Impact Reports
A Need that Can't be Ignored
Every day in Ottawa, pets are heartbreakingly surrendered to the Ottawa Humane Society. More and more often, the decision is made because the owner can no longer afford to care for their pet.
This is something we’ve been concerned about at the OHS for some time. Thanks to your support we’ve worked hard to intervene earlier. Through our Emergency Pet Food Bank, wellness clinics and temporary boarding assistance, we’ve helped keep thousands of pets in the homes where they are loved. But the need is growing faster than our current ability to respond. Pets are still surrendered in a steady stream as more people grapple with a rising cost of living and even the basics fall out of reach for too many families.
Animals are arriving at the OHS sicker and in a state of greater suffering. As an open admission shelter, we will not turn away an animal in need. Pets are being separated from their people and need more intervention than ever before in the shelter.
This is suffering for animals and suffering for the people who love them, and feel powerless to help. We just can’t keep watching animals — and their people — continue to suffer. We can’t wait.
We need your help to build a new Community Veterinary Clinic to close the care gaps in Ottawa.
The Community Veterinary Clinic is a desperately needed addition to Ottawa’s ecosystem of pet care. This clinic would provide subsidized veterinary services for pets whose families would otherwise have no access to care, allowing treatment to happen earlier, preventing suffering for the animal. The clinic will also provide non-subsidized sterilizations to prevent pet homelessness. More pets will stay in the homes where they are loved and we’ll be even more prepared at the shelter for the animals who truly have no other option.
Yes, every spay, every wellness clinic and every act of early prevention reduces suffering. This care keeps a pet healthier and with their family. And together, we can do more. The Community Veterinary Clinic will allow us to do more prevention, sooner, for Ottawa’s animals today and build them the tomorrow they deserve.
There is no way we can do this alone. We need your help to help build a future where fewer animals reach crisis — and where no animal is left to suffer because care was out of reach.
Will you build the future the animals so desperately deserve?
Sharon Miko
President & CEO
A Dog You Saved Today
As we work hard to build a future where more pets can stay healthy and be with the families who love them, you are ensuring there is a safe place today for animals who have nowhere else to turn.
When a pet is surrendered to the OHS, it is almost always a last resort. Families come to us when their options have been exhausted. The decision is heartbreaking, often painful for the pet and their person, and made out of compassion — a hope to see their pet have a second chance.
Almost every day, a person makes this incredibly difficult decision at the OHS, and because of you, we are here for the pet and their person.
Thank you.
Recently, Esco, a sweet, five-yearold American bulldog mix, was surrendered to our care after he didn’t want to eat or drink for several days and his people could not afford treatment. There was no time to waste. Our veterinary team quickly examined him and took X-rays. We found an unknown object blocking his digestive system.
Surgery was the only option. Our veterinarians removed the item and saved Esco’s life.
With close care and treatment, Esco started feeling stronger each day. Soon, he was ready to start the search for his new home.
Esco’s previous owner’s selfless choice — and your generosity — saved his life. Your generosity meant that Esco, and more animals just like him, have options in their time of need and a chance at finding a happy and healthy second chance.
But what if there was a way Esco could have received the care he needed and stayed with his people? We have heard the community and know that a Community Veterinary Clinic must be built. With the support of Ottawa’s caring community, more pets will access essential care and stay with their loving families. Together, we will make this a reality.
By helping at both ends of the leash, we can do so much more for pets and the people who love them.
Spaying it Forward for the Animals
In February, thanks to your incredible support, we took on a spay/neuter marathon to provide this essential service to 37 cats and dogs at the OHS and in the care of our rescue partners.
At the OHS, every cat, dog and rabbit is spayed/neutered before adoption. There are too many homeless animals in our community. Sterilization is a critical step to prevent pet overpopulation and set up an animal for a happy healthy future with their new family.
Our February marathon was a part of World Spay Day, and it’s not the only time of year that our veterinary team goes above and beyond to help as many animals as possible clear the last crucial hurdle before they begin the search for their forever home.
In October 2025, our team volunteered their time through the night for a special event called Julie’s Light. The evening is dedicated to our colleague, Julie, who passed away from cancer many years ago. During the evening, our team sterilized 50 pets and the next day we sent many to our Pet Adoption Location partners throughout the city — speedily finding them a great adoption match.
Thanks to you, our veterinary team can move mountains for Ottawa’s homeless animals, securing more second chances for pets in our community.
You Filled Pets' Bellies
In December, we launched a pet food drive to secure critical meals that would help keep pets with their loving families. With drop off locations available throughout the city, you showed up in a big way to keep pets with the people who love them.
The OHS’s Emergency Pet Food Bank supports Ottawa’s pet owners like Greg and his dog Romeo, who needed a little help to stay together. Greg shared:
“This year has been quite challenging with two surgeries and the possibility of a third, which has made it difficult for me to work.
The pet food bank has been a lifeline for us. I can’t overstate how much this has eased the burden during this tough time.”
Even as bags and cans poured in for the food drive, we were already taking those donations and distributing them to pet owners in need in the community.
It’s thanks to you that no one in Ottawa ever has to choose between feeding themselves or their pet.
Thank you.
Four Little Lives You Saved
Spay and neuter helps animals today and it saves lives tomorrow. Billy, Bobby and Beau are three kittens who were found outside in mid-December, huddled together with their mother for warmth. They were only a handful of weeks old and were battling against the bitter cold and snow of an Ottawa winter.
Because of you, these kittens and their mother found shelter and warmth at the OHS. It’s a story that is all too common — a pet struggling to survive against the elements and urgently needing help and love.
Thanks to you, we were here for this little family, and they will get the second chance they so desperately deserve. The real heartbreak is the animals who never make it to the shelter. For every kitten who finds hope at the OHS, there is another that remains lost and never knows the feeling of comfort and care that every pet needs.
That’s why your support in providing spay/neuter is so important. Spay and neuter prevents unplanned litters, reduces the number of animals born into unsafe conditions and helps break the cycle that leaves so many pets struggling to survive.
With an act of prevention, your love is building a healthier, more compassionate community for all animals.
You're Trailblazing for Homeless Pets
In December, we created a new large trail at the shelter to provide more space for our canine enrichment volunteers and staff to work with dogs who need more support as we help them with behaviour issues.
We’re seeing more pets with increasingly complex needs. Before the pandemic, we’d see about 200 dogs each year with behaviour challenges. Last year we saw more than 400 dogs who were struggling with behaviour.
When dogs receive more enrichment, their stay at the OHS is better — and more importantly, their better mental state means our behaviour programming can have even more impact and help secure their second chance.
Creating this new trail is another step forward in making more support available for Ottawa’s neediest dogs and making more second chances possible for all animals.
You made this progress possible.