Contact the Maui Humane Society (877-3680). File a lost-pet report. Provide an accurate description and a recent photgraph of your pet. Notify the police (244-6400) if you believe that your pet was stolen.

Search the neighborhood. Walk or drive through your neighborhood several times each day. (Early morning and evening are the best times to look for lost pets.) Ask neighbors, letter carriers, and delivery people if they have seen your pet. Hand out a recent photograph and an accurate written description of your pet.

Advertise. Post signs at grocery stores, community centers, veterinary offices, traffic intersections; and other locations and place advertisements in newspapers (Maui News - 242-6333), with radio stations, and submit a listing on this site.

Leave items with a familiar scent outside your home. A litter box, pet bed, or a sweatshirt recently worn by a loved one can attract a pet who has strayed and become disoriented.

Be wary of pet-recovery scams. When describing your pet, leave out one identifying characteristic. When talking about your pet to strangers, offer no information, ask many questions, and carefully answer questions posed to you. Be wary of people who insist that you give them money in order for them to return your pet.

Don't give up your search -- even when you have little hope left. Animals who have been lost for months have been reunited with their owners.