Skip to content

Free help finding care and support for your pet

Pet Help in the Asheville Area

← All help in North Carolina

In Asheville and need help now? For an emergency, go to a 24-hour hospital below and tell them if cost is a barrier. To lower costs, start with the spay/neuter programs and low-cost clinics. For a bill you can’t cover, get a free funding plan.

Want what’s closest to you? Search by ZIP code or your location. Nearby: Charlotte. the Triad.

Emergencies and 24-hour hospitals

Spay, neuter and vouchers

  • Asheville Humane Society Spay/Neuter Services
    Affordable spay/neuter surgery for cats and dogs, with a 1-year rabies vaccine, take-home pain medication and an e-collar included. Payment assistance options are available. Public appointments are limited and prioritized for pets and owners who need them most.
  • ASPCA Spay/Neuter Alliance (Asheville)
    Buncombe County and Western North Carolina · (855) 434-9285
    High-quality, low-cost spay/neuter clinic serving Western North Carolina, with free rabies vaccine at surgery and financial assistance available. Its Community Cat Program offers free spay/neuter, rabies and FVRCP vaccines, Ivermectin and ear-tip for community cats trapped in Buncombe County, with traps to loan and overnight recovery. Public appointments are limited and prioritized for those most in need.
  • Friends2Ferals (Humane Society of Buncombe County)
    Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Yancey counties · (828) 505-6737
    Nonprofit trap-neuter-return program for community cats, operating since 2007. Provides free or low-cost spay/neuter with FVRCP and rabies vaccines, deworming, a microchip and an ear tip, plus traps and training. Also works with local vets on medical care for community cats and kittens, helps rescue groups rehome abandoned pets and kittens, and feeds colonies when possible. Not an adoption organization.
  • Henderson County Spay Neuter Incentive Program (SNIP) with Blue Ridge Humane Society
    Henderson County residents · (828) 698-4481
    County-supported low-cost spay/neuter run in partnership with Blue Ridge Humane Society. Covers the surgery, anesthesia, medication, veterinary services and a rabies vaccine; other vaccines are extra. Sign-up forms for cats and dogs are posted on the Blue Ridge Humane Society SNIP page as appointments open, typically about once a month on Monday afternoons, first-come, first-served.

Low-cost clinics and vaccines

  • Asheville Humane Society Minor Medical & Vaccine Clinics
    A Mobile Medical Vehicle offers affordable care for minor medical concerns (such as minor masses, upper respiratory infections, hot spots, ear and eye problems, minor lameness and skin conditions) every other week at scheduled locations, with a sliding scale for qualifying households. Regular low-cost pop-up vaccine clinics offer rabies, FVRCP, DHPP and Bordetella vaccines, microchips and heartworm tests. Not equipped for emergencies, bloodwork or x-rays.
  • Blue Ridge Humane Society - Low-Cost Vaccine Clinics
    353 Banner Farm Rd, Mills River, NC 28759 · (828) 692-2639
    Low-cost preventative care clinics, including vaccine clinics and 1-year rabies vaccine appointments, held at the Community Support Center in Mills River and the Adoption Center in Hendersonville. Henderson County residents can also request over-the-counter flea and tick preventative.

Help paying a vet bill

  • Asheville Humane Society Pet Helpline · (828) 761-2008
    Voicemail and text helpline that connects pet owners with veterinary assistance when vet bills are overwhelming, pet food and supplies, behavior specialists, and emergency short-term boarding for pets whose owners face a short-term crisis.
  • Blue Ridge Humane Society - Vet Assistance
    353 Banner Farm Rd, Mills River, NC 28759 · (828) 692-2639
    Medical vouchers for emergency veterinary visits during economic distress, issued before the visit. Covers one pet per household per 4-month period. Does not cover existing bills or routine care such as vaccines, flea/tick or heartworm prevention, heartworm testing or microchipping.

Pet food

Keeping your pet, end-of-life care and pet loss

  • Asheville Humane Society Pet Help Center & Buncombe County Animal Shelter
    16 Forever Friend Lane, Asheville, NC 28806 · (828) 250-6430
    Asheville Humane Society runs the Buncombe County Animal Shelter, the only open-admission shelter in Buncombe County, plus an Adoption Center. Its Pet Help Center serves as the community support and intake team, helping with lost and found pets, rehoming support, pet retention resources, owner surrender requests and basic shelter services. Animal cruelty, bites, dangerous animals and rabies enforcement are handled by Buncombe County Animal Control.
  • Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
    Western North Carolina · (828) 505-3440
    Asheville animal rescue offering adoption, pet retention programs, shelter transfer partnerships and foster and volunteer networks, plus pet behavior help and spay/neuter and community cat resources. Its campus was destroyed by flooding and is being rebuilt; lifesaving work continues.
  • Haywood County Animal Services
    453 Jones Cove Road, Clyde, NC 28721 · (828) 456-5338
    County animal services with animal intake and an adoption center for Haywood County.
  • Blue Ridge Humane Society - Adoption Center
    88 Centipede Lane, Hendersonville, NC 28792 · (828) 692-2639
    Nonprofit humane society adoption center for dogs and cats in Henderson County, with lost and found help, animal surrender information, a pet helpline, re-homing submissions, housing and interpersonal violence resources, and pet loss support.
  • Henderson County Animal Services Center
    828 Stoney Mountain Rd, Hendersonville, NC 28791 · (828) 697-4723
    County shelter for adoptable and stray animals that reunites lost pets with owners, keeps rabies records and encourages microchipping. The center does not handle bites, animal pick-ups or complaints; those go to the Henderson County Sheriff's Office Animal Enforcement Division.

Paying for a bigger bill

Ask any hospital about payment plans, CareCredit or Scratchpay, and apply to more than one assistance program. Ways to pay a vet bill in North Carolina lists the programs that are open now, and a free funding plan puts them together for your pet, with a free fundraiser page if you want one.

Every listing was checked on the provider’s own website. Know a place we’re missing? Tell us.

Get help for my pet