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Help Make Philadelphia a No-Kill City.

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Meet your new best friend!

Cobalt
Foster Care

I'm a goofy and affectionate grandpa who will take every chance I can get to let you know how much I love you!
Alice
Foster Care

I'm a playful, affectionate, cat-friendly girl who starts out shy but warms right up with some chin scratches!
Cody
Foster Care

I'm a friendly senior couch potato who'd love to spend my golden years snuggling with you!
Shae
Foster Care

I have some special needs, but what really sets me apart are my sweet lap snuggles and endless capacity for love!
Miss Honey
Foster Care

I'm an affectionate sweetheart who loves all humans and will snuggle with you for hours if you let me!
Choco Taco
Foster Care

I'm a sweet treat who just wants to relax, befriend everyone I meet, and be near my people where I'm happiest!
All Available Dogs
All Available Cats

Support Our Lifesaving Efforts

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Raise support from family and friends for your birthday, in honor of your pet, or for any occasion.

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Donate needed supplies, provide for the animals in your planned giving, plan an event, and more.

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PAWS is the city's largest rescue partner.

We are working to make Philadelphia a place where every healthy and treatable pet is guaranteed a home. We do so through rescue, foster care, adoption, and preventing pet homelessness in the first place by offering low-cost spay/neuter and basic vet care.

Spay/Neuter and Wellness Clinics


Keeping pets and families together through low-cost basic veterinary services. Our clinics in Grays Ferry and the Northeast serve tens of thousands of pets every year whose caretakers may not afford care elsewhere.

Get Care

Recent News

02.27.24

After 393 days in our care, Coffee Cake is FINALLY home!


At last, the day we’ve been eagerly awaiting has finally arrived! After 393 days in PAWS’ care, we are overjoyed to announce that Coffee Cake, our lovable canine with a heart of gold, has found a family to call her own. Her journey – from the streets, to the city shelter, to PAWS, and finally […]
Read More
02.19.24

Tooth Fairy Fund: Help PAWS DOUBLE the Number Lifesaving Dental Surgeries We Can Offer


While a healthy mouth may not be top of mind when considering the challenges cats and dogs face in a shelter, dental disease poses a significant threat to these already vulnerable animals. Often, the barrier between life and death for these animals is a rescue organization’s ability to afford costly dental surgery, and thousands of […]
Read More
View All

39,396 animals saved to date


We rescue animals, primarily from the city shelter, almost daily with a focus on the most vulnerable: adult dogs, kittens, cats recovering from illnesses, and small animals. Once safe at PAWS, they receive everything they need to become ready for adoption, then are matched with loving homes.

178,607 volunteer hours served


PAWS’ dedicated and caring volunteers are essential in every aspect of our lifesaving efforts.

358,846 clinic patients served


Our low-cost Spay/Neuter and Wellness Clinics prevent pet homelessness and provide a needed resource in our community, enabling loving pet owners to care for and keep their dogs and cats as family.

144,500 spay/neuters performed


PAWS provides low-cost spay/neuter surgery for owned pets, rescues and community cats to prevent the birth of unwanted litters. Our efforts are working: since our clinics opened their doors, the number of homeless animals entering Philadelphia’s city shelter has declined year over year.

PAWS Partners

Our lifesaving work is possible with the meaningful support of business and community partners.

See our Partners

Current Partners

PAWS' impact grows as our services expand & progress continues

By rescuing, rehabilitating, and finding loving adopters for homeless animals with nowhere else to go, and providing affordable vet care and other services so pets can stay in their homes where they are loved, PAWS provides a vital and growing safety net for Philadelphia's most vulnerable cats and dogs. The pandemic has prompted a shift toward more intensive, individualized care for more complex needs.
2010
7154
2012
16160
2014
26188
2016
36510
2018
40455
2020
33840
2021
34528
2023
34801
Pets Served 100 100
More Shelter Statistics

Join us on social media

Herman here with an urgent foster plea: cats and kittens need homes NOW! Herman is 1 of the only 3 cats PAWS was able to pull from the city shelter this weekend because our cages are still at maximum capacity. (You may have caught our Facebook Live with Foster Manager Tammy on Friday who also shared the urgency around getting the cats in our care into foster homes as soon as possible).

Foster homes play a vital role in our mission to save lives by creating room that’s essential for rescuing vulnerable pets from the overcrowded city shelter. As we work hard to find homes for the cats currently in our care, your support in fostering is invaluable. Please consider helping if you’re able!

Fosters are most needed for:
🐾 Sick and injured cats, who will receive treatment in our clinics or need time to heal
🐾 Owned cats who need temporary care through PAWS’ Safety Net Program
🐾 Nursing mothers with kittens
🐾 Shy cats needing socialization or time to decompress
🐾 Ailing seniors and cats with chronic medical conditions

Learn more and sign up to foster at phillypaws.org/foster (link in bio) or email foster@phillypaws.org.

#philadelphia #fosteringsaveslives
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As we approach the two year anniversary of PAWS` Safety Net Foster Program, we`d like to highlight a member of the PAWS family who supports the program as both a foster and a PAWS Corporate Community Partner! Susan Mees began fostering with us last year, and is currently caring for feline sisters Pumpkin and Piper through PAWS’ Safety Net Program until they can be reunited with their owner later this month.

"As someone who is a big animal lover, having to give up your pet because of outside circumstances sounds devastating," says Susan, "Being able to give animals a safe landing while their people figure things out is incredibly rewarding. Our job is basically to make sure they`re safe, loved, and to send updates. Transferring homes can be stressful for animals at first, but when they start to show you their weird or loving or chaotic side, it`s so fun! The best part of Safety Net fostering is getting these pets back to their families and knowing that you helped ease a stressful period for a family. Knowing their pets are safe and cared for at least helps remove some of the challenges. Seeing a family reunite with their pets is also incredibly rewarding!”

We are so grateful to Susan for her care as a Safety Net Foster and her charitable support through her independently owned marketing company. Sign up to join PAWS’ foster program through our #linkinbio so we can keep more families together!

If your business or workplace is in need of a digital marketing strategy with a focus on performance marketing and analytics, please be sure to show some love to our newest PAWS Corporate Community member, Susan Mees Consulting! Visit susanmees.com for more info.
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Together, we will make Philadelphia a no-kill city.

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