Animal Friends League of Kuwait
2. Does Animal Friends do anything to help people so they don’t have to surrender their pets?
3. How does Animal Friends receive funding?
4. How can I donate to Animal Friends?
5. Is the Animal Friends shelter no-kill?
6. Does Animal Friends charge a fee to surrender or to adopt an animal?
7. What is “fostering” and how does the Animal Friends program work?
8. How can I help put an end to euthanasia?
9. What do I do if I find a stray animal?
10. What Animals do we rescue?
11. How do I surrender my pet?
13. I called Animal Friends, but no one answered, what do I do now?
14. Does Animal Friends offer veterinary services?
15. Does Animal Friends offer boarding services for pets?
To adopt a pet, you first have to decide what pet best suits your living situation. Once you have made that decision, you need to call Animal Friends at +965-6700-1622 to be interviewed. Once you are approved for adoption, an appointment will be set for you to come out to the shelter. All family members must attend the appointment.
2. Does Animal Friends do anything to help people so they don’t have to surrender their pets?
Yes! Animal Friends is happy to help pet owners by offering low-cost spay and neuter to prevent animal breeding, pet advice, and discounted training sessions with a professional dog trainer. If you or someone you know may have to give up a pet because of financial difficulties, please let us know early so we can try to help.
3. How does Animal Friends receive funding?
Animal Friends is a privately owned and operated non-governmental charitable organization. We do not receive any support from the government. We therefore seek grants, corporate and private sponsorship, donations, in addition to running fundraisers, offering boarding services and operating a small in-house store to help cover our expenses. We also request donations with the surrender and adoption of animals to help offset our costs. Animal Friends does not make any profit, and our accounting records are available by request.
4. How can I donate to Animal Friends?
Donations can be made to Animal Friends in several forms. Monetary donations can be made online, transferred directly into our account, delivered to a staff member’s home, or collected from your home or office by an Animal Friends staff member. Gifts-in-kind can also be delivered to staff members’ homes, the Animal Friends Shelter in Wafra, or collected from your home or office by a staff member. Click the ‘donate now’ button for more information.
5. Is the Animal Friends shelter no-kill?
Animal Friends is an open-door shelter, meaning we accept all animals that are brought to us. We do not turn away animals with health or behavior issues, and we only make exceptions to this policy for people with large numbers of animals (3 or more). We do not set time limits for any animals, and we do not euthanize dogs or cats because we do not have enough space. We spend thousands of dinars every year to treat medical problems, and work with many behavioral issues to make and keep animals adoptable. We will not place dangerous animals in the community. Rather than ever euthanize healthy, adoptable dogs, we operate an international transport program that sends our longest residents to shelters in the Northern United States, where shelters do not have enough adoptable dogs. Cats, on the other hand, regularly find homes in Kuwait.
As an open door shelter, we accept any animal, regardless of age, health, or behavior. Many organizations that claim to be “no-kill” are limited admission shelters that only accept animals when they have space and, quite often only admit healthy, purebred, and behaviorally sound animals. A limited admission shelter would therefore abandon those animals that are too sick or are dangerous. It is difficult to accept, but sometimes euthanasia is the most humane choice. While limited-admission groups work hard to solve the problem of pet overpopulation and help many homeless pets find homes, they simply cannot solve the problem alone. Open-door shelters like Animal Friends help to ensure that every unwanted animal is treated humanely.
6. Does Animal Friends charge a fee to surrender or to adopt an animal?
Animal Friends is a self-funded charitable organization. We therefore ask adopters to pay 30KD per animal or 40KD for two animals. We likewise ask for 30KD to surrender an animal, or any donation for rescued animals. These fees help us to spay and neuter every animal before it is adopted, pay for a regular course of vaccines, medical care, food, staff, and bills. If you cannot afford 30KD to either adopt or surrender a pet, please call us to make an alternate arrangement.
7. What is “fostering” and how does the Animal Friends program work?
Fostering is the act of taking an animal into your home until it can be returned to the shelter for adoption. Animal Friends only uses foster homes for sick or injured animals, animal suffering immense stress in the shelter, and occasionally for very young puppies or kittens. Most animals do not get adopted if they are not in the shelter, so we only use foster homes for special circumstances. To become a foster home for a needy animal, please call us at +965-6700-1622.
