Best Friends Animal Society

Saving the lives of pets in the Navajo Nation

You can make a difference for the animals in your community.

Best Friends is working collaboratively with the Navajo Nation Animal Control Program, rescue groups, spay and neuter organizations, community members, and passionate individuals like you to increase lifesaving of cats and dogs in the Navajo Nation.

To save more dogs and cats, the Best Friends Navajo Nation program team is providing spay/neuter and vaccination resources, as well as transporting pets to areas where they’re more likely to find homes. 

The lack of spay/neuter resources in the Navajo Nation has contributed to a free-roaming dog population that has become a public safety concern. We’re working to address the overpopulation by providing additional spay/neuter resources, along with increasing public awareness around animal-related issues in the Navajo Nation Chapters. 

You can make a difference and help us end the killing in shelters in the Navajo Nation by volunteering, adopting, or making a donation to support our lifesaving work.

Keeping pets healthy in the Navajo Nation

Rural communities across the country struggle to access essential services, such as health care, let alone easily accessible and affordable veterinary care for their pets, and few communities are as rural and strapped for resources as the Navajo Nation.

That’s why we’re helping to bring services to the Navajo Nation and its pets. Best Friends and other organizations regularly host spay/neuter and vaccine clinics on the Navajo Nation to help provide these essential veterinary services. 

You can find details about upcoming clinics, pet care, and veterinary resources on Navajo Nation Pets, a tool created to help ensure people in the community can access all of the information they need. 

Get the information you need on Navajo Nation Pets »

Volunteer to help save the lives of cats and dogs

You can make a tremendous difference in the lives of homeless pets by volunteering to support our lifesaving programs in the Navajo Nation.

There are so many ways to get involved. You can help at a spay/neuter and vaccination clinic, give lifts to pets from shelters to rescue groups for adoption, or foster a dog or cat until the animal can be transported. 


Help at a spay/neuter and vaccination clinic

There are a range of tasks you can help with at the spay/neuter and vaccination clinics, such as checking in pets, cleaning kennels, assisting with surgery recovery and helping with paperwork. No experience? No problem. We will provide training and support.


Become a transport driver

Do you love animals? Do you love to drive? If your answers are yes, we have a great volunteer opportunity for you. We are always looking for people to help get animals from shelters to rescue groups where they can be adopted.


Open your home to a foster pet

Because of the high volume of animals entering the shelters, we often receive urgent calls from the kennel officers asking us to find homes for dogs, cats, puppies and kittens to make space for more. Rescue groups often need a bit of time to arrange for incoming animals. That’s where you come in.

By fostering a pet — providing love and care while an animal waits to be transferred to a rescue group and adopted — you’re helping to prepare that animal for life in a home, while freeing up space in shelters to help more pets.

To foster a pet in the Navajo Nation, you'll need to be in compliance with the Navajo Nation Animal Control ordinance.

Sign Up to Volunteer

If you live in or near the Navajo Nation and would like to sign up to volunteer or would like more information about volunteer opportunities, please email our outreach team at outreach@bestfriends.org.

Silhouette of two dogs, cat and kitten

Adopt to help save lives

When you adopt an animal who’s been patiently waiting for a place to call home, you’re not only saving a life, but you’re also making space at our animal sanctuary for other homeless dogs and cats from the Navajo Nation.

You’re giving them a chance to grow, thrive, and find families of their very own. You might not feel like a hero, but to one animal you’re the entire world.

Uplifting tales from the Navajo Nation

Looking for a little inspiration? Check out these pets and their stories of hope, love and resilience.
Person touching a smiling heeler-type dog in the back of a pick-up truck

Navajo Nation residents go the extra mile for pets

Local volunteers play a key role in how Best Friends programs serve dogs, cats, and their people.
See how pets are receiving veterinary care
Best Friends Magazine
Keith Slim-Tolagai with a dog on his lap, sitting in the open door of a transport van

Lifesaving rides for pets in Navajo Nation

Hundreds of dogs and cats each month find a fresh start in a new place, one drive at a time.
Read about their transports
Feature
Brown puppy with a cast on his leg

New veterinary resources for pets in Navajo Nation

Soul Dog Rescue and Nuzzles & Co. team up to provide spay/neuter and wellness resources for pets with the help of a grant from Best Friends.
Read how they keep pets and people together
Feature
Kitten playing with a catnip toy

Give to save lives

You’ll be helping to save the lives of homeless pets here in the Navajo Nation and around the country when you make a gift to the animals.
Give to Save Lives
Masked person carrying two puppies for a transport

Shop our wish list

Want to make a direct impact on pets here in the Navajo Nation with a gift from our wish list? The animals thank you!
Shop to Save Lives

Contact us

outreach@bestfriends.org