In the past decade Katie McCandless-Thomas has helped to successfully reunite more than 3,000 pets with their panic-stricken owners.
For many years she singlehandedly provided a 24-7 alerting and finding service as the founder of Facebook page Missing Pets, Perth and Kinross. She even worked while on her honeymoon in Mauritius.
The Perth woman is now being aided by 30 fellow animal-lovers who jump into action if an owner’s beloved animal goes missing in the county.
Neither Katie, 35, nor her team receive a penny for their work, which includes night-time searches in remote parts of the local area.
Yet there are two strands to this valuable service.
One is the relief and joy felt by pet owners when there is a happy ending.
The other is the pride and satisfaction felt by Katie when she has helped facilitate this.
For someone whose anxiety and physical health was so troubling that she struggled to attend school and work in a formal setting, this feeling cannot be underestimated.
“It has given me a purpose at a time I felt lost and didn’t know what I would be doing with my life,” says Katie, whose page now has more than 27,000 followers.
“No one wants an animal to go missing. You can’t put into words that feeling until you have experienced it but I want to give back and help.
“Animals are family and I want to help people get their furry child back.”
In this feature Katie talks about finding missing pets, her dog friendly business, the physical problems that have left her in hospital, and reveals what helps her cope with anxiety.
It is in the following sections:
- School and health challenges
- Dedication to finding pets
- Help from valued volunteers
- Dog Friendly Perthshire
- Animals, anxiety and future
School and health challenges
Katie McCandless-Thomas had a tough upbringing, not because she was naughty or neglected, but because of her health.
Katie, whose father passed away close to her third birthday, was raised in a supportive environment in King Street by mother Kathleen McCandless and step-dad James Carcary.
She attended Craigie Primary School and Perth High School, where she was poorly for the first four years.
“I was only there for a tiny bit each year,” Katie recalls. “High school isn’t for everyone and it certainly wasn’t for me.
“I wasn’t bullied but I suffered a lot of anxiety and health problems throughout.
“Being in a school environment didn’t nurture me or fill me with any confidence. I am just one of those people who can say that school wasn’t my cup of tea at the time.”
Katie left with four standard qualifications at C and D grades.
“The qualifications don’t mean much to me,” she admits. “I was more concerned with how I was feeling physically and mentally rather than grades on a piece of paper.”
Work at local pubs
After graduation Katie worked in cafes, pubs and restaurants in Perth, which included stints at the Twa Tams and Ramada Jarvis Hotel (now Mercure Perth).
At 18 she went on what she intended to be a two-week holiday in St Albans, Hertfordshire, to visit her cousin Robert.
Within a week she got a job in a bar so stayed for much longer.
“I had a really lovely bunch of friends around there,” Katie says. “Robert is like a big brother to me so it was a really nice experience and I have fond memories.”
‘They still don’t know what it is’
She moved back up to Perth a year later due to ill health, which stopped her from returning to work for the next five years.
“I had undiagnosed stomach problems and to this day they still don’t know what it is,” Katie says.
“I can get a lot of pain around my torso, it flares up and it can be debilitating at its worst.
“I was really ill, lost weight and had a lot of time in hospital. From then the anxiety and depression got worse.
“They took me in hospital a couple of times for ultrasound scans. I had exploratory surgery when they tried to cut me open to see what was wrong. They saw no alarm bells so they have never been able to pinpoint what causes the pain or flare ups.
“It was never long in hospital, maybe two or three days at a time. There were a couple of times when I was very sick and got dehydrated and they took me in for tests.
“There was no possible way I could work.”
Dedication to finding pets
In such trying circumstances her Lhasa Apso dog at the time, Charlie, was a huge support.
Katie had always loved animals, growing up with Collies as well as Dobermanns Dillon and Pepper. Her mother reminds her that when she was young she would often bring home limping birds or other ailing animals for rehabilitation.
So when Charlie – father of Katie’s current dog, Baxter – disappeared it was horrifying.
“My mum came to my bed really upset,” says Katie, who is married to Laurie, 40. “I went into auto pilot thinking ‘what are we going to do?’
“My husband looked one way, my parents looked the other. I messaged friends and asked them to keep a lookout.”
Fortunately, Charlie was found a few hours later “having the time of his life” at Craigie Burn, close to the South Inch.
“It was only when I got home that all the emotions hit me at once,” Katie says. “What if we didn’t find him? What if someone had taken him? What if he was in an accident?
“The thought played on my mind afterwards. If he was missing longer what would I do? How would I alert more people to look out for him?
“That’s when I decided I would set up Missing Pets, Perth and Kinross to initially have a platform to put a post on Facebook. Since then it has grown and grown in a way I couldn’t believe.”
‘I have had phone calls at 3am’
At the beginning Katie was “a little shy to get my name out” but the page soon took a life of its own after her efforts helped find a Husky missing for 10 days.
