SAN DIEGO – If you’ve lost your pet, don’t lose hope. Get help.
PawBoost, founded in 2014, was created for exactly that reason – to reunite lost pets with their owners. Characterized as an “Amber Alert” for lost pets, the organization provides local databases to help owners retrieve their animals.
PawBoost’s success is in part attributable to its partnership with local pet welfare organizations like the San Diego Humane Society. Both groups collaborate on the serious and growing need to recover pets who get lost for any number of reasons.
“San Diego Humane Society uses PawBoost as a key tool to help reunite lost pets with their families in a few different ways,” said Nina Thompson, the nonprofit’s director of public relations.
“When a stray pet enters one of SDHS’s campuses, we create a ‘found pet’ alert on PawBoost. This alert is shared widely across social media, email networks, and neighborhood groups, giving the pet’s family the best chance of recognizing and reclaiming them.”
SDHS even links directly to PawBoost from its website.
“When a pet owner has lost their pet, we encourage them to sign up for text alerts by texting ‘LOST’ to 858-SAN-LOST for step-by-step instructions on what actions to take,” said Thompson. “One of those steps is to fill out a lost pet report so we can keep an eye out at our shelter.”
Additionally, Thompson emphasized the importance of having pets microchipped and keeping that information current.
“Statistics show one out of every three pets will become lost during their lifetime, and only one in 10 will be reclaimed by their owners,” she said.
“A microchip provides permanent, secure protection. If your pet is found, they can be taken to a veterinarian or shelter — and sometimes even a local fire station or library — where they can be easily scanned and you will be contacted. We have all that information and more at sdhumane.org/protect.”
PawBoost recently reached a major milestone: that of having successfully reunited 2 million lost pets with their families.
“Just last year, over 255,000 pets found their way back home with PawBoost’s help,” said Katie Lee, PawBoost’s senior marketing manager. “With more than 7 million neighbors signed up for local alerts, our community is making a real difference for pets and their families nationwide.”
PawBoost owner-founder Clayton Gladieux never intended to become an entrepreneur. His business almost started by chance.
A close friend lost his rescue pup and, after finding her through a very difficult process, Gladieux noted: “The whole experience just stuck with me. Using Facebook ads to raise awareness for a local lost dog was just an ‘aha’ moment. Nobody was doing that at the time.”
And launching and establishing local pet-retrieval networks has proved to be a winning concept that has traveled well.
“Over the last 10 years, it’s happened organically,” Gladieux said of his business success.
“We realized that there is a huge community of people out there who just want to help. So many people engaged with us after seeing our ads, visiting our website, and looking for local lost pet alerts.”
PawBoost also has a proven success rate. “If you lose a pet and you put a post on PawBoost, there’s a 48% success rate for getting your pet back,” said Gladieux.
Looking ahead with PawBoost, Gladieux said that he intends to “really focus on growing our shelter partnerships, like we do for San Diego Humane Society. We’re hiring full-time shelter outreach team members to get more pet shelters onboard.”
