Don't wait for your pet to come home. Start your search right away.

• Go to both of the local shelters to see if your pet is there. If he's not there, file a lost report. Go there every day to see if your pet shows up. Do not call. Take responsibility for your pet and go to see for yourself if he has turned up. Also, even if your pet was lost within the city limits, check the county shelter and vice versa. Animals can cover a lot of ground and could end up at the place you least expect.
• Call KNCO (272-3424) to air your pet on Pet Patrol. But don't just call the pet in and forget about it. Listen to Pet Patrol when it's aired. Many times the people who find the pet and the people who lose him call him in to KNCO, but neither party listens in. You need to call and listen.
• Place a lost ad in all the local papers. Rerun the ad several times if necessary. Look at the found ads, too.
• Scour your neighborhood and post flyers describing the animal in detail, including the pet's name, your name and phone number. Include a picture of your pet. (Be sure to date these flyers and remove them when you find your animal.) Leave a flyer with each neighbor. Question everyone: mail carriers, children, neighbors -- anyone you can think of.
• Offering a reward helps.
• Spray-paint big, simple messages on scrap plywood and place them at intersections so that drivers can't miss them. Keep it simple: "BLACK DOG LOST, CALL 123-4567."
• Make sure someone is home to take the calls, or, if you have an answering machine, make sure callers know that you are the one looking for the "BLACK DOG."
• Call out at night when it's quiet and look under houses, down drainage ditches, up in trees, and in abandoned houses.
• Contact all the local vets to alert them of your missing pet and ask if an injured pet fitting the description of your animal has been brought in. Ask if you can post a notice of the lost pet on their bulletin board.
• If you have recently moved, leave notices with neighbors in the old area and check with animal agencies there. Also ask a reliable friend or relative who knows the missing animal to look for him.

DO NOT GIVE UP! Pets are sometimes found months later, often many miles away.

Remember never to leave pets unsupervised in a car -- they are a favorite target of thieves.

Keep current photographs of your pets on hand. Be sure your pets are wearing ID tags.

Pet Adoption League