BE PREPARED AND TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION BEFORE AND WHEN YOUR PET IS LOST
BEFORE THEY GO MISSING:
Microchip your pet and keep that information up to date. Register the chip online for free at foundanimals.org
There are a lot of misconceptions about microchips and how they work. Watch these videos to see the Michelson Foundation set the record straight.
Have your pet wear a collar with ID and license tags, even if she is chipped. Make sure the license contact information is current. List your mobile phone number as the primary phone since it is the fastest and most effective way for someone to contact you if your pet is lost.
Register with a free lost and found agency, such as foundanimals.org.
Carry current photos of your pets, especially if you are traveling with them.
WHEN THEY GO MISSING:
Call your local animal services to report your missing pet and program their number into your mobile phone.
Use social media: Lost & Found pages and groups like Paw Posse Ohana are a priceless network of angels looking to reunite lost pets. post a notice on your Facebook page with a photo of your pet and your contact information. If you use Twitter, tweet your pet’s photo, ‘last seen’ address and how to get in touch with you.
Fill out a lost pet report at the Hawaiian Humane Society website.
Create a lost pet poster to complete and distribute. If you are traveling with your pet, do a search for ‘animal services’ in the area you will be traveling to and have that number handy.
Distribute your lost pet posters and hang them on telephone poles over a wide area. When a pet is lost, they can travel further than you think, especially if they are frightened, confused or disoriented.
Make index card-size printouts with the same information on the lost poster. Knock on doors of homes and businesses in every direction from where your pet disappeared. Leave the cards under doors and on car windshields, and give one to every person you meet.
While you are canvassing for your pet, call their name often. They may be hiding, but is likely to come out when they hear your voice.
Contact your animal licensing authority to let them know your pet is lost. Confirm they have your current phone number to contact you. Program this telephone number into your mobile phone.
Call veterinarians in the area. They can scan pets for microchips, and some veterinarians take in lost pets in their communities.
Visit all shelters in the area; use Google to find them.
Ask animal services and every shelter or rescue group you visit where lost pets are taken. In more remote places, they are often brought to shelters in neighboring cities that can be up to an hour away from where your pet was lost.
Post your lost pet on local online forums like Facebook and your Community Area Pages.
Email everyone you know when your pet goes missing. Even if they do not live near where your pet was lost, they might know someone who does.
Place a ‘lost’ ad in your local newspaper as soon as your pet is lost. These ads are usually free.
If you do not have a mobile phone, check your home answering machine frequently.
If you put your address on your pet’s ID tag, make sure someone is home in case your pet gets dropped off or returns home on his own.
Leave no stone unturned! Look everywhere, tell everyone and do not give up!
POST. PROMOTE. REUNITE.
Paw Posse Ohana page on Facebook is a leader in reuniting pets & owners on Oahu and outer Island now too, the group is over 17k members strong. Post lost & found animals there!
Get Your Pet Back Home
Our Mission at The Hawaii SPCA in Maili-Waianae is to provide care, comfort and compassion to animals in need while engaging the hearts, hands and minds of our community to bring about the end to the killing of abandoned and orphaned shelter animals.
Hawaiian Humane Society Lost & Found Pet Site and listing of animals they have on site as well as in found pets in community care.