Originally founded in 1976 by an intergovernmental agreement the Jefferson Animal Shelter served as the impound facility for unincorporated Jefferson County and the cities of Arvada, Lakewood and Wheat Ridge. In 1994, after years of success, the Jefferson Animal Shelter reevaluated its mission and goals to accommodate growing demands on the facility and changes in the external environment. As part of the reevaluation, the shelter changed its name to Table Mountain Animal Center. With the new name came expanded services, more efficient operations and greater public outreach, including the addition of the City of Golden as a member agency.

On June 30, 2009, ground was broken on the site of a long-awaited brand new facility, Foothills Animal Shelter. In early August of 2010, Table Mountain Animal Center became Foothills Animal Shelter and moved to its new beautiful building at 580 McIntyre at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

At 33,000 square feet, the current facility is nearly three times the size of the old building and allows the Shelter to significantly improve the space in which the animals are housed and the services to the community. A new medical suite allows the Shelter to provide more on-site, cost-effective care and has increased the number of spays and neuters.

Foothills Animal Shelter is an open-admissions facility, which means we never turn away an animal. We care for more than 9,500 orphaned cats, kittens, dogs, puppies and critters every year with a compassionate team of staff and volunteers. (Unfortunately, we can not accept wild animals; they should be taken to organizations who specialize in their care.) We are a true community resource and offer a variety of services including pet adoption, Jefferson County pet licensing, affordable spaying and neutering, vaccinations, microchipping and lost and found pets. We are committed to our important mission and the life-saving work that we do every day of the year.