I’ve found a dog or a cat – what now? You could rack your brains for the answer, or simply read our advice 🙂 Has a stray dog or cat caught your eye? Do you want to help it find its home and keep it from ending up under the wheels of a car? Check out our tips for exactly this situation.
What if you find another stray animal?
The most important thing in this kind of situation is your own safety. A stray animal can be dangerous because it feels threatened. Dogs sometimes signal their fear by baring their teeth, growling, barking and adopting a threatening posture. This is a natural defensive behaviour designed to scare off a potential threat.
Stray cats often hiss or spit and adopt a threatening posture, but they may also be inclined to lash out with their claws or bite. Sometimes they simply flee to a safe spot – and you should never try to drag them out of it by force! That’s very dangerous.
If you find a stray dog, the best step is to notify the appropriate services – you can report the case to the Society for the Protection of Animals (TOZ), the municipal police or a nearby animal shelter. And if there are none in your area, you should contact the police or the local council (gmina) office.
You should also be careful with a pet that is wearing a collar, an ID tag or a tracking fob. The animal may be wary, so don’t try to force it into transport to a shelter – it’s better to notify the appropriate services.
Homeless animals – what do the statistics say?
Update: November 2025
According to the Chief Veterinary Officer’s annual report on inspections of animal shelters in 2020, shelters housed 92,242 dogs and 32,507 cats. That year, 63,358 dogs and 21,245 cats were adopted from shelters.
In 2021, in turn, 82,316 dogs and 33,367 cats were registered in shelters – a drop of around 11% (dogs) and a rise of around 2% (cats). In 2021, 53,961 dogs and 20,237 cats were adopted.
Of course, these are not all the homeless animals living in Poland. Many of them also end up in foster homes, with foundations, or simply live on the streets.
According to the latest report from the General Veterinary Inspectorate for 2024, Polish shelters housed 76,410 dogs and 35,290 cats. Although the number of dogs fell slightly compared with previous years, the number of cats in the care of shelters rose.
This shows that the problem of animal homelessness in Poland remains serious, especially during the holiday season, when the number of abandonments rises.
I’ve found a dog/cat – who should I call?
The police, the local council wardens, the municipal police and the animal shelter are the services properly trained to respond in these situations. It is your legal obligation to inform one of these bodies within 14 days of finding the animal.
If, on the other hand, you know the animal is being searched for by its owner, contact them directly and let them know where they can come to collect it.
Important!
Once you hand an animal over to the services, it goes to a shelter – but not always the nearest one. So it’s worth asking where the animal will be taken, in case the owner gets in touch with you after the services have intervened.
Catching the dog
Don’t try to catch a dog by force! It’s a danger not only to you (the dog may bite), but also to the animal – in the heat of the moment, it may not notice an oncoming car. What’s more, if you see a dog running away, don’t chase it! That won’t stop the animal; it will only make it run even further. Dogs know their neighbourhood extremely well. Just a few walks are enough for them to recognise the area. If a dog got scared and slipped its owner’s leash, leaving it alone will help it stay in familiar surroundings, which makes it easier for it to find its way back. If it runs too far, that may prove impossible – especially if it’s a dog that has only recently moved into a new home.
I’ve found an injured animal – what should I do?
If you find an injured animal, report it to the services you intend to notify – they will come to the place where the animal was found together with a vet.
You can call the 24-hour municipal police emergency number – 986. The cost of transport, veterinary care and the animal’s stay in a shelter is covered by the city.
Abandoning an animal – the consequences
Polish law treats abandoning an animal as one of the offences of animal cruelty. Under Article 6(2)(11) of the Animal Protection Act:
Cruelty to animals shall be understood as inflicting, or knowingly allowing the infliction of, pain or suffering, and in particular (…) abandoning an animal, in particular a dog or a cat, by its owner or by another person in whose care the animal remains.
Breaching this provision carries a prison sentence of up to 3 years, and in cases of particular cruelty, from 3 months to 5 years.
Dogs abandoned in the woods – what should you do?
Summer is the season when the largest number of animals are abandoned. It usually happens under cover of night, sometimes even on the way to a holiday destination, in out-of-the-way places where there are no witnesses or cameras.
If you find an abandoned dog, you are obliged to act, as set out in the Animal Protection Act of 21 August 1997, the Lost Property Act of 20 February 2015, the Civil Code and the Code of Petty Offences:
A person who comes across an abandoned dog or cat, in particular one left tethered, is obliged to notify the nearest animal shelter, the local council wardens or the Police.
There is no specific legal penalty for failing to act, but in such a situation you should be guided by empathy and a sense of moral duty.
Stray cats – where can you report them?
If you know where stray cats are living, you can report it to the municipal police, a shelter in your area, or foundations that specialise in catching cats, caring for them and finding them new owners.
If the animal is healthy and tagged, it’s worth posting about it in local Facebook groups – someone may be looking for their pet. Don’t try to help on your own if you have no experience.
Report the situation:
- to the municipal police (986), or
- to the nearest shelter that has a vet on hand.
The cost of treating and transporting the animal is covered by the local council (gmina).
My dog/cat has gone missing – what should I do?
If your pet has gone missing, you need to stay calm. We know that’s hard in the circumstances, but reacting immediately and keeping a cool head is the best thing you can do.
Check all the shelters and veterinary clinics in the area. It also doesn’t hurt to take a look at local Facebook groups – someone may have found your pet and be looking for its owner.
Post your own notice about your missing pet, giving an accurate description, a few photos and additional details such as its collar, microchip or other distinguishing features. If your dog or cat is tagged, you can also report a missing animal on the website of the Central Database of Electronically Tagged Animals.
Tracking down the owner of a found dog or cat
To identify the owner, the following will help you:
1. The animal’s collar
If there’s an ID tag on the collar, it’s simple. An even better solution, though, is the notiOne GPS PET – a GPS tracker for dogs and cats that lets you check where your pet is at any time. Thanks to the free notiOne app, the owner sees their pet’s exact location in real time, not just the last signal received. It’s a more reliable and more convenient way to quickly find a runaway.
2. A vet
They will check whether the animal has a microchip, which makes it easier to establish who it belongs to.
3. Social media
Its power is enormous. Many a dog and cat has been found thanks to local groups and networks of friends. Post wherever you think it’s appropriate, and someone is sure to pass the message on. Maybe someone will recognise the animal 🙂
Taking a found animal into your own home
Even if your intentions are nothing but good, be careful about deciding to take a dog or cat into your home. The animal can become yours only if you have taken the proper steps to find its owner and the owner has not been found – and even then only after a year has passed.
This is especially important if the stray turns out to be a pedigree animal worth a lot of money. In that case you could be accused of misappropriation or theft, which carries a fine or even a prison sentence. On the other hand, as the finder of such a pedigree cat or dog, you can count on a finder’s reward – work out for yourself which is the better deal 🙂
Find out more about the rights and obligations of a finder in this post.
