Pet-Friendly Resources FinderMaricopa County — you should not have to choose between a roof and your animal
A lot of people sleep outside rather than give up a dog or a cat. That is not a character flaw and it is not something to talk anyone out of — for many people the animal is the reason they are still here. This tool points you to the places in Maricopa County that will take you both, the programs that will hold your pet safely for a few weeks or months while you get stable, and the pantries and clinics that keep an animal fed and healthy in the meantime.
Your options
Domestic violence shelters that take pets
Abusers very often use an animal to keep someone from leaving — threatening the pet, or promising to hurt it if you go. Advocates know this pattern well. You do not have to explain or prove anything to be believed. If you are in danger right now, call 911. The Arizona statewide hotline is 1-800-782-6400 and the national hotline is 1-800-799-7233 — both are free, 24 hours, and can arrange a bed and safety planning tonight.
Places that may take you and your pet together
Pet space at a shelter is usually a small number of kennels or a handful of designated rooms, so it fills fast and it is worth calling more than one. Ask specifically for the pet coordinator or the kennel — front desk staff sometimes do not know the program exists.
Programs that will care for your pet until you can take them back
This is temporary foster, not surrender. You keep ownership, the program keeps the animal safe, and the whole point is the reunion. Most run 30 to 90 days and most ask for vaccination records and spay/neuter — and several will cover those for you if the pet is not current. Apply before you are out of options if you can; these programs have waiting lists.
Free pet food, low-cost vet care, and help hanging on
If the problem is money rather than a place to sleep, start here. Keeping a pet fed and vaccinated is far cheaper and far less painful than any of the options above, and every one of these is free or reduced cost.
If nothing above fits
Service animals are not pets — and that matters at the door
If your animal is a service animal, a "no pets" rule is not supposed to apply to you. This is worth knowing before you get turned away by someone who is wrong about the law.
Service animals
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service animal is a dog — or in some cases a miniature horse — that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. Programs that are open to the public, including most shelters and day centers, generally have to let a service animal in even where pets are not allowed.
- Staff may ask only two things: whether the animal is required because of a disability, and what work or task it has been trained to perform.
- They may not ask about your disability, demand papers, a certificate, an ID card, or a demonstration, or charge a pet fee or deposit.
- There is no official federal registry, so an online "certification" you paid for proves nothing — and you do not need one.
- The animal does have to be housebroken and under your control. If it is genuinely out of control and you cannot settle it, that is the one basis for asking you to remove it.
Emotional support animals
An emotional support animal provides comfort but has not been trained to perform a specific task, and the ADA does not cover it. In housing, an emotional support animal has usually been handled as a reasonable accommodation request under the Fair Housing Act, which can override a landlord's no-pets policy. Whether a homeless shelter counts as "housing" for that purpose has always been unsettled, and federal enforcement guidance on emotional support animals shifted again in 2026 toward a trained-animal standard — so do not assume, and do not accept a flat refusal as the final word either.
If you are refused housing or shelter over an assistance animal, talk to a legal advocate before you give up. Community Legal Services — 602-258-3434 — takes Maricopa County housing calls at no cost.
What to say when you call
Ten seconds of the right wording gets you past a "no" that was really a "the person answering does not know." Try this order.
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Lead with the animal, not the story
"I need shelter and I have a forty-pound dog. Do you have kennel space, or do you work with a program that does?" Front-line staff route on facts. The details of how you got here can wait.
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Ask for the pet coordinator by name of role
If the first answer is no, ask: "Is there someone there who handles pets, or a partner rescue you refer to?" Several Valley shelters have a pet arrangement that is not on their website and that reception does not always know about.
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Say the words "temporary care" or "crisis boarding"
These are the program names the rescues use. "Can I board my dog?" gets you a price quote. "I need temporary care because of a crisis" gets you the free program.
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Ask what they need from you, and write it down
Usually: rabies and distemper records, proof of spay or neuter, and a way to reach you. If you do not have records, say so — most of these programs will vaccinate or fix the animal for you rather than turn you away. Missing paperwork is a delay, not a refusal.
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If it is a wait list, get on it today and keep calling
Ask when to check back and whether they have an urgent list. Lost Our Home, for instance, reviews urgent cases daily. A wait list you joined last week beats an emergency call today.
Related tools and pages
- Maricopa Navigator — full shelter and housing routing for the county, with or without a pet.
- Stay-Housed Navigator — rent and utility help before an eviction, which is the cheapest way to keep a pet.
- Cooling Center Locator — Phoenix heat kills animals fast. Most cooling centers do not take pets, so check before you walk there with one.
- ID Recovery Wizard — several pet programs need a photo ID before they can intake an animal.
- Emergency shelter and Safety and domestic violence — the broader category pages.
Where this list comes from
- Maricopa County Animal Care & Control — Pet Housing Resources, the county's own directory of temporary foster and pet-friendly housing.
- The Arizona Pet Project — Community Resources, for pet food pantries and low-cost clinics.
- Lost Our Home Pet Rescue — Temporary Care Program, for program length, medical requirements and office hours.
- Provider websites for each organization listed.
Checked . Programs change without notice — always call first. Found something out of date? Send us a correction and we will verify and update it.