1. Please try to place your pet in a new home on your own. All area no-kill shelters and rescue groups are overwhelmed with requests for help from shelters and owners alike. Many (but not all) of the owners who contact us have not made any real effort to rehome their own pets, they just want to place that burden on someone else. Our primary purpose is to save the lives of companion animals who have found themselves in area kill shelters, so we only accept owner surrenders when space allows.
2. If your pet has serious health or behavior problems, we can not accept it into our program. We do not have the time or funds to rehabilitate your pet. Serious problems include, but are not limited to, a pet who has bitten someone and punctured the skin, aggression toward people or other animals even if it has not yet resulted in any injuries, "housebreaking" issues such as peeing outside the litter box, bone, joint or other disorders requiring surgery (such as hip displaysia), self-mutilation, obsessive compulsive disorders, kidney disease, etc. You will be asked to disclose any health or behavior problems during the surrender process and we reserve the right to require a temperament or health evaluation prior to accepting your pet into our program.
3. We bare all expenses for the pets we rescue from shelter and stray situations and those costs are often not completely covered by the adoption fees we charge. We cover the extra expenses through fundraising events and individual donations but there are not extra funds leftover to spend on vetting and care of owner surrender pets. To cover our costs of vetting and caring for (food, litter, etc.) your pet, you will be required to make a donation.
If you would like to be placed on the waiting list for admission, please send an email to us at info@vet-petrescue.org. Please provide as much information as possible about the pet you wish to surrender as this will help us to evaluate what type of foster home will be the best fit.
Our normal response time to surrender requests is 72 hours.
The waiting period before your pet can be turned over will vary based on the number and types of pets that are already on the waiting list, and how quickly the pets already in the rescue get adopted, however, please be aware that it is not unusual for it to be a month or more before space is available.
If you are able to continue housing your own pet and you can transport it to vet appointments and adoption events please be sure to state this in your email because we may accept your pet on an "owner/foster" basis which will allow your pet to get adopted a lot sooner and can also be less stressful for them since they don't have to adjust to a temporary foster home while they wait to get adopted. A donation may still be required to cover the costs of vetting.