If You Found a Pet

If the animal is sick or injured, please take it to the closest animal shelter or emergency facility.

If you find a stray cat or dog in the City of Santa Rosa or unincorporated areas of Sonoma County, the law requires that you report the animal to us within 24 hours. You can call us at (707) 565-7100, Tuesday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can also bring the animal to our shelter or ask for an Animal Services Officer to pick it up. If the dog is aggressive, please contact us for assistance.

After our business hours, found animals can be brought to a 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital or clinic.

If you found cats or kittens:

• Review our Found Kittens page
• Scroll down for our community cats section.

If you found other types of animals:

Call our dispatch line Monday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at (707) 565-7100 and press 1. If the livestock is found outside our dispatch hours, please call your local law encforcement non-emergency line for assistance from an Animal Services Officer.

For injured wildlife, please contact Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue.

If you found a stray animal outside the Cities of Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and Windsor and Unincorporated Sonoma County, please contact the appropriate agency from the list below, according to where the animal was found. Per County Ordinance, this must be done within 24 hours of finding the pet.

Please attempt to find the pet’s owner and report the lost pet to Sonoma County Animal Services within 24-hours of finding the pet and:

• Call us at (707) 565-7100 or email TheAnimalShelter@SonomaCounty.gov with a description of the animal, where you found them and a photo for posting on our lost and found page. 
• During business hours, an officer may be able to come to your home to scan the animal for a microchip or you can bring it to our facility.
• During our non-business hours, take the pet to a 24-hour veterinarian hospital or open shelter to be scanned for a microchip.
• Post online:
  • PetcoLoveLost
  • PawBoost
  • 24Petconnect
  • Lostmydoggie
  • Lostmykitty 
  • Nextdoor
  • Craigslist in the Community section under Lost & Found Pets
  • Mission Reunite 
  • Josie's Los Dog Alert of Sonoma County and other local pet pages on Facebook
• Create found flyers and ask your neighbors if they know the pet.
• If no one claims the pet after 15 days, the animal is legally yours. However, if the animal was found within the city limits of Santa Rosa and the previous owner comes forward within 30 days of when the animal was reported to Sonoma County Animal Services, the previous owner has the right to retreive their pet from the finder.

Community cats are unsocialized cats without owners, and are often afraid of people. These cats are also known as feral cats. If you find a community cat without a tipped ear, then review the information on Spay and Neuter page.

If you find a community cat with a tipped ear, it has been spayed or neutered and returned to its environment. Please leave it where you found it, unless it is sick or injured.

If you need help with community cats, please contact Forgotten Felines.