Pet rescues are organizations that accept and care for pets without owners. Adoption is usually the goal for most of the pets in rescues. For many, temporary foster homes are an important component of the adoption process. Other rescues provide permanent housing and hospice services.
Are you hoping to adopt a pet from an animal rescue?
Pre-qualify any rescue before you look at its animals for adoption.
Before you look at any pets available for adoption through any rescue, do your due-diligence on the rescue organizations themselves. You may have gotten recommendations for local rescues from friends or family who’ve adopted animals there. That’s a good place to start.
Look up each recommended rescue online—not only on social media, which can certainly be informative, but also through local agencies and organizations that might rate or recommend it.
▪ Is this rescue for-profit or nonprofit?
▪ How long has it been in operation?
▪ Who’s in charge? Who volunteers?
▪ Where does the rescue get its animals?
Do you have other contacts who might be familiar with a rescue’s reputation? Your veterinarian, vet clinic staff, your area’s animal control agency, local groomers, trainers, pet-supply stores?
Ask about each rescue specifically. “Have you met pets placed by it? What have you heard about it? Would you adopt a pet from that organization?” Put together all the information you get and follow up on it.
Ask each rescue some very basic questions.
▪ What’s your process for accepting animals?
▪ What services do all of the animals receive?
▪ What’s your process for evaluating animals?
▪ What training/support do foster homes get?
▪ What’s the process for prospective adopters?
▪ What happens if an adoption doesn’t work?
All the better if you can ask these questions in person, on the phone, or face-to-face with a representative of the rescue. (Again, before you look at any adoptable animals!)
If you’re uncomfortable with the answers you get—or don’t get—it’s probably best to go elsewhere.
Photo by Bryn Nowell
When you know that a rescue meets your needs, practically and ethically, it’s time to take a look at the adoptable pets it has on offer.
You’ve already made your mind up about the species, the age, probably at least the size of the pet you want. Don’t forget the temperament!
Photos and write-ups in online forums will give you only hints about the potential of each pet you see. Eventually, you have to meet the animal in person to find out if you click or not. Is this the one?
Here are some questions to ask about each animal.
What do you know about this animal’s background?
You should be offered any contact information available for former owner, breeder, trainer, groomer, veterinarian, and foster home. Of course, if the animal has been picked up as a stray, there won’t be a great deal of background on his life before this rescue, but certainly any current carers can chime in about the animal. You may not be given access to names and numbers, however, until the adoption is complete.
What veterinary care has this animal received?
. . . from the rescue and, if known, for all of its life. You want the full veterinary record that exists, so that you can bring it with you when you take the animal to your own veterinarian for the first time. If the rescue has given any inoculations or has microchipped the pet, be sure to get that information, too.
Who has evaluated the animal and for what?
Was the animal evaluated for temperament and/or suitability for adoption? What was the expertise of the evaluator/s?
Ask specific questions. If a rescue volunteer or staffer has evaluated the animal, what is that person’s experience and education? Why is that person qualified to make the evaluation? Ask, too, how the evaluation was conducted, how long it took, where the evaluation was done.
Ask about what services the rescue offers after adoption.
Does this rescue offer a free vet check-up?
Veterinarians often offer a free check-up for animals that are newly adopted from rescues and shelters. Find out if this rescue is included in such a program in your area. If it’s not, ask if the rescue has coupons for free vet check-ups that you can use at a veterinary clinic of your choice.
Plan to have a “new pet” veterinary check-up, if at all possible, before you take your new pet to your home.
What sort of ongoing support do you offer?
At a minimum, you must know that, if you are unable to keep the pet for any reason, you can return it to the rescue.
Ideally, this policy would last for the animal’s life but, certainly, no rescue can guarantee to be there for, say, a tortoise who will live longer than all the humans he knows! It is reasonable to expect that you should be able to return a pet to the rescue if it is clearly not a good fit with your family, especially if any animal or human’s life is endangered because of what’s happening.
I would also hope that any reputable rescue, however big or small, would offer the support of advice and encouragement from day one. In big rescues with paid staff and lots of volunteers, you might be offered classes (with or without your new pet) to teach you how to make your life together better. In small rescues, it might be one person on the phone, willing to take your call and tell you what you need to know, when it might be an emergency.
No ongoing support from the rescue? I would walk.
What happens if something really goes wrong?
You’ve done your due-diligence, you’ve chosen a rescue you thought to be good, but it’s a few weeks into the adoption and it’s obvious to you that there’s something really wrong.
Maybe the animal is not what you’d been told she was physically—younger, older, infirm instead of healthy? Or the rescue said he was good with other animals and he very clearly isn’t. You’re worried because the other animals aren’t safe!
Worse yet, she hurts a human in your family, or a friend, or a neighbor.
You call the rescue in tears . . . but they won’t take the animal back.
You’re on your own now, you realize—the rescue is not what you believed it to be. You have some choices to make, the most important of which is what to do about the animal you cannot keep.
First and foremost, make an appointment with your veterinarian, if you have one—or ask a knowledgeable friend for a vet recommendation. Tell the staffer with whom you speak why you want to see the vet. It’s especially important that staff be aware of any issues that might endanger them or other animals in the clinic.
Once you’ve discussed the situation with a veterinarian, you’ll have a much better idea of what solutions might exist and what decisions you’ll have to make.
To whom can you complain about a rescue that’s let you down?
▪ You certainly could post your complaints on social media online. Be wary, though, of blowback from people who don’t take criticism well. It could get nastier than you want.
▪ You could write down your experience, state clearly why you’re disappointed, and mail it to the rescue itself, in the hope you can make a difference for the next adopter who goes there.
▪ You could report to your local animal control agency if you have experienced what might be a scam instead of a reputable rescue organization.
You’ll still have to deal with the animal . . . and that might not be easy.
Have you had a good experience with an excellent animal rescue?
