Check your neighborhood. Eighty percent of lost pets are found within a mile of home. Start with a thorough search of your home and property, as it is not uncommon for pets to be found hidden inside their own homes. Walk your local area and speak with neighbors, letting them know your pet is missing and providing their description. Even if neighbors have not seen your pet, they will now be on the lookout and know to contact you if you pet is spotted.

When canvassing your neighborhood, consider your pet’s personality. If they are outgoing and enjoy the company of people or other pets, look for them at parks and highly populated areas. If your pet is shy and fearful of strangers, or lost in an unfamiliar area, check quieter spaces with room to hide.

Create a Lost Pet flyer. Use this template to create a flyer and post it around your neighborhood and at local coffee shops, dog parks, pet stores, veterinary offices and other businesses. Include as many details as possible, as well as a recent, clear photo of your pet.

Animals requiring a legal stray hold of 72 hours will be posted on our found pets page. We encourage community members to check the site regularly for missing pets since we update the page throughout the day. If your pet is in our care, learn how to reclaim your pet.

Looking for a community cat? When community cats – outdoor cats with no identifiable signs of ownership — are brought to our shelters, we spay/neuter, vaccinate and quickly return them to their outdoor homes. If you’ve noticed that a community cat is missing from your neighborhood, keep an eye out as they may be returned in a day or two. If they return with a tipped ear, it’s a signal they’ve been spayed/neutered and vaccinated! Learn more about our Community Cat Program here.

Use our Lost2Found texting service to receive automated texts from San Diego Humane Society with step-by-step instructions and useful tips to you find your pet.

Text “LOST” to 858-SAN-LOST (858-726-5678) to get started!

It can take weeks for lost pets to arrive at local shelters. This tool guides owners over two months by providing timely resources and reminders to support their search.

Lost2Found is free to use and owners can opt out of receiving the messages at any time.

If you lost your pet, click below and complete the necessary information to add them to PawBoost's Lost & Found Pets database. Your pet's information will be viewable by members of the community who may have found your animal as well as shelter staff. We recommend using your phone number and a reliable email address when setting up your profile through PawBoost so you can be easily reached if your pet is found.

Post Your Lost Pet on PawBoost

You can post to additional missing pet online databases, including Petco Love Lost, Pet FBI, Fido Finder and Lost Dogs of America.

Contact your microchip company: If your pet has a microchip, call the company to declare the animal lost and ensure your contact information is up to date. If you have the microchip number but are unsure who to call, visit petmicrochiplookup.org to look up the manufacturer.

Post about your lost pet on social media, and search neighborhood apps and websites like Nextdoor and Petco Love Lost, in addition to Pawboost. If you have a Ring security camera, use the Neighbors app to share your pet and check to see if they have been spotted on cameras nearby.

When creating a lost pet post, include as many details as possible about when and where your pet was lost and recent, clear photos. Monitor your posts for responses and don’t hesitate to post more than once — you can post again a few days later so your post does not get lost in the new feed posts.

There are many Facebook groups that can help you find lost pets in San Diego County. We suggest entering “lost pet” and your zip code or city into the search bar to locate pages designed to help people in your area. You can start with our list of active groups.

A Way Home For Dogs offers FREE help to get your pet, including cats, back home. Contact Babs Fry at 619-249-2221 for important steps to take and common mistakes to avoid.

Search online for additional species-specific resources like Lost Cat Finder which has free tips as well as a full toolkit available for purchase.

Check for your pet at other San Diego County Animal Shelters and review these additional helpful Lost and Found websites and tips.

Recently, we have been made aware of alarming scams targeting pet families searching for their lost pets. Scammers are calling from blocked numbers, posing as San Diego Humane Society, and falsely claiming that lost pets have been found and require emergency surgery. In some cases, they are even able to replicate our main phone line so that it shows on caller ID. Scammers request payment for their lost pet’s medical care through Zelle or similar apps. If you receive a call like this, please do not make any payments! San Diego Humane Society will never request urgent payment in this manner or threaten not to withhold necessary medical care for a pet in our shelter.

It’s heartbreaking to see families being targeted at such a vulnerable time. We urge you to stay vigilant and help spread the word to protect yourself and others. While we do regularly conduct legitimate telemarketing calls to raise funds for our programs and services, we never request payments from pet owners in this way. If you receive a suspicious call, please hang up and dial our main line at 619-299-7012 to confirm its legitimacy and report the incident.