Finding your animal We highly recommend all of the following steps in order for you to find your missing animal: Review the Lost and Found Gallery for pictures of impounded animals. Check the Animal Care Services holding kennels/cages for your pet. Dogs are housed in Cottages 6 and 7. Be sure and check both the inside and outside of the kennels. If you do not find your dog in these Cottages, please ask an Animal Care Services staff member to check Cottage 5 - our isolation and Quarantine sections. Cats are housed in our Cat Cottage. If you do not find you cat in the cottage, please ask an Animal Care Services staff member to check our feral, isolation and Quarantine sections. For other types of pets, please ask staff for assistance. Check the daily impound list for pets impounded, taken to the veterinarian injured and those picked up deceased. Check the Lost and Found Book and Bulletin Board for your pet. Please add your pet to them. It is not uncommon for a lost pet to wander for several miles, so search at least 7 blocks in either direction. Check with veterinary hospitals, the mail carrier, meter reader, delivery people and other shelters. (If the pet may enter into another shelter's jurisdiction). Keep checking our kennels/cages as often as possible in person - this is truly the only way to determine if your pet has been impounded. Check the lost and found section of the Press Telegram. Also check the City of Long Beach's cable channel: Home Town TV8 for Lost But Found that features animals from Animal Care Services. How do I claim my pet? Once an owner locates their pet they should go to the admissions counter of the Bureau of Animal Care Services to claim their pet. You must be 18 years old or older to redeem an animal. The following information must be provided to redeem your lost pet. Every person claiming ownership of an impounded pet is required to provide positive identification such as a California Driver's License or Identification Card. Proof of ownership must be provided to administrative staff; this could include any of the following: A copy of a Dog License describing the animal in question. Rabies inoculation certificate. Other medical records with a full description of the pet. Other documentation of the pet such as purchase receipts, micro-chip records, tattoo records, pictures, video, or other paperwork with a full description of the pet. It is for the protection of the owner and the pet that we cannot redeem any pet without proof of ownership. When an owner cannot provide positive proof of ownership, the pet will be held for the entire holding period, prior to an evaluation of the documentation for possible redemption by senior staff members. The following requirements must be met prior to any pet being released to its owner: All dogs over the age of four months are required by Long Beach Municipal Code 6.08.010 to have a current City of Long Beach (or it's contract cities) dog license. No dog over the age of four months will be redeemed without compliance with this ordinance. No dog over the age of four months will be released without establishing the proof of a valid rabies inoculation. If proof cannot be determined the dog must be inoculated before it may leave the facility. This may require the dog to stay an additional day for qualified staff to perform the inoculation. No pet will be redeemed into the custody of its owner until all established fees have been paid. (i.e., progressive impound fees, board and keep, inoculation fees and the required license or permit fees). All payments for redemption of pets will be cash or credit card, no checks accepted. Once a pet has been held the required holding period and has been adopted/sold into and new home it is the property of the new owner. If your pet (with positive proof of ownership) has been adopted, staff will contact the new owner and explain that the pet owner has come in for their pet and ask if they wish to return the pet or contact the owner. If the new owner chooses not to return the pet or contact the owner there is no other action that we can take as completed sales and/or adoptions are final.