If you have lost your pet, here are some things that you could do to try to recover them as quickly as possible.  It is only a starting point and is not all inclusive of everything that you could try.

Things to do first:

1. Go to the Missing Pet Partnership website at www.lostapet.org:
• Pay particular attention to the size, color, and design of the posters—the government spent a lot of money researching the color and font size to use on signs, and this design takes advantage of that research.
• If you’ve lost a cat, please notice the “lost cat behaviors” and the sections on indoor and outdoor lost cats.
• If you’ve lost a dog, note the information on dog dynamics.
• Get a feel for what experts do when they look for a pet.
2. Using the information from the Missing Pet Partnership website, develop a search plan based on the areas of highest probability. Yes, it’s possible your indoor, frightened kitty would have traveled miles away, but it’s not the highest probability. It’s more likely he’s hiding in the bushes nearby, or under a neighbor’s deck, or locked in a garage or shed.
3. Start searching. Remember to think like a pet. If you’ve lost your cat, get down on the ground and look around on the level your cat sees, so you can determine where the most likely place to hide would be.

·       Here are search tips for cats:

• Search the inside of your house, doing a quick but fairly thorough search. You know how a cat can hide inside when you want to take him or her to the vet. Your cat could have run back inside, or never left.
• Search the immediate area where you last saw your cat. Look under bushes, up in trees and on roofs, under decks, inside the garage and shed and drainage ditch.
• Search the immediate neighbors’ homes on both sides and across the street and behind you. Pass out flyers everywhere you go. Talk to people. Get permission from people before searching their yards.
• Look for tufts of fur, fresh feces, footprints, vomit, any sign that a cat got through a fence or through bushes. As days pass, look for areas behind bushes or under decks where a cat may have crawled in and slept.
• Concentrate on a thorough search of your immediate yard the first day, then expand to a quick search of neighboring yards. Then do a thorough search of neighboring yards, and a quick search of five houses all the way around. Then a thorough search of those yards.
• Set a humane trap at your house and near any place your cat is spotted.

·       Here are search tips for dogs:

o        Ask people you see if they saw your dog.

o        Look in open fenced yards, especially yards where there is a dog.

o        Do a quick and fast search of the immediate block, then a more thorough search, knocking on doors and handing out flyers.

o        Bring a “magnet” dog: a friendly, wiggly butt dog who loves, loves, loves other dogs. This dog should be on a lead, and bring an extra lead for your dog. Your dog may see this dog and respond. The magnet dog is especially useful when you have a sighting of your dog, but people say, “I can’t get near.”

1. If you’ve lost a cat who may be nearby, use a humane trap to feed your cat. Never put food out if it’s not in a trap once you have a trap. You can set these traps and use a baby monitor to monitor them, if you’re afraid your cat may not come to eat when you’re around. You can buy humane traps at some feed stores, or contact the local animal control to rent one.

Next steps:

1. Make up flyers. On the Missing Pet Partnership website, you’ll see two types of flyers. One is for use on the posters you’ll create later; the other is a handout. Again, lots of research went into this design—take advantage of it.
2. Use your resources wisely. I know you’re frightened, and it seems like everything needs to be done at once—animal shelters and animal controls need to be checked, ads need to be placed, and posters made. But you have friends and other resources who can help you. Yes, there will be those who say, “It’s only an animal,” but there are others, relatives, friends, co-workers, scout troops, church organizations, and local children who will be willing to pitch in to deliver flyers, put up posters, call rescue groups, and stand on street corners holding signs to attract attention. Draw on these resources.
3. Don’t forget to talk to your postal carrier, as they are on the streets all day in your neighborhood.
4. Fill out the Houston SPCA lost pet form and fax it in as soon as possible. Strays turned in to the SPCA go to BARC, the Houston Animal Control, so be certain to check the found pets on the BARC website (http://www.houstontx.gov/health/BARC/index.html) or better yet, go to look at all the pets there—including those slated to be euthanized. Take a photo with you.
5. Remember to ask about construction in the area, repairmen, visitors. If your pet was outgoing and friendly, it could have crawled into an open van or truck and been transported elsewhere.
6. If you’ve lost a cat, ask around for the local “cat lady” who feeds the strays and make sure she (sometimes he) has photos and contact information. Sometimes a lost cat finds a feral cat colony weeks after being missing, and looks like any other feral cat. It can be months before the caretaker of the feral cat colony realizes that this one cat is tame.

If you haven’t found your pet within days:

1. For dogs, do this within a couple of days. For cats, do this within the week: Check at your local animal control shelter, both city and county, and any shelters near you, like the Citizens for Animal Protection or the Humane Society shelters. To find all rescues and shelters in your area, search for shelters on www.petfinder.com.
2. While you’re online at PetFinder, click the classified ads and look for found pets and post a lost pet ad. Look at the ads other people enter—some of them are so vague, it would be difficult to guess whether or not the found pet is theirs. Be specific. For instance, not, “Lost orange tabby cat in Maplewood area,” but “Sammy is about seven pounds, medium to small in size, a short-haired orange and white tabby with yellow eyes. He is a friendly indoor cat who got out through a loose screen, but may be frightened if approached. He had a yellow collar on when he was lost in the 7000 block of Maplewood, near the intersection of Brentwood and Maplewood. There were no tags, but he does have a small scar in his left ear. REWARD for information leading to his recovery. We miss our baby. Please call if you even THINK you saw him!” Make certain to double-check the email address and phone numbers in your ad. Many people miss calls or emails because in their fear, they make a deadly typo.
3. Be certain to leave a flyer at every veterinarian’s, emergency vet clinic, kennel, and groomer in your area, as well as with local rescue organizations. Rescues can often be found at the area PetsMart and Petco stores on both Saturday and Sunday (different groups go to the same stores on different days), but you can also locate them through PetFinder.
4. It’s helpful, if you don’t recover your pet within the first few days, to establish a website with photos, contact information, and descriptions. You can add “last sighted” information as well. This link can be sent everywhere, and people who can’t receive attachments in their email can still see the photos.
5. Go to the Yahoo news group “eRescue Houston,” join, and post a note.

