You think your pet was stolen
Start with evidence, not conclusions. Many “stolen” pets turn out to be an open gate, an opportunistic take, or a misunderstanding — and a wrong accusation burns the credibility the real case needs. If it is theft, this is an evidence case now, worked with police, never with confrontation.
Do these three things right now
File the police report
File a police report and get the case number.
Flag chip and shelters
Flag the chip registry and every local shelter that the pet is reported stolen.
Screenshot everything
Screenshot every message. Never meet anyone alone, and never pay in advance.
Then work the plan, in order
The first hour
- Photograph the scene exactly as you found it — gate, fence, latch, broken locks — before you touch anything.
- Pull the timestamps: your doorbell camera, neighbours’ cameras, dashcams parked on the street.
- File a police report and get the case number. Say only what you can prove.
- Flag the microchip registry and report the theft to every shelter in the region.
Today
- Post with the case number: “reported stolen to [police service], case #—”. It changes how people share.
- List what makes the pet provably yours — chip number, tattoo, scars, one distinct feature — and hold one detail back privately as a screen.
- Monitor the marketplace listings (Kijiji, Facebook Marketplace) and rehoming posts daily. Screenshot everything: listing, seller name, URL.
- Check breed rescues — stolen purebreds surface through rescue and resale channels.
Days two to seven
- Follow up on the case number weekly and ask which unit holds it.
- Flyer the streets with camera footage of the vehicle: someone saw it.
- Keep the chip flagged — stolen pets surface months later at a routine vet scan.
Keep going
- Keep monitoring the listings weekly. Theft cases resolve slowly, usually through a scan or a tip, not a chase.
Why this loss is different
This is two cases at once: a crime case and a recovery case. The crime case lives on evidence — timestamps, case numbers, screenshots — and it dies on confrontation. A public accusation, a face-to-face recovery attempt, or a payment to a “seller” can end both cases at once.
The rules that follow are absolute: never meet anyone alone (two people, public place, police non-emergency told first), never pay in advance, never accuse a named person publicly. Report suspected fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Do this, not that
Do
- Photograph the scene before touching it
- Put the case number in every post
- Screenshot listings with seller names
- Hold one identifying detail back
- Keep the chip flagged indefinitely
Do not
- Pay a “finder” in advance
- Meet anyone alone
- Post accusations against a named person
- Touch the scene before photographing it
- Promise a reward publicly
Read next
Before you pay anyone
The fake-finder script, the verification question, and reporting to the Anti-Fraud Centre.
Read the scam guideWho to call near you
Shelters and municipal animal services across Canada, by province.
Open the directoryThe first-hour checklist
The universal steps in order, with ticks saved on your device.
Open the checklistSources and review
Where a figure is quoted, the study is named so you can check it yourself.
- Reporting and evidence practice on this page reflects Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre guidance and standard police reporting procedure.
Last reviewed 23 August 2026. Found something out of date? Tell us and we will re-verify and re-stamp this page.
Work the checklist alongside this guide
The first-hour checklist covers the universal steps — shelter report, chip flag, poster routes — while this page handles the theft specifics.