Lost & Found
“I Found a Pet”
Found a healthy, friendly pet? Take these steps to get them home! Data shows that pets are statistically less likely to be reunited with their owners if brought to a shelter. The best thing you can do for healthy, friendly stray pets is to try to find their owners and reunite families before bringing them to BARCS.
STEP 1:
Post the Pet on Petco Love Lost! Petco Love Lost uses facial recognition technology to match photos of the pet. You can share the Found Pet profile to your local social media pages. You can also use Petco Love Lost to make flyers to post in your neighborhood! Reports filed in Love Lost are sent directly to a database used by BARCS and other area shelters. Start Your Search on Petco Love Lost.
STEP 2:
Talk to your neighbors! A majority of lost pets are found only a few blocks from their homes. Don't assume the pet has been abandoned. A pet lost for several days can quickly look like they've been missing for months. Ask your neighbors if they have seen this pet and post flyers with your contact information and the pet's picture. Keeping the pet in the neighborhood where it was found is the best chance they have of getting back to their family!
STEP 3:
Aside from collars and tags, pets may have a microchip that leads back to their family. Microchips include contact information for owners and can help reunite the pet quickly! Many microchips can be found at www.petmicrochiplookup.org. However, the best way to see if an animal has a microchip is to bring them to your closest veterinary hospital to be scanned for free.
If you've found a pet with a Baltimore City Pet License tag, you can click here and enter the tag number. Some microchipped pets will have a matching tag with their microchip number.
ADDITIONAL STEPS:
Post on Social Media: The more people in the community who see your lost pet's photo, the greater likelihood of your pet being reunited with you. We suggest posting your pet on your own social media pages, in neighborhood Facebook and NextDoor groups and on the local volunteer-lead Facebook groups in the Greater Baltimore Area: List of Local Lost & Found Facebook Groups
Check out these other online tools: Center for Lost Pets, Craigslist, Fido Finder, Lost Dogs of America, Lost Pet USA, Missing Pet Partnership, PawBoost (please note, BARCS does not have an internal database for these companies).
“I FOUND A CAT OUTSIDE.”
The cat you found may not be a lost cat. Don't assume they've been abandoned. If you have found a healthy cat in your area, they probably belongs to one of your neighbors and is an indoor/outdoor cat.
Outdoor Community Cats:
If you see healthy stray cats and kittens, whether they’re friendly or ‘feral,’ it means someone is caring for them and they live in the community. If they have a tipped ear, it means they’ve been spayed/neutered and vaccinated. If you notice unneutered cats in your community, you can visit our community cats page to learn more about trap-neuter-return services for community cats.
“I CAN’T LOCATE THE OWNER AND CAN NO LONGER HOLD ON TO THIS PET.”
Several shelters in the Baltimore Metro Area can take in animals found in Baltimore City. While BARCS is an open-admission shelter, we are frequently over capacity and should be used as a last resort for found pets. If you have exhausted all resources listed above, and cannot safely house the found animal in your home, please email resource@BARCS.org to make an appointment to turn this animal over to BARCS.