Person sitting with a small dog and kitten

How you can help homeless pets in your community

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

Our best friends don’t belong in shelters; they belong at home. But in 2024 alone, 4.8 million homeless dogs and cats entered America’s shelters. And 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 in your community and beyond.

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.

Help Salt Lake City Animals

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.

Help Houston Animals

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.

Help Northwest Arkansas Animals

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.

Help Los Angeles Animals

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 New York City Animals

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No-kill is within reach, thanks to you

With your help — whether you adopt, give, volunteer, or use your voice to protect animals — we'll end the killing in America's animal shelters.

Americans helped to save nearly 4 million dogs and cats in 2024 from being killed in U.S. shelters as public support and momentum for no-kill shelter programs continues to grow across the country. This is a solvable issue, and you can be part of the solution.

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.

Adopt a Pet

Give

With a monthly gift, you'll provide homeless pets with the steady healing and support they need to find loving homes.

Make My Monthly Gift

Win

The animals are so grateful for your support, and we are, too! That's why we're teaming up with Blue Buffalo to give away a year's supply of pet food to show our appreciation.

Enter to Win

Help save animals in your community

At Best Friends, our goal is to get more dogs and cats out of shelters and into homes and make every shelter in America no-kill.

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.

Is Your Community No-Kill?

Shelters and rescue groups in your community need caring people like you to adopt, foster, donate, volunteer, and advocate to help save the lives of pets.

When you give us your email address, we'll send you a list of shelters where you live and share more about how you can help save the lives of homeless pets.

Your new BFF is in town!

These adorable, adoptable dogs and cats near you are looking for homes of their own:

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More ways to help homeless pets today

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

Let's be friends!

Connect with us on social media to stay in the loop about the lifesaving progress we’re making together. And when you give us your email address we'll send you emails with inspiring stories and ways to make a difference for animals in your community and around the U.S.

Let's stay connected

About Best Friends Animal Society

Best Friends is working to end the killing of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters in part by getting more pets out of shelters and into loving homes.

We’ve come a long way since the first known city reached no-kill in 1994, and now we’re closer than ever to making the entire country no-kill. Today, roughly 2,500 shelters are no-kill throughout the U.S. — and 700 more are just 100 pets or fewer away from reaching that milestone.

Best Friends is committed to working with passionate people like you to save homeless pets through adoption, volunteering, fostering, and advocacy. In addition to our lifesaving centers around the U.S, we also founded and run the nation's largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals.

Working together, we can save homeless pets in our communities and secure a better future for our best friends. Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill.