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Ways to Increase Your Chances to Find a Lost Animal

These are some of the ways that surely will help you a greater extent to find your lost animal.
Thomas Wright
When an animal is lost, it is a stressful and terrifying time for owners. Ideally, you will have an action plan before it happens. If you are reading this before the animal goes missing, please consider having them microchipped. This is one of the most effective ways to find a lost animal. Keep latest information with national registry.
When an animal is microchipped, any veterinarian or shelter will scan it without cost. This makes it easy for anyone who finds a lost animal to have them scanned and contact the owner. Make sure the animal always wears a collar with current contact information. This makes it as easy as possible for good Samaritans to return the animal with just a phone call.
What you do during the first few hours of the animal missing is critical. Do not passively wait and see if the animal returns. The ASPCA did a recent study and found that for owners who took steps to actively search for the lost animals, almost 93% were reunited.

To Increase Chances of the Animal Returning Safely

  • Contact friends and family to help you search. More people can cover a larger area.
  • Use social media. Post picture of the lost animal along with identifying information and ask to be contacted quickly. Once this is done search for lost and found animal groups in your area and post there too.
  • Use app like FindShadow, which sends alerts to community of animal owners. Apps like these usually also give you an action plan to aid in your search. Lost and found animals are posted here, so it is possible the missing animals might already be listed.
  • Contact local shelters and ask to file a missing animal report. Shelters are understaffed and underfunded. If you do not find your animal quickly, consider visiting local shelters. Animals sometimes slip through the procedural cracks so it is never a bad idea to visually check them yourself.
  • Keep the missing animals fresh on everyone's mind. This means putting up flyers with a clear picture and contact information. Do this on bright paper with a bold font.
  • We know how quickly posts get buried on social media sites so post frequently.
  • If you know exactly where your animal went missing from, bring a few of their favorite things to this spot. A good example would be your animals’ favorite toy or bedding and something that you have worn. Leave those and check back every couple of hours to see if the animal has returned.
Animals go missing for many reasons. They may have seen an opportunity or panicked at a loud noise or new situation. Do not let guilt take over. Even the best and most loving animal owners have had their animals go missing. Focus on staying positive and taking action to assure the animal is reunited with you as soon as possible.