Lost & Found Animal Protocol

Scan for Microchip!

The first step to take when you have found a lost pet is to take them to your local animal hospital, veterinary office, or a shelter and get them scanned for a microchip.

Get the Word Out!

There are several ways to get the word out about a lost/found pet including but not limited to, posting them on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pawboost, and Nextdoor, or you can simply make flyers and post them around the area where they were located. If the pet is unaltered and they have an owner, then it would be best to surrender them to a local animal shelter so they can spay/neuter the animal and microchip them before releasing them to their owners. Get their animal ID information so that you can check up on them to make sure their owners picked them up. If the 7 day stray hold is up and the owner is no where in sight. Contact rescue organizations or adopt the pets yourself and foster them until a new home can be found. We understand that this isn’t the ideal situation, but being a foster based rescue ourselves, we appreciate having foster families ready and willing to step up to save a life.

Keep them Safe!

If you have exhausted all efforts and 30 days have gone by and you’re still unable to find the owners or the owners say they do not want their pet back, then you can contact your local rescue organization and see if they can help place the unwanted pet in a new home. Ideally, it would be helpful if you can keep the pet safe until their owners are found. If you cannot keep them, then contact your local animal shelter and find out more information on how to reunite the lost pet with their owners. You must give the owners plenty of opportunities to located their missing pet. Most owners will go to their local anima shelters to find their missing pets so you MUST make sure to communicate with local animal shelters about the “found” pet.