After a couple of weeks:

1. Your pet may have been rescued. If you have a purebred dog, it’s more likely that someone will rescue him or her and look for you than if it’s an American Curb Sitter. If you have a bully breed, it’s more likely someone will call Animal Control than rescue it. If you have a friendly purebred cat, it’s more likely someone will rescue it, but it’s also more likely they may keep it. If you have a friendly pet, it’s more likely someone is feeding it and may have taken it in than if your pet is skittish, frightened, or timid. When sending a mass email to rescue groups, be specific, and do not use all caps. Use the words, “Please cross post.” That means you give them permission to forward your email to anyone and everyone. Rescue groups and shelters correspond with each other, and they can be a valuable resource for you, if approached correctly. They need a good photo and description, date and area of loss, and good contact information.
2. Contact the people who pick up the dead or injured animals from the street. Sad to say, it’s possible your baby was injured or killed, and it’s better to know than not to know. Give these people photos and ask them to call if they see the body.
3. The SPCA has an injured pet hotline. Contact that office and make sure they have a description of your pet.
4. Email Linda at PetfindUSA@verizon.net. Linda has a for fee program and she will send full-color postcards to homes in a specified area. She can also target vets, kennels, and groomers for you. This is an invaluable service for those who cannot get to every house on foot OR for those whose pets are either lost or sighted at a distance from their own homes. This is also a good service to use if there is reason to think your pet may try to return to its previous home.
5. Beware of scams. People will offer you strange advice (the old “spray-your-urine-around the neighborhood” routine) or may try to lure you to a meeting with them, saying they have your pet. They may offer services that seem helpful but turn out to be no good. For instance, a client was contacted with an offer to call every home and business within a mile radius of where her cat was lost. That’s thousands of homes. And of course, they wanted her credit card number. If it sounds too good to be true, it may be.
6. Repost your PetFinder ad and other Internet ads. You can see the large number of ads on these sites, and you want to make sure yours is still visible. Always add, “Please notify me if you see him/her even MONTHS from now.”

Things to remember:

·       Keep your PetFinder and other Internet lost and found ads up to date.

·       Keep your posters out and fresh, especially after a storm.

·       Keep mailing and handing out flyers as you search.

·       Keep the humane trap going if you’re looking for your kitty.

·       Remember your pet still loves you—but a frightened pet may not recognize his or her owner immediately, may not respond to calls, and may act like a feral cat or abused dog. Do not take this personally. Your pet if frightened.

·       People may make unfair judgments if they find your pet and these judgments may cause them to keep your pet or refuse to return him or her. Your pet may end up in an adoption agency when it was possible for you to get him or her back. Just address whatever the thing is in your ad, in a way people can understand. We’ve given some examples and some suggested text. Just tell people what was going on. Address this in your ad and flyer. Examples of this are:

·       A dog who was frightened by fireworks or a storm may cringe and run from people, who say, “He was abused.” In your flyer or ad, say, “Terrified of fireworks, thunder, and loud noises. Will act terrified.”

·       A declawed cat who gets out may be found by people who say, “What kind of owner would declaw a cat and let it out?” Your ad says, “Fluffy was declawed when we got her and has no protection outside. PLEASE help us find her.”

·       A purebred animal used for breeding is found and the finder says, “They didn’t care about him enough to get him neutered. I’m not returning him.” Your ad says, “Not neutered -- purebred stud dog.”

·       A pit bull is timid and lost. People see him and chase him away with a broom or hose and as he runs through the neighborhood, Animal Control is called. Your ad says, “Friendly but frightened RESCUED pit bull mix missing.”

·       Your dog or cat didn’t have a collar. People think, “They didn’t care,” not, “This is an indoor cat or dog.” Your ad says, “Collar may be missing” or “He wasn’t wearing a collar when he went missing.”

For lost Cats

1. Do an immediate search of your yard. Look in places a cat could hide such as under decks and in sheds or garages.
2. Expand your search to nearby neighbors yards.
3. Make fliers and hand them to all your neighbors and post them on nearby intersections.
4. call your animal control and nearby animal shelters that may pick up strays in your area.
5. check with nearby veterinarians, pet stores, groomers and borders and put up your fliers there.
6. Put out humane traps with strong smellling food to attract your cat.
7. Check the area in the late evenings or early mornings when its quiet, and on trash days.
8. Don't give up hope, it may take a while to recover your cat.

For lost Dogs

1. Search in places that your dog may go: do you always walk them to the park, do they have doggy friends down the street they like to visit.
2. Call the animal control and shelters in your area.
3. Hand out fliers to your neighbors and put up large signs at intersections.

Don't give up hope.   It may take hours or weeks to recover your lost pet.  Remember that when a pet is lost and has to survive on its own, it reverts to instincts.  A lost pet may be scared and disoriented.  this may cause your pet to run or hide from you.  Do not take it personnally.  Your pet still loves you.