Pet adoption checklist for a shelter or rescue

What’s inside

• The pet and the shelter: name, breed or mix, age, the contact person, the microchip number, the adoption day and the fee.
• Twelve questions to tick off with the staff or the foster family, and a box for their answers.
• Paperwork to take home, from the adoption contract to the medical history and the return policy.
• The microchip in your name: the registry, how to reach it and the date you registered your details.
• Before the home visit or adoption day, the first days, the first vet visit and notes.
• Two pages in US Letter and A4, with tick boxes and fields you can fill in on screen.

Questions worth asking

The questions follow the American Kennel Club’s advice on rescuing a dog: how the dog came in and how long it has been there, its health and records, house training, how it is with children, strangers and other animals, the cues it knows, any bite history, and what the rescue does if the adoption doesn’t work out. A foster family often knows the most, because shelter stress can hide an animal’s personality. Most of the questions work for a cat too.

The paperwork and the microchip

An AKC guide to choosing a rescue group warns about groups that don’t provide clear health records, and expects a thorough process: an application, a phone interview, a home visit, meeting the pet and signing a contract. Humane World for Animals notes that an adoption fee often covers vaccinations, spay or neuter surgery, a microchip and parasite treatment, so ask what yours includes.

Many shelters microchip the animals they place. The AVMA advises asking the shelter for the microchip number and registering it in your name, since a chip helps only when the registry can reach you.

Getting ready for a home visit

Not every shelter visits, but a rescue may want to see your home. The ASPCA’s adoption center asks adopters to check their building’s pet policy, bring a photo ID and take cats home in a carrier. Humane World suggests agreeing house rules, and who feeds and walks the pet, before it arrives, and the AVMA’s list of household hazards starts with medicines and cleaning products kept out of reach.

• New puppy checklist (supplies)
• New kitten checklist (supplies)
• First vet visit checklist

The first days

Humane World suggests bringing a new dog home when you can be there for a few days, keeping the first week quiet, and seeing the vet within a week. A new cat starts in a room of its own and meets other pets slowly. Settling in can take days, months or longer, so give it time.