Finding Your Lost Pet
As soon as your pet goes missing, begin your search!
If your pet has a microchip, immediately contact the registration company to report the animal as missing.
- Ask anyone you see in the neighborhood: mail carriers, neighbors, children, even people passing by. Have a photo to show to everyone you speak with; if they haven’t seen your pet, they will be aware that he/she is missing.
- Post flyers around your neighborhood with a color photo, the pet’s name, a brief description, and your phone number. Often vet clinics and shelters are also willing to post missing animal flyers.
- Call all of the local vet’s offices, shelters, and animal control offices in your area, and surrounding areas if you are close to a county/city/state boundary. Provide each place with a picture, brief description, and your phone number.
- Visit the animal shelters daily. Shelters and pounds are constantly busy, so don’t rely on someone else to realize a pet matches one that is missing.
- If you suspect that your pet may have been stolen, contact the police. They may also know if an animal matching the description of yours was reported as being hit by a car, or they will know who to contact to ask.
- Check the “pet” section of local yard sale pages (online and print). Many people will post on social media if an animal was found. Martinsville-Henry County has a lost and found animals page on Facebook.
- Post your animal on Petco Love Lost, an online tool that automatically scans pictures of shelter animals nationwide to look for potential matches.
- Carefully (and safely) search your neighborhood. Cats can often wander into garages or sheds and get accidentally locked in. Listen for sounds of a cat in distress.
- Placing a used litterbox outside for strictly indoor cats can help the cat find its way home when he/she recognizes their own scent.
- Humane traps are available for rent at the SPCA if you think your animal is nearby, but too scared to approach.
Creating a Flyer
One of the best aids in finding your lost pet is a good, color flyer that can be posted throughout the neighborhood or the area that the pet went missing from. Use LOST PET in large, bold, dark letters at the top. Using a fluorescent poster board for backing can help with visibility to increase awareness.
Remember Keep Looking!
Don’t stop looking for your lost pet. We’ve all heard stories of pets being found months, and even years, after they went missing. Those wonderful reunions have happened at this SPCA as well, so don’t give up! Regularly check postings of found animals; it’s quite common for people to pick up animals thinking they are strays rather than lost pets.
Note: If you have a lost or found animal, please contact the SPCA’s Facebook page with your contact information, a picture, area lost or found, and a brief description.