Our Mission:
Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation helps homeless pets find their way to loving homes through rescue and adoption.
Our Vision:
A world free of homeless, neglected or abused pets.
Our History:
- The Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation (LDCRF) was incorporated as a 501c3 not-for-profit organization in 2001 when restaurant owners, Pam McAlwee and Ross Underwood,of Arlington, VA decided to formalize their efforts to save homeless pets in their community. They purchased 63 acres of land in Sumerduck VA and began building The Lost Dog Ranch, a kennel facility for homeless pets with plenty of outdoor space for dogs to run and a cage-free building for cats. In 2018 LDCRF embarked on a new chapter of its mission and purchased a facility in the heart of Falls Church, Virginia. The facility today is now know as the Lost Dog & Cat ‘Rescue Care Center’.
- Since 2001, LDCRF has saved the lives of more than 45,000 homeless pets, most of whom were facing the threat of euthanasia at over-crowded municipal shelters.
- Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation is overwhelmingly a volunteer-run organization with a small paid staff providing direct care to animals at the Lost Dog & Cat ‘Rescue Care Center’. Many other animals are cared for in our network of volunteer foster homes and some cats are housed at PetSmart Cat Adoption Centers.
- Every weekend, LDCRF holds off-site adoption events at local PetSmart and PetCo stores and places more than 2,000 dogs and cats per year for adoption. In addition to weekly adoption events, LDCRF is very active within the local community and partners with local businesses and community members to hold ‘Special Adoption’ events through the year.
Our Values:
- LDCRF was founded with the belief that through an open, friendly adoption process we could match great people with homeless pets and send those pets to their new homes without unnecessary barriers. To that end, we have done same day adoptions with two-week trial periods since 2001, and continue to look for ways to remove barriers that prevent adoptions.
- LDCRF makes a lifetime commitment to the animals we rescue and accepts those animals back into our care should the need arise.
- At Lost Dog we like pets AND people and we hope to make the adoption process positive and fun for adopters and volunteers alike.
