Do not panic when you lose your pet. Try the following suggestions:
Physical search: You can identify your pet much more easily than anyone else.
If impossible to look, call the shelter and ask to speak with the kennel staff or a volunteer.
Keep Looking: Remember many people will not immediately take a lost pet to the
shelter, but will keep it several weeks, hoping to find the owner. Also, your lost
pet may wander the streets for weeks before being picked up.
Advertise in the local papers: Run an ad as long as financially possilbe.
Watch the "found ads closely. Most papers do not charge for found ads. Please
remember not to put all the information about your animal keep a little information
back so that you can make sure that the person responding really has your pet.
Search your neighborhood and deliver flyers: Flyer should have description of
your pet (hold a little back so when someone claims that they have your pet you can
ask them a question that only the person with your pet will know). See if your mail
carrier will carry a flyer, gardener etc.,
Post Flyers: in the neighborhood where your pet was lost. Telephone poles (where
legal), supermarkets, laundromats, veterinary offices, pet stores and grooming parlors
etc. Use a picture of your pet on the poster if possible. Make a list of
where you posted flyers so that when your pet is found you can go and take them down.
Check Local Vets: give flyers to animal hospitals and vets in your area.
If someone found or stole your dog, the vet will be able to easily identify it if it comes into the office.
Check with the Department of Sanitation to identify an animal who was killed and perhaps picked up by their department.
Every third day look in the shelter that services the area where your pet was lost.
Don't think that because your pet is a purebred that it has been stolen.
The shelters are full of purebreds that are waiting for their owners to pick them up.
Make sure you check in every department of the shelter, including:
- Medical room
- Small Animal Quarantine
- Observation Section (generally large dots/court cases)
- Both Male and Female dog runs
- Call out your pet's name; if he's there, he may respond to your voice
- Count impound cards on front of cage; if you see 3 cards, make sure you see all 3
animals
- Check the Cat room for cats (occasionally small dogs are here too)
- Shelter's computer run (animal may be at a local clinic, awaiting transport to shelter
- Computer runs from other shelters (list of daily pick-ups)
- Check with staff for severely injured animals brought in that were euthanized
Check with the Volunteer Desk for:
- Lost Dog/Cat sign-in sheet (this will help, but not guarantee, the identification
of your pet. It is always best to keep checking the shelter personally.
- Found Dog/Cat list (Note: these people have been advised to bring the animal
into the shelter, but do not want to.
- If you have a photo of your pet, ask for a Lost card and post it at the shelter.
Most shelters have a time limit to how long posts are kept please check with the shelter staff
Please check other shelters your pet can turn up at any shelter.
People often do not know where the nearest shelter is so they take
them to their nearest shelter which could be miles away.
Don't think that because your gate was closed that your dog must have been stolen;
many dogs are able to jump high fences. (If you still suspect that your pet was stolen
file a report with your local police department).
MOST OF ALL, KEEP LOOKING. SOMEWHERE YOUR PET IS WAITING FOR YOU.
HIS or HER LIFE DEPENDS ON YOU!
Most Shelters in Southern California have either a web site of their own or have
volunteers go to them and take pictures and post to many web sites www.amrt.net,
www.1-800-save-a-pet.com, www.1888pets911.com or
www.petbond.com. There are many
more webs sites out there and www.amrt.net offers a great selection of them in one place.
L.A. Animal Services is another great site that offers lost pets information in the City of Los Angeles.
After your pet has been found
- Immediately place the license on your dog's collar.
- Immediately place your pets tag with pet name and your phone number (it is
not advised to put an address on it but you can.
- Have your pet Micro-chipped. All Los Angeles City shelters scan ALL incoming
animals. All animals adopted out are also micro-chipped.
- Please remove the flyers and posters that you distributed
