How to Help a Stray Pet

Safety First

A strange, frightened, and possibly sick or injured animal can behave unpredictably. A sudden move on your part, even opening your car door, can spook them and cause them to bolt—possibly right onto the highway. If the animal looks or acts threatening, or if you feel uneasy about the situation, stay in your car.

If possible, restrain the animal. Create a barrier or use a carrier, leash, piece of cloth, or length of rope to keep the animal in the area. Signal approaching vehicles to slow down if you cannot confine the animal, or divert traffic around them if they appear to be injured and is still on the roadway.

Shelters and Agencies

Understand the limitations of shelters and animal care and control agencies. For instance, you can take a badly injured stray dog to animal control and find out that the agency is unable to provide expensive surgery to treat the dog’s injuries. In those cases, shelters may euthanize the animals to relieve their suffering. Virtually all animal control facilities have severe budgetary or space limitations and must make painful decisions about how best to allocate their inadequate resources.

Visiting a Veterinarian

Before you take an injured animal to a private veterinary hospital for treatment, be willing to assume financial responsibility for the animal. Good care is not cheap, and many veterinarians have many Samaritans in their waiting rooms every year. Anyone who is committed to trying to save injured stray animals should discuss these issues in advance with the veterinarian.

Things to Consider

If you’re uncertain about whether or not to help or keep an animal you see alongside the road, here’s a final word of advice: First, think of what you would want the finder of your animal to do if they happened to find them injured without their collar.

You’d want them to take your pet to a veterinarian, and you’d want them to try to find you. At the same time, be reasonable about how much you can afford to do for that animal if no owner shows up.

Good Samaritans who have never lost a cherished companion animal may conclude that the owner of the found dog or cat callously abandoned them or, at the very least, neglected to keep them safely confined at home. But accidents can happen to anyone. The frantic owner could be looking everywhere for their beloved pet.

Finally, be honest with yourself in answering these questions: Are you willing to add them to your household? And will you be willing to return them to their original home if the owner turns up after you’ve started to form an attachment? If you answer “no” to these questions, your best option may be to take the animal directly to the shelter or contact animal control for assistance.