Please contact Truckee Animal Services to report a lost pet at 530.582.7830. Be prepared with a description of your pet, information on the area the pet was last seen and how long your pet has been missing. Please be thorough with your description because it will help Animal Services identify your pet.

You may additionally send an email to the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe at info@hstt.org with the same information so we can be on the look out as well.

Here are a few things we recommend you do immediately upon losing a pet. Time is critical so please don't wait to enact these recommendations.

1) Knock on doors and talk to people in the neighborhood.
Most people walk the streets around their home and call their pet. People who knock on their neighbor's doors and ask if anyone has seen their pet instead of just calling are more likely to find it.

2) Create colorful, eye-catching posters with your pet's picture on them and your phone number.
Posters need only have a clear photo of the animal and a telephone number that someone will answer or that is hooked to an answering machine.

3) Hand out fliers with your pet's picture on them and your phone number.
Again, fliers need only have a clear photo of the animal and a telephone number that someone will answer or that is hooked to an answering machine.

4) Go to all the local shelters and the government agencies charged with picking up stray and lost animals and look for yourself, at least every other day.
It's important to visit all the shelters within 20 miles of where your pet was lost. In many areas stray animals are picked up by a government agency which holds them for a period and then turns them over to a shelter. If someone took your pet in for a few days hoping you would knock on their door and ask about it, they might later drop your pet off at the shelter that's most convenient for them, rather the one that's closest.

Combining these four things is most effective. Knocking on doors and handing out copies of your flier to your neighbors and to the staff at all the local shelters is the most effective way of looking for your lost pet.

What to do next...

Put an ad in the local paper, and in the papers in surrounding areas. Some people only look in the newspaper to locate an animal's owner. Advertising in the paper can also be important to establish you were actively looking for your pet in case someone were to claim it you meant to give it up or didn't want it.

Ask businesses that people who live in the area are likely to use to put up a copy of your flier. This includes gas stations, fast food restaurants, taverns and convenience and grocery stores. Ask if you can put a copy of your flier up in the pet food aisle. If someone picks up your animal and holds it for a few days hoping you will find them just as your pet did, they will need food.

Give copies of your flier to veterinarians, groomers, trainers and pet stores and ask them to put them up.

Give copies of your flier to people who walk their dogs in the area. They're more likely to spot animals than most people. If you go to the parks early, you may find people who regularly walk their dogs together as an informal group. Dogs on leash notice and want to investigate all kinds of things, even strange birds, lizards and turtles.

We hope these tips help you to bring a lost animal home again.