Finding a lost pet

The loss of a pet can be devastating to families including the other pets in your home. Speed in finding an animal is essential and specific steps taken should help you be reunited with that treasured companion promptly. 

Steps to take:  Think about the tags your pet was wearing and contact the appropriate agency. If it has a Shelter tag, contact the Shelter, if wearing a vaccination tag call the veterinarian that inoculated you pet. Also call Bishop with details of your missing pet in case someone calls who has found your pet.

Contact all local animal shelters and animal control agencies. Give each shelter a full description of your pet and find out their policy of notifying you if your pet is found. You may need to call back to check with the agency on a regular basis until your pet is returned. It is also a good idea to go to the Shelters in person as many pets can be described incorrectly and never identified over the phone. For a complete listing of area shelters with phone numbers see the Bishop brochure 'Tampa Bay Area Shelters'. Search the neighborhood and talk to anyone who may have seen your pet for where and when.

Prepare a flyer with a picture of the animal and a physical description of your beloved pet. If you include your pet�s name remember the pet may in its� confused state not respond and the person finding it may think it isn�t the right animal. Give the general location of where the pet was last seen, but again pets can wander a great distance and sometimes people finding a stray take it in a car a long way from where found. It may have found a new home and then strayed from there. Also while the pet may have started out with a collar it is not assured that he/she will have it when found.

Including a photo on the flyer is a great idea if the photo is an accurate depiction of the dog or cat. A REWARD will usually help in any recovery.

Place your flyer at local veterinarian offices, animal hospitals, grooming shops, pet shops, convenience stores, food stores, schools, banks, etc. The more flyers distributed means the more people who will be helping you look for your lost pet. If your local regulations allow it, putting the flyers on the posts at busy intersections will alert many people. When you have recovered your pet, please be certain you remove all flyers.

Newspapers publish lost animal information at a reasonable cost.

Beware of pet recovery scams.

Follow up on every lead.

Check lost and found animal web sites specific to your location. A list of these sites can be found on the Bishop page called links.

Keep looking and don�t give up the search. Animals that have been lost for months have been reunited with their owners! It often takes time and hard work, but having that beloved pet back home is your reward!

Finding a lost owner of the pet you have found

Follow the same general guidelines outlined in "Finding a Lost Pet". If at all possible try to keep the animal with you rather than turning it into a shelter. The county animal shelter has limited room for the too many animals they receive and have a very limited time to keep them before euthanization or readopting. Please if you find a dog or cat try to keep it until the owner is found.

Call Bishop with the information about the found animal. We may have received inquiries from the owner.

Many of the local newspapers place �FOUND� advertisements for free in their classified section.

If you have access to the Internet there are a number of sites where you can register a lost or found pet. A nonprofit organization which is dedicated to homeless and displaced animals with an excellent Lost and Found Pets site can be found at the Lost and Found Desk at Hugs for Animals, Website address is: lostfound@h4ha.org. This organization notifies area shelters with information about a lost or found pet and can be reached directly from our links page.