Your pet is missing.
Here’s exactly what to do. Time matters most in the first hours — this calm, step-by-step guide tells you what to do first: no panic, no guesswork.
Start with the right guide
Four guides cover almost every lost-pet situation in Canada. Each one names the research behind it, and the poster maker turns that guidance into a printable sheet.
Lost Cat
Cats hide in silence, usually within 500 m. Calling their name often backfires — a physical search beats searching wide.
Lost Dog
Temperament decides how far they run. Never chase or call a panicked dog.
Found a Pet
Get the animal scanned for a microchip. Report to the right shelter first.
Make a Poster That Works
One huge word: LOST. One identifying feature, one big phone number, readable from a slow-moving car.
Grounded in real research, not recycled advice
Generic “how to find a lost dog” advice is everywhere, and most of it is recycled from the same handful of articles. What actually changes the outcome is knowing how a frightened animal behaves, which steps matter in which order, and where the real risks are. Every guide here names the research behind it so you can check the work.
What the evidence actually says
Three numbers that change how you should search.
with a registered microchip are returned to their owner, versus 22% of dogs with no chip.
Lord et al., JAVMA 2009 (U.S. data)are recovered within about 500 metres of where they escaped. Displaced indoor cats hide far closer still.
Huang et al., Animals 2018will go missing at some point in their life. Preparation costs nothing today.
AVMA, 2024 (U.S. data)Your first hours, in order
Everything here is short and specific. Start at the top — the first two steps bring most pets home.
Right now
Search close before you search wide
- Most pets are still within a few hundred metres in the first hours — often still in the house.
- Check the places a hiding pet fits: box springs, behind appliances, closets, sheds, under decks.
- Leave a door open and put unwashed bedding outside, then walk your block slowly.
This hour
Put the systems on alert
- Call your municipal shelter or animal services, file a lost report, and ask for the stray-hold expiry date so you have it in writing.
- Flag your pet as lost with your microchip registry and confirm the phone number on file.
- Post in your city’s community search groups — free, immediate, and read by the neighbours who spot pets.
Today
Poster the routes people walk
- One huge word — LOST — one photo, one phone number readable from a slow-moving car.
- Flyer the intersections, mailboxes and dog routes within five blocks of where your pet went missing.
- Keep one identifying detail off everything public, so you can screen the calls that come in.
Keep going
Show up, in person, again
- Walk the shelter kennels yourself every two or three days — phone descriptions get missed.
- For a cat gone quiet, move to a humane trap with a camera, baited with unwashed bedding.
- Most pets are found by someone who kept looking. Weeks matter as much as hours.
Before you pay anyone, read this
Scammers watch lost-pet posts and call claiming to have your pet, then demand a wire transfer, gift cards or e-transfer for “transport” or “vet fees.” They will refuse to send a photo.
Ask a verification question about a detail you deliberately left off the poster. Never pay before seeing your pet in person, meet in a public place, and report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Local resources across Canada
Built on real municipal data, published as each dataset is verified.
Already in the directory
Microchip registries in Canada
Which registries actually operate here, which lookups are free, and why six in ten chips never get registered. Browse what we've listed so far, with a longer guide on the way.
Already in the directory
Search & recovery providers
How to vet a tracker or drone operator, what a search really costs, and the red flags worth walking away from. Browse what we've listed so far, with a longer guide on the way.
Why this site exists
Stray hold times are set by bylaw
Hold times in Canada are set almost entirely by municipal bylaw, not by province. Someone who waits out a long weekend can lose their pet to adoption.
Help fund the next search
Pet Search Canada does not run searches. Contributions are passed on to the people who do — volunteer search organisations, professional searchers so a case can be taken on at no cost to the family, and veterinary bills after a recovery.
We are not a registered charity, so nothing here is tax-deductible and no receipts are issued. Who receives the money, and how funding is kept strictly separate from who gets listed in our directory, is set out in full.
Found something out of date?
Every guide carries a last-reviewed date and names the research it draws on. If something here is wrong, out of date, or does not match what your shelter told you on the phone, send it over and we will correct it.
Report a correction