Quick Summary:
- If you know the owners, or can reach the owners, it’s much better for the pet and it’s family if you keep the pet with you until they can come to pick them up.
- If the pet has no identification, it’s important to see if the pet is microchipped – check with your vet to see if they can scan for chip, and then contact the owners directly.
- Surrender the pet to your local humane society when you know the pet won’t be euthanized if the family can’t come to retrieve the pet during the grace period – some families lose their pets while on vacations and return home to find the sad news that their pet was destroyed or adopted by another family because they weren’t around to hear the message on their home phone.
Recommended Steps:
- If the pet has ID, and the pet owner is not at home when you call, leave a message and consider keeping the pet safe with you until you hear back from them.
- In the event the pet is wearing a tag that has a non-working telephone number, check for a rabies or license tag. Often you can locate the owner by tracking the serial numbers on the tags.
- If there are no tags, contact your local Humane Society or Animal Control to let them know you have the pet in your care. Ask where you can go to see if the pet is microchipped.
- As much as you might like to, avoid feeding the pet a lot of food right away. If they have been lost for a while, eating too much too soon can make them sick. Little bits of food and water should be fine.
- After checking the Lost Pet Database and entering this pet in the Found Pet Database, take a quick drive around to see if there are lost pet posters for this pet.
- Generate a Found Pet Poster and let the My Pet Street community know you have found this pet. They will help you in getting them home as quickly as possible.
