Missing Pets

What to do if you have lost your dog or cat

• Put posters up on trees, lamp posts, vets, local shops etc.
• Phone all the vets in your local and surrounding areas. (Remember that sometimes car drivers will pick up an injured pet and take it to a vet on their route).
• Contact local radio stations and ask them to put out an appeal.
• Phone Police and notify them. Although they are no longer responsible for lost pets they may have received information.
• Phone your local councils (and nearby ones) and notify them. Ask where lost pets are taken in their region and go and visit the kennels. Councils may not be very good with descriptions of dogs and confuse breeds. (We have situations where owners are told the animal hasn’t been found but they are in the kennels. Make sure yourselves).
• Inform the microchip company that your pet is missing as soon as you know. This is of paramount importance. If it is found it will be flagged up when the chip is investigated. If you don’t inform the microchip company, your pet could end up in a council kennel.
• Always make sure your dog or cat has a collar on with your contact details. This is a legal requirement and there is a much quicker return rate if your dog/cat has one on. Just bear in mind that you can be fined up to £5,000 for not having visible contact details on your pet when out in public. There only needs to be a phone number. No name required. 
• Keep your dog on their lead if you do not have 100% re-call unless you are in a secure area.

The following is a list of local Council phone numbers who should record the loss and notify their dog wardens.