Franklin County Animal Rescue

Want to help an animal in need? Orion was surrendered to FCAR with a broken leg. He had been found as a stray and was brought to us in hopes that we could fix the leg.

Unfortunately, the bone was broken a while ago and is healing wrong. So our vet is recommending that he have surgery to to fix the break and put a plate on it to make sure it heals properly. This is a surgery that will cost about $2,500. This is not something that we currently have the resources for so we are now asking for your help to donate to our medical fund to get Orion the surgery he needs! 

More information about Franklin County Animal Rescue: Franklin County Animal Rescue provides a shelter for cats and dogs in the Franklin County, Vermont area. These animals are vetted, then adopted out to homes giving them a second chance. We also provide humane education to the schools and other organizations. We are a small shelter reliant almost entirely on donations since we receive no assistance from state or federal governments nor from an national organizations. We have been finding homes for cats and dogs since 1964.

The Franklin County Animal Rescue has served the animals of our community for over 50 years. Once a shelter ran mostly by volunteers at the old radar base in Saint Albans, FCAR has grown over time and made a difference in the lives of thousands of cats and dogs.


FCAR is funded entirely by fundraisers, private donations, bequests, wellness clinic revenue and the small adoption fees we collect when adopting out animals. Recently FCAR has faced many challenges that include; delays in clinic expansion, delays in cat adoption center construction, increased expenses at both locations, difficulty retaining a shelter Veterinarian and certified Vet Tech, day to day operational challenges, legislation that fails to give power to FCAR in seizures, and decreasing town contract support.

Our facility at 30 Sunset Meadow was built in 1996 and acted as the "dog pound" for the municipalities throughout Franklin County. In the past three years our intake numbers have shifted and we now see 4 cats for every 1 dog that enters our shelter. We have been forced to meet the growing demand of services for our feline friends and made the decision to acquire 141 Fairfax Road. This location will be perfect for the cats with plenty of windows and room for communal housing. It also is the home to our Wellness Clinic and surgical suite.


The Board of Directors has made the difficult but careful decision to shut down operations temporarily to regroup and restructure the organization. It is placing emphasis on;

-Updating the budget and paying off all current accounts payables ($25,000)

-Completion of the 141 Fairfax Road location's Low Cost Wellness Clinic which includes discounted community spay/neuter services ($10,000)

-Completion of the updated communal cat rooms to get our cats out of cages and into group living to be in line with shelter best practices. ($10,000)

-A ventilation system for the health and well being of the animals. ($20,000 +)

-Working with towns and implementing an improved system to house stray and lost dogs until they are returned to owner.

-Expand our outreach services to be more prominent in the public with educational events and activities.

The animals of Franklin County need our help! Please consider making a donation today to keep FCAR in our community and help the animals find their forever homes.

Sweet Lady came to us on Wednesday "found" running in St. Albans City. She had to be carried into her kennel because she could not walk on her hind leg. Unfortunately, after our Vets assessment, we found that this poor little girl has a broken femur that requires surgery. We'd like to give Lady a great start on her new life and we're looking for a few generous souls who would like to help us on this special mission.
You can see in the above photo how swollen her leg is.

And despite this, just look at those eyes and you know what a sweet, patient girl Lady is.