In all advertising, include your pet’s sex, age, weight, breed, color, and any special markings. Also include the circumstances surrounding the disappearance such as date and location. When describing your pet, leave out one identifying characteristic and ask the person who finds your pet to describe it.  See “pet scams” below.

Include your contact information in all advertisements and communications, but not your name or physical address. Phone number(s) and email addresses are best.

Place advertisements in newspapers, free online lost-pet databases (petfinder.com, etc.) and with radio stations. Many newspapers, radio stations and online databases provide free assistance. Contact them for help. If you have a local cable channel, some of them will run lost pet ads on their bulletin board. Be sure to include your lost pet Website address for immediate viewing.

As you travel, look for community bulletin boards in shopping centers, churches, synagogues, or anywhere else that you can post a notice of general interest. Also put flyers on the streets at busy intersections (you may want to check the legality of posting on public property first).

Contact local animal shelters and animal control agencies: File a lost pet report with every shelter within a 60-mile radius of your home and visit the nearest shelters daily, if possible. If there is no shelter in your community, contact the local police department. Provide these agencies with an accurate description and a recent photograph of your pet. Notify the police if you believe your pet was stolen.

Additionally, forward your lost pet Web Address via email to all of these agencies. Your email and Website Address will keep the search fresh in their minds, assist their ID process and allow them to easily forward your email to other interested parties who may have information on your lost pet. Keep in contact!  Animal shelters and agencies are always understaffed and overworked. Don’t rely on them to remember your pet and call you back. Email them often with your information and your pet’s photographic Website link

Search the neighborhood: The vast majority of the 12 to 15 Million pets lost each year in the USA are recovered within 2 miles of home. Walk or drive through your neighborhood several times each day. Ask neighbors, letter carriers, and delivery people if they have seen your pet. Give them a flier and ask for their help.

Some lost pets have been found in a neighbor’s garage or stuck under a neighbor’s porch. The neighbor didn’t realize the pet was missing and didn’t think to look.  Also, talk to store employees in the area where your pet was lost.

Set up a Temporary Outdoor Pet Comfort Station: Leave fresh food and water outside on a porch or in a sheltered area close to your home. Also set up a large cardboard box lined with an old towel or other item that smells familiar to your pet. If your lost pet should return while you are asleep or away from home, food and shelter may save its life. This is also an incentive for your pet to stay close by. Check the box and food supply regularly during quiet evening and early morning hours.

Tomorrow morning, at sunrise: go to the location your pet was lost with a pen and pad. Write down the company name of services making deliveries at that hour. Some examples are bread, milk and newspaper delivery services. Call the dispatch offices for those companies, give them a description of your pet and ask that they alert their drivers. Most pets recovered while still on the street, are found during the quiet early morning hours and then hide when the tempo picks up. If possible, follow up with a flier.

Look for Cats at Night The best time to look for a lost cat is in the dark – between dusk and dawn – when streets are quiet. A lost and hiding cat will come out in the dark to look for food. Take a flashlight with you and search under parked cars, in yards and under bushes as well as in alleys. It’s a good idea to take a friend along at night for safety, and bring some cat food, too, so that you can calm your pet and feed it if you should find it.

If you live in an apartment, be sure to check the hallways, stairwells, basement, storage closets, laundry rooms, and any vacant apartments that may have had a door ajar. Outdoors, don’t forget to look in trees, shrubbery, vacant lots, on porches, and on roofs

Check with all Road Maintenance Divisions Unfortunately, the next most successful way of finding a lost animal is through checking the with the highway departments and the shelters’ dead lists. Even if your pet is wearing tags and the highway maintenance department is supposed to send a list to animal control, you should check with them directly.

There are usually several departments that cover roads in your area. You’ll need to check city or town, county and state roads departments, as well as the animal control agencies. Pictures or a copy of your flier should be left with each department. Again, calling is seldom successful, and actually visiting the department is the best way. You should check back once a week.

Rewards – Opinions Differ Strongly The counsel regarding offering a reward for a lost pet is so varied, that the best we can do is provide a random sample of the most widely held, and differing, views from major pet agencies.  It’s your pet, your money and your decision:

• Offering a reward may sooth the psyche during the search for a lost pet, however, there appears to be little evidence that rewards make a difference in a lost pet’s return.
• Try to offer a reward for you pet if you can and be prepared to pay the reward if your animal is recovered.
• If you should decide to offer a reward for the redemption of your lost pet and are fortunate to have found your pet yourself or have encountered a Samaritan who refuses a reward payment, you should consider donating the “reward” money to a local animal welfare organization.
• Don’t let your emotions override your common sense. Some “finders” collect a fortune in rewards for lost pets they haven’t found. Protect yourself. Never pay reward money or any shipping costs without viewing at least a clear photograph of the “found” pet.
• You may want to initially make posters without mentioning a reward. If you do choose to offer a reward, say “Reward for information leading to the return of.” This gives informants the incentive to call you even if they don’t have actual possession of the pet. Don’t name the amount of the reward at first as that can be added/negotiated later.
• Most people will not accept the reward but there are people who would return your pet for money so always keep this as an option.
• Large rewards, aggressively advertised will motivate community members. Money is one of the most basic motivators. And, if your pet has been stolen, a large reward will frequently induce the thief to work through a third-party to return your pet. If you can afford it, offer a large reward and publicize it. $1,000 – $5,000.
• Place ads in all neighborhood papers distributed in your area. Rewards help but keep it reasonable – $25 to $100

Be wary of pet-recovery scams When talking to a stranger who claims to have found your pet, ask him to describe the pet thoroughly before you offer any information. If he does not include the identifying characteristic you left out of the advertisements, he may not really have your pet. Be particularly wary of people who insist that you give or wire them money for the return of your pet.

Stolen Pets If you have good reason to believe your pet has been stolen, the following information link may assist you. CAUTION:  This is very graphic and disturbing information.  Not suitable for children! Stolen Pets