Don’t get us wrong here, we are not advocating that you let your regular pet insurance policy lapse, but having had a couple of listings already today without photos attached, we are struck by how much less impact listings without photos have.

With automated display of listing photos first on Flickr and now on Twitpic, the reach of your listing becomes that much greater when you add a photo.

So, snap a couple of pics of your beloved pet right now and store them away for safe keeping – you never know when you may need them.

Tips for Good Lost & Found Pet Photos

• Use a dedicated digital camera and not a mobile phone camera as most mobile phone cameras will produce lower quality photos and this quality will degrade even more as photos are manipulated for reuse.
• Make the pet the subject of the shot.
• If you have multiple pets, take shots of each individually.
• Avoid taking shots with a publicly identifiable background scene to protect your own privacy.
• Also for your own privacy, keep yourself and other family members out of the photos.
• Consider the angle you take the shots from. It can be wise to keep a very distinguishing marking out of the public domain. Such markings can be used by those who may find your pet to help prevent nefarious types claiming your pet.
• Use a background which has a significantly different colour palette to your pet’s colouring – a shot of a ginger tabby sitting on a sofa with a faux tiger skin throw is not the way to go.
• Take the shot in natural daylight to avoid red eye (can often result in ‘blue eye’ for animals) which can really change the character of your pet’s appearance.