PAWS Companion Animal Shelter
For over five decades, PAWS Companion Animal Shelter has led the way in providing expert, compassionate care for animals in need. PAWS cares for more than 4,000 dogs and cats each year, provides training and education to strengthen the human/animal bond, and works to end animal cruelty and overpopulation.
From our beginning in 1967, PAWS has maintained our vision of a community where animals are treated with respect, every pet has a permanent and loving home, and companion animals are spayed or neutered. Read more about PAWS history and milestones.
Our services include a shelter in Lynnwood, a satellite cat adoption center at PAWS Cat City in Seattle’s University District, and a spay and neuter clinic. We keep stray pets safe until we can reunite them with their families and help people find their missing cats and dogs. To help keep animals in their homes, we offer animal behavior resources.
How animals come to PAWS
PAWS welcomes cats and dogs from shelters and rescue groups in areas overwhelmed with homeless animals through our Placement Partner Program. This effort helps animals at risk of euthanasia to have the best chance at finding loving, permanent homes in the animal-friendly Northwest. We are also proud to be a receiving agency for the HSUS’s Emergency Placement Partner program and ASPCA’s Field Investigations and Response Team. These relationships mean we can take in animals from emergency situations such as natural disasters or hoarding cases.
Through our Re-homing Service we accept cats and dogs from guardians who can no longer keep them.
As long as it takes
No healthy, adoptable animal is euthanized at PAWS. There are no time limits – regardless of age, health or behavior needs, every adoptable dog and cat has as long as it takes to find their home. More than 117,000 Seattle-area homes have been enriched by the adoption of a companion animal from PAWS.
Community collaboration
PAWS collaborates with government agencies, community stakeholders, other animal welfare agencies and veterinary professionals to create a “safety net for animals.” We rely on hundreds of volunteers in all aspects of our work including caring for the animals, assisting customers, promoting the animals for adoption, and providing temporary foster care.
PAWS Cat City
PAWS Cat City is located in Seattle’s University District. Since PAWS opened this urban, cat-only adoption center in 1997 (originally in the Greenwood neighborhood), we have found homes for more than 21,000 cats and kittens through this location. PAWS Cat City’s open-colony setting, with cats and kittens staying in rooms rather than in cages, provides an opportunity for visitors to interact with the cats, see how they interact with each other and get a better sense of each cat’s unique personality.
Visiting the cats and kittens
Before going into the rooms with the cats and kittens, you’ll be asked to complete a questionnaire designed to give us more information about you and the type of cat or kitten you are looking for. Once completed, our volunteers will review it with you to answer any questions you have and make recommendations tailored to what you’re looking for and who we have there at that time, after which you’ll be invited to go into the rooms to visit.
You can download, print and complete the survey below to save you time during your visit to Cat City or the PAWS main shelter in Lynnwood. Printed surveys are also available at both locations.
Download and view the Cat Adopter Questionnaire (PDF)
View our current adoption fees
Other services
PAWS Cat City also sells PAWS merchandise, cat toys and supplies, and pet licenses for the City of Seattle.
PAWS does not have dogs available for adoption at this location. To meet our dogs available for adoption, please visit PAWS main shelter in Lynnwood.
Cat City is not equipped to accept any incoming animals. Found animals in the city of Seattle, should be taken to the Seattle Animal Shelter 2061 15th Ave W, Seattle, 206.386.7387.
Get assistance with finding your lost pet or helping a stray pet you found.
See our resources if you can’t keep your pet.