Learn About PawBoost – Frequently Asked Questions

How does PawBoost work? Find answers to common questions below.

What is PawBoost?

PawBoost is like an AMBER Alert for lost pets. We help reunite lost pets with their families by quickly raising huge local awareness.

Millions of people have joined our Rescue Squad by signing up for localized lost & found pet alerts, and thousands of lost & found pets are reported to PawBoost daily. Most importantly, PawBoost has helped reunite over 1 million lost pets with their families.

Posting to PawBoost is free, with optional premium services available. Lost or found a pet? Put out your free alert by filling out a report on our website or by downloading our mobile app.

What is the Rescue Squad?

The Rescue Squad is the group of over 6 million pet lovers who have signed up for our local lost & found pet alerts:

• Over 4.5M people follow or have joined one of our local lost & found pet Facebook Pages or Groups
• Over 1.5M are subscribed to our localized email alerts
• Over 100k have installed our mobile app
• PawBoost is international, with active Rescue Squad in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and Brazil

Want to help reunite lost pets with their families? Join the Rescue Squad today.

How do I post a lost or found pet to PawBoost?

You can post a lost or found pet by filling out a report on the homepage of our website, or by downloading our mobile app and tapping the ‘Report Pet’ button.

What is PawBoost’s success rate?

Our success rate varies depending on where the pet went missing, how long the pet has been missing, the time of year, the type of pet, and many other factors.

On average, 45% of people who post a lost pet to PawBoost mark their pet ‘reunited’. Of those reunions, 29% are attributed to PawBoost (updated July 2023).

What happens when I post a pet to PawBoost?

Posting to PawBoost adds your pet to our lost & found database and puts out a free alert. Optional premium services are available to increase the alert’s reach. Read on to learn about our free and premium lost & found pet alert services.

What free services does PawBoost offer?

It’s free to post a lost or found pet to PawBoost. When you post a pet to PawBoost, here’s what happens:

PawBoost Listing

Your pet is listed in the largest and most active lost & found pets database in the world.

Remember to keep us in the loop! If your pet is still missing after a week’s time, you will receive an email asking for a status update. Marking your pet ‘still missing’ (or ‘still seeking owner’) from this email will bump them to the top of our lost & found.

Did you know? You can keep your pet pinned to the top of our lost & found with our Featured Pet premium service.

Facebook Post

Every pet gets a free post to the lost & found pets Facebook Page for their area. For example, if a pet is reported missing in Raleigh, NC, it will be posted to our Raleigh, NC – Lost Dogs, Cats & Pets Facebook Page.

Collectively, over 5 million pet lovers follow one of our local lost & found pet Facebook pages. These good samaritans want to help you spread the word by sharing your pet’s alert with their social networks, leading to more local awareness and more happy reunions.

Email Blast

Every pet gets an email blast to local Rescue Squad.

Over 1.8M people have subscribed to our local lost & found pet email alerts. Odds are, there are many active Rescue Squad members in your own community.

Did you know? PawBoost sends over 20M alert emails every month!

Mobile Alerts

We’ll send instant push notifications to local Rescue Squad who have downloaded the PawBoost mobile app. It’s the fastest way to get notified about lost & found pets reported near you.

Missing Poster

Good old-fashioned missing posters still work!

Once you report a pet, you can download a printable lost pet flyer that you can post around your neighborhood.

What premium services does PawBoost offer?

PawBoost offers premium services that increase the reach and impact of our lost & found pet alerts. Read below for info on our premium services and what they cost.

Facebook Ads ($44.99 – $99.99 per week)

Advertise your lost pet’s alert to local people on Facebook. Our original and best-selling premium lost pet recovery service.

When you purchase this premium service, a locally-targeted Facebook ad campaign is launched for your lost pet. The ad campaign boosts your pet’s Facebook post so that it gets seen by several times as many people as the free post would have.

The Facebook post will show up as a ‘Sponsored Post’ in the Facebook feeds of thousands of local people. And it will continue to show up in their Facebook feeds as long as the ad is running.

