How to Adopt

Home-to-Home services are designed to provide pet owners and adopters with the information and support they need to find one another easily, to arrange pet adoptions confidently and to help animals successfully move from home to home.

To Inquire about a pet listed with
Home-to-Home, select a pet from the Available Pets page, then fill out and submit a dog or cat adopter profile

Profiles submitted through the website will be confirmed by telephone or email within 24 hours.

Upon confirmation of your profile, Home-to-Home will contact the pet's owner and communicate your interest. After reviewing your profile, the pet owner can either accept or decline contact.

Home-to-Home will then contact you and either provide the pet owner's contact information or communicate the owner's decision to decline further inquiry.

If the pet owner agrees, you may then contact the owner to discuss adoption and arrange a meeting.

Agreeing to meet does not constitute a commitment by either party to continue the adoption process or to adopt the animal involved.

Review both the Tips for Owners and Tips for Adopters for suggestions on meeting one another and proceeding to a successful adoption.

Whether you are about to adopt your first pet or are planning to add a new member to a household that already includes pets, your chances for a successful adoption will be increased if you carefully consider the following before you adopt :

Is everyone in your household in agreement about adopting a particular animal? Many pets end up losing their homes because not all family members are equally committed to their care and training.
Are you able to make the long-term commitment to provide a home for the animal's lifetime? Pets can live 15 years or more. Many people are forced to give up pets when they move frequently or have trouble finding rental housing that will accept pets.
Can you afford the expense of caring for an animal? Estimates of the annual cost of owning a pet range from a few hundred dollars for a cat to well over $1000.00 for a dog. Expenses can be considerably higher if you need frequent boarding, grooming or veterinary care for your pet.
Do you have the time, energy, patience and commitment to provide the daily exercise, care and training that most pets require? Many, many young energetic animals are surrendered to animal shelters because their owners underestimated the amount of training and exercise their pets would need.
If you have young children, are you prepared and able to provide the constant supervision required whenever the animal and children are together? Many experts recommend postponing adopting a pet until all children in the household are at least 7 years old.
Have you given careful consideration to the particular animal you are planning to adopt? More than age, size, breed or gender, it is important to properly assess and match an animal's temperament and energy level to your home and lifestyle. A successful adoption begins with carefully choosing the right pet for you and your family.

There is no fee to list or adopt a pet through Home-to-Home.

All pets offered for adoption through
Home-to-Home must be offered free of charge.

Home-to-Home does not evaluate listed pets or prospective adopters. Assessment of the character and suitability of an animal or adopter is the responsibility of each pet's owner and adopter.