June 27, 2024

The Role of Community in Keeping Pets Safe: How to Get Involved

What is a community?

Since launching Where My Paws At in 2023, this is a question I often ask myself.

The definition of a community according to the Oxford Dictionary is ‘a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common’.

It plays a vital role in our lives, providing a sense of belonging, support and practical help. In the context of pet safety, communities help ensure that pets are cared for and protected through collective efforts and resources.

Where My Paws At is not the first pet community in the UAE, but we are the first pet safety app and community with a simple mission – to help keep pets safer in the UAE. Our mission is not just to help keep your pets safer, we also have a vision for a safer environment for those that don’t have pet parents and live in our communities and on our streets.

Here’s how you can contribute to a safer environment for our furry friends!

Education and Awareness

In the UAE, by law, you are required to have your dog or cat microchipped. This is a form of identification should your pet go missing, as well as a form of proof of ownership. If you don’t have your cat or dog microchipped, you can read more about how to do this and why it’s important here.

Unfortunately, there’s no central microchip database in the UAE, and with a disjointed system in place currently, a microchip alone is not enough protection against keeping your pet safe. We’re helping solve this problem with our free microchip registration via our free app. It’s used by approved registered vets, rescuers and organisations to help identify lost and found animals in the UAE. If you’re a vet or a rescuer and would like to know more, please get in touch. If you’re a pet parent and not part of our community yet, download our app and register your pets for FREE.

The easiest way to identify any dog or cat is with a pet ID tag! I recently returned from a trip to Spain and it was so refreshing to see every dog wearing a pet ID tag ( to my surprise there were no cats on the streets ). Why are pet tags so important? Well – let me ask you a question. Would you send your kid to school without telling their teachers their name or your name or who to contact? NO! So why would you let you pets out in public without protecting them with an ID tag showing their name and your contact details? If you have a pet who goes outside, how do people know they have an owner? How will people contact you if they find your pet without a pet ID tag? You can find out more about ours here.

Doing what we do, we’re part of numerous lost and found Facebook groups and see hundreds of posts a week about cats and dogs. If your pet isn’t wearing a pet ID tag, how are people meant to know they have an owner? They could be identified as a stray, or in need of help, picked up and taken to a different community. This is where the disconnect of microchips comes into play.

If your pet isn’t registered with the relevant municipality ( please check yours is ) let me tell you what happens next. A vet or someone with a microchip scanner needs to scan your pet. Then ALL vets need to be contacted so they can establish where your pet is registered and find your details ( don’t forget if you change your contact number this is NOT automatically updated). From personal experience it’s extremely frustrating and time consuming and you don’t always get a reply. So now what… well you’ll need to call the vets who haven’t responded until you find a match.

This problem can easily be resolved with… you guessed it – a pet ID tag!

Protect, Protect, Protect!

1 in 3 pets will go missing in their lifetime – can you guarantee it will never happen to you?

It’s estimated that there’s 1.5 million pet owners living in the UAE ( this figure may not be accurate as there’s no published statistics ) which in theory means 1.5 million people are pet loving people ( apart from the illegal breeders and pet dumpers ). With your help, empathy and support, and community awareness, together we can help make a difference.

Our app has been built by pet parents for pet parents to help protect your pets and keep them safer. Our pet safety app is free to download and register, and you become part of our community. With nearly 1,800 pet parents registered at date of writing this, should the unthinkable happen, our instant alerts are sent to our community ( thousands of pet loving people see your alert without logging in to social media ). Our smart pet tags link to our app, which means identifying your pet is easy, quick and hassle free – without logging into a website! Anyone with a camera phone can scan the tag, they don’t need our app to reunite your pet!

Community Matters!

There’s an overwhelming number of stray cats and dogs in the UAE. We see so many, especially cats, and it’s easy to forget that not all strays were born and raised on the streets. We also know that ‘trapping’ happens and then they are relocated to different parts of the city. We know there are multiple spots where animals are dumped in the desert ( did you hear about Al Falah? )

We work with individuals who tirelessly help, but with an overwhelming number of strays, lost pets, no funded TNR ( Trap, Neuter, Return ) programs, illegal breeding and multiple ‘pet markets’, many animals are suffering and need better care and help.

It takes a community to make a difference and together we can help by supporting each other! Supporting your local community carers, raising awareness and educating others in pet safety are steps in the right direction. You can start by being a responsible pet parent by safe guarding your pet. Educating others on how community cats play a pivotal role in our eco-system, and help with self-funded TNR programs that may be in place in your community.

If you want to know more about our mission, our pet-safety app, our tags or want to follow us, check out our Instagram page @wheremypawsat

Where My Paws At

Is your pet lost in the UAE?

Where My Paws At is the first pet safety app in the UAE. Our mission is to help keep your pets safer by raising awareness and helping educate others. We work closely with rescuers, charities and vets in the UAE all year round. Should your pet go missing, we can help with our instant lost alerts, personalised missing pet posters and microchip platform to help reunite you. Our pet parent community is growing every day, and with a reach of over 5,000 people, we help get the word out quickly that your pet is lost and needs help.

Pet Identification

The easiest way to identify your pet should they go missing is with a Pet ID tag. This is the quickest way to identify your pet and contact you. Please make sure your pet is wearing some form of ID tag. You can find ours on our website.

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