Buying a pet safely: how to avoid scams
The most common scams when buying cats and dogs in Egypt, what to check before you pay, and what to look for on pick-up day.
If you decide to buy a cat or a dog, the biggest risk isn't the price. It's being scammed: a deposit paid for an animal that never arrives, a sick puppy with a fake vaccination card, or a baladi dog sold as a purebred.
Common scams
- The deposit: the seller asks for a transfer "to hold" the animal, then disappears.
- Stolen photos of an animal that doesn't exist.
- A sick animal that looks fine on the day and falls ill a few days later.
- A fake vaccination card, without a real clinic stamp or the vaccine sticker.
- A fake breed: a mixed or baladi animal sold as a purebred, sometimes with dyed fur.
- One animal, many buyers, each paying a deposit.
Before you pay anything
- See the animal in person. If you can't yet, ask for a live video call with your name and today's date written on paper next to the animal.
- Meet the mother if you can, and see where the litter lives.
- Check the age: never buy a kitten or puppy younger than 8 weeks.
- Ask for the vaccination card, photograph it, and call the clinic that stamped it.
- Dogs aged 3 months or more: ask for the licence number, and read banned and conditional breeds. Banned breeds can't be sold at all.
- Compare prices: far below the market usually means a problem. See what a cat costs and what a dog costs.
On pick-up day
- Look closely: clear eyes and nose, active and playful, a clean coat with no flakes or visible fleas.
- Get a written receipt with the seller's name and phone number, the animal's description and age, the price and the date. See pet papers explained.
- Agree in writing that you'll have a vet check within 2–3 days, and what happens if a problem turns up.
- Dogs: the licence must be transferred to you, for EGP 1,000. See how to license your dog.
- Book that vet check soon. See how to choose a vet.
Warning signs
- Refuses a video call or a visit.
- Rushes you: "someone else wants it today".
- Wants payment to a wallet in someone else's name.
- Can't answer simple questions about food and vaccines.
- Offers to send the animal with a courier before you've seen it.