I have been grabbing at any lifeline since Dolly our pet Jack Russell went missing over four weeks ago. It has been a very traumatic time where three suspected sightings have had me walking for many miles, over rough terrain in all weathers. My voice is sore from calling her name and I have had to close down, numb, that broken part of my heart in the hope that she will return one day.
Still my last hope was that at least she was microchipped , there was some comfort in this or so I thought. So if anyone did have her, something that I suspected, and if they needed to find out who she belonged to then this would lead her home.
Today 4th November 2019, I had the nasty feeling that she might still be registered at our old address back in the UK, even though we had used her Pet Passport over the last ten years, panic set in as I searched the house for her documentation.
Of course. all the other animals documentation was in the folder but not hers, again my heart sank, but I am not giving up until all stones are left unturned. All the others had been registered with Petlog The Kennel Clubs database, so following that logic I sought out their website.
Logging onto the database was a nightmare to navigate, mainly because I could not remember my user name or password. I was literally going round, and round in circles and kept ending back to having to phone them in the UK.
The first time I held on for 20 minutes before thinking this is costing me a fortune there must be another way, so I went back to the website. After another couple of hours of revisiting the same circles, I knew the only option regardless of the costs was to call.
I waited, and waited, until after another 25 minutes, the phone was answered, and a very nice young man was very helpful and informative. Having found her Pet Passport with the microchip number I had already found out that she was registered with them. Yes, a ray of hope lit up my day and more than made up for the wasted morning chasing my tail.
Only for my hopes to be dashed once again, what a rollercoaster ride this was turning out to be.
He proceeded to tell me, that although she was on their database, someone from Italy would only look on their own register and he advised me to talk to the vet and get her logged onto the Italian database as soon as possible, he would of course take my new telephone number and address should anyone think to try the UK database. But, he very much doubted that this would be the case.
No one advised us of this when we got our pet passports, or when we exported our tribe over here, I had four dogs, and four horses all registered on what I thought was a global database. I was gutted my one last hope dashed, thrown to the ground and trampled in the mud. Where to next?
I knew the vet would think that I was mad to still be trying after all this time, to still be hoping, but I just could not shake the idea that she would come home to me. But I have to go with my gut feelings that she is still out there, we all miss her, her puppies (now six years old) were besides themselves, their behaviour was stressed and submissive, all of our hearts ripped apart.
I text the vet, asking him to please check to see if there were any reportings of this microchip number on the Italian database and asked how do I go about recording the other animals for this area.
I am literally running out of options, now it is down to someone seeing my posters stuck to trees, noticeboards, handed to bars and locations locally. Maybe someone talking to someone else and knowing our precious little one is still missing.
Hundreds of people know, others have been searching, and helping me to get the message out there. Every night I leave the outside light on hoping that if she is still alive and out there in the forest wandering about she will be able to find her way home.
Arca Della Valle have been amazing they sent her missing poster to over 100 people in minutes, please join their facebook page and help them in anyway that you can. Our local ASL office is in Gallicano, the cost is minimal and the staff extremely speedy and helpful. So don’t forget to register your pet here too.
Its now nearly five weeks, she is now registered here in Italy with ASL, four weeks too late. I do believe in miracles……… now all I can do is wait.
