TOKYO — Cat caterwauling for cousins? Dog desperate for dad? A new Facebook-style website in Japan can help your pet find their real family, as well as friends.

Like similar pet social networking sites in Japan and around the world, "Pedi" (http://pedi.jp), which went online this year, allows owners to create profiles for their pets that include their favorite foods and tricks, post photos and blogs, and exchange messages with other members.

But founder Keishin Tanaka said the site was the only one to allow felines and canines to find long-lost family members by matching pedigree certificates.

"More customers have been asking about finding their pet’s long-lost parents and siblings... So I decided to address their demands," Tanaka told Reuters.

"This is the only pet social networking service where members can be linked through pedigree information."

Pedi asks owners to fax in their pets’ pedigree certificates, and the information is put into a database. So far, three family matches have been made out of the 1,000 dogs and 100 cats registered, Tanaka said. He hopes the system will help reduce genetic illnesses in the future by providing the pet’s health information in the database.

Registration on Pedi is free and so far limited to cats and dogs, and the site makes money through advertising, Tanaka said. And for those pets without a past – and a pedigree certificate – Pedi can help banish the blues by providing friends for those days when a stroking session or a game of fetch with humans are just not entertaining enough.