hear her husband in the background asking questions. "How can I pick him up?" "Where is he?" She said they just assumed he was gone after all this time! Because I am not from the Texas area, I told her I would contact the finder and ask her to call to set things up. Shortly after, Eloise let me know she would be taking Q-tip back to his family in the morning! She said they live on opposite sides of San Antonio, and that Nazil told her he had been missing over two years. "I am amazed! It's pretty exciting," she told me. "You are awesome! You guys are great, thanks so much!" I received this text from Eloise this morning, "I just took Q-tip home. The husband was at work but I have a picture of the mom (Nazil) and one of the kids. Nazil said the little boy was about a year old when Q-tip disappeared on New Year's Eve. Thank you very much for your skills and assistance! They had adopted him off Petfinder from someone with the Great Dane Rescue! They thought he had a microchip, but they no longer had the information about which company it was or what the microchip number was. I gave her all of that and suggested that she call to update her information. Q-tip seemed to remember Nazil and to feel right at home. I don't know if I mentioned it, but Q-tip is totally deaf. He was born that way." This afternoon, I received a call from Nazil. She was so grateful to have Q-tip home,and told me her husband is too. She said Q-tip remembers them, and is very happy to be home. She was very worried because he is deaf, and still can't believe he is home. We are so happy you saw our reunion story on facebook Eloise, and decided to give us at Microchip Help a try! Q-tip was very lucky to have found you! Thank you for taking him in and caring for him all these months, and for never giving up on finding his family. Q-tip needed to go home. ~Jeanette Lost Dogs Illinois Microchip Hunters
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 Smokey, an adorable grey Am Staff/Lab Mix ended up at City of San Antonio Animal Care Services with a microchip registered to an owner with a phone that was " not accepting calls or disconnected." Thankfully, they sent it #MicrochipHunters, and I began researching the owner. None of the phone numbers I was trying belonged to the owner, and I sent emails and facebook messages to try to connect that way. I never heard back.
Over the next few days, I contacted a long list of relatives associated with the registered owner, and again was having no luck with calls, texts, emails or facebook messages for the many "relatives" I tried. Not wanting to give up on this 6 year old sweetheart, I looked at my list once again, and decided to keep trying. Something told me to try Valerie, though I couldn't tell her relation because the last name was different. She answered! When I explained why I was calling, I could tell she was tearing up. Smokey was her mother's dog, and her mother had passed away a few months ago. She told me she answered because it was Sunday evening at 10 PM, so thought it might be important. She was right, and she was so glad she did! Valerie was heartbroken that Smokey wound up at a shelter, but because she lived 6 hours away, said she was going to try a couple relatives to see if they could pick him up. We hung up and I texted Valerie Smokey's info and she replied, "Thank you so much for calling! Mom always talked about him and how protective he was of her. I will get back with you tomorrow to figure out arrangements." I did hear back from Valerie the next day; she wanted to know if there was any way to get Smokey to her. "I think it really is a sign. I had been thinking of my mom. I was just telling my son how I have been considering getting a dog." I reached out to Marilyn, the Director of Lost Dogs of Texas and Microchip Hunters, who reached out to local friends. Marilyn is a former San Antonio resident, and on SOS - SATX Save Our Strays on Facebook. The SOS admins helped her find a rescue willing to put a hold on Smokey. Once Jolie of Alamo City Pit Bull Rescue had placed a hold, Marilyn arranged for Yayas' Bow-wow House boarding facility to pick up and board Smokey. This new facility has inexpensive boarding available for nonprofit rescues. Yaya's staff also does transport and just happened to have a trip scheduled to Copperas Cove, about four hours from the owner's home in Frisco Texas. Yaya's transported Smokey for free, having business at that destination! They boarded Smokey until the weekend when Valerie was able to drive the 4 hours to pick him up to go home, and Lost Dogs of Texas covered Smokey's boarding expenses there. Tonight, Smokey is back with family! Valerie texted me this, "We just got home and settled in. He did so good in the car. He slept most of the way. I took him to mom's grave because I thought that would make her happy. Mom's birthday was Thursday; this is a present for her. I know she is smiling. I can't thank you and Marilyn enough for all you have done. It truly warms my hear. " It truly warms my heart too. Special thanks to Save our Strays, Alamo City Pit Bull Rescue, Yaya's Bow Wow House boarding facility, Lost Dogs of Texas, and to San Antonio Animal Care Shelter for allowing us at Microchip Help to research this dead-end microchip so that Smokey could get home to family. Valerie and her family now have a piece of her mother's heart at home with them. Welcome home Smokey. ~Jeanette Lost Dogs Illinois Microchip Hunters On December 11th, #MicrochipHunters received a case from Chicago Animal Care and Control. I posted it, and pulled up the picture of a sweet looking gray little Pitbull that had been there since December 5th. CACC was the implanter of this chip, and it was unregistered with Avid, so the information from CACC was all I had. The phone number for David was disconnected, and I decided to work on this case the next day to get it started, and as usual I began researching the owner's name.
