29 a feature lost and found mobile

What to do if you have lost or found an animal.

Lost and Found

RSPCA NSW understands how heartbreaking it can be when a beloved pet goes missing. That’s why we aim to reunite every animal who comes through our doors lost or as a stray with their owners. Every year, thousands of animals are successfully reunited with their families.

On this page, you can select one of the options below to either learn more about what to do if you’ve lost your pet, or what to do if you’ve found someone’s pet.

What do you do if you find a stray cat

If you have found a stray adult cat, or stray kittens we’ve got you covered with our step by step action plan on what to do next.

We have even included a handy decision tree to help you decide what is the best course of action!

Lost and Found FAQs

You can contact our RSPCA NSW shelters here. We would suggest checking with your local shelter and any that are in your region as animals can sometimes travel great distances.

If your animal is not in our care, we suggest contacting all the local pounds, shelters and veterinarians in your area. You can also check the many online Facebook groups for missing and found pets.

It’s very important to update your pet’s microchip record to reflect that he is missing. You could also consider posting notices around your neighbourhood and in your local newspaper.

Even if you do not find your animal immediately, it’s important to search regularly in case your pet is found at a later date.

We would suggest phoning your local RSPCA shelter before visiting us. All animals currently in RSPCA NSW’s care who have come in as lost or strays are entered into our system so if you animal is in our care, our teams will have records of this. You are welcome to come to our shelters and speak to our staff during opening hours. You can find your local RSPCA NSW shelter here.

Unfortunately, as a charity, we do not have the resources to conduct regular searches for your animal on your behalf. We suggest you regularly check what animals are in our care by contacting your local RSPCA NSW shelter.

If you find a livestock animal, please contact your local council.

If you find a pocket pet, try to locate the owner in your area. Check with your neighbours and put up found posters.

If you find a native animal, contact a local wildlife organisation such as ARC, RRANA or WIRES. If you can safely collect and contain the animal, you should take him to a veterinary clinic immediately.

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