Which Adopt a Pet Services Help with Pet Adoption?
Adopt a Pet provides a comprehensive pet search platform, automated New Pet Alerts, free educational resources, veterinary care partnerships, and a dedicated rehoming program. The platform partners with over 15,000 shelters and rescues across North America to connect potential adopters with available pets.
Search Platform and Database Access
The core service Adopt a Pet offers is access to one of North America’s largest databases of adoptable animals. The platform aggregates listings from more than 15,000 animal shelters, rescue groups, and rehoming individuals across the United States and Canada. This centralization solves a key problem for adopters: finding available pets without visiting multiple shelter websites or facilities.
Search filters allow users to narrow results by species, breed, age, size, color, and location. This specificity matters because shelters report that mismatches between adopter expectations and pet characteristics contribute to return rates. The search interface displays pet photos, basic information, and direct links to the listing organization.
The platform serves both adopters and shelters. For adopters, it eliminates the need to search dozens of individual shelter websites. For shelters, it provides free advertising that reaches millions of potential adopters—particularly important given that many shelters operate on limited marketing budgets.
New Pet Alerts System
The New Pet Alerts feature addresses a common adoption challenge: timing. With approximately 5.8 million animals entering U.S. shelters annually and roughly 20% of listed pets adopted within 24 hours, being notified quickly about matching pets matters.
Users create a search profile with specific criteria—breed preferences, age range, size, location radius. When a pet matching those parameters enters the database, the system sends an email notification. This automated monitoring means adopters don’t need to check the website repeatedly.
The service offers both free and premium tiers. Free alerts arrive once daily. Premium subscribers receive instant notifications and can create unlimited alert profiles. The earlier notification gives premium users a time advantage when applying for in-demand pets.
For context, shelter data shows that applications received within the first few hours of a listing often have better placement odds, especially for puppies, small dogs, and specific popular breeds.
Educational Resources and Adoption Guides
Adopt a Pet provides free downloadable resources designed to prepare first-time adopters. The adoption guidebook includes practical tools: supply checklists, questions to ask at shelters, guidance on selecting compatible pets, and advice for the first weeks at home.
The platform also offers specialized guides like “The Puppy Manual,” a 21-page resource covering puppy basics from eight weeks to six months old. These materials address a real issue: inadequate preparation contributes to pet returns. The ASPCA reports that between 7% and 20% of adopted pets are returned within six months, often due to behavior issues that stem from lack of training knowledge.
The blog section contains hundreds of articles on topics from