• Post your missing pet online at IOWA PET ALERT. Online has become the networking choice of this century. This service is FREE so you increase your chances to be reunited with your pet. Make sure you check all the FOUND pets as well to see if your missing pet has been found. PHOTOS are the key, so upload a photo. Make sure you keep updated photos of your pet with key information in case the unthinkable would happen.


• Contact local animal shelters and animal control agencies. File a lost pet report with every shelter within a 60-mile radius of your home and visit the nearest shelters daily, if possible. To find your local shelter go to pets 911 or check your phone book. If there is no shelter in your community, contact the local police department and/or animal control. Provide these agencies with an accurate description and a recent photograph of your pet. Notify the police if you believe your pet was stolen.
  
  
• 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. Hand out a recent photograph of your pet and information on how you can be reached if your pet is found.
  
  
• Advertise. Post notices at grocery stores, community centers, veterinary offices, traffic intersections, online at www.pets911.com, 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.
  
  
• 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. Animals who have been lost for months have been reunited with their owners.
  

A pet-even an indoor pet-has a better chance of being returned if she always wears a collar and an ID tag with your name, address, and telephone number. Ask your local animal shelter or veterinarian if permanent methods of identification (such as microchips) are available in your area.

Links: http://www.flealess.org/lostpets/iowa.html