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All of our cats and kittens are owner surrenders or in the case of kittens, found and brought in by good samaritans. 4 Paws encourages anyone who finds a lost cat to first take the cat to their local animal control. Please read 4 Paws lost and found information for more details.
4 Paws is dedicated to providing each cat who comes to our shelter the best possible care and chances for a new family. A cat who comes to 4 Paws with no real medical issues may spend up to 25 days at the shelter prior to adoption. Some may be here only for a day or two, others a little longer than the average.
If a cat comes to the shelter with an injury or treatable condition, the staff will provide appropriate care before that cat is placed up for adoption. This can increase the average time before adoption to 30 days or more depending on the condition.
4 Paws has over 50 volunteer foster families who care for newborns, pregnant cats, and recuperating cats until they are ready to be placed up for adoption. Our foster families directly saved the lives of over 500 cats and kittens in 2022 alone.
No cat or kitten is ever euthanized for space at 4 Paws. This is one of the reasons that we are not able to accept every cat in need and must manage our intake numbers based on available space.
View our available cats.
Learn more about our adoption process.
Learn more about our owner surrender process.
Found a cat with kittens?
If you find a cat and kittens, there are several things you can do to help find the cat’s owner or provide the cat with the opportunity for a new home.
- If you found a lactating female cat, please do not remove her or confine her to a cage or trap. Try to find her kittens and reunite them; separating them can be harmful to both kittens and the mother cat.
- If you find very young kittens with no mom, please do not remove them or confine them to a cage or trap. Leave the kittens and watch for mom to come back as she may be out looking for food. If after 12-24 hours mom does not come back, then try to find a place to take the kittens.
What to do with a stray cat
Take the cat to your nearest veterinarian to scan for a microchip. You may be able to get the cat back to their owner right away! If there is no microchip, all stray or found cats must first go to local county animal services in order to give the cat the best chance of being reunited with its owner. You can find the animal services agency closest to you by searching online for “animal services” in your area.
Visit the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control website.
We offer the following tips and resources to help you with found cats:
- Before you attempt to bring a cat to a shelter, determine whether the cat is a feral cat.
- Feral cats should not be taken to shelters. Visit the ADLAZ website for more information on how to handle a feral cat(s).
- File a found pet report with your local county control agency (see above).
- Put up signs in your neighborhood—if you live in/near apartment complexes, leave a flyer with the manager.
- Check and post lost/found pet ads in newspapers, your local NextDoor site and on Phoenix Craigslist.
- Walk around your neighborhood and talk to neighbors who might know and/or be looking for the cat.
- Post information on your personal social media pages to spread the word about a found cat.