CHECKLIST

Finding Your Pet Checklist

Follow these steps to find your pet as quickly as possible.

• Search the Found Pet database by zip code to see if your pet has been reported found.
• If your pet is not listed, create an account and register in the Lost Pet listing.
• Call police, sheriff, animal control, Humane Society, veterinary clinics and animal shelters in your area to see if a pet has been reported found. For telephone numbers for these organizations, use our handy Zip Code Search.
• Check your local shelters DAILY. Many do not have the staffing to check to see if your pet is there. Don't rely on overworked shelter workers when your pets life may be at stake.
• Make flyers with the pet’s picture to post in your area. High-traffic streets, grocery stores, libraries, coffee shops, gas stations and drugstores are great places to hang flyers. Place flyers at Schools too…many times lost pets gravitate to schools. If your pet needs medication list that on the flyer too.
• Give flyers to Postal people, UPS and Fed Ex Drivers and other delivery people in your area since they are constantly driving around your area.
• Place an ad in the Classified section of your local newspaper. These ads are usually free. Place an ad on Craigslist too.
• Send an email to neighbors and friends and ask them to pass it on.
• Once you have been reunited with your pet, have it micro-chipped by your vet or at your local shelter. Don’t forget to keep this information current.
• Change your Profile and pet’s status on Lostpetusa.net.
• Take down flyers.
• Never give up!

Finding an Owner: Checklist

• Search the Lost Pet database by zip code to see if a similar pet has been reported lost.
• If your pet is not listed, create an account and register in the Found Pet listing.
• Take the pet to the closest veterinary clinic, shelter, or police station to be scanned for a microchip. The embedded microchip has the owner’s information, so the pet can be reunited with its owner quickly.
• Call police, sheriff, animal control, Humane Society, veterinary clinics and animal shelters in your area to see if a pet has been reported lost. For telephone numbers for these organizations, use our handy Zip Code Search.
• Make flyers with the pet’s picture to post in your area. High-traffic streets, grocery stores, libraries, coffee shops, gas stations and drugstores are great places to hang flyers
• Place an ad in the Classified section of your local newspaper. These ads are usually free. Place an ad on Craigslist too.
• Send an email to neighbors and friends and ask them to pass it on.
• Make sure that the pet gets returned to the rightful owner. Ask to see a photo of the pet or vet records, or get other identifying information, before turning the animal over.
• Change your Profile and pet’s status on Lostpetusa.net.
• Take down flyers.
• Never give up!