Finding a Lost Pet

When your beloved dog or cat strays from home, it can be a traumatic experience for both of you. Here are some tips that we hope will help you find your pet.

• Contact the Humane Society of Yuma. File a lost pet report with every shelter within a 60-mile radius of your home and visit us daily, if possible.
• Search the neighborhood. Walk or drive through your neighborhood several times each day. Ask neighbors, letter carriers and delivery people if they have seen your pet. Hand out a recent photograph of your pet and information on how you can be reached if your pet is found.
• Advertise. Post notices at grocery stores, community centers, veterinary offices, traffic intersections, online at www.pets911.com and www.findtoto.com, at pet supply stores and other locations. Also, place advertisements in newspapers and with radio stations. Include your pet's sex, age, weight, breed, color and any special markings. When describing your pet, leave out one identifying characteristic and ask the person who finds your pet to describe it.
• Be wary of pet-recovery scams. When talking to a stranger who claims to have found your pet, ask him to describe the pet thoroughly before you offer any information. If he does not include the identifying characteristic you left out of the advertisements, he may not really have your pet. Be particularly wary of people who insist that you give or wire them money for the return of your pet.
• Don't give up your search. Animals who have been lost for months have been reunited with their owners.

State law requires all stray dogs be held for 72 hours prior to being put up for adoption. The Humane Society of Yuma holds dogs with a collar a full six business days before putting them on the adoption floor.

A pet—even an indoor pet—has a better chance of being returned if he/she always wears a collar and an ID tag with your name, address, and telephone number. Ask your local animal shelter or veterinarian if permanent methods of identification (such as microchips) are available in your area.

This content was adapted from content originally created by the Humane Society of the United States and is republished here with their consent.