Pet adoption is the process of transferring responsibility for a pet that was previously owned by another party. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters, rescue groups, or other pet owners. Some organizations give adopters ownership of the pet, while others use a guardianship model wherein the organization retains some control over the animal's future use or care.
An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would be penned or impounded until they were claimed by their owners.
An animal rescue group or animal rescue organization is a group dedicated to pet adoption. These groups take unwanted, abandoned, abused, or stray pets and attempt to find suitable homes for them. Many rescue groups are created by and run by volunteers, who take animals into their homes and care for them — including training, playing, handling medical issues, and solving behaviour problems — until a suitable permanent home can be found.
In some countries there is an overpopulation of pets such as cats, dogs, and exotic animals. In the United States, six to eight million animals are brought to shelters each year, of which an estimated three to four million are subsequently euthanized, including 2.7 million considered healthy and adoptable. Euthanasia numbers have declined since the 1970s, when U.S. shelters euthanized an estimated 12 to 20 million animals. Most humane societies, animal shelters and rescue groups urge animal caregivers to have their animals spayed or neutered to prevent the births of unwanted and accidental litters that could contribute to this dynamic.
The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA (PHS/SPCA) is one of the largest humane organizations in the United States. Located in San Mateo County, California, it is a private non-profit charitable organization. It is an animal rescue, rehabilitation and adoption operation with two locations. The Tom and Annette Lantos Center for Compassion, where adoptable animals are housed, is in the city of Burlingame and the older physical plant, which serves as the intake shelter, is located at Coyote Point in the city of San Mateo. PHS/SPCA has been responsible for considerable progress in the California Legislature with new humane laws in the state, especially since the late 1970s. PHS/SPCA has been characterized as a progressive and innovative humane organization.
Dogs Trust, known until 2003 as the National Canine Defence League, is a British animal welfare charity and humane society which specialises in the well-being of dogs. It is the largest dog welfare charity in the United Kingdom, caring for over 15,000 animals each year. Dogs Trust's primary objective is to protect all dogs in the UK and elsewhere from maltreatment, cruelty and suffering. It focuses on the rehabilitation and rehoming of dogs which have been either abandoned or given up by their owners through rehoming services.
A no-kill shelter is an animal shelter that does not kill healthy or treatable animals based on time limits or capacity, reserving euthanasia for terminally ill animals, animals suffering poor quality of life, or those considered dangerous to public safety. A no-kill shelter uses many strategies to promote shelter animals; to expanding its resources using volunteers, housing and medical protocols; and to work actively to lower the number of homeless animals entering the shelter system. Up to ten percent of animals could be killed in a no-kill shelter and still be considered a no-kill shelter.
North Shore Animal League America, headquartered in Port Washington, New York, is the largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization in the world. Marianne H. Sanders founded the League in 1944, and the League's mission has been saving the lives of pets through adoption, rescue, spay/neuter and advocacy initiatives. Each year, the League rescues, nurtures and adopts nearly 20,000 pets nationwide, and to date, has placed nearly one million puppies, kittens, cats and dogs into screened homes. One of the first animal rescue agencies on the ground in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the League rescued more than 1,400 pets from the region.
AB 1634 was a 2007 bill in the California State Legislature which would require that dogs and cats in California be spayed or neutered by 6 months of age.
The potcake dog is a mixed-breed dog type found on several Caribbean islands. Its name comes from a traditional local dish of seasoned rice and pigeon peas; overcooked rice that sticks to the bottom of the cooking pot is commonly mixed with other leftovers and fed to the dogs. Although appearance varies, potcakes generally have smooth coats, cocked ears, and long faces.
The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is a volunteer-based, non-government organization whose goal is to prevent animal cruelty through education, animal sheltering and advocacy, based in Quezon City, Philippines. It was founded in 1954 by Muriel Jay. PAWS believes that the creation of a more peaceful society starts with the widening of mankind's circle of compassion which includes animals, thereby envisions a nation that respects animals, practices responsible pet ownership and protects wildlife. The volunteer-based organization rehabilitates these animals in the hope of finding them new homes and a second chance at a good life. PAWS does not take in pets of other people, but only victims of cruelty or neglect where the animal offenders are charged with violation of the Animal Welfare Act in court.
The National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA) is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to promoting animal welfare and animal husbandry practices, strengthening the human-animal bond, and safeguarding the rights of responsible animal owners and professionals through research, public education and public policy. The NAIA mission is "to promote the welfare of animals."
Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA) is a registered non-profit, non-government animal welfare organization in the Philippines. It was founded in 2000 by a group of animal lovers determined to help the plight of animals in the Philippines. The current president of CARA is Nancy Cu-Unjieng.
Street dogs, known in scientific literature as free-ranging urban dogs, are unconfined dogs that live in cities. They live virtually everywhere cities exist and the local human population allows, especially in the developing world. Street dogs may be stray dogs, pets which have strayed from or are abandoned by their owners, or may be feral animals that have never been owned. Street dogs may be stray purebreds, true mixed-breed dogs, or unbred landraces such as the Indian pariah dog. Street dog overpopulation can cause problems for the societies in which they live, so campaigns to spay and neuter them are sometimes implemented. They tend to differ from rural free-ranging dogs in their skill sets, socialization, and ecological effects.
Abandoned pets are companion animals that are either inadvertently or deliberately abandoned by their owners, by either dumping the animals on the streets, leaving them alone in a vacant property, or relinquishing them at an animal shelter.
World Spay Day advocates spaying, or neutering, advocating it "as a proven means of saving the lives of companion animals, community cats, and street dogs who might otherwise be put down in a shelter or killed on the street." It is an event held on the last Tuesday in February each year.
The Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) is a nonprofit organization founded by Elaine and Tony La Russa, based in Walnut Creek, California. ARF rescues dogs and cats from public animal shelters where they would otherwise be euthanized and adopts them into new homes. Their programs include a spay and neuter clinic, training classes, psychiatric service dog training for military veterans, a volunteer therapy dog program, and humane education programs for children.
Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh (HARP), formerly known as the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania, known commonly as Animal Rescue League Shelter & Wildlife Center (ARL), is an animal welfare organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1909. The ARL is a non-profit organization that offers various services to support both animals and pet owners alike. It is the only animal shelter in the Pittsburgh area that accepts both domestic animals and wildlife. The agency's shelter and clinic are located in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood, while its wildlife rehabilitation center and boarding kennels are a few miles away in Verona, Pennsylvania. The organization maintains a contract with the city of Pittsburgh and accepts all stray pets that are apprehended by the Animal Control unit.
The Soi Dog Foundation is a nonprofit organisation for the welfare of stray dogs and cats. Its headquarters is in Phuket, Thailand, and it is a legally registered nonprofit organisation in Thailand, the US, Canada, Australia, France, UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Its primary goal is to care for homeless and abused dogs in Thailand. It was established by British couple John and Gill Dalley with the help of Margot Homburg Park in Phuket in 2003.
The Sato Project is an animal rescue and protection organization founded in 2011 by British-born Christina Beckles. It works to rescue abused and abandoned dogs in Puerto Rico, educating the public and advocating for abused and abandoned dogs. "Sato" is the Spanish word used in Puerto Rico and Cuba for referring to stray dogs or cats. Many of the project's missions have involved airlifting dogs before and after natural disasters, including Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the earthquakes that struck Puerto Rico in 2019 and 2020. "Spayathon" is a spaying and neutering program, attended by Sato Project and other animal rights organizations in Puerto Rico, which has had an impact on the stray dog population.
