Garden City -- A Garden City woman has linked her love of pets with the information highway.

Kathy McLaughlin's Web site -- http://www.petznjam.com/ -- helps match owners of lost dogs and cats with people who have found the animals. Since the beginning of the year, 138 pets have been recovered in Michigan through the use of one of the first free pet recovery services on the Internet.

People without computer access can report a lost or found dog or cat by contacting the Petznjam Web site at 1-734-466-9431 anytime, or the Michigan Humane Society Westland Shelter at 1-734-721-7300, ext. 408, 8 a.m-5 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays. Donations, payable to Petznjam, can be sent to P.O. Box 1693, Garden City 48136.

Molly, a German shepherd mix, is among those happily reunited with her owners.

Molly escaped under a backyard fence last week but was recovered the next day after McLaughlin noticed that Molly's description on the Web matched a dog at the Westland shelter of the Michigan Humane Society.

"We had just given Molly a bath and forgot to put her collar on," Lydia Kakish recalled recently. Kakish and her daughter Heather, 9, scoured the neighborhood and contacted local police agencies without success.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am" to have Molly home, Kakish said. "To see my daughter happy again means the world to me."

Dreams of locating lost pets prompted McLaughlin, 50, to quit her job as an adoption counselor at the Humane Society in 1997. She started a Web site a year later.

McLaughlin still volunteers at the Humane Society in Westland and the Dearborn Animal Shelter. With about 15 volunteers, McLaughlin takes phone reports at the shelters of lost-and-found animals, enters them on her Web site and searches for matches.

"It's like taking a 911 call," McLaughlin said. "They're out of their minds and want help wherever they can find it. That's why my focus is to get these animals home. It's like losing a child."

On the site, owners can describe in detail their lost dogs and cats.

When people find lost pets profiled on the site, they contact McLaughlin, who puts them in touch with the owners.

The database includes about 1,200 missing animals from the previous three months.

The site received 15,000 hits last month, mostly from metro Detroit, although pet owners from several states and countries such as Israel, Australia and Poland have visited "petznjam." More than 200 pets listed as missing are from outside Michigan.

McLaughlin said her husband and two sons support her drive to recover every lost dog and cat possible. Their family includes three cats, a dog and two rats.

McLaughlin doesn't confine her searches to the computer. Recently, she searched for Murphy, a golden retriever mix, near I-96 and Merriman Road in Livonia.

Murphy's owners, Debbie and Mike Honsowetz of Canton Township, cut short a vacation last month after they learned their pet had escaped a pet sitter's fence.

"This dog is our baby; she's a family member and not just an animal," said Debbie Honsowetz, manager of the Summit on the Park community center. The dog's description is on the Web site.

McLaughlin said searching for a lost animal, whether on foot or by computer, is rewarding. "Any dog you find is worth it."

How to find a lost pet
• Contact local police, veterinarians and the animal control officer.

• Report the loss to local pounds and shelters and visit every day.

  Alert mail and newspaper carriers and neighbors.

• Put up posters with a picture of the pet.

  How to prevent a loss

• Tag your pet with a personal ID and a city license.

• Make sure your fence is secure.

• Don't leave your pet unattended outside for long periods of time.

• Cable your pet if it's a fence-jumper.

  Source: Kathy McLaughlin of Petznjam