Petco Love Celebrates National Good Neighbor Day, Encourages Communities to Be Good Neighbors and Help Lost Pets

‘Pawparazzi’ animated video voiced by Actress Finola Hughes spotlights how a good neighbor reunites a lost cat with her family thanks to cutting edge technology

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — National nonprofit Petco Love encourages pet lovers throughout the country to be good neighbors and help lost and found pets in their neighborhood reunite with the families that love them.

National Good Neighbor Day on September 28^th is a movement which engages neighborhood goodwill and encourages a sense of community. As a pet lover, some ways to be a good neighbor include: keeping an eye out for lost pets who might be missing from home and uploading a photo of found pets in their community to Love Lost. Love Lost is national lost and found pet database which uses image-recognition technology to help families reunite with their missing pets via one photo, and its free and easy to use.

To celebrate National Good Neighbor Day, Petco Love releases Pawparazzi, the third animated short in its MY RUFF DAY campaign (Watch here). Pawparazzi features a feline influencer, Lily, voiced by Emmy Award-winning Actress Finola Hughes, who accidentally becomes lost from home. The story follows her journey trying to get home, told from her point of view. Luckily a good neighbor finds a terrified Lily, uploads a photo of her on Love Lost, and is matched with a photo posted by Lily’s mom. The animated video illustrates how one photo can quickly lead to a joyous reunion for a scared pet and worried pet parent via Love Lost.  

“As a huge pet lover, I can’t imagine the fear and anxiety of having one of my pets go missing from home and how hard that experience must be for pet parents,” said Actress Finola Hughes. “Fortunately, with Love Lost and the support of caring neighbors across the country, pet parents can be reunited with their best friends. I’m proud to lend my voice as Lily to raise awareness about this lifesaving platform.”

Love Lost has reunited nearly 60,000 pet parents across the U.S. with their four-legged best friends.

“Our mission is to reunite all lost pets, like Lily, with the families that love them as quickly as possible,” said Petco Love President Susanne Kogut. “We urge pet parents to register their pet on Love Lost today, in case the unthinkable happens, and their pet goes missing tomorrow. Together, we can Unite to Reunite, and help pets, pet families, and shelters all over the country.”

Pet parent Samantha feared the worst when her 12-year-old cat Penny slipped out a door that was ajar at her home and was missing for 11 days. She and her fiancé called their local shelter, Dakin Humane Society in Massachusetts, and learned about Love Lost. They uploaded Penny’s picture to the database and listed her as “lost.” Penny’s image soon matched with a photo of a cat found by a good neighbor and brought to the shelter. Samantha and her fiancé happily reunited with Penny at Dakin Humane Society as soon as Love Lost made the match.

“This database is a terrific example of how technology can improve the lives of pets and people who love them. We were thrilled when we learned that someone in our community found her beloved cat here at Dakin by using Love Lost. There was not a dry eye in the room when we reunited Penny with her pet parent. We are confident that Love Lost will continue to be a valuable tool for our shelter and encourage other organizations to become Love Lost partners, too,” said Meg Talbert, Executive Director, Dakin Humane Society.

If neighbors find a lost cat or dog in their community, they can upload a photo to Love Lost to make the cat or dog visible to pet parents searching for their lost pet. They can also search “lost pets” on Love Lost to see if the pet parent has uploaded the pet’s image and information. Good neighbors can even create social media posts via Love Lost, which help reunite pets across multiple platforms including the Ring/Neighbors app, Nextdoor, and Facebook.

To be proactive, pet parents can register their safe-at-home pets in the free Love Lost database here. Love Lost can help people in almost any language, and it provides privacy for those who use it. Other ways you can help when you find a lost pet are checking for tags on the pet’s collar to look for contact information. If there are no tags, take them to a Petco, vet, or shelter to scan for a microchip. You can also call your local animal shelter and vet’s office and report that you’ve found a lost cat or dog.

On National Good Neighbor Day, and every day, be prepared to help pets in your community by registering your own pet on Love Lost, creating a found pet kit, and utilizing these helpful tips on what to do if you find a lost cat or dog. Together with pet parents, good neighbors, and partner animal shelters, let’s Unite to Reunite and keep pets where they belong – at home, with you. Join the conversation @PetcoLoveLost on Facebook, Instagram and X.

About Petco Love

Petco Love is a life-changing nonprofit organization that makes communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we’ve empowered animal welfare organizations by investing nearly $400 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We’ve helped find loving homes for more than 6.9 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Join us.

Visit PetcoLove.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we lead every day.

Media Contacts

Crystal Bugary, Petco Love

[email protected]

Jeff Hare /The Artemis Agency

(818) 726-9238

[email protected]

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