Its terrible to realise one of your pets is missing. Or if you have found a stray animal and have no way of tracking down their owner. This page has been designed to assist you your search and has easy to follow advice that should help.

Lost or Missing Pets

Firstly, dont panic! You need to think in a calm and rational manner and work through the following steps to find your pet.

1. Search the last known location and surrounding area your pet was seen in. Cats are notorious for getting locked in neighbours sheds or just being asleep somewhere comfy and ignoring your calls. Ask your neighbours or people in the surrounding area and leave your contact details so they can get in touch.

2. Contact your local veterinary surgery, animal shelters and animal wardens (your local council office or police will be able to give you contact details for wardens in your area) and report your pet missing. Give a good description and make sure you leave correct contact details for yourself.

3. Contact the RSPCA 24-hour cruelty and advice line on 0300 1234 999 to provide them with details for their lost and found register.

4. If your pet is microchipped, contact the company your pet is registered and report them missing.

5. Register your pet missing online through a lost and found pets website. See our list of website links below.

6. Make posters and flyers and hand them out or stick them up in the area your pet was last seen.

7. Contact local newspapers and radio and ask them to appeal to the public for information.

8. Don't give up hope. Keep searching.

Here are links to the main lost and missing pets websites:

UK National Missing Pets Register The UK Missing Pet Register provides a range of services for pet owners who can search our comprehensive UK missing pets and lost pets register database.
Pets Located Pets Located is on an online resource designed specifically to automatically and proactively reunite missing pets with their owners.
Lost Dogs .ie Helping lost dogs across Ireland.
Animal Search UK The UK’s leading search service and FREE website for missing pets
Ferret Help Lots of different help and advice including a database of lost and found ferrets with updates on Facebook.
Cat Chat Registered Charity no. 1100649 Advice on what to do if you have lost/found a cat with database to report a lost or found cats.
Dog Lost .co.uk DogLost is a national network of thousands of dog owners and volunteers like you, keen to help reunite lost dogs with their owners.
Animal Finders Oxford We offer a FREE reporting service to help lost, stolen or found pets such as dogs, cats and ferrets, plus horses and all sorts of other animals in the Oxford area.

Please remember that if you do find your pet, you must notify everyone you reported it missing to and also remove any posters you have displayed.

We cannot stress more strongly how important it is to get your pet microchipped and you must keep your contact details up to date. Also having a clear, recent photograph of your pets will help if you do need to make any missing pet posters.

The Control of Dogs Order 1992 mandates that any dog in a public place must wear a collar with the name and address (including postcode) of the owner engraved or written on it, or engraved on a tag. Your telephone number is optional (but advisable). You can be fined up to £5,000 if your dog does not wear an identification tag.

Found a pet?

1. Please be careful when handling an animal that is unknown to you. Do not put yourself in danger. The animal may be injured or frightened.

2. If it is safe to do so, check for obvious ID markings (tag on collar etc) and if present contact the owner. You must keep the animal safe and secure until it is collected.

3. If no ID can be found, or if the animal needs urgent medical attention, transport the animal to your local veterinary surgery (contact them first if it is out of surgery hours). It will then be assessed and treated for injury and any identification such as a microchip or tattoo or other ID markings found. All vets have a duty of care to treat any injured animal that is brought to them, so don't worry that you will be issued with a large bill for treatment as this is not the case.

4. If you are unable to handle the animal, try to confine it to a secure area it cannot escape from, even if this means shutting it in a room or garage, and then contact your local veterinary surgery, animal shelters and animal warden. Please tell them if the animal requires obvious medical treatment.

5. Hopefully the pet you have found will have already been reported missing with one of the local organisations you contact. If this is not the case you should telephone the RSPCA 24-hour cruelty and advice line on 0300 1234 999 to provide them with details for their lost and found register. They will also be able to advise you on what to do with the animal and may arrange for the animal to be collected by an RSPCA Animal Welfare Officer.

6. Dont forget to check online to see if the animal you have found has been reported as missing on one of the many lost and found pet websites.

Missing pets are usually kept for a period of 7 days before being taken into the care of an animal shelter offered for re-homing.

Want to add your website to this page? Please Contact Us and include some information about your site and any logos or banners you'd like us to use.