Lost and Found Pets

Our Admissions Department is dedicated to assisting with lost and found pets as well as rehoming needs. For any inquiries, please feel free to contact us at 785-233-7325 ext. 115 or via email at admissions@hhhstopeka.org.

Lost Pets

Found Cats

Found Dogs

Giving up your pet

I Found A Cat:

What do I do now?

At Helping Hands Humane Society, our priority is to provide compassionate, life-saving care for animals while serving the best interests of our community. Research and experience have shown that admitting more healthy stray cats than can be adopted leads to overcrowded shelters, illness, stress, and unnecessary euthanasia of cats who might otherwise live well in their community.

For this reason, we are only able to admit stray cats who are sick, injured, or in dangerous circumstances. Healthy stray and community cats often already have a “home” in their neighborhood, whether through access to food, shelter, or caretakers, and many are more likely to find their way back to an owner or new home outside of the shelter.

By focusing intake on cats truly in need of urgent help, we can:

Save more lives by preventing overcrowding and euthanasia.
Provide the highest standard of care to animals who need it most.
Support long-term, humane solutions such as spay/neuter and community cat programs.

We know that turning away a healthy stray can feel difficult, but this approach ensures that every cat admitted has the best chance at a positive outcome. Together, we can protect cats, wildlife, and our community by using proven, life-saving strategies.

Submit A Lost Pet Report

Key points of research on shelter's intake procedures for cats

Shelter Overcrowding & Euthanasia

Historically, shelters admitted more cats than could be adopted, leading to overcrowding and high euthanasia rates.
This was once seen as inevitable, but new strategies show humane, cost-effective alternatives exist.

Community Cats Defined

“Community cats” include all unowned cats—feral, stray, or abandoned.
They often live within neighborhoods, with or without human support, and are not typically reclaimed at shelters.

Impact on Shelters

Over 80% of pet cats are sterilized, but only ~2% of community cats are.
Community cats contribute the largest share of shelter intake and euthanasia.

Traditional Shelter Outcomes

Few cats are reclaimed (1 in 50).
Feral/fearful cats are often euthanized; friendly cats may be adopted, but numbers exceed demand.
Example: In 2010, California shelters euthanized 276,052 cats out of 400,433 admitted.

Alternatives to Euthanasia

Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR): Cats are sterilized, vaccinated, and returned to their community. Improves health, reduces nuisance behaviors, and prevents overpopulation.
Managed/Scheduled Intake: Shelters admit cats only when space and homes are available, prioritizing sick, injured, or dangerous cats.

Challenges with Adoptions

Adoption programs help but cannot keep pace with intake numbers, especially since many feral cats aren’t suited as pets.
Leaving cats in place or returning them after TNR may increase their survival chances compared to shelter admission.

Lost & Stray Cats

Cats are rarely reclaimed from shelters (≈2%).
Owners are more likely to find lost cats outside shelters.
Shelters can support by offering lost-and-found resources rather than default intake.

Public Expectations

Most Americans oppose euthanasia of healthy animals and prefer non-lethal solutions, even if imperfect.
Surveys show the public generally views leaving cats in the community as more humane than euthanasia.

Research and data via Kate Hurley, DVM, MPVM and Dr. Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, by Madie’s Fund https://www.maddiesfund.org/feline-shelter-intake-reduction-program-faqs.htm

Contact HHHS!

Please call us right away at 785-233-7325 and ask for Admissions Lost & Found. We also encourage you to come to our shelter at 5720 SW 21st St in Topeka, KS as soon as possible to check for your pet in person.*

If your pet has been at HHHS less than 72 hours, we are waiving reclamation fees ($0 to take them home – proof of ownership and photo ID required) – any donation is greatly appreciated!

*By submitting a lost report online, over the phone, or in person with HHHS, you consent to receiving text and/or phone call updates about your lost pet.

Found Cat HPO fact sheet_FNL_031525-2.pdf

“Cats don’t belong in shelters. And these days, most shelters agree.

If you’re like a lot of people, your first instinct when you find a cat in need is to call animal control or perhaps rush the cat to your local animal shelter. Depending on your local policies, doing either of these things may put the cat’s life in danger. In some areas, when cats are brought into shelters, it is a death sentence.

Because community cats are generally not socialized to people, they are unadoptable—which historically has meant that most of them were killed in shelters. Positive outcomes for cats brought to shelters, even friendly cats, though improving, remain abysmally low nationwide.

The good news is that an increasing number of animal shelters and animal control agencies are embracing humane policies for cats. Many are supporting community TNR efforts or creating TNR programs of their own, sometimes referred to as Shelter-Neuter-Return (SNR), or Return to Field (RTF). That’s why it is important to know YOUR local shelter’s policies for community cats.”

Learn more at alleycat.org/AnimalShelters ~ Alley Cat Allies’

“If you find kittens outside, bringing them to a local shelter is not always the best option. It’s natural to want to scoop them up, but unless they’re sick, injured, or in danger, please leave them there and wait for their mama to return. Their best chance of survival is with their mom.

Then, plan to return at a later date and have the whole family spayed/neutered. Trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) is the most humane method of preventing cats and kittens from entering the shelter system.” ~ Best Friends

“Reuniting lost pets with their owners is a major function of many animal shelters. For dogs, shelters are often quite successful in this effort, but usually much less so for cats. Nationally, reclaim rates for cats of 2% or less are commonly reported. This is probably the result of two factors: many cats entering shelters as “strays” are actually community cats with no owner to come looking for them, and when pet cats do become lost, owners are unlikely to look for their cat at a shelter. One study found that lost cats were over 13 times more likely to be reunited with their owners by non-shelter means than by a visit or call to a shelter, with “returning home on their own” accounting for over 60% of found cats. By contrast, more than a third of dogs were found via a shelter visit or call. Even if they do look, owners generally delay searching for lost cats longer than they do for dogs, meaning that by the time they get to the shelter, their cat may already be gone.

Evidence is building that lost cats without identification may actually have a better chance of being reunited with their owners if they are left where they are versus brought to a shelter. Lost cats whose owners are not located may also be more likely to find a home if not brought to a shelter, especially if the shelter is full or the cat would not fit criteria for “adoptability”. In one survey, 68% of people who found cats and were unable to find the owner kept the cat, and another 14% re-homed the cat on their own.” ~ Kate Hurley, DVM, MPVM and Dr. Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM