You found a pet. What now?
Somewhere nearby, someone is searching. The fastest way to reunite them is a free microchip scan and a report to the right shelter.
The three things that matter most
- 01
A scan is free, and it is first
Any veterinary clinic or shelter will scan for a microchip at no charge and without an appointment. It is the single fastest route to an owner.
- 02
Report it, then hand it over
A found animal is not yours to keep. Hand it over to the municipal shelter or animal control for that area — that is where a searching owner phones.
- 03
Hold back one detail
Never post every identifying feature. Keep one back so you can ask a claimant to describe it, and know you are handing the animal to the right person.
First, safety and containment
A frightened or injured animal can bite, including one that looks calm. Approach slowly, crouch side on, and let it come to you rather than reaching over its head.
- Contain the animal somewhere quiet: a spare room, a bathroom, a secure yard or a crate
- Keep it completely separate from your own pets until a vet has seen it
- Offer water. Hold off on food if the animal seems injured or unwell, in case sedation is needed
- Do not bathe, groom or cut off a collar. Those are identifying features
- If the animal is injured, aggressive or will not be approached, call animal services rather than handling it yourself
Photograph the animal straight away, from a few angles, before anything about its appearance changes.
Get the animal scanned properly
Take the animal to any vet clinic, shelter or animal services office and ask for a microchip scan. This is a free service almost everywhere, and you do not need to be a client of the clinic.
Two things are worth asking for specifically:
- A full body scan. Chips migrate. A chip implanted between the shoulder blades can end up down a leg or along the flank, and a quick pass over the shoulders alone will miss it.
- A multi frequency scanner. Not every scanner reads every chip standard. A clinic that finds nothing is worth a second opinion elsewhere.
A chip number is a starting point, not an answer. Many chips are implanted and never registered, or are registered to contact details that are years out of date. If the number comes back unregistered, keep working the other steps.
Report to the right shelter
File a found report with the shelter or animal services that covers the place you found the animal, not the place you live. Those are often different jurisdictions, and the owner will be calling the one that serves the area where the pet went missing.
Reporting is only half of it: arrange to turn the animal over to that municipal shelter, animal control service or contracted pound. The hold-and-reclaim process that gets a pet home runs through them, and it cannot run while the animal sits in a stranger’s house unknown to the system.
Give them the date, the exact location, a description and your contact details, and ask them to log it. If they cannot take the animal in immediately, ask what they want you to do and follow that instruction — some will ask you to foster it short term while the found report stands, which is a temporary arrangement made by them, not a decision to keep the animal.
Ask the same question a lost owner would ask: what is the stray hold period here, and what happens at the end of it? That timeline governs everything that follows.
Post it, but post it carefully
Put the found report where searching owners actually look: the free national lost and found databases, the active local Facebook groups for that city, and a note at nearby vet clinics.
When you post, deliberately withhold something. Post one photo and a general description, and keep back a specific detail: a scar, an unusual marking, the colour of the collar, a notch in an ear. Then ask anyone who claims the animal to tell you what it is.
- Ask the claimant to describe the withheld detail before you agree to meet
- Ask for a photo of them with the animal, or vet records in their name
- Meet in a public place, or at the shelter or a vet clinic
- Never hand an animal over in exchange for money, and never pay to get one back
If you hope to adopt the animal later
It happens often, and there is nothing wrong with hoping for it. It does not change the first step: the animal still has to be reported and handed over to the municipal shelter, animal control or contracted pound for the area where you found it.
A found animal is not yours to keep or rehome. Ownership passes only after the stray hold period has run and the shelter has followed its process, and those rules are set locally by the municipality, not by this site. Keeping the animal instead can mean handing it back months later, or being unable to show it is legally yours if a dispute arises.
- Report the animal and turn it over to the shelter or animal services for that area
- Ask that shelter to record your interest in adopting if no owner comes forward
- Follow their instruction if they ask you to foster in the meantime, and keep any vet receipts and records
- Once the hold has passed, complete whatever adoption or transfer paperwork the shelter uses
Doing it properly costs you a few weeks. Doing it improperly can cost you the animal.
Do this, not that
Do
- Ask for a free full body microchip scan
- File a found report where the animal was found
- Turn the animal over to the municipal shelter, animal control or contracted pound for that area
- Photograph the animal before anything changes
- Keep one identifying detail out of every public post
- Meet claimants in public, or at a clinic or shelter
- Ask what the local stray hold period is
Do not
- Keep a found animal rather than reporting it and handing it over
- Assume an unregistered chip means the pet was dumped
- Rehome or give the animal away during the hold period
- Remove a collar or tags, or bathe away a distinguishing mark
- Post every identifying feature publicly
- Accept or ask for money in exchange for the animal
- Introduce the animal to your own pets before a vet check
Read next
Post a found notice that works
The same rules apply to a found notice: one huge word, one photo, and a number readable from a car.
Read the poster guide →Screening a claimant
The patterns to watch for, and the verification question that settles it quickly.
Read the scam guide →Is it actually lost?
Many outdoor cats are perfectly fine. How to tell a stray from a neighbour's pet.
Read the cat guide →Sources and review
Stray hold periods and the process for claiming a found animal are set by municipal bylaw and vary across Canada. Always confirm the rules with the shelter that serves the area where you found the animal.
Last reviewed 17 October 2026. This page is general guidance and not legal advice. Found something out of date? Tell us and we will re-verify and re-stamp this page.
Someone is looking for this animal
A free microchip scan, a found report, and handing the animal over to the right municipal shelter are what close the gap. The first two take under an hour between them.
Who should you call, where you are?
Three questions — what you found, where, and the situation — and this page names the organisations that cover that area, in the order to try them.