Find Your Pet
Here are some Web sites where you can post your lost pet:
Get the word out. Don not assume your pet will return on its own in a few hours. As soon as you become aware that your pet is missing begin to do the following:
- Visit the shelter within the first week that your pet goes missing. We will escort you through the dog and cat rooms to see if your pet is at the shelter. If your pet was picked-up by Animal Control, it will be brought to either the Atlantic County or Cape May County Animal Shelters. All persons reclaiming a lost pet must provide identification for themselves and their pet.
- 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. Create a flyer to hand out with a recent photograph and description of your pet and contact information if your pet is found. Click here to view a sample flyer. Click here to create your own flyer in Microsoft Word.
- Pet PosterAdvertise. Post flyers at grocery stores, community centers, veterinary offices, traffic intersections, 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. You can reach the Press of Atlantic City’s classified department by calling 609-646-7500, and they will run your lost pet ad FREE of charge for 7 days.
- 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. Dogs and cats often wander far away and do things you would nott predict they would do. Try everything, look everywhere and tell everyone. Animals who have been lost for months have been reunited with their owners.
- A pet, even one that stays indoors, has a better chance of being returned if it wears a collar and an ID tag with your name, address, and telephone number. Micro-chipping is also one of the best things you can do to protect your pet and make recovery much quicker.