how to help get your lost pet back--foresight

Hindsight is twenty twenty.  Don't wait for your beloved pet to go missing to think about what you can do to insure that your he or she is returned safely to you.

1. Get a microchip placed in your pet by the veterinarian.  
    
2. Make sure you keep your contact information updated with the microchip data base.  
    
3. Keep a collar and a tag, with at minimum your phone number, on your pet at ALL times.  
    
4. Keep an alternate phone number on your pet's tag, so that if you are out of town, or incapacitated, someone else can still retrieve your pet.
    
5. If your pet needs daily medications, or has serious health problems, note these on a tag, also.  It will help emergency and shelter personnel to give him or her the care required if found.
    
6. Keep current photographs of your pet on your computer, cell phone, or camera, so that you can make accurate "LOST" posters, should the need arise.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU LOST A PET

Few things strike more panic and terror in a pet owner's heart than discovering that a pet is missing.

Here are tips to help you find your loved one.

Call local Animal Control agencies.  Remember to call both city and county agencies, if you live in an area that has both.  Ask if any pets similar to yours have been found.  Do this daily for weeks.

Go down to local animal control agencies.  Sometimes you have to walk the lanes of pets yourself to find your own dog or cat.   Ask to look at record and pictures of pets found by other citizens, and being held at their own home, rather than being impounded at the shelter.  DO this daily for weeks.

Leave your pet's picture at the shelter, wioth a description, and your contact information.

Call the veterinary office from which your pet got the last rabies shot and tag.  Remember, this may not be the same as the vet you currently use.  

If you pet has a microchip, or rabies tag, update your contact information with both the microchip company, and your veterinarian.

Scan local web and print media, such as Craig's List, the newspaper, an any local facebook Lost and Found Pet pages.