“He was the first big case that put us out there and got more people following the page,” she said.
She soon found herself working around the clock.
Losing a pet is the worst feeling and I would never wish it on anyone.
“I have had phone calls at 3am about dogs being found and, if we have a particularly difficult missing dog case where owners are out for the night, I am on my phone checking just in case and they need the help, support or advice.”
This is what she continued to give during her holidays, even on her honeymoon in Mauritius in 2018.
“I still had my phone on me and still tried to message people,” Katie said.
“If an owner was in need of help I didn’t want to let them down. Baxter is my world so I know how I would have felt if anything happened to him.
“Losing a pet is the worst feeling and I would never wish it on anyone. If I could give up some of my time to help I will do what I can.”
Help from valued volunteers
While laudable, this level of dedication proved unsustainable.
Not long after the holiday she began to delegate. When her good friend Christine Faulds Quinn stepped in to help with administration Katie felt a weight lift off her shoulders.
“When it was really busy I was so used to how it was that it seemed normal,” Katie says.
“And it’s only when I started taking on other people to help that I realised how much I was doing on my own.”
The group has been transformed in the past four years.
Fundraising initiatives have yielded a thermal drone, two thermal scopes, and cat and dog traps that help locate missing pets in a painless manner.
Christine is now the operations coordinator and there are volunteer teams based in Scone, Blairgowrie and Crieff.
Half-a-dozen admins oversee the Facebook page and there are now as many as 30 volunteers bringing their own skills in animal care.
“As much as I love animals I don’t know about every animal going,” Katie concedes. “I have a volunteer who is knowledgeable about birds, another few who know about rabbits.
“I never imagined 10 years ago it could have got to this level.”
‘When she was found there were tears’
Katie says the page has a high success rate and there are some missing pets who stand out.
In 2019 volunteer Ryan Gowrie’s dog Ruby went missing in Dunkeld, sparking an ultimately successful three-day search by the Blairgowrie team.
He helps so much when dogs go missing so when Ruby went missing we felt it as well
“That was special because Ryan is such a friend to us,” she says. “He helps so much when dogs go missing so when Ruby went missing we felt it as well.
“When she was found there were tears.”
Having teams covering different areas meant volunteers could still search for lost animals while respecting the five-mile travel limit imposed during the Covid lockdowns.
In one instance a West Yorkshire Terrier went missing in the Coupar Angus area but because a volunteer lived nearby the dog was able to be located.
Dog Friendly Perthshire
For the past four years Katie has run her own business in a related field.
She manages Dog Friendly Perthshire, which promotes restaurants, cafes, accommodation and other venues where four-legged friends are welcome.
With business partner Stine Hope she also runs pet-themed ‘Barket’ markets every few months. Recently they held Canines at the Castle at Dundee’s Mains Castle, and they had a stall at The Yard in Perth’s Ice Factory.
More than 100 companies advertise on the website.
“I would say Perthshire is the dog capital of Scotland,” Katie declares. “More and more places since I started up have definitely welcomed dogs through their doors.
“They see the owner doesn’t see the dog as just a pet but that they are integrated into the family.
“A lot of people don’t want to always leave them at home. They want to know they can have a full day with them and not have to rush back to drop them off at home.”
The site also has a page with information on Missing Pets, Perth and Kinross.
Animals, anxiety and future
There are currently four Lhasa Apsos in Katie’s family. She has eight-year-old Baxter and her parents own Baxter’s mother Millie, father Charlie and sister Holly.
Katie also has two housecats: Booboo, 10, a black and white Tuxedo, and Bonbon, a three-year-old silver Tabby Maine Coon.
The pets are a wonderful help as Katie continues to deal with mental health challenges.
Some days I can hide it and put on a brave face but it is always there at some level
“I still suffer really bad anxiety,” she says. “There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t suffer some level or another.
“Some days I can hide it and put on a brave face but it is always there at some level. It is about trying to live and cope with it.
“Animals have been such a huge calming and positive effect on my live. I could never imagine not having an animal in my life anymore.
“I talk to pet owners and they all feel the same. On their sad days and the days they are struggling, knowing you have a pet that relies on you gives you that bit of a routine and focus.
“Sometimes you maybe don’t want to leave the house but your dog needs a walk and and it is that little push that benefits you.
“Baxter has been a lifesaver at times. He has had a massive impact on my life.”
‘I can’t imagine not doing it now’
A decade on from setting up the Facebook page, can Katie still see herself doing the same in another 10 years?
“It has become such a big part of life that I can’t imagine not doing it now,” she says. “It is a part of my life every single day. I couldn’t imagine not doing it because I just want to do something to help.
“It’s not just me and my volunteers who do the work but the general public.
“We rely on sightings so sometimes we hear from them and can reunite them with their pets.
“We would never have been able to purchase equipment over the years without people donating to us.
“I am very, very touched by all the help they have given. It means the world.”
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