Found a pet

I found a pet. Who should I contact?

Somewhere nearby, someone is searching. Tell this page what you found, where, and what state the animal is in, and it names the organisations that cover that area in the order to try them. Nothing you enter is saved or published.

Three questions

Nothing you choose here is saved, sent or published anywhere. It only decides which part of this page you see.

Start again

Found a pet in Ontario

An animal, injured or cannot be approached.

Right now

  • Do not try to handle an animal that is injured, frightened or will not let you near it. The pillar guide is blunt about this: call animal services rather than handling it yourself.
  • A frightened or injured animal can bite, including one that looks calm. If you are already holding it, keep it contained somewhere quiet and away from your own pets.
  • Any veterinary clinic can be phoned directly for an injured animal. Where this directory has a verified emergency veterinary clinic in or near the place you found the animal, it is named below. Emergency capacity and availability change, so phone before travelling.

Who to contact, in this order

Every organisation below is in this directory and covers Ontario. Phone numbers and links are theirs.

  1. 1

    Municipal animal services

    Municipal animal services is the service to call when an animal cannot be approached or handled safely.

    7 more in Ontario

  2. 2

    Shelters and humane societies

    A shelter or humane society nearby may be able to take the animal in, and will scan it for a microchip at no charge.

    15 more in Ontario

  3. 3

    Emergency vets

    A veterinary clinic can be phoned directly. The clinics this directory has verified are not in or near this place, so this is an option to weigh against the ones above, not the first call.

    These are the emergency veterinary clinics this directory has verified in Ontario. It does not know which is nearest to you, and some will be a long drive.

    15 more verified emergency clinic in this directory

    Everything filed for Ontario

  4. 4

    Search and recovery specialists

    A search and recovery specialist is equipped for an animal that will not be caught.

A found animal belongs with its owner, and the route back is the local municipal animal shelter, animal control or the shelter holding that municipality’s contract — so report the animal and arrange to turn it over to them rather than keeping it. Opening hours, intake practices, how long a found animal is held and how each organisation wants to hear from you are set by that organisation, not by this directory. The pillar guide’s advice is to ask them directly: what is the stray hold period here, and what happens at the end of it? Those rules are set locally, so the answer is theirs to give.

Every organisation filed for Ontario

Start from the situation you are in

Four situations, each with what to do in the next few minutes and which kind of organisation to try first.

The animal is injured, or I cannot safely approach it

  • Do not try to handle an animal that is injured, frightened or will not let you near it. The pillar guide is blunt about this: call animal services rather than handling it yourself.
  • A frightened or injured animal can bite, including one that looks calm. If you are already holding it, keep it contained somewhere quiet and away from your own pets.
  • Any veterinary clinic can be phoned directly for an injured animal. Where this directory has a verified emergency veterinary clinic in or near the place you found the animal, it is named below. Emergency capacity and availability change, so phone before travelling.

Contact, in this order Emergency vets → Municipal animal services → Shelters and humane societies → Search and recovery specialists

Use this situation and pick a place

The animal has a tag, a licence or I think it is chipped

  • If there is a phone number on the tag, call it. Do not remove the collar or the tags: they are identifying features.
  • 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.
  • Ask for a full body scan and, if nothing is found, for a multi-frequency scanner. Chips migrate, and not every scanner reads every chip standard.
  • A chip number is a starting point, not an answer. Many chips are never registered, or are registered to contact details that are years out of date.

Contact, in this order Shelters and humane societies → Municipal animal services → Microchip registries → Emergency vets

Use this situation and pick a place

It looks like a stray and it is still loose

  • Approach slowly, crouch side on, and let the animal come to you rather than reaching over its head. If it will not be approached, call animal services rather than handling it yourself.
  • Many outdoor cats are perfectly fine and are not lost at all — the lost cat guide covers how to tell a stray from a neighbour's pet.
  • Photograph the animal straight away, from a few angles, before anything about its appearance changes.

Contact, in this order Municipal animal services → Shelters and humane societies → Community search groups

Use this situation and pick a place

I have the animal safe with me

  • Report the animal, and arrange to turn it over to the local municipal animal shelter, animal control, or the shelter that holds the municipal contract for that area. A found animal is not yours to keep: the stray hold process that reunites it with its owner runs through that authority, and an owner working the system phones shelters, not neighbours.
  • Report it and hand it over to the shelter or animal services that covers the place you FOUND the animal, not the place you live. Those are often different jurisdictions.
  • If that organisation cannot take the animal in straight away, ask them what they want you to do and follow their instruction — some will ask you to hold it short term while the found report stands. That call is theirs to make, not yours, and it is a temporary arrangement rather than a decision to keep the animal.
  • Get the animal scanned for a microchip. A scan is free at any veterinary clinic or shelter, with no appointment.
  • While the animal is still with you, keep it completely separate from your own pets, and offer water. Do not bathe, groom or cut off a collar — those are identifying features.

Contact, in this order Shelters and humane societies → Municipal animal services → Community search groups → Microchip registries

Use this situation and pick a place

A found animal belongs with its owner, and the route back is the local municipal animal shelter, animal control or the shelter holding that municipality’s contract — so report the animal and arrange to turn it over to them rather than keeping it. Opening hours, intake practices, how long a found animal is held and how each organisation wants to hear from you are set by that organisation, not by this directory. The pillar guide’s advice is to ask them directly: what is the stray hold period here, and what happens at the end of it? Those rules are set locally, so the answer is theirs to give.

Or start from where you found it

Pick the place you found the animal, not the place you live — the organisation that covers where it went missing is the one a searching owner calls. Five provinces and territories have no city page yet, so the province page is the one to use there.

Alberta

British Columbia

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Northwest Territories

Nova Scotia

Nunavut

Ontario

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Saskatchewan

Yukon

Before you hand the animal to anyone

Finding a pet puts you on the receiving end of the same scripts a lost owner gets. The site’s own guidance on this is short.

  • Post one photo and a general description, and deliberately keep one identifying detail back — a scar, a marking, the colour of the collar, a notch in an ear.
  • Ask anyone who claims the animal to describe that 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.

Read the full lost pet scams guide

Read next

This page is the shortcut to the phone calls. The guides are where the detail is.

Know a shelter, animal service or search group that should be in this directory?

Suggest or update a listing