I Found a Cat

***If you have an animal emergency, please contact your local Animal Control agency. As a private rescue organization, we are not authorized to provide field services for lost or injured pets.***

The best way to get an owned cat back home is often just to leave it where it is so the owner can find it; the cat likely belongs to one of your neighbors. If the animal has an ear tip (an ear with its tip cut off diagonally), this may indicate that the cat is feral but has been previously trapped and spayed or neutered. At some point, it was determined that this cat was not suitable for adoption and you should not try to pick it up or handle it as it is most likely more wild than tame. (NOTE: Occasionally, tame cats do end up with ear tips. You can learn more about ear-tipping on our blog.)

  • If you are concerned about a tame cat, you can take the cat to your nearest veterinary clinic or shelter to have the animal scanned for a microchip. If it does have a microchip the veterinarian or shelter will either take the animal and contact the owner or give you information to contact the microchip company to find the owner.
  • Most local rescue organizations are not authorized to take in stray animals because a central location is needed to connect owners with their pets. However, rest-assured, most of the cats in our care come from local municipal shelters and in Seattle the euthanization rate is very low because of the partnership of rescues with municipal shelters.
  • If you are worried about the health or well-being of an animal, call animal control. The following list includes local animal control facilities that are authorized to take in stray animals.

Municipal Shelters with Authority to Take in Stray Animals

  • Seattle Animal Shelter, 206-386-7387(PETS). Accepts strays from Seattle.
  • Regional Animal Services of King County, (206) 296-7387. Accepts strays from Beaux Arts, Bellevue, Black Diamond, Carnation, Clyde Hill, Covington, Duvall, Enumclaw, Issaquah, Kenmore, Kent, Kirkland, Lake Forest Park, Maple Valley, Mercer Island, Newcastle, North Bend, Redmond, Sammamish, SeaTac, Shoreline, Snoqualmie, Tukwila, Woodinville, Yarrow Point.
  • PAWS, (425) 787-2500. Accepts strays from Bothell, Brier, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, Shoreline and Woodinville.

*NOTE: animal control contracts do sometimes change, so we cannot guarantee that this list is up to date. Please contact your local animal control or municipal shelter for more information.

If you didn’t find your city listed, check here for more resources.

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