That'd be an heck of an imposition on your friends, though. Maybe a better thing to do would be to contact them yourself and tell them that the police are trying to narrow down their suspects and ask if they'd be at home to show the cops around tomorrow... anyone that acted really shady about putting it off or flat-out refused jumps to the top of the suspect list, and the cops can get a warrant from there.
Of course, on the downside that might encourage the culprits to ditch the animals.