Instagram Alerts ($50 per week)

Put your pet’s alert in front of local people scrolling Instagram. The alert will show as a ‘sponsored’ post from the official PawBoost Instagram account.

Best when used in conjunction with Facebook Ads to maximize local reach. Your pet’s post will continue to show up in the Instagram feeds of local people as long as the ad is running.

Featured Pet ($25 – $200 per week)

Feature your pet at the top of our lost & found pets database. Pin your pet to the top for your entire city, or even your entire state. Anyone searching our lost & found pets database in that area will see your pet first.

Homepage Spotlight ($250 per week)

Feature your lost pet directly on our homepage. Our homepage gets over 80,000 hits per week. This is the primary page on our website people go to report a lost or found pet.

How do I add a phone number to my PawBoost listing?

You can add a phone number to your PawBoost listing from your Account section, or from the PawBoost Listing section of your pet’s dashboard.

It’s recommended to add a phone number to make communication between owners and finders easier. However, make sure to protect yourself against scammers by first reading our blog post about lost & found pet scams.

How can I protect myself against scammers?

We put together this comprehensive blog post on recognizing and protecting yourself from the lost pet scam.

Does PawBoost work with local municipal shelters or humane societies?

Yes, PawBoost is partnered with animal shelters and humane societies across the country. Partnered organizations have their stray pets automatically added to our lost & found pets database.

You can view the full list of partner organizations and their stray intakes here.

If you think one of these strays might be your pet, you can contact the shelter by clicking the ‘Contact’ button on the pet’s listing page.

Are you affiliated with an animal shelter or humane society that’s not yet a partner? Apply for partnership here.

How do I cancel my paid advertisement subscription?

1. Log in to your PawBoost Account

2. Click on “My Pets”

3. Select “View Dashboard” for the pet profile

4. Select “Manage Subscriptions”

5. Click “Cancel Subscription” underneath the premium subscription(s) you wish to cancel

In addition, the following actions will automatically cancel any premium subscriptions:

• Updating the pet’s status to reunited, deceased, rehomed, or surrendered
• Deleting your PawBoost account
• Removing the specific pet profile associated with the premium subscription

What is PawBoost’s refund policy?

Our refund policy can be found in our Terms of Service here.

How do I update my pet profile to a different status such as Reunited, Surrendered, Deceased, etc.?

1. Log in to your PawBoost Account

2. Click on “My Pets”

3. Select “View Dashboard” for the pet profile

4. Click “Report Reunited” (note: this will give multiple options to change the pet status, not just reunited)

How do I unsubscribe from PawBoost emails?

1. Log in to your PawBoost Account

2. Click on “Account”

3. Click the “Manage Preferences” button under Email Notifications

4. Unsubscribe from either all PawBoost emails, or the specific type(s) of emails you no longer wish to receive

How do I delete my PawBoost account?

To delete your PawBoost account, which will permanently remove all pets/posts associated with the account:

1. Log in to your PawBoost Account

2. Click on “Account”

3. Click the “Delete My Account” button and enter your email address to confirm permanent account deletion

How do I remove a specific pet profile or Facebook post from PawBoost?

You will need help from a PawBoost team member in order to do this! Please email our Support Team at support@pawboost.com for assistance.

For the fastest response possible, please send your email from the email address used to set up the account, and include your pet’s 7-digit PawBoost ID in the subject or body of the email.

How do I contact a finder/owner?

Please contact the person who created the PawBoost post by going to the link above the picture on the Facebook post, or by clicking the ‘Contact’ button on the pet’s listing in our lost & found database. Be sure to send a message via email to the email provided, which will be in the format #######@pawboost-mail.com.

If you have already reached out to the person who created the PawBoost pet profile via email, please give them at least 24-48 hours to respond.

If you have waited 24-48 hours and still have not received a response, please reach out to us at support@pawboost.com and be sure to include the post information you are trying to contact, such as the PawBoost 7-digit ID # located in the left hand corner of the picture on the Facebook post, a link to the post, or the email address provided in the contact information for the post. With this information we may be able to better assist you.

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Have other questions? We’re here to help 365 days a year. Ask away at support@pawboost.com.