Placing A Pet

We were inspired by the article How To Find The Right Agency To Place A Pet written by Monique Balas of the Oregonian. With their permission, we’ve copied parts of this article to create a helpful reference site for folks who need to place a pet in a new home.

Owning a pet is a significant privilege and responsibility.  Besides taking your dog for regular walks or play dates in the dog park or using a laser pointer or feather on a string to tease your cat, you also have to look after their health and well-being.  Daily feeding, picking up poop, washing your dog, cleaning the litter box, applying flea control and internal parasite control medications, brushing their teeth (yes, we’re serious), vacuuming the house, offering a warm, safe place to rest, and taking them to see a veterinarian for health maintenance care and urgent care are just a few of the less glamorous responsibilities in front of you.  Some pets need extra care and attention working through behavioral problems or long term, debilitating illnesses.  We hope everyone pauses for a moment to think about their life and family and decide what type of pet best fits their needs now and in the future.  We also hope folks understand and appreciate this tremendous commitment and are willing to put the time and resources into providing a great home for their four legged children.

With that being said, sometimes it’s necessary to re-home a pet.  That’s where our story begins with Allison Noce and “Frannie,” an 11-year-old Labrador Retriever previously owned by a relative who died.  Allison agreed to take in “Frannie” and find her a new home.  After Allison spent several days trying to contact several animal shelters, rescue groups, and the humane society, she was exasperated and dismayed to receive either outright rejections or simply no response.  “We have just exhausted every option, basically,” Noce says.  “I don’t know what somebody would do if they couldn’t keep their animal in their home.”  She waited a month to secure an evaluation appointment at the Oregon Humane Society.  “Frannie” is also listed for adoption through the Pixie Project.

Noce’s situation illustrates both the difficulties involved in finding a new home for a pet through one of the area’s jam-packed shelters and the complexities of navigating the network of area animal-welfare groups.  “There are many types of organizations in the Portland area, and many people are very confused about the role of each organization,” says David Lytle, public affairs manager for the Oregon Humane Society.

How you can help

• Adopt from a shelter, humane society or rescue group.
• Volunteer to provide foster care with an area animal-welfare group.
• Spay or neuter your pet.
• License your pet.
• Plan ahead.  If you need to move or can no longer keep your pet, start making plans now.

If you need to surrender an animal

• Start early.  The second you know you won’t be able to keep your animal, start calling places.  Waiting lists for shelters can take months, so get on as many as you can.
• Spay or neuter your pet before bringing it to the shelter.  Altered pets in good health are adopted faster.
• Keep them current on the annual exam and vaccinations.
• Bathe and groom your animal before bringing it in. Your pet will be pretty and stand out and get adopted faster.
• Get any necessary dental work done – it will improve your pet’s chances of getting adopted.

Here’s a list of the local shelters and animal welfare organizations

• Multnomah County Animal Services takes in stray, lost, abused, unwanted, injured, or sick animals in the community.  When strays and lost animals come through the shelter’s doors, the first order of business is to try to reunite them with their owners.  Animal shelters are usually required to hold a stray pet for three to six business days before determining the pet is abandoned.  After the hold period, the agency evaluates the animal to make sure they are healthy enough for adoption and then tries to find them a new home.  They can sometimes take a surrendered animal as a last resort if they have room.
• Clackamas County Dog Services only has resources to handle stray dogs and adopt out those that go unclaimed.  Cats are sent to specific organizations or one of the humane societies.  They sometimes can accept a surrendered dog if they have space available.
• Bonnie L. Hays Small Animal Shelter in Washington County will take owner surrenders if it has the room, but it almost never does.
• Oregon Humane Society is a private, nonprofit organization that handles adoptions, takes some owner-surrendered animals, conducts animal cruelty investigations, and offers education programs.  They aren’t required to take in surrendered animals; however, they try to help other animal service agencies with surrendered pets and they sometimes take surrenders.  If you need to surrender an animal, call OHS and make an appointment; expect to wait about two weeks for dogs and four weeks for cats.  They assess the animal for aggression level and health.  Since the agency’s goal is to place each pet in a new home, it seeks primarily healthy animals with good temperaments.
• Humane Society of Southwest Washington takes in lost, stray, injured, and abandoned pets the same way county shelters do and it can take owner-surrendered animals too.  Expect to pay a $60 fee on top of their regular charge to surrender a pet.  These fees help maintain the organization.  You’ll also need to provide a health certificate signed by a veterinarian and proof of rabies vaccination.  The agency takes all animals and if you bring in a highly aggressive dog, you may have to sign a euthanasia request form.
• Cat Adoption Team takes in homeless felines by appointment; expect to wait six to eight weeks.
• House of Dreams provides shelter and care for abandoned and homeless cats, with the goal of finding them permanent homes or providing them a lifetime home in our facility. They are a free-roam, no-kill cat shelter located in Portland, OR, and one of the only area shelters with facilities for Feline Leukemia positive kitties.
• Pixie Project in Northeast Portland is a rescue group here to support overcrowded, underfunded county shelters.  They help find homes for animals through an extensive network of foster homes and other agencies.
• NW Dog Rescue is a directory for pet rescue groups in Oregon and Washington.
• Family Dogs New Life is a no kill dog shelter in Portland, Oregon.
• Indigo Rescue rehabilitates elderly, injured, or behaviorally challenged dogs primarily for Washington, Columbia, and Multnomah county shelters.  Owner surrenders are taken only in extreme circumstances.
• Columbia Humane Society in St. Helens, Oregon.
• New Beginnings SPCA in Roseberg, Oregon.
• Southern Oregon Humane Society in Medford, Oregon.
• High Desert Humane Society in Madras, Oregon.
• Homeward Bound Pets in Dayton, Oregon.
• Second Chance Companions in Battleground, WA.
• Safe Haven Humane Society in Albany, Oregon.
• Red Bear Animal Sanctuary in Bandon, Oregon.
• Unicorn Point Animal Sanctuary in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Thank you Don McCoy, DVM and Loralei, CVT for providing inspiration and content for this page.