Smiling person sitting on a comfortable chair with a dog

Saving homeless pets in Greater Los Angeles

Some homeless pets entering shelters in Greater Los Angeles will never get to enjoy the comfort and safety of a home or the love of someone like you. You can help change that.

Every day, dogs and cats in Greater Los Angeles and around the country are killed just because they don't have safe places to stay. Together, we can change that.

Many shelters in the Greater Los Angeles area are working to achieve no-kill status. To support their efforts, Best Friends is focusing on shelters that take in the highest number of animals each year. These shelters include the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control (LAC DACC), Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS), and Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA).

To save more lives, we’re helping these shelters expand their foster programs and volunteer support, waive adoption fees, and implement public-friendly hours to increase adoptions.

We’re also offering grants and mentorships, and we’re working to keep cats who prefer to live outdoors (also called community cats) safe and out of shelters where they’re most at risk. We’re building relationships with city and county elected officials and policymakers, urging them to acknowledge what’s happening in shelters and act.

Working together, we can make sure that homeless dogs and cats find their way out of shelters and into safe and loving homes.

Person playing with a dog in a yard

Do you believe every animal deserves a safe and loving home?

Here at Best Friends, we believe that every dog and cat deserves to be in a home where they are safe, happy, and loved. 

Your voice is crucial to help homeless pets safely find their way out of shelters in Greater Los Angeles. When you let your elected officials know about how important it is to protect homeless pets, you help gain support for local shelters and save the lives of the most at-risk dogs and cats. 

I Agree
Dog Cat

No-kill: Ending the killing of pets in shelters

For a shelter to be considered “no-kill,” at least 90% of the cats and dogs coming in must make it out alive.

Shelters and communities around the country are achieving no-kill, and it’s possible in Greater Los Angeles, too. While some of the shelters in Greater Los Angeles are no-kill, many are not. So there’s work to be done.

Even with the best of care, there will be pets who come into a shelter with health or other issues that make it inhumane to prolong their suffering. For most shelters, those animals don't make up more than 10% of the pets taken in. The remaining 90% is how we arrive at the no-kill benchmark.

Find out how the shelter nearest you is doing in terms of lifesaving, and see how you can help its efforts to achieve no-kill.

See How Your Shelter Is Doing
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Join a community of lifesavers

Best Friends is working throughout Greater Los Angeles with local shelters, and they need your support.

Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS)
We’re focusing on growing the foster program with volunteer support, waiving rescue fees, and urging city officials to be transparent with the community about the reality of animals losing their lives.
More about LAAS

Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control (LAC DACC)
We’re focusing on growing the foster program with volunteer support, waiving rescue fees, and adding hours of operation.
More about LAC DACC

Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA)
We’re focusing on growing the foster program with volunteer support, as well as reducing the number of pets brought in from the field.
More about SEAACA

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What you can do to save the lives of pets

We can save more lives by working together, and everybody can do something: spay/neuter your own pets, provide a foster home for a pet in a shelter, volunteer, and spread the word about what needs to be done to save the lives of pets in your community.

Smiling person wearing a Best Friends sweatshirt sitting with a dog outside

Volunteer in Greater Los Angeles

Whatever your experience or interests, there are countless ways to volunteer your time for pets in need here in Greater Los Angeles.
Getting started as a volunteer
Smiling person holding two tiny kittens

Foster a pet

Opening your heart and home to a furry houseguest, even for just a few nights, helps those pets while freeing up space in the shelter so more lives can be saved.
The fun of fostering
Person cradling a brown and white tabby cat in her arms

Adopt a pet

When you adopt a cat or dog from a rescue group or animal shelter, you’re making a lifesaving difference for a loving and grateful animal.
Find adoptable cats and dogs near you
Smiling person sitting with dog outside next to a gray wall

See where your community stands

Animal shelters, local stakeholders, lifesaving groups, and individual community members are working together to save pets who are at risk in shelters.
Is your community no-kill?
Black and white dog looking at a person's hands holding a Best Friends bowl containing dog food

