Persian Rescue of Virginia (PRVA) has been providing a sustainable homeless animal rescue program in the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area as indicated in our Articles of Incorporation (please see Article 5 of the PRVA Articles of Incorporation) and our By-Laws.

In carrying out our mission in an informal manner over the past two decades, we have been cooperating with individual out-of-the-home rescuers and small grass-roots rescue organizations to address what we have identified to be the five core elements of a sustainable community-wide rescue program, illustrated below:

Closing the physical distance gap between breed cats in need of rescue on the one hand, and rescue volunteers experienced with the needs of the specific breeds in question, drawing on existing rescue groups’ services: a) Persian Rescue Network lists daily on Facebook all Persian, Himalayan, and Exotic Shorthair cats known to be in need of a new home nationwide; b) they also have a national online roster of transport volunteers ready to move a cat in need to us, sometimes covering hundreds or even thousands of miles by car or plane.




1. Providing a safe haven for (a) homeless breed cats putting forth sufficient resources (including funds, space, time, and experience) to assist with emotional, physical, and medical needs as they arise, preparing the animal for adoption into a home, screening potential adopters, and caring for the cat(s) until adoption. A foster home must meet a host of criteria to be able to take on foster-care of one or several rescue cats, plus must have the active support of at least one licensed veterinary clinic with several veterinarians.
2. Raising funds for expenses related to rescue activities, with the most expensive item being veterinary care that may include the need for specialists and/or costly special interventions such as surgeries or dentals.
3. Promoting foster cats responsibly by several means including but not limited to adoption fairs, reputable adoption websites, Facebook. Each cat is individually pictured and described in detail regarding personality traits, care requirements, and known manageable behavioral and/or medical issues if applicable. Adoption applicants who are previously screened for suitability for pet adoption in general, will then be matched with specific cats in a way to maximize the likelihood of a successful life-time adoption of the cat and a mutually rewarding relationship between cat and humans.
4. Monitoring and safe-guarding the well-being of cats in their new homes past the adoption event to coach the new pet guardians on how to care for their cats and how to allow for the strongest possible bond between cat and humans. We are committed to our placements for the lifetime of the cat: a) we commit to taking back our cats at any time in the rare event that the guardians no longer can and/or wish to care for their pets; b) we implant ID microchips into the cats to guarantee that we will be contacted in the unlikely event that one of our cats ends up at an animal shelter. In tandem, these two aspects ensure the long-term safety of our rescue charges throughout their lives.
5. Raising the next generation of responsible and experienced volunteer breed cat rescuers by mentoring them online in chat groups and/or on Facebook and/or over the phone, and by answering any questions pertaining to rescue “best practices”, medical challenges in the animals, plus emotional and/or practical challenges for the rescuer. These activities are not only conducted to increase effectiveness of rescue activities and use of limited rescue resources, but also to stave off rescuer burnout, to prevent rescuers’ decline into irresponsible animal hoarding, or avoid rescuers’ drop-out for other reasons commonly challenging long-term cat foster families and out-of-the-home cat rescuers.