Additional adoption info
Animals that we take in are placed in a foster home and remain there for a minimum of thirty days while they are evaluated (medically and behaviorally), to determine what vetting and/or rehabilitation is needed. We do our best to expose our foster animals to other animals, adults, children, and numerous situations. We do this in an attempt to discover if there are any obvious, day-to-day activities that may trigger a past trauma in an animal's life.
Once our foster animals have been evaluated and vetted, they are promoted on our facebook page, and on other rescue-related sites such as adoptapet.com. When a person contacts us about an animal they are interested in adopting, we give them an application. Once we receive the completed application, we set up a time to bring the animal to their home to see how that animal functions in the new environment (we advise potential adopters to allow for at least two hours for these initial home visits). The only exception to this rule are the larger animals: equines, cattle, goats, etc.
After a successful initial home visit, the foster animal goes back home with his/her foster parent, while the potential adopter(s) discuss the visit. This also gives us time to check the provided personal and veterinary references. The next step is an overnight visit, where the adoptable animal is left at the adopter's home; the foster parent returns the following day to do a follow-up evaluation. If the follow-up visit goes well, the adoption is considered finalized, although we do perform additional follow-up visits at specified intervals. We do NOT perform unannounced visits. We will always call an adopter ahead of time, and work with them to find a mutually convenient time for a visit.
Every adoption contract contains a clause that states that, if for any reason, at any time in the future, an adopter is unable to keep the animal they adopted from us, they are to contact us immediately, and we will pick the animal up from them. In the event that an adopter is unable to keep an animal, but believes that they have found another home for him/her, we will conduct a home visit and reference check on the new adopters. If those checks are good, then the animal is allowed to go to the new home, with a new contract signed by the new owners. In this sort of case, we would not require an additional adoption fee from the new adopters. Only if an animal is physically returned to us, and was kept in a foster home for any length of time, would we require an adoption fee from a new adopter, and even then it would be a reduced fee.
Adoption fees vary widely, based upon species, length of time in foster care, and the cost of necessary vetting. If an animal comes to us already fully vetted, then that animal will have a lower adoption fee than one which requires extra care.