I left a voicemail to a home number I found that matched the owner's name on the microchip, hoping it was correct, but the outgoing message was in Spanish. Just in case, I continued my search, coming up with a relative's phone number, which turned out to be the son-in-law. He told me his father-in-law doesn't have a dog, but asked if I could send a picture to him. A few minutes later, the daughter, Marisol, called me. She said, OMG this is Azul! Her brother and his girlfriend owned Azul together, but a few years ago broke up and the girlfriend was "keeping" the dog. They are not in contact with her, and Marisol's brother is in the armed forces, so he could not be contacted nor could he pick him up. Azul is still registered to the father and he said he absolutely wants Azul home with them. Marisol asked me when they could pick him up, and went to CACC first thing the next day to take him home. I received a call from Marisol that day, Dec 13th. Sadly, when David and one of his sons went to pick up Azul, they were told he had a contagious skin disease, called Sarcoptic Mange, and that they would have to wear gloves and keep him away from people until the treatment would get rid of it. (video below) It was pretty severe, and this could be weeks. Since David is caring for an elderly family member in his home, he couldn't take any chances. He had no choice but to surrender the dog to CACC. This broke my heart, and Marisol told me that her father is very emotional about what happened. He was heartbroken too; Azul, after a few minutes of David's presence, was so happy to see him, then he had to leave him there. I let my #LostDogsIllinois' (LDI) director, Susan, know what was going on, and how upset I and the family was about Azul. Susan contacted CACC, and they let her know that a rescue would most likely take him and care for his condition. I let Marisol and her family know this, and she asked if there is any way to get him once he was well. I told her we would work on it, but that I couldn't make any promises. I clicked on Azul's link daily, checking if a rescue came for that sweet boy. I wanted to be sure I knew where he went. On December 19th, I heard back from Marisol, "Hi. Do you know how Azul is doing? Although my dad was not the official owner and far less the one who neglected Azul, I hope the rescue understands the situation and knows that my dad is hoping to give Azul a forever home. Know that we are thinking of him." Again, I contacted Susan, the LDI director for help, and she contacted CACC again hoping to help this family. Another week went by, and finally, on Dec 26th, we were told that Azul's treatments weren't working, and that his owners could pick him up but they had to be there in the next couple of days. They didn't have a rescue that was willing to take him, and he wasn't getting better. I was devastated, and Susan knew that. She was too. She said, "Let me try Heather at @Chicagoland Rescue Intervention & Support Program - CRISP once more and see if they can help." CRISP let her know they will help! THANK YOU CRISP! Crisp will be paying for Azul's treatment at Countryside Vet! I called Marisol, and told her what was going on. I wanted to be certain that if CRISP would help treat Azul, that they would take him home. She said, OMG yes, of course! In order for this to work, her father would have to go to CACC in person, and pick Azul up with gloves on to take him to the vet to be left there for treatment. I wasn't sure they would be willing to do this, but they really love Azul and can't wait for him to get better. She said, we can go there tomorrow or Friday, and pick him up no problem. Lost Dogs Illinois paid the redemption fee for Azul to get his reunion started. Any donations will be used for other reclaim fees. Azul is now at Countryside vet, thanks to CACC, to Susan from LDI, to Heather at CRISP, and to Marisol and her dad. He is being treated and we are all anxiously awaiting his recovery so he can go home. He is such a beautiful and sweet boy, and he deserves to be well and in a loving home. I know how much love his family has to give him. They are amazing! Thank you so much to Chicago Animal Control for sending this case to Microchip Hunters. I am so happy I was able to be a part of this reunion. Marisol said, "We can't wait until we can actually hug him freely and love him." Get well soon Azul, we can't wait either! ***Photos of Azul and his dad going to the vet*** ~Jeanette Lost Dogs Illinois Microchip Hunters |
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