Pet rehoming agreement

What’s on the form

• You and the new owner, side by side.
• The pet’s ID: name, breed, sex, date of birth, color, microchip number and any passport or registration number.
• Vaccinations as a vet recorded them, the papers handed over, and the food, bed and toys that go along.
• Health and behavior as you know them: illnesses, medicines, allergies, how the pet is with children, other animals and time alone, and what scares it.
• Daily routine: food and amounts, feeding times, walks or the litter box, and the vet who knows the pet.
• Free of charge or a rehoming fee, the handover, a box for anything else you agree, an optional line for updates, and signatures.

Why write it down

A handover between two people is often a few messages and a meeting in a parking lot. A signed page answers the questions that come up later: who owns the pet now, which vaccinations it had, what the old owner said about a limp or a fear of thunder, and who the vet was. The routine section saves the pet a hard first week, and the papers help the new owner move the microchip registration into their name.

What the form leaves out on purpose

Rescue groups often add conditions to their adoption contracts: home checks, a promise not to pass the pet on, a return to the rescue, fees for breaking the contract. This sample prints none of them. Whether such promises bind a private new owner depends on the law where you live, and a form cannot settle that. Anything else you both agree on goes in “Other agreements”, in your own words.

The law behind it

Rules differ by country and, in the US, by state. If a fee changes hands and you want to settle the condition of the pet, the sale agreement has that choice.

• Pets are property in most legal systems; the US Uniform Commercial Code, for example, counts animals among goods. UCC § 2-105 (opens in a new tab)
• If the new owner pays a rehoming fee, the handover can count as a sale, which passes ownership for a price. UCC § 2-106 (opens in a new tab)

• Pet sale agreement

Before the handover

1. Meet first, and visit the new home if you can.
2. Collect the vaccination record and vet records; ask your clinic for a copy of the history if you have none.
3. Fill in health, behavior and routine honestly: a new owner who knows about a fear or an allergy is ready for it.
4. Sign two copies and keep one each.
5. Move the microchip registration to the new owner and tell your vet the pet has a new home.