I sent two pets to the State Portal Service Branch, and I haven't gotten them back.  I had NO IDEA that if you sent pets to the branch you would not get them back -- is this explained anywhere?  I thought that you sent them there for one day, got 5 energy flow cards for the day, and then got the pets back after the day way over.  Please help!

Edit: I should add that my distress is because I sent my two best pets, because I was spending the day focusing on training my lower-level pets.  I really want them back!

I hovered over the State Portal Service Branch in the Building section under Manor and it says:

Portal Service takes your pets in exchange for 5 energy flow cards.  You can send up to 5 pets everyday.  Might be helpful in the FAQ section.  I can see how this may be confusing so perhaps it should be changed from takes to keeps?  Of course, this being beta, we'll probably be starting over on the next wave of testing anyway so it is a good thing this wasn't live.  :)

The building description tells that they take your pets in exchange for energy flow cards. They do not rent, borrow or something like this, they're just taking and exchanging them like in a regular trade but paying with cards instead of money. At the same time there's nothing said about getting the pets back in a certain time. Otherwise this building would be a destroyer of the balance and won't fulfill it's main function - removing the undesired pets from the game.