We save animals and help our neighbors care for the pets they love.
At Friends For Life, every animal matters. Founded in 2002, Friends For Life introduced the no-kill shelter model to Houston – saving animals regardless of their breed, age or condition.
Houston-grown, we’re here to help our neighbors care for the pets they love.
We’re not finished until every animal has a safe home. Until then, we’ll be innovating, improving and tracking results to find the most effective ways to save lives.
Our Model
We see our work as a three-legged stool:
Rescue, rehabilitate and adopt (Wellness, Behavior, Adoptions)
Reduce animal births (Fix Houston)
Help our neighbors with their pets (Thinking Outside the Shelter)
When deployed together, these programs lead to a systemic change. We envision the day when all animals have homes, and shelters become resource centers for the community.
We are the Unsheltered. The rebellious. Seekers of hard truths. Believers in second chances. And third chances. Believers in not even counting chances in the first place.
We are the open-minded. We will not shelter ourselves from the way things are—because what could be is only clear when you know where to start. People aren’t “good” or “bad.” Animals aren’t “good” or “bad.” But even after 100 years of shelters, something between people and animals still isn’t working.
Shelters are drop-off points when they could be launchpads for conversations. Shelters are making binary life-or-death choices when they could be creating systemic, community-wide change. We’re here to talk about things that we know work and to discover new ones—but we need you in the conversation.
We are right here with you—you thinkers, you doers, you changers, you rebels with hearts-too-big-to-handle. This isn’t about our shelter or anyone else’s. This is about every neighborhood. Every community. Every animal. Every human.
We are Friends For Life. Let’s rally the humans. Be Unsheltered.
