When your pet is missing, useful information can arrive from anywhere. PetCare AI helps you look for possible matches, bring sightings together and give finders a way to reach you.
Search beyond the streets you can walk, while keeping the next useful lead within reach.
You have checked the usual walking route. You have called their name at the door. Now you are moving between messages, community posts and shelter listings, trying to work out where to look next.
Searching for a missing dog or cat creates two jobs at once: looking for your pet and keeping track of everything people tell you.
PetCare AI connects those jobs. You can publish a missing-pet report, use Deep Search to check for possible public listings, review sightings on a map and make it easier for someone who finds your pet to contact you. With Pro, scheduled searches can keep checking while you are away from the screen.1
Start with a report people can recognise and share
A useful search starts with a clear description of the pet you are looking for.
Add a recent photo, identifying details, a last-seen location and time, and contact information you can monitor. Distinctive markings, a collar colour or an unusual feature can help someone decide whether a pet they have seen deserves a closer look.
PetCare AI turns your pet's photos and last-seen details into a public missing-pet alert and printable poster. Share the alert with neighbours and relevant local groups, and use the poster where people nearby will see it.1
For example, “golden retriever, blue collar, last seen near the park entrance on Friday evening” gives someone more to work with than “please help, my dog is missing”. Keep the details consistent across the places you share them.
Use Deep Search to look beyond your neighbourhood
Your pet may appear in a public listing you have not seen. A council, shelter or rescue may describe them differently from the words you would use to search.
Deep Search looks for possible listings across the wider web and directly checks connected council, shelter and rescue sources. Candidate photos are screened against your pet's photos, bringing possible leads together for you to review.1
That gives you another way to look while you continue searching locally. Instead of relying only on a pet's name or an exact breed description, photo comparisons can help surface an animal worth checking more closely.
Public-source coverage varies, so keep contacting local organisations directly. Deep Search checks accessible sources; it does not search every private group or guarantee that every relevant listing will appear.
How to review a possible match
Open the source and compare the details with what you know:
- Appearance: markings, coat, ears, tail and other distinctive features.
- Location: where the animal was found or photographed.
- Timing: whether the dates fit your pet's disappearance.
- Description: size, collar and any identifying details.
Then contact the person or organisation behind the listing to verify the lead. A similar photograph is a starting point for that conversation, rather than confirmation of identity.
Let scheduled searches handle the repeat checking
Refreshing the same pages can become a task that fills every spare minute.
With Pro scheduled Deep Search, checks run at intervals while your missing-pet report is public and the search is unpaused. Email and push updates let you know when there is a new possible match to review.1
You can spend time putting up posters, speaking to neighbours or resting without having to trigger every search yourself. Scheduled checks are periodic searches, rather than a live feed of your pet's movements.
When your pet is home, mark them as found. Scheduled checks also stop when you pause the search.
Bring sightings and QR scans together on one map
A neighbour sends a photograph. Someone else reports a sighting near a different street. A finder scans your pet's collar tag.
PetCare AI brings sightings and QR scans into one map, with photos, times, locations and finder notes to help you put leads in context.1
Consider an illustrative search for Milo, a golden retriever. One message says “I saw a similar dog this morning”. Another includes a clear photo, a street and a time. Those reports give Milo's owner different amounts of information. Seeing the details together helps them decide which lead to follow up first and what questions to ask.
When someone contacts you, ask for the exact place, the time they saw the animal and any photograph they can safely provide. A precise sighting is easier to act on than an uncertain recollection.
Give nearby people a way to join the search
People cannot report a sighting if they do not know your pet is missing.
Alongside sharing your public alert, Pro owners can broadcast nearby missing-pet alerts to members who have opted in, through email and push notifications. Both Free and Pro members can receive those alerts and report what they see.1
The purpose is practical: put your pet's photo and last-seen details in front of people who may be able to help. These alerts reach participating members, so continue sharing with neighbours and local groups too.
Help a finder search even without a collar tag
PetCare AI also supports the other side of the search: someone has found a pet and wants to identify their owner.
At Found a pet?, a finder can upload a photo without creating an account. The photo is compared with nearby active missing-pet reports in the same country, and possible matches are ranked by visual similarity.2
This is different from Deep Search:
| Tool | What it helps someone do |
|---|---|
| Deep Search | Look for possible public listings of a pet reported missing |
| Found a pet photo search | Compare a found animal's photo with active PetCare AI missing reports |
The finder can review possible matches and reach the owner. The uploaded photo is compared privately and is not shared publicly. Identity still needs to be checked with the owner.2
Keeping your own missing report accurate and up to date gives this search a relevant record to compare against.
Make your pet easier to identify before they go missing
Every PetCare AI pet profile includes a free QR tag you can download and print from the website. Scanning it opens the pet's finder profile in a phone browser, where a finder can call the listed contact and choose to share their location. They do not need to install the app or create an account.1
Check your contact details and test the profile before you need it. Add a current photograph and update identifying details when they change.
A QR tag creates a route from a finder to your profile; it does not continuously track your pet. Keep microchip details current as well. Vets, shelters and councils can scan a microchip and use its database record to contact an owner.3
What you can use on Free and Pro
You can start organising a search without a Pro subscription.1
| Search feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Public missing-pet alert and printable poster | Included | Included |
| QR pet profile and printable tag | Included | Included |
| Sightings and QR scans map | Included | Included |
| Manual Deep Search | Limited monthly allowance across your pets | Available within Pro limits |
| Scheduled Deep Search and new-match alerts | Not included | Included |
| Broadcast nearby alerts to opted-in members | Not included | Included |
| Receive nearby alerts when opted in | Included | Included |
Search allowances and availability are shown in your account. See the missing-pet tools and current plans for details.
Use the online search alongside local enquiries
While you review online leads, keep in touch with local vets, shelters and animal services. In Australia, contact the relevant council and check your pet's microchip registry details. RSPCA NSW recommends contacting shelters, council pounds and veterinary hospitals, including those outside your immediate community.4
If you need a practical starting checklist, read The First 24 Hours After Your Pet Goes Missing.
PetCare AI helps with the work that can otherwise become scattered: sharing the same accurate details, looking for possible listings, keeping track of sightings and giving a finder a way to reach you. Each useful piece of information gives you something more concrete to follow up.
Is your pet missing? Start a missing-pet report and bring their photos, last-seen details and search leads together. If they are safely home, create their profile now and download a free printable QR tag.
Try Pro free for your first month to use scheduled searches and new-match alerts. See current offer and subscription details.
Sources
Footnotes
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PetCare AI, Missing pets. Feature descriptions checked 23 October 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8
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PetCare AI, Found a pet photo search. Finder flow checked 23 October 2026. ↩ ↩2
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RSPCA Australia, Microchipping. ↩
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RSPCA NSW, Lost Dog or Cat? What to Do When You Lose or Find a Pet. ↩
