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‼️ FINDERS NOT KEEPERS ‼️Important Reminder About Found Pets in Washington State
If you find a stray pet, it’s not just a kind gesture to help — it also comes with a legal and ethical responsibility to make a good-faith effort to reunite the animal with its owner.
In Washington State, pets are legally considered property, and keeping a found animal without making reasonable efforts to locate the owner can potentially lead to legal consequences. More importantly, every lost pet may have a family desperately searching for them.
🐾 What To Do If You Find a Dog or Cat
If you find a stray pet and it is not immediately returned to an owner, you should:
🔺 Report the found pet to local shelters, animal control, or law enforcement (especially in areas without animal control)🔺 Have the pet scanned for a microchip at a veterinary clinic, shelter, or pet store🔺 Post on local lost & found pet groups and platforms (Facebook lost pet groups, PawBoost, Petco Love Lost, Craigslist, etc.)🔺 Hang flyers in the area where the pet was found🔺 Notify nearby neighborhoods, veterinarians, and businesses
⚖️ Holding Periods & Legal Responsibility
In Washington State, stray hold requirements can vary depending on the jurisdiction, shelter, or whether animal control is involved. Many shelters and municipal agencies have a required holding period to allow owners time to reclaim their pets before they may be rehomed.
Failing to make a documented, good-faith effort to locate an owner before keeping or rehoming a pet can create legal issues, as animals are considered property under Washington law.
If you have concerns about a pet’s condition, appearance, or behavior, please remember:
A lost pet can quickly become thin, dirty, scared, injured, or unwell after only a short time on its own. Appearance alone is not proof of abuse or neglect. It’s best to allow animal control, shelters, or veterinary professionals to assess the situation.
❤️ Key Takeaway
When in doubt, report it. Scan for a chip. Post the pet. Help connect them back to their family.
Because doing the right thing could mean a reunion that changes everything. 🐾❤️
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🚨 Friendly reminder… it is illegal in Washington State for a retail pet store/feed store to sell cats or kittens unless they are being offered for adoption through a licensed shelter or rescue partnership.
Under Washington State HB 1424, retail pet stores are prohibited from selling cats and kittens. Stores may only host adoptable cats through a rescue or shelter partnership — they cannot sell them as store inventory.
The same law also restricts the sale of dogs and puppies in retail pet stores, unless the store was grandfathered in under the law. In Grant County, only Basin Feed Store was grandfathered in for dogs/puppies — not cats or kittens.
If you see a retail store selling cats or kittens, please report it to local law enforcement/dispatch or let us know. If you see a retail store selling puppies or dogs, and it’s not the store grandfathered in, please let us know. These laws exist to help protect animals and discourage irresponsible breeding and sales.
Please note: rescue/shelter adoption events or rescue cats being housed for adoption at a store are legal and encouraged. ❤️
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Washington State’s HB 1424 (the “Humane Pet Sales Bill”) generally prohibits retail pet stores from selling dogs or cats, which would include cats being sold in feed stores if the feed store qualifies as a retail pet store. A feed store that sells pet supplies and is open to the public would typically fall under that definition.
What the law does allow is this:
* Feed stores/pet supply stores can partner with rescues or shelters to showcase adoptable cats or dogs, but:
* the store cannot own the animals,
* cannot receive a fee for the space, and
* the animals must come from an animal rescue or animal control agency.
The rescue/shelter must also:
* identify the rescue/shelter source,
* provide veterinary care and vaccination records,
* use an adoption process/questionnaire,
* require an adoption contract,
* disclose known medical/behavior history, and
* ensure the cat or dog is spayed or neutered before adoption.
A key exception: someone selling animals they personally bred and raised directly to the public is not considered a “retail pet store.” But a feed store itself selling cats would generally not fall under that exemption.
So, if a Washington feed store is selling cats as inventory, that may be a problem under HB 1424. If they are hosting rescue cats for adoption, that is usually allowed if done within the law’s requirements.
4 CommentsComment on Facebook
I see this every weekend in Lacey. People selling puppies in parking lots 😞
Puyallup people were selling doodle puppies for $300 and across the street nor people selling puppies had a canopy and all ball while I’m in my way to bring a foster to an adoption event at Petsmart
In Republic you cannot give away any animal in front of stores. It would be great if they made that state wide.. Walmart is really bad for letting people get rid of puppies 😞
Backyard breeding needs to come to a screeching halt
🚨🚨🚨 URGENT: Rescue, Shelter, or Adopter Needed for 3 Dogs at Risk
We are urgently assisting with seeking a rescue, shelter, foster-to-adopt, or adopter willing to help one, two, or all three of these dogs. Another rescue/spay-neuter clinic in Pasco is desperately reaching out for assistance, and time is running short.
From POPPS (Pet Over Population Prevention):
“We need help… we have 3 fixed, chipped, vaccinated small pit mixes that are fabulous, but are now at risk of euthanasia in about a week. They were living in a rental where dogs were not allowed, the owner was evicted, and unfortunately the dogs killed a couple of cats. We have no place left to move them.” 😩
These dogs have already been:
✔️ Fixed
✔️ Chipped
✔️ Vaccinated
They deserve a chance at a safe future.
If you are able to help in any way — whether by adopting, fostering through a rescue, networking, or pulling them into rescue — please reach out to POPPS immediately.
Saving dogs’ lives is what rescue is all about, but sometimes it truly takes a village. Their profiles are available on Petfinder. If you cannot help directly, please share this post — the right person or rescue may simply not have seen them yet. ❤️
2 CommentsComment on Facebook
Would consider fostering but I have a cat and two small dogs
I have cats dang.
🐶🏠🐈
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