Why do cats get stolen

Report anything suspicious to the police. If you think your pet is stolen Take action immediately! Noting that your animal needs medical attention on the lost animal flyer can solicit a more diligent response from neighbors who may encounter your animal. It can also deter somebody who may be inclined to keep your animal.

Contact your local shelters and post flyers on their community boards, checking back to make sure they remain posted. Leave the flier with or fax it to local pet stores, post offices, veterinary offices, breed rescue groups, or dog parks. Anywhere dog or cat guardians are likely to congregate is a good place to network and get the word out about your missing companion animal.

Read more about finding your lost pet. Monitor pets for sale or pet adoption ads in newspapers or online, checking carefully for descriptions that match your animal. This is where pet thieves are looking to profit from stealing your animal. This is especially useful during the evening hours when the white noise of traffic has diminished.

There is a chance your pet may hear you and respond with barking. If you believe you have located your pet and the person who stole him, do not approach the person without first contacting your local law enforcement or animal control officer. Your pet might be removed from the premises or relocated before you can get to him.

If somebody claims they have found your lost animal, ask specific questions to ensure the animal is yours — particularly if you are offering a reward. Continue to post flyers, monitor websites, and check newspaper ads. Your pet may end up with caring people who might realize they are in possession of a stolen pet, and they may return him to you. This helps us run the site, so thanks for your support! Your email address will not be published. Email address. By signing up to our newsletter you are agreeing to the terms set out in our privacy policy.

Search for: Search. Post navigation. Related Posts. Posted in Health. Posted in Predators. Posted in Training. Such people will not return the cat to where they found it, leading to another lost cat. The earlier you report a missing cat, the more likely you are to find it. Be aware of your cat's habits, e. When you are reunited with your cat, inform any authorities who were asked to look out for him.

Remove any posters or notices, especially those which offer a reward otherwise you will end up paying out money to everyone who finds your cat sitting on your doorstep.

Don't give up to soon. Cats have been known to return home after long absences, having been adopted as a stray or after hiking long distances home after accidentally riding in a car. I know of one cat which was reunited with its rural owner after being found at a London Railway Station - the cat had decided to explore the guard's van when the train stopped at its local station; luckily it was microchipped and had a collar.

I have reunited a Havana with its owner after a separation of 6 months. This indoor-only cat was trapped during a trap-neuter-return campaign at a factory the other side of town. The owner worked at the factory. Somehow it had managed to get into the garage and had travelled to the factory in the engine compartment of its owner's car.

With any luck, you will find your cat. Unfortunately there are also stories with no happy ending. Outdoors can be a dangerous place with cars, dangerous dogs and, in some countries, predators which eat cats.

There are also waves of cat theft. It is up to the owner to weigh up the pros and cons of an indoor or indoor-outdoor life.

In Britain, cats are traditionally indoor-outdoor pets and most live long and healthy lives. In America most pet cats live indoors only. The way you choose should be appropriate to where you live and readers must respect this fact. This section is mostly applicable to Britain. Sadly there are cats who vanish due to malicious people. Around Chelmsford, Essex, there were several waves of cat disappearances. These were characterised by the fact that the disappearing cats were all one colour.

During one month black cats vanished en masse from a few streets in one suburb. A few months later most of the tabby cats in one housing development vanished. They vanished either late at night or very early in the morning when let out to do their business in the garden. In one case, an owner saw people attempting to snatch her cat from her garden in Springfield, Chelmsford and she gave chase the cat was recovered, the thieves were not caught. In another, the owner of a tabby cat saw her cat escape from the front window of a moving van in Galleywood, Chelmsford though another of her cats vanished without trace.

These are not "friend of a friend" tales - I personally spoke to both of these owners. In Britain, it is suspected that cats are stolen for laboratory use or for the European fur trade. Over the years, there has also been evidence of cats being stolen and killed by malicious individuals. A major supplier of laboratory cats Hillgrove Farm has closed down and cat owners became concerned that cat theft would increase as a result.

Most labs emphasise that they only use specially bred cats since may experiments require the cats to have been raised in sterile environments. Unfortunately many other tests only require that the cat be easy to handle and pet cats are appropriate. There is the practice of 'pound seizure' in parts of the USA where unclaimed strays can be appropriated by laboratories.

Elsewhere, cats are also used as practice animals for fighting or coursing dogs and for dissection class especially for the US: Cat Theft for Classroom Dissection Studies. There will always be a few sick sadists in society who enjoy harming animals. Cats have been used for air rifle or shotgun practice and there have been occasional reports of rural butchers being offered supposed rabbit carcasses which are, in actual fact, skinned cats.

One or two butchers who normally buy wild rabbit from rabbit shooters have apparently insisted that the head and paws are left on the carcass so that it can be proven to be rabbit this information was provided by a rabbit shooter in my own area in Pedigree cats may be stolen to order, much as high performance cars are stolen to order.

Microchipping goes some way to prevent this, but there will always be a few unscrupulous professionals who will remove the chip. The buyers are people who are unwilling to buy from a breeder. In , a pedigree Turkish Angora stud cat was stolen in the UK, presumably to order since it was one of very few Turkish Angora studs in Europe.

There have also been instances of mass cat poisonings in parts of Britain, some of which have continued over several years and taken the lives of scores, if not hundreds, of pet cats. I was also aware of a cat-hating individual in south Essex who routinely caught and dumped his neighbours' cats in the countryside because the cats were "winding up his birds".

The discredited Mammal Society Survey with its inflated statistics of feline predation increased antipathy, and possibly violence, towards cats see Domestic Cats - Wildlife Enemy Number One or Convenient Scapegoats? However, the most likely fate of vanished cats is widely believed to be the fur trade The Cat Fur Trade.

Tales of cats being stolen by ethnic restaurants or ethnic communities are, with only very few exceptions, urban myths aimed at propagating racism Urban Myths: Moggy on the Menu. It was believed that these were being taken for their fur. John Wamsley of Earth Sanctuaries, a noted cat-hater he accuses those who like cats of being peculiar and wildlife haters , was reportedly paying bounties for cat skins and apparently preferred pet and pedigree cat skins for their colour, quality and texture.

While the trade in cat fur is perfectly legal in a number of countries, the danger is that some of those cats were stray pets or were stolen specifically for their fur.

As well as being used for garments or trinkets, cat pelts are believed to be efficacious against rheumatism and joint pain "Medicat" and are also used in some regions for traditional musical instruments. In March , cat owners in Clevedon, Somerset, England were advised to keep their pets indoors following a spate of disappearances.

Nearly presumed thefts of cats had been reported during the previous twelve months. Nearly all those reported missing were black. In March, 10 cats disappeared in a single day.