Resources for Lost/Found Stray Animals (including feral cats and kittens)

  Crestwood Animal Shelter does not take in stray animals. We do not have the resources for stray animals.

  If you find an animal that you think is a lost pet, please have the animal scanned for a microchip ID. Any vet or emergency vet clinic will do so for free. If the owner’s information is not good, see if you can  find out who purchased and placed the microchip and contact them. If an animal was chipped by a shelter, the animal may be a previously rescued animal.  You can ask the original shelter to take their animal back, which most shelters will gladly do.

  Contact the following shelters to see if they are able to help you: 

• APA (314) 645-4610 https://apamo.org/, 
• Humane Society (314) 647-8800 https://hsmo.org/, 
• Stray Rescue of St. Louis (City) (314 ) 771-6121 https://www.strayrescue.org, 
• Open Door Animal Shelter (636) 671-3643 https://odas.org/.

• https://www.Nextdoor.com (in your area)
• https://www.stllostpets.org
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/STLMOlostfoundpaws/
• https://apamo.org/resource-center/lost-found/

Crestwood Animal Shelter does NOT take-in feral and lost cats. We apologize, but  our shelter does not have the resources to help these cats and kittens. 

We recommend calling:

• APA Animal Protective Association of MO (314) 645-4610 https://apamo.org/, 

• Humane Society (314) 647-8800 https://hsmo.org/, 

• Stray Rescue of St. Louis (City) (314 ) 771-6121 https://www.strayrescue.org, 

• Open Door Animal Shelter (636) 671-3643 https://odas.org/.   

An internet search for Animal Rescue Centers in your area can help you find other shelters in the St. Louis Area.

  Please make a list of the shelters you contact. Depending on the shelter, you may need to call these shelters repeatedly until you can get an answer to your questions. Some shelters require you to fill out the shelter’s forms on-line to meet their requirements for taking in cats and kittens. 

 Unfortunately, if other shelters are filled to capacity, Crestwood Animal shelter still cannot help with feral cats. Crestwood Animal Shelter apologizes, but we are not equipped to handle feral cats and kittens.

Our shelter’s resources are too limited to properly care for homeless kittens.

Please reach out to: 

• APA (314) 645-4610, 
• Humane Society (314) 647-8800,
• Stray Rescue of St. Louis (City) (314) 771-6121, or 
• Open Door Animal Shelter (636) 671-3643.. 

These organizations have a much wider pool of resources.

Does the kitten(s) look young enough to still need mom’s milk?

 Unweaned kittens are called neonates and require 24 hour care. 

We recommend you try:

• Snuggle Pet Rescue  (636) 229-2796 snugglepetrescue.org.  They take in special-needs neonate kittens.

  If local shelters are full, are YOU able to commit to the little animal family for several months to give them their best chance?  If so, YOU are doing a GREAT COMMUNITY SERVICE and saving lives. 

  Remember kitten season is an incredibly busy time for shelters. Capacity levels fill up fast, all over the St. Louis area.  Be patient. Create a shelter contact list.

Repeatedly call the shelter list each week. See if there are better days to call for appointments and openings for surrenders/intake. Or look for and fill out their online forms.

  Make sure you can help care for the cat family for 8-14 weeks. Keep mother and kittens indoors at all times. Kittens ween from mother cat at 7-8 weeks and will need to be separated from their mother (within the home) from time to time. Mother cat will need time

to rest and regain some weight probably. All of them, mom and kits, will need to be socialized to humans during their time with you. This will make the entire cat family more appealing to shelters taking them in and will make their transition into a new forever home much smoother and hopefully quicker. 

  Remember, you have the opportunity to get a mother cat spayed and save her from countless litters. In addition, you are reducing over-population of feral cats.

Low cost spay, vaccine, and medical clinics are in the area. See our resource page for these clinics here.  

  Remember the cats found YOU to help them! You’ve got this!!!