Finding a Lost Pet

What do you do when your pet is missing? Where do you go? Who do you call?

Be sure to act quickly. First, call all local papers and place a “lost” ad. Make sure you read the “found” ads every day too. If you’ve found a stray pet, most newspapers will run a “found” ad free for a certain number of days. Call all ads that even remotely resemble your pet. Many people incorrectly guess breed or breed mix, weight, and/or sex. Also, many people will place a collar on or take an existing collar off of a found pet.

The next step is to find two recent color photographs of your pet and make “lost” posters. One photo should be of your pet from the front, the other from the side. List any unique or distinguishing marks your pet may have. However, if you’ve found a pet, put as little detail on the “found” poster as possible. Have the person claiming to be the owner describe the pet in detail before you give the animal up. Do not answer questions about the pet. There are unscrupulous individuals out there who will pretend to be the owner. These individuals then typically sell the animals to research laboratories or puppy mills.

Once you’ve made the posters, put them up all over the area in which you found the pet. Also put them at all local veterinarians, humane shelters and animal control facilities. If you don’t have current pictures of your pet from the front and side, consider taking some.

Don’t rely on individuals at humane shelters or animal control facilities to find your pet. While the people who work in these places strive to reunite as many pets with their owners as possible, these organizations handle thousands of animals each year. They see literally hundreds of cats that may look exactly like your lost brown tabby cat or dogs that closely resemble your lost beagle mix.

Call your local shelter to find out where strays are housed and what the minimum holding period is. Visit the shelter in person once during every minimum holding period. Make sure you’re taken into all areas of the shelter to look for your pet.

Pets with tags have a much better chance of finding their way home. The best tag includes your home phone number. Additional tags such as rabies (as long as the clinic name and number are on it), and county license can be helpful if they’re current. If tags aren’t current, chances are we can’t trace them. If your pet has a habit of losing tags, write the pet’s name and your phone number on his or her collar with permanent marker. Any additional identification such as a tattoo or microchip will increase your pet’s odds of getting home too.

Also, don’t assume your older pet has passed away if he or she goes missing. We see stray elderly pets at the shelter every day.

Last but not least, don’t give up! In some cases it can take a few months to find a missing pet. This typically occurs when the well-meaning individual who originally found the pet, keeps the pet for too long before attempting to find the owner or surrendering the pet to a shelter.

If you’re looking for your pet, or you’re interested in adding a new pet to your family, visit us at Harbor Humane Society. And please help control the pet overpopulation problem by having your pets spayed or neutered.

Adapted from an article by Richelle Smith, DVM