Please do not bring a found dog to the shelter as we are not permitted to take them into our kennels. Please contact the local dog warden for the area in which you found the dog.

The chances are that the cat you have found – or that keeps turning up at your home – is not actually lost; cats tend to roam some distance from their owner’s house (often up to 2km) and will home in on any place where they may be fed and find a cosy place to rest. Unless the cat is injured or in distress, it is best not to encourage it into your home as there may well be a distraught owner out searching frantically for a beloved pet. If the cat returns regularly to your home, it may be worth attaching a paper collar on the cat with a message to the owner to contact you. This way, you will know it is not a stray and certainly doesn’t need double rations!

If you find a young kitten or litter of kittens, do not touch them. It is most likely that Mum may be nearby and possibly in the process of moving her litter to a safer place. Please call us and we will advise and, if necessary, we shall take in the litter once we are sure that they have been abandoned.

If you have found a hedgehog, squirrel, bird or other form of wildlife, please contact Kendal College Animal Rescue Centre .

If you are aware of a feral cat colony, please let us know. We have a Trap-Neuter-Return programme in which we humanely trap the cats, neuter them and release them back to their original habitat as quickly as possible, providing veterinary treatment if needed. This way, we can prevent the cats in the colony from reproducing and multiplying out of control and ensure they can carry on living happily in a familiar environment. It is not possible to domesticate feral cats or kittens, unless they come to us before the age of 8 weeks.