Find a Lost Pet | Report a Found Pet

Find a Lost Pet 

Time is of the essence when you are trying to find your lost pet, especially if the animal is not wearing a license tag, tattoo or microchip with identification information. Animal Care is required to hold lost animals with identification for five days (not including holidays and when the shelter is closed), and animals without identification for three days, in the hopes that they can be reunited with their owners and avoid euthanasia.

Pet owners are responsible for making every effort to search for their pet. We recommend:

1. Call the Animal Care Lost and Found Line at 954-359-1313, extension 9273, to report your lost pet. Leave a message with the following information:
   
   -- your name
   -- your telephone number
   -- detailed description of the animal including type (cat or dog), breed, sex, and color(s)
   -- license tag number, tag color, and license year, if available
   -- tattoo number located on the inner right thigh, if available
   
   
2. Review photos online of dogs and cats at Broward County Animal Care’s two shelters. If you find your animal, call the Animal Care Lost and Found Line immediately at 954-359-1313, extension 9273, and ask to place a hold on the animal until you can arrive to pick it up.
   
   -- Stray or Lost Dogs
   -- Stray or Lost Cats
   
   
3. Visit the animal shelters to look for your pet and complete a Lost Report. Continue to visit the shelters daily. Even if your pet was wearing a license tag or other identification when it was lost, it is important to visit the shelters to search in person. Click here for addresses, maps and hours of operations.

Typically, stray dogs or cats rescued by an Animal Care Officer north of Commercial Boulevard are taken to the Pompano Beach animal shelter. Animals rescued south of Commercial Boulevard are taken to the Fort Lauderdale shelter. However you should check both shelters if you have lost a pet.

Animal Care staff will call a pet’s owner if their animal comes into the shelter and is wearing identification (Broward County license tag, tattoo, microchip or ID tag).

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Report a Found Pet  

If you find a lost dog or cat, there are many ways you can help reunite the animal with its owner. Reuniting a lost pet with its owner is much easier if the animal has identification (Broward County license tag or tattoo). If an animal has identification, you can:

1. Search Broward County’s Pet License Information Database. Enter the license tag, tattoo number, or owner’s last name. The database contains more than 800,000 records of dogs and cats registered in Broward County since 1999. There’s even a search feature for partial license tag or tattoo numbers. Your search result, if successful, will be the pet owners name, address, phone number and pet description. If the pet descriptions match, simply call the owner.
   
   
2. Consult the Animal License Tag Series List. If a pet license tag number does not appear in the Pet License Information Database, it may be because of the delay between the time the license tag is issued and the time it is entered into the database. The License Tag Series List is useful in these situations. It contains the license tag series of numbers issued to each veterinarian, clinic or organization authorized to issue Broward County license tags for the current fiscal year (October 1 through September 30). Match the license tag from the lost animal to the organization that issued it. Then call the organization for owner information.
   
   
3. Call the Broward County Animal Care Lost and Found Line at 954-359-1313, extension  9273, and leave a message with the following information:
   
   -- your name
   -- your telephone number
   -- detailed description of the animal including type (cat or dog), breed, sex, and color(s)
   -- license tag number, tag color, and license year, if available
   -- tattoo number located on the inner right thigh, if available
   
   Animal Care staff will trace the license tag or tattoo number and call you back with the animal owner's name, address, and phone number. If we are unable to reach you, we will call the pet's owner and give them your name and phone number.
   
   
4. Bring the animal to one of the animal shelters. View Shelter Information.
   
   
5. Call Broward County Animal Care to have an Animal Care Officer pick up the animal. If you call Monday through Friday between 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., call Animal Care Dispatch at 954-359-1313, extension 9249. Between 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 24 hours a day on weekends and holidays call Fire Central Dispatch at 954-765-5124 or 954-765-5125.

Reporting a Found Pet Without Identification

While it’s more difficult to reunite a lost animal with its owner when it has no identification, there are still things you can do to assist in a happy reunion. You can:

1. Call the Broward County Animal Care Lost and Found Line at 954-359-1313, extension 9273, and leave a message with the following information:
   
   -- your name
   -- your telephone number
   -- detailed description of the animal including type (cat or dog), breed, sex, and color(s).
   
   Staff will call you back no later than the next business day if the pet owner has filed a Lost Report for the animal you found.
   Animal Care staff will call you back no later than the next business day if the pet owner has filed a Lost Report for the animal you found.
   
   
2. Bring the animal to one of the animal shelters. View Shelter Information.
   
   
3. Call Broward County Animal Care to have an Animal Care Officer pick up the animal. If you call Monday through Friday between 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., call Animal Care Dispatch at 954-359-1313, extension 9249. Between 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 24 hours a day on weekends and holidays call Fire Central Dispatch at 954-765-5124 or 954-765-5125.