FAQs
Anyone 18 years old or older is welcome to apply to adopt from PAWS & More! If you are a renter, or otherwise live in someone else’s home, we will need to have their permission prior to approving your application to adopt.
Your first step is to complete an adoption application on our website or in person at our shelter. We typically process applications in 24 hours or less, and we will contact you once that step is complete. Once approved, we’ll set up a time to have you come in, sign your paperwork, pay your adoption fee, and take home your new pet!
Once your application is approved, we generally like to have you finalize the adoption and take your pet home as soon as possible. The shelter environment is very stressful on an animal and every pet that goes home clears a space for a new one to come in!
The short answer is no. It wouldn’t be fair to an animal to have it spend extra days and nights in a kennel instead of being able to go home. Once you’re back from vacation and plan to be gone for a while, give us a call. We’ll help you find the perfect match.
We encourage people to adopt because adopting makes you part of a solution to pet overpopulation. Adopting saves lives! We believe that there is great value in adopting, both mentally and financially! Each of our adoption fees includes spay/neuter, up to date vaccinations and preventatives, a microchip, and even a nail trim! Each of those services has a price tag if you buy a pet or acquire one for free. So we think it’s a pretty great deal!
Every adoption application ends with a conversation with a staff member here. We require that everyone in the home be on board with adopting your new pet from us, but other than that, we consider each applicant on an individual basis.
If you’re adopting a kitty, you’ll want to bring a carrier or purchase a cardboard one from us. For dogs, bring along a leash!
We are here to support you! Call, email, or message us at anytime, as we are here to make your adoption a success.
You should download and use Maddie's® Pet Assistant that comes with every adoption. Maddie's® Pet Assistant (MPA) is a free app developed by Maddie's Fund® to provide you with support after you bring a dog or cat home. Whether you are a seasoned foster caregiver, or just adopted your first pet - the app will provide help and maybe even teach you a few new tricks.
Remember that cats and dogs both need slow introductions to resident pets and people, and it is important to provide a safe place for your dog or cat to have access to at all times. This will allow them a break from their new environment when feeling overwhelmed. It is also important to provide lots of calm positive interactions and reinforce positive behaviors and avoid overstimulation, which can trigger negative responses and could lead to negative associations to their new environments.
Whether you rescue an older dog or a puppy, kitten or older cat a lot of animals tend to follow the 3-3-3 rule when getting acclimated: 3 days of feeling overwhelmed and nervous, 3 weeks of settling in, and 3 months of building trust and bonding with you.
We are an adoption-guarantee animal shelter, meaning that we will always take our animals back if it truly cannot work. At the same time, we believe that many animal returns can be prevented by reaching out to us immediately with questions or problems that are arising. Pets need time to adjust to their new homes. They need slow introductions and careful management with other animals in their new home. So we hope that before returning an animal to our shelter, you will contact us so that we can talk things through, before any decisions have been made about bringing them back.
We are here to help understand the needs of you and your new pet. We will work with you to provide the best outcome for you and your pet. Sometimes that means they need to come back to the shelter. Other times we can help find a new home while you hold onto the new pet so it can go directly from HOME to HOME. We encourage HOME to HOME whenever possible. Maybe you have a friend or family member that would be a better match for your newly adopted pet. We support that too! We are here to help and can also provide training and behavior support that may help the animal adjust and stay with you.
We welcome you to apply for one of our animals, even if that pet has another application. Not all approved applications finalize into an adoption. Many of our pets go home with their second or even third interested adopter.
No, we take care of that for you and it’s included in your adoption fee.
We receive pets in many ways. Some are lost pets that weren’t able to be reunited with their owners. Some are pets that we brought in from overcrowded shelters. Others are pets surrendered to us by their families due to family hardship or not being successful in the home. If you see a pet you’re interested in and you’re curious, we’ll be glad to find you any history that we know about them. The more we can share with you, the better decision you can make with your adoption.
Ask us any training questions you have. We’re here to help! We do have a local trainer that we work with and we are happy to recommend them. There are other trainers we hear great things about as well, depending on what area you live in.