When Agata Losa, a psychologist living in south-east London, realised her Bengal cat Betty was missing, panic quickly set in. Losa had only recently moved to the area when Betty slipped into the back garden one day and never returned.
“When I woke up the next morning and she still wasn’t there, I completely panicked,” says Losa, who, fittingly, lives in Catford. For three weeks, she searched relentlessly. She walked the neighbourhood daily, plastered streets with hundreds of posters, and posted up to ten times a day on local Facebook groups and the Nextdoor app. Despite her efforts, there were no leads.
A neighbour suggested she monitor Gumtree and similar online marketplaces where pets are often sold. Soon enough, Losa stumbled across a badly photoshopped advert listing Betty for £900. It was clear her cat had been stolen.
Losa’s experience is far from unique. Although official data has yet to catch up, anecdotal evidence suggests cat theft is on the rise, even after the Pet Abduction Act of 2024 made the theft of cats and dogs a specific criminal offence. Last month, a high-profile case in West Yorkshire saw an Amazon delivery driver caught on a doorbell camera stealing a family’s sick cat, Nora. Thankfully, Nora was later recovered and returned to her owners.
Many owners are not so fortunate. Colin Butcher, founder of the UK’s first pet detective agency, says cat theft has overtaken dog theft in the past three to four years. Figures from Petlog, the Royal Kennel Club’s lost-and-found database, support this trend: of the 25,000 pets reported missing between January 2023 and June 2024, more than 20,000 were cats.
In some instances, organised crime has been suspected. In 2023, more than 50 cats across Kent and the South East were abducted and later returned with patches of fur shaved from their stomachs. It was believed thieves were checking for neutering scars; cats that had not been neutered could be used for breeding. No one was ever charged.
“I messaged the seller pretending to be interested,” Losa recalls. “But from my online posts, I think they knew who I was.” The seller replied that the cat was no longer for sale and that they intended to keep her. The police opened a case but later told Losa there was little they could do.
Refusing to give up, Losa traced a rough address using Gumtree’s GPS data and decided to confront the seller. By chance, one of their neighbours was a police officer, who agreed to knock on the door. A few days later, Betty was thrown over a nearby fence. She was limping, unwell, and distressed, but she recovered quickly. A vet confirmed her identity via microchip, and Losa was reunited with her cat the same day. “For a long time, I thought I’d never see her again,” she says. “It was terrifying.”
One reason cat theft is increasing may be how easy it is to carry out. “Cats are small and easy to conceal,” says Butcher. “They can be put in a bag or a car boot, and they don’t usually make a fuss when picked up. Sadly, many are never recovered.”
Illegal breeding is a major motive. “If you want to make money breeding cats, you either pay a lot for one or you steal it,” Butcher explains. Increasingly, disputes over ownership follow.
According to Annabel Berdy of Cats Protection, thieves are no longer targeting only pedigrees. Any cat may be taken in the hope an owner will pay a ransom.
That was the case for Helen*, a Londoner whose rescue cat Basil disappeared. After a week of searching, she offered a £250 reward. Within an hour, she received a call demanding the money. The exchange took place outside her home, with the cat handed over for cash. Basil was unharmed, though reeking of cigarette smoke.
“Moggies don’t have financial value,” says Berdy, “but they have enormous emotional value.” And for many owners, that bond makes them willing to pay almost anything to get their pet back.
