Adopt
Adoption Process and FeesThank you for your interest in saving a life by adopting a pet!
We invite you to browse through our online listings of adoptable pets any time day or night and then come see us at 2350 Appling City Cove during our adoption hours. Some pets are physically at the shelter, and some are being cared for by foster families.
You can save a life! To see dogs urgently in need of rescuing, click on the Attributes box below, and then click the “Urgent-at risk of euthanasia” attribute, or just bookmark this page. Email [email protected] with questions about specific dogs or the adoption process.
Adoption Process
If you visit us, we invite you to walk through our dog and cat rooms to view all currently adoptable pets. If you need more information about a certain pet or advice about what type of pet would be a good fit, you can ask any of our staff or volunteers for assistance. We invite you to spend time with pets you’re interested in to see who you connect with.
Once you’ve reached a decision on a pet to adopt, a staff member or volunteer will retrieve the kennel card and proceed with you to the reception area where you will complete the adoption contract. There may be a short consultation session.
Some pets in the shelter are ready to adopt and take home same day, and some pets can be pre-adopted or adopted and taken home later. We also have hundreds of adoptable pets living with foster families.
Pets Who Can Go Home Today
One of the reasons an MAS adoption is such a great value is that spay/neuter is included! All MAS pets are spayed/neutered before leaving with their adopter. MAS always has some pets who are already spayed/neutered and can leave with their adopters same-day. If you are particularly interested in a same-day adoption and pickup, check our Ready-to-Go board in the shelter! For pets who are available for adoption now, just come to the shelter during adoption hours ASAP to meet them and hopefully adopt! You’ll need your driver’s license as well as the adoption fee in the form of cash or card (we don’t accept checks).
Pets Who Can't Go Home Today
Pets who are not yet spayed/neutered at the time of adoption will go on the surgery list as soon as you process their adoption. You can pick them up to go home on the afternoon of their surgery. As much as we would love to be able to give you a guaranteed window of when surgery will be completed, it depends on too many factors. Most adopters pick up between 24-72 hours.
For pets who are not yet legally available for adoption because they’re on a stray hold, you can pre-adopt them. Pre-adoptions must be done in person at the shelter and will be canceled if an owner reclaims or anything else occurs preventing the pet from being adopted. Pre-adoption fees are not refundable in the event an adoption isn’t completed but will remain as a credit on your account toward another adoption.
Please note, small and/or purebred dogs often have many people competing to adopt them. In order to be fair and honor our first-come/first-serve policy, we will go in order of the cars parked outside of our front gate behind the “LINE STARTS HERE” sign when we open at 12pm. If any cars are parked inside the front gate, they will be considered at the end of the line. If you are not first to adopt a small or purebred dog, we hope you will stay and consider the hundreds of other dogs who deserve happy homes just as much as the little ones.
Pets in Foster Homes
Don’t forget to consider pets in foster homes when adopting! The great thing about these pets is that we know a lot about them—their foster family knows about their personality and what type of home they might enjoy the most. If you see a fostered pet on our website you’d like to learn more about, email us with that pet’s ID number and we’ll put you in touch with their foster parent. These pets are not located at the shelter.
Adoption Fees
$10
Barn cats
$20
Urgent dogs & medical pets
$40
Dogs & puppies of all ages
Cats & kittens of all ages
Dog adoption ($20-40) includes:
• Spay/neuter
• Microchip
• Vaccinations for rabies (if old enough), distemper, parvo, and bordetella
• Deworming treatment for hookworms and roundworms
• Heartworm test (if old enough)
• Heartworm treatment medications (if heartworm-positive and deemed a good candidate by vet)
• Collar
• Leash
• Customized ID tag
Cat adoption ($20-40) includes:
• Spay/neuter
• Microchip
• Vaccinations for rabies, rhinotracheitis, calicivirus and panleukopenia
• Deworming treatment for hookworms and roundworms
• Collar
• Customized ID tag
Other adoption fees:
Horse: $250
Large bird: $40
Pig, Goat: $30
Rabbit, Ferret, Small bird: $20
Hamster, Guinea pig, Gerbil, Snake, Lizard: $10
Chicken, Rat: $5
Choosing the Right Match for Your Family
It’s a good idea to ask what information we have about a pet, but in many cases, we simply don’t know. We rely on previous owners and finders to tell us what they experienced with the pet, and the majority of our intakes come in through our Animal Services Officers, who have spent very little time with the pet before bringing them to the shelter. If we don’t have behavioral history from the pet in a home, we have to go on what we see in the shelter, which can be very unreliable. This is why adopting from a foster home can be so beneficial—you often have more information about the pet you’re adopting. With dogs, we do try to get them out into a playgroup with other dogs while they’re with us in the shelter—click here to learn more about that and what playgroup notes in a dog’s profile mean. If you have pets you’d like to get information on before deciding whether to plan a visit to meet them, email us at [email protected].
We always recommend that you bring all family members to meet any potential new pets. If you’re adopting a dog, bring the family including your dog(s) provided they’re current on vaccines and in generally good health. If you’re adopting a cat, bring the human family but please leave the other pets at home.
Since we have limited information about how these pets are with children and other animals, it’s SO important to introduce them properly. We think the following information is helpful in making great introductions: