Our History

Borders Pet Rescue is the trading name of Borders Animal Welfare Association, a registered Scottish Charity. We provide rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing for domestic pets, mainly dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs. Based in the Scottish Borders, the Charity also operates in adjoining areas including East Lothian and North Northumberland.

The organisation initially developed as an extension of Tweedbank Cattery in the late 1970s. The Association was formally constituted on 24th November 1988 and became a registered Charity from that date.
In 2013 the trading name was changed to Borders Pet Rescue, following a review by external marketing consultants, to better reflect the primary role of the organisation.

The current Rescue Centre at Earlston in the Scottish Borders was developed around 2006 on land and former farm buildings gifted to the Charity by a local supporter and landowner. The gift was conditional on the use of the land for animal welfare purposes only and precluded any commercial development unless related to the welfare work of the Charity. 

Since it began, the Charity has been largely self-funding. The primary source of income is from voluntary donations, rehoming fees, legacies, and the trading profits from three shops located in Galashiels, Hawick and Duns. A fourth shop was opened in January 2017 in Kelso.

We are immensely proud of our success in caring for and ultimately re-homing the animals that come into our Rescue Centre. We are especially proud that due to our stringent procedures we are rarely asked to take an animal back once it has been re-homed.

Our staff and volunteers not only have passion and commitment, they also have high levels of expertise. We aim to ensure our staff are kept up to date with the latest thinking in animal welfare and behaviour through training and development. And we have rigorous procedures and processes to ensure that every animal that comes into our care is properly assessed and provided with all the necessary attention it needs to adjust to life at the centre and ultimately, its loving new home. Our rehoming procedures, particularly for dogs, are designed to ensure the best possible match between the individual animal’s needs and the suitability of potential new owners to meet those needs.

When we find a suitable new owner for one of our animals, our staff and volunteers know that they have given that animal a real chance of a new life where its care and welfare will be improved, and it will be much loved. There is plenty of evidence to show that pet ownership can be therapeutic and that new owners will see their own health and happiness improved as they care for a new friend.

Mission Statement

• to find suitable, loving homes for abandoned and unwanted pets
• to promote responsible pet ownership through education and training