Dane County Humane Society (DCHS) is a private, non-profit, community-supported organization in Madison, Wisconsin. DCHS is also an adoption guarantee shelter, meaning all healthy or treatable animals can stay at the shelter as long as needed to find a loving home. DCHS provides comfort and care to thousands of companion animals annually.

DCHS also has a Wildlife Center that is 100% financially supported by the community. The Wildlife Center provides comfort and care to thousands of injured, sick, and orphaned wild creatures every year with the goal of releasing healthy animals back to their natural habitats.

DCHS operates a Thrift Store that sells gently used and new clothing, furniture, music, décor, pet items, and more. Proceeds support animals in need at the shelter.

There are a few different ways an animal can make its way to DCHS. Some animals are found running loose, lost from their families. This type of animal is considered a "stray" and would be put on a stray hold for four days so their family has time to report them missing (DCHS has a form on the website), check the shelter's Found Pet Database, or contact DCHS. In the meantime, DCHS staff and volunteers check the lost dog or cat for a microchip. If no registered microchip is found, staff and volunteers review lost and found pet reports daily to see if a lost report matches a found animal. If the family cannot be located, on the fifth day of the stray hold, the lost pet can be made available for adoption to find a new home!

DCHS also partners with other shelters and rescues around the country to transfer pets to Dane County. DCHS is able to do this because the community is filled with animal enthusiasts looking to add new pet friends to their family, which makes more space available at DCHS for homeless pets. DCHS often transfers as many as 20 dogs per week from overcrowded shelters in the South. 

The third way pets come to DCHS is through surrender. Sometimes, people can no longer care for their pets for a variety of reasons, including the human has fallen ill and has no one who could help care for their pet, or their apartment complex changed management and no longer allows certain or any pets. In these situations, community members are encouraged to try to rehome their pet within their network of friends and family. DCHS also offers a free rehoming service to find a new family in the community. If the pet parent is unable to rehome, they can make an appointment with DCHS to surrender the pet to the shelter. 

DCHS is an open admission shelter and accepts any animal regardless of health, age, or behavior. 

DCHS was founded in 1921 by Ida Kittleson. Ida and her husband, Madison Mayor Isaac Milo Kittleson, housed lost and abandoned animals in their basement or the homes of volunteers. As the number of animals served rose, a need for a long-term facility with space for veterinary treatments became apparent. A permanent shelter was built in 1965 on Pennsylvania Avenue in Madison, but DCHS quickly outgrew the space. For over 30 years, DCHS made do with the facility until it became clear that a new location was necessary to meet the needs of more animals. In 2000, DCHS moved to its current location, a newly built facility on 29 acres on Voges Road in Madison. Here, DCHS was able to expand housing for animals, create a state-of-the-art veterinary treatment clinic, have interactive pet rooms, offices, and more room to grow.

Most lost pets do not stray too far from where they became separated from their families. DCHS offers a variety of tips to help finders help a lost animal return home without having to come to the shelter. Among the tips is to file a found pet report with DCHS.

For more tips, click Found a Lost Animal

DCHS has done a lot since it was founded in 1921, and the shelter has evolved a lot over the years. One of our greatest successes is when DCHS became adoption guarantee in April 2012. DCHS guarantees that all healthy companion animals and those with treatable or manageable medical and/or behavior conditions can stay at the shelter as long as it takes for them to find their new families.

Pets can be pretty sneaky. Sometimes they find a hole by the fence just big enough to squeeze onto the other side. Other times, they walk out the door along with guests or a handyman. DCHS offers a variety of tips to help pet parents who lost their companion animals. DCHS recommends pet parents file a lost pet report online and to check the shelter's Found Pet Database.

Other tips can be found on DCHS's Find my Lost Pet webpage.

Most volunteer positions require a six-month commitment for a 2-3-hour shift per week. DCHS does not offer one-time volunteer shifts but does host Service Days that include working on service projects that help the shelter.

This number fluctuates based on how big and small the animals are. DCHS has 88+ cat condos, but this number does not include the cat condos in DCHS's Admitting and Animal Medical Services (AMS) departments or Maddie's Felines in Treatment Center. One cat condo could fit four or five 2-month-old kittens from the same litter or one adult cat. The number includes a few larger cat condos that can fit two bonded adult cats. DCHS has three rooms called cat apartments that could fit up to six cats each. The cats must be from the same household. 

There are about 86 dog kennels (again, this number does not include the dog kennels in Admitting and AMS). One dog kennel can fit four or five small puppies from the same litter, two small dogs who are bonded, or one adult dog. 

DCHS has 30 cages for critters, along with some moveable cages that can be brought inside the shelter from storage to add more cages. The number of critters in these cages also varies as a bonded pair of rabbits can be housed in one rabbit cage, and another cage could hold a mom guinea pig with her three babies. 

DCHS also uses staff offices to house cats or critters. One staff office can have one cat or a bonded pair of cats. If the shelter has ferrets, even though they are critters, they cannot be housed in the same space as rodents so they are often housed in a moveable cage in an office. These cages can hold two ferrets comfortably. 

Monetary donations help DCHS meet the needs of the animals in care. One cannot predict what animals may come through the shelter doors, and monetary donations allow DCHS to meet these ever-changing needs. Consider holding a bake sale, lemonade stand, or collecting money for your birthday to help the animals at DCHS. 

Decorate jars and work with your school and businesses in your area to collect change to donate to animals in need. 

Organize a donation drive in your community for items on DCHS's wish list! Some items that are always needed at the shelter are creamy peanut butter, canned squeeze cheese, and canned cat food.

Collect aluminum beverage cans, crush them, and bring them to the shelter! DCHS recycles the cans to raise money for our animals. 

Create fleece blankets for shelter cats to use or for adopters to take home when they adopt a new pet. DCHS sends cats to their new home with a blanket that has their scent to make them feel comfortable.

Design and decorate posters to hang up at the shelter! Focus on a type of animal and encourage people to adopt them by including fun facts about them and their care. Learn more here!

Create toys for shelter rabbits and guinea pigs! Stuff toilet paper tubes with timothy hay for a fun critter treat.

Build an Aldo Leopold-style bench that can be placed on the dog walking trails at the shelter for dogs and volunteers to relax on.