Person sitting with a small dog and kitten

How you can help homeless pets

Everyone deserves a home — and that includes pets in shelters. You can make a lifesaving difference for animals waiting for homes of their own.


When animals don’t have a home, they’re at risk of being killed. In fact, a dog or cat is killed in America’s shelters every 90 seconds just because they don’t have a safe place to call home. But there are so many ways you can help change that.

Dog Cat

No-kill is within reach, thanks to you

You can save the lives of dogs and cats in shelters in your community when you adopt, give, and use your voice to protect homeless pets.

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Adopt

When you adopt a pet from a rescue group or animal shelter instead of buying from a breeder or puppy mill, you’re providing a lifesaving second chance.
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Donate

When you sign up to become a monthly donor by March 2, your monthly gift will be matched throughout 2025, making your generosity go twice as far!
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Join

We believe every pet deserves a home, whether it’s a house with a fenced yard, a cozy apartment, or a safe outdoor space for community cats. Do you agree?

See how your community is doing

With your help we can save every at-risk pet in a shelter this year and secure a better future for our best friends.

Right now, nearly 2 out of 3 U.S. shelters are already no-kill, and hundreds more are within reach of that goal. Working together, we can save the lives of homeless pets in communities like yours — and nationwide — ensuring that the places we call home are better for everyone, pets included.

Person giving an orange and white cat a medical exam after a transport from Los Angeles during the wildfires

Best Friends is responding to the L.A. wildfires

From our lifesaving center in West LA, we're working to save as many dogs and cats as we can in the face of this unprecedented disaster.
Smiling person sitting in front of Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in Salt Lake City with a dog

Salt Lake City: Let’s save our dogs and cats

You can help dogs and cats in Salt Lake City by volunteering, adopting, or fostering today.
Smiling person outside with a dog in Houston, Texas
Photo courtesy of Erica Danger

Houston: Let’s save our dogs and cats

You can help dogs and cats in Houston by volunteering, adopting, or fostering today.
People attending a pet adoption event in Bentonville, Arkansas
Photo courtesy of Russell Bloodworth

Northwest Arkansas: Let’s save our dogs and cats

You can help dogs and cats in Northwest Arkansas by volunteering, adopting, or fostering today.
Smiling person holding a dog outside of the Best Friends Pet Adoption Center in Los Angeles

Los Angeles: Let’s save our dogs and cats

You can help dogs and cats in Los Angeles by volunteering, adopting, or fostering today.
Smiling person sitting in a park in New York City with a dog

New York City: Let’s save our dogs and cats

You can help dogs and cats in New York City by volunteering, adopting, or fostering today.

Help your local animal shelter or rescue group

Best Friends is working to end the killing of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters by getting more pets out of shelters and into loving homes. Each and every one of these shelters needs caring people like you to adopt, foster, donate, volunteer, and advocate to help save the lives of pets in your community.

Find a shelter near you today:
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More ways to bring love home today 

Every action you take for homeless pets helps to save their lives and gets the country closer to no-kill; we’ll show you how.

Pets who found their way home

Check out these pets and their stories of hope, love, and resilience.



Let's be friends!

Connect with us on social media to stay in the loop about the lifesaving progress we’re making together. And we'll send you all the ways you can help save homeless pets when you give us your email address. 

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About Best Friends 

Here at Best Friends, we believe that every dog and cat deserves the love, safety, and comfort of a home. 

Whether their home is a big house with a fenced yard or a cozy apartment — or it’s a community cat’s safe outdoor space — every pet deserves to have a safe place to call home. That’s why we’re working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across the country, giving pets second chances and happy homes.  

Just a few short years ago, cats and dogs were killed in staggering numbers in this country simply because shelters didn't have the community support or the resources to save their lives. That number is now less than half a million per year, but there’s still work to do to ensure that every dog and cat in America has a safe place to call home. 

Best Friends also runs the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary and works collaboratively with a network of more than 5,000 animal welfare and shelter partners, plus community members around the country, to save pets’ lives. Together, let’s bring them home and Save Them All.

We'd love to see your pet living their best life! When you share your favorite video or photo of your pet at home, we’ll use it to inspire others to bring their best friend home.