Help provide lifesaving assistance

Thanks to the generous support of the community, lifesaving assistance is available to pets and their families who need it most in Greater Los Angeles.
Making a lifesaving gift
Kitten outside in the grass

Help cats in your community

Community cats (aka stray or free-roaming cats) are felines who prefer to live outdoors rather than in homes. They often wind up being killed when they end up in shelters.
Helping cats in your community

Helping pets stay with families

From securing pet-inclusive housing to purchasing supplies for pets in need, community-supported sheltering allows pets to stay in their homes. You can help pets right here in Greater Los Angeles.

Cat outdoors on a fence

Help cats in your community

Community cats (aka stray or free-roaming cats) are felines who prefer to live outdoors rather than in homes. They are some of the most at-risk animals when they end up in shelters.
Helping cats in your community
Smiling person sitting with a dog outside on some steps

Promoting pet-inclusive housing

Ensure the availability of more pet-inclusive housing to keep pets with their families.
Promoting pet-inclusive housing
Two people interacting with a large white dog

Reunite lost pets with their people

Before taking a stray pet to your local shelter, try visiting a veterinarian’s office to see whether the pet has a microchip; then try to reunite the pet with their family via social media and talking to your neighbors.
Reuniting pets with people
Person using a stethoscope to listen to the chest of a husky dog

Keep your pet healthy

Spaying and neutering are routine medical procedures that not only help prevent unintended litters, but they may also prevent medical and behavioral problems.
Learn about spay/neuter
Two tiny kittens in a pet carrier

Microchip your pet to keep them safe

A veterinarian or shelter staff member will scan for a microchip when stray pets are brought to them. This safe and effective technology can help get your pet back to you quickly if they’re ever lost.
Microchipping your pet
Small dog playing with a dog toy on a soft rug in a home

Recent tales from Greater Los Angeles

Looking for a little inspiration? Check out these pets and their stories of hope, love, and resilience.

Jaime Gallardo lying on the floor with Dublin the dog

Magical fresh start for senior dog

Dublin needed an adopter who understood his mobility challenges.
See him in action
Video
Betty the dog sitting in a car seat wearing pearls

Senior dog regains pep in her step

Sweet Betty recovered from surgery and is thriving in her new home despite a cancer diagnosis.
Senior dog now thrives
Feature
Profile of two shepherd-type dogs.

'Let’s stop killing animals in shelters and get more of them adopted out'

Los Angeles Times editorial board calls out the conditions and operations at Los Angeles Animal Services.
Support the pets of Los Angeles
Julie Castle Blog

Help a Greater Los Angeles shelter or animal rescue group

Best Friends Network Partners are made up of thousands of public and private animal shelters, rescue groups, spay/neuter organizations, and other animal welfare groups, all working to save the lives of dogs and cats here in Greater Los Angeles and across the country.

Each and every one of our network partners needs caring people like you to adopt, foster, donate, volunteer, and advocate to help save the lives of pets where you live.

Find an animal shelter or rescue group near you today: 

Search by City/State/Zip
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Make your voice heard

If you can’t adopt or foster, you can spread the word about the importance of stepping up to save the lives of cats and dogs.

Let your family, friends, and neighbors know that together we can make a difference in the lives of pets. 

Let your city leaders know that saving the lives of pets in shelters is important to you.

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Show your support

Do you believe that the killing in shelters needs to end?
I Agree
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About Best Friends

Best Friends Animal Society is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across the country, giving pets second chances and happy homes.

As recently as 2016, 2 million cats and dogs were killed in shelters 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 400,000 per year, but there’s still work to do to ensure a bright future for every dog and cat in America.  

Best Friends operates the nation's largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals and is committed to saving the lives of homeless pets by working with shelters and passionate people like you. We’re sharing our resources and what we know to help shelters around the country achieve no-kill in their communities. 

Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill in 2025.