8. How can I help put an end to euthanasia?
You can drastically reduce euthanasia (there will always be cases where it is the humane thing to do) by spaying and neutering your companion animals. You can also help by sterilizing stray cats through our community feral cat program. Additionally, only get animals you can commit to for their lifetime and adopt pets instead of buying them.
9. What do I do if I find a stray animal?
Animal Friends relies upon citizen volunteers to rescue animals. We do not have paid staff able to conduct rescues of stray animals, so we kindly ask you to help us help the animals you may find. All we generally ask is that you collect the animal and bring it to our shelter. If this is impossible for a valid reason, we will try to come up with another solution. Please be careful when rescuing any animal. Dogs should have wagging tails or be relatively immobile, while cats can be rescued using a towel to protect your self. For information regarding what kinds of animals we will accept, please see the question “What animals do we rescue?” If an animal is severely injured, it should be brought directly to a veterinarian (see the “Resources” link to find a list of veterinarians).
10. What animals do we rescue?
Animal Friends is a non-governmental, charitable organization. We therefore do not act as animal control. In most cases, we rely upon concerned citizens to bring injured and stray animals to our facility in Wafra. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as when the animal is truly dangerous or severely injured, so that moving the animal would result in undue pain. We use the guidelines below to prioritize rescue operations within budgetary, personnel, and space restrictions (priority is given in order from 1 through 7):
- Animals that are actively being starved, withheld from water, beaten, burned, buried, poisoned, shot, have been run over, or are otherwise in severe distress.
- Animals that are not wild but are lost or abandoned pets.
- Animals that are living in cages or are tied, chained, or otherwise have their mobility limited and are living without adequate shade, water, food, and human attention. (We have limited capabilities in this category that are within the rule of law).
- Animals living near major roads or that are otherwise at risk of being run over or poisoned by the government.
- Litters of puppies.
- Litters of kittens, if and only if it is confirmed their mother has abandoned them for more than 24 hours. People should not intervene with kittens unless they are in imminent danger. It is likely their mother will return after finding food.
- Wild packs of stray dogs.
We do not rescue or accept street cats that are reasonably healthy. Animal population control is the responsibility of the government and the overpopulation of cats is beyond our capabilities.
11. How do I surrender my pet?
Surrenders to Animal Friends should be arranged in advanced by contacting Animal Friends by phone (6700-1622) or by email ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Animal Friends is an open door shelter, which means we do our absolute best to accept any animal. However, animals being rescued off the streets are given first priority for shelter space. It is your responsibility as a pet owner to call us early so we can fit your pet in as soon as it is practical. We will accept up to two animals at one time. Larger numbers are subject to approval by our management and will require advanced notice. Regardless of your situation, please call us so we can try to help your animal(s).
Volunteers are the heart of Animal Friends. For those interested in working with animals, our shelter facility in Wafra houses dogs, cats, donkeys, baboons, gerbils, tortoises, turtles, chipmunks, and rabbits. Volunteers can choose a species and start making a difference. Other opportunities include shelter maintenance as well as a constant stream of new infrastructure projects (enclosures, etc). Closer to home, volunteers can join the Animal Friends fundraising team to plan and execute fundraisers, represent Animal Friends at schools, become a volunteer animal rescue specialist, or participate in our advocacy program (photographers and artists welcome).
13. I called Animal Friends, but no one answered, what do I do now?
The Animal Friends hotline is manned by unpaid volunteers. If you called and no one answered, please be patient. We try to return every call. If you do not receive a reply in a reasonable amount of time, please call again. Keep in mind that we are not a government agency, and we cannot immediately solve every problem facing animals in Kuwait. We do our absolute best to answer your calls and give you a satisfactory response. Sometimes callers fall through the cracks. We want to hear from you, so please call again. The phone will only be answered between 8am and 7pm and only if we are available. After-hours emergencies will require you to do your best to keep an injured animal comfortable until morning. We cannot offer 24hr emergency service at this time.
14. Does Animal Friends offer veterinary services?
Animal Friends is not a licensed veterinary office, and we will not provide care for the animals of private citizens. For a list of competent veterinarians, visit the 'Information > Pets in Kuwait' page on this site.
15. Does Animal Friends offer boarding services for pets?
Yes, Animal Friends offers boarding services for individuals going on vacation. We get fully booked very early, so please make your reservations as soon as possible. Payment is required in advance, and rates are as follows: dogs, 5kd per day (8 for two in the same kennel), cats, 3kd per day (5 for two in the same cage), and rates for other species of animals are determined on a case by case basis.