Welcome to our web site maintained by Friends of the Shelter, Inc on behalf of the animals in our care and also courtesy listings for those at the Benton Co./Vinton Animal Shelter. If you have a stray animal in Benton County, call the Sheriff for animal control at 472-2337.

Our Featured Pet

Tabatha

Friends of the Shelter, Inc. is now a private non profit animal shelter. We maintain this website for our shelter and also for the Vinton/Benton Co. Animal Shelter. We will be launching our new web site soon so be watching for that. We have great foster homes that we will be looking for items to help stock them as we care for the adoptable pets. We encourage you to continue to support the Vinton Shelter. We are working with the City of Vinton on needed improvements at the Vinton Shelter building and are excited about the future of animal care and adoptions at the Vinton/Benton Co. Animal Shelter. Our board members, volunteers, and supporters (past and present) have worked towards that goal for years and will continue to do whatever we can to help make it a reality.

Some of Friends of the Shelter's adoptable cats are available at the Adoption Center at PetSmart in Waterloo, IA

Our Adoptable Pet List
Click to see our lost/hold pets!

Information

If you have a pet that you need to relinquish, please contact us ahead of time. Make sure they are up to date on shots and have their health records available. We will do our best to find them a good home or rescue.

DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN SEND YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO FRIENDS OF THE SHELTER, INC. THROUGH UNITED WAY? ASK US HOW!

Over 700 unwanted pets have come to the Vinton Animal Shelter in 2007 and we estimate close to 900 in 2008. Please spay and neuter your pets and encourage others to do the same. Up to date vaccinations, regular vet checks, and your companionship and love are a must for a healthy happy family pet.

Contact Us

The shelter has very limited hours of operation so if you would like to set up a time to meet any of the cats and dogs or have any questions, comments, or concerns, please email: jdcasey@hughes.net

Volunteers

This page is dedicated to every Friends of the Shelter volunteer, supporter, and rescue person who has truly made a difference. To the world you may be only one person, but to a shelter animal, you are the world! Our goal is to try to improve the lives of homeless animals and save as many pets as possible without having to humanely euthanize them. We realize that we can not save all the homeless, abandoned dogs and cats, but we continually try to do our best. Some of the animals at the shelter are strays, others are unwanted and have been abandoned while others are owner surrender because of unfortunate circumstances not their fault while still perfect in all important ways. We are devoted to the animals, we want to make sure they are placed in only good homes. We are always in need of your help, whether it be volunteering your time, or making a monetary donation, or donating needed items to the shelter. Some items in need: bones, chew toys, cat toys, cat litter, kitten food, blankets, and wash cloths . Thank you for visiting our web site and your interest in the welfare of shelter animals.

Friends of the Shelter, Inc.

Friends of the Shelter, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to help make the homeless animals in Benton County and surrounding areas be healthy and safe while we find them forever loving homes through adoptions or rescues. Our organization operates separately from the shelter and relies on donations for funding. All donations go directly for the welfare of the animals. Some of our expenses are for spaying/neutering (Rebecca Lynn Young Fund for spaying/neutering), medicines for treatable health issues, and other supplies. You can mail your tax-deductible donations to:

Adopting a friend