Here’s something nobody tells you when you drop your dog off at the groomer or board your cat for the weekend: if something goes wrong — really wrong — you may have almost no legal leverage to find out what actually happened.
In most states, there’s no law that requires a grooming facility or pet boarding operation to show you their security camera footage, give you a written incident report, or tell you anything beyond what they choose to share voluntarily. That’s not a rumor. That’s just the current legal reality in most of the U.S.
New Jersey is one of the rare exceptions. A proposed bill in the New Jersey Legislature (S2531) would require grooming facilities to keep surveillance footage for at least 60 days and maintain a pet incident file submitted annually to a state board. The fact that this had to be written into a bill tells you everything — without laws like this, facilities aren’t obligated to do any of it.
If your pet dies in one of these situations, one of the most important things you can do is request a necropsy — that’s basically an autopsy for animals. It can determine the cause of death and, if something went wrong, give you documentation you could potentially use in a complaint or legal case. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories perform necropsies and frequently provide documentation for legal and insurance cases. But here’s the catch: you have to act fast, and you have to ask. Nobody’s going to offer that to you.
PETA also recommends that if you suspect negligence led to your pet’s injury or death, you file a written complaint with a relevant state agency — such as a veterinary licensing board or your state’s consumer protection office, depending on how groomers are regulated in your state — detailing what happened, when, and where, and ask for an investigation. Because groomers are not licensed through veterinary boards in every state, it’s worth checking which agency oversees pet care businesses where you live. It’s not a guarantee of answers, but it creates an official record.
The bottom line is this: the protections most people assume exist for their pets in these situations largely don’t. If you board your pet or take them to a groomer, it’s worth asking upfront whether they have cameras, what their incident reporting process looks like, and what happens if your pet gets hurt. A good facility won’t be offended by those questions. And now you know to ask.