Take Precautions

• License your pet.
• Make sure your pets wear collars with identification and are microchipped with up-to-date information. If a lost pet reaches a shelter, the staff can attempt to notify owners using the best information available.
• Keep your pets’ rabies vaccinations current.
• Create a file of your pets’ information in case they go missing. Include license and microchip numbers, rabies certificates, and photographs.

When your Pet is Missing

• Immediately start searching areas in and around your house, yard, and neighborhood for several blocks in all directions.
• Create flyers to post in and around the neighborhood and at local businesses, schools, the library, or any public place that will allow you to post a notice. Include a photo, description, pet’s name and your phone number or contact info.
• Enlist the help of your neighbors to help search and spread the word about your lost pets.
• Visit surrounding animal shelters to look for your pet and speak with staff. Most shelters have a “Lost Pets” registry or bulletin board. Check with their record of DOA’s (animals dead on arrival).  View a listing of area shelters here.
• Take to your social media and spread the word in community groups, use apps like Pawboost, Petco Love Lost, Nextdoor, Citizen, and microsites like Patch. If you have a reliable community newspaper in your neighborhood with a lost/found pets section, run an ad.
• Keep checking these print and digital resources daily for at least two months for announcements of “Found Pets.”
• spcaLA houses stray animals found in the cities of Culver City, El Segundo, Gardena, Lawndale, Lynwood, and West Hollywood. More info and a list of lost pets can be found here: spcala.com/lost-pets

When You Find a Pet

• Immediately contact local shelters and report that you have found an animal. As soon as you are able, take the animal to the shelter or your veterinarian’s office so they can scan for a microchip.
• Post “Found Pet” flyers in and around the neighborhood you found the pet. Include pet description and your contact number or info.
• Take to your social media and spread the word in community groups, use apps like Pawboost, Petco Love Lost, Nextdoor, Citizen, and microsites like Patch. If you have a reliable community newspaper in your neighborhood with a lost/found pets section, run a “Found Pet” ad.

Claiming your Pet from a Shelter

• Present proof of ownership such as license number, rabies certificate, photographs, or adoption papers.
• You may be required to renew expired licenses or rabies certificates.
• You may have to pay impound and boarding fees.

Keep in Mind

A lost pet can wander the streets for weeks or months and people who find lost pets may keep them for several weeks before taking them to a shelter. Keep searching in the neighborhood, newspapers, animals shelters, etc.

Please note, articles in the Animal Resource Library are for reference only, and are not meant to diagnose or treat any medical or behavioral issues your pet may be experiencing.