Lost and Found

What a relief, your missing mate has been found! You can come here to be reunited with your pet from Monday to Saturday between 10.30 and 15.30. Give us a call and come by! And if you’re not sure whether the animal in the photo is indeed your beloved dog, cat or rabbit, then just drop by and see for yourself. You can always call or email in advance to establish whether the cat in question has a tell-tale white patch on his hind leg, or if the rabbit has a distinctively drooping right ear.

We don’t give our temporary guests away to anyone, so it’s important that you have proof that you are indeed their rightful owner.This can either be his or her dog passport, or photos of you together. If your dog is registered to your name in the chip database, you do not need to bring any additional evidence, but you will need to present some ID.

Unfortunately, we’ll pass on any costs we’ve incurred for looking after your little darling. In addition to having to pay for the number of days he or she has stayed with us, we are obliged to charge you for vaccinations and for protecting them against parasites. All animals brought to us receive a chip so that we immediately know who the owner is next time. If your loved one was brought to us sick or injured, we’ll add those costs to the final bill. We realise there are a lot of costs involved, but you can rest assured we took good care of him or her in your absence!

In principle, you can bring us any dog, cat, or rabbit found strolling around on the street with no owner in sight, including stray animals. However, considering that cats often walk around without an owner, it is often hard to determine whether it is a stray cat or not. Thus, if a cat is wounded or sick, you can always bring him or her to us. If a cat is healthy, please try and determine whether he or she has an owner first. 

We house strays from the municipalities of Amsterdam, Diemen, Waterland, Beemster, Zeevang, Landsmeer, Edam/Volendam and Purmerend. If you found the animal somewhere else, please bring him or her to the shelter assigned to that region. This way, the owner has better chances of finding him or her back again. 

DOA does not pick up any stray animals. If you have found a sick or wounded animal you can, depending on your region, contact the Animal Ambulance (Dierenambulance) from either Amsterdam or Purmerend. If you have found a healthy cat, please contact the Amsterdam Stray Cat Foundation (Stichting Amsterdamse Zwerfkatten) or the Animal Ambulance from Purmerend. You can report stray dogs to the animal ambulance or to the police.

These cats usually have an owner, so you cannot bring him or her to us. If you are having issues, please contact the cat’s owner. By law, a cat can walk around in your garden, but may not cause any nuisance. If you have already talked to the owner and have seen no results, you may address this to the local neighbourhood representative (buurtregisseur) or the housing association (woningbouwvereniging).

Please contact the Animal Ambulance (Dierenambulance) from either Amsterdam or Purmerend. For birds and wild animals you can contact the De Toevlucht shelter directly, and for reptiles, you can contact the Zwanenburg Reptile Shelter (Reptielenopvang Zwanenburg).

If you think that a stray animal that’s been brought to us might be your missing pet, but you’re not completely sure, just get in touch with us.

If you’re interested in adopting a stray animal but you’d first like to be sure it will be comfortable with children or other animals, we can usually give you a good idea of whether this will be the case after just a few weeks. If you are interested in adopting a stray animal, it’s best to send us an email after 2 weeks.

In a male animal, it is easy to see whether he still has testicles or not. However, sometimes stray animals are brought in really sick, wounded or traumatised, making it impossible to fully inspect them. In a female animal, the only way to know is looking for a scar in the belly. Sometimes, the scar cannot be found, or it can also be the result of another operation. Therefore, we often don’t know whether a female animal is sterilised until our vet is busy with the operation.

Sometimes, animals are so stressed when they arrive at the shelter that it is hard to approach them. Thus, the reading of the microchip can sometimes not work as planned.

Most animals are a bit calmer after a couple of days and the reading can then take place. However, if the animal remains unapproachable, the vet must then sedate him or her. Most times, we combine the chip check with another procedure so that an animal doesn’t need to be sedated only for a microchip check.

In addition to a warm, safe environment that’s cleaned every day, lodging costs include food and drink, the daily observation of the animal’s behaviour and health by our professional staff and, of course, animal-friendly treatment. It also goes without saying that, providing the animal permits it, lots of cuddles and TLC are also included!

For the first 14 days the animal will be quarantined in a separate cubicle. This will enable him or her to get used to its new environment and allow our carers to observe him or her properly. The animal is usually vaccinated, microchipped, dewormed and deloused immediately, and given urgent medical attention if needed. Animals are also socialised and made to feel as comfortable as possible from the very start of their stay with us. If a stray animal is not reunited with his or her owner after 14 days, we’ll do all that we can to find him or her a new home as soon as possible.

In order to give an owner the opportunity of claiming its animal, we are legally obliged to hold a stray for 14 days before we can start looking for a new home for it. We are only allowed to re-home an animal with the veterinarian’s approval. Thus, wounded or sick animals often must stay in our infirmary for a longer time. Animals are often first socialised or trained if there are issues to address, or if they are too young to be adopted. Once the animal is ready for adoption, its profile will be posted on our website. We’ll then keep looking for a new owner until we find one. It is absolutely not the case that an animal will be put to sleep if it takes a long time for us to find it a new owner.

We cannot reserve an animal before an introductory meeting has taken place. An introductory meeting can only take place after an animal is ready to be adopted, which cannot be sooner than 14 days after he or she arrived at the shelter. If you are interested in adopting a stray animal, please contact us via email. We can then get in touch with you after an animal is ready to be adopted.