About

Our Mission

City Dogs & City Kitties Rescue (CDCK) is a nonprofit organization that rescues animals in overcrowded, under-resourced shelters. We are often the last hope for animals, many of whom would otherwise not be rescued due to injuries or other medical problems.

We rely exclusively on donations to provide critical veterinary care and on passionate volunteers to provide foster homes and operational support. We find loving adoptive homes for dogs and cats in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, thereby enriching the lives of both humans and animals.

Our Vision

CDCK envisions a world where all dogs and cats live in forever and loving homes free from neglect, abuse, and abandonment.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

These are guiding principles for CDCK management, staff, and volunteers to help set priorities, steer conduct, and make decisions.

Create lifesaving solutions for dogs and cats.

Deliver quality customer service to everyone.

Engage the community in our work.

Build friendships and have fun while working towards an incredibly important goal.

Who is City Dogs & City Kitties Rescue?

City Dogs & City Kitties Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is a “rescue” not a “shelter.” We are made up of a network of volunteers (most with full-time jobs) who foster cats and dogs in their homes. Since most of our available animals are living in private homes, we cannot arrange a visit without an adoption application and an appointment with the foster family.

City Dogs & City Kitties Rescue has saved over 13,000 dogs and cats since we started in 2011. Every one of them has left little paw prints on our hearts, and we remember all of them fondly. We have an active alumni community and we’re so grateful every time someone chooses to join the City Dogs & City Kitties family.

City Dogs & City Kitties Rescue rescues adoptable cats and dogs in overcrowded and high-kill shelters, where resources are severely limited. We offer a lifeline to as many of these wonderful animals as possible. Sadly, many of the cats and dogs that City Dogs & City Kitties Rescue takes are just days — and sometimes hours — away from being euthanized for no reason other than lack of space. By finding these animals permanent and loving homes in the DC metropolitan area, we can enrich lives of humans and their pets. We welcome your help in any capacity, through volunteering, fostering, adopting, sponsoring and/or donating.

Bentley: Our first rescue

tuck in a rural Georgia shelter, this sweet, friendly, 1 year-old lab had less than 24 hours to get pulled or he was going to be killed. Local rescue organizations were not able to help him.

After hearing about the situation, the organizers of City Dogs Rescue decided to get off the sidelines and see if they could make something happen for this pup. One spent countless hours on the phone to coordinate the help of local rescue organizations, the other raised funds through friends on Facebook, and the other had secured a place to foster. At the 11th hour, through a combination of luck and persistence, Bentley was pulled from the shelter, treated by a local veterinarian (and neutered), boarded until he was cleared for transfer, and then transported to City Dogs for shelter and a new life.

Within a very short time of being in DC, he met Melissa, his wonderful future owner, while on a walk around Dupont Circle (he was quite irresistible with his “please adopt me” bandana). Amazingly, his life was transformed from an anonymous dog with only hours left to live to a happy, healthy pup enjoying a great new life in DC. We were able to help Bentley and we wanted to do the same for other dogs in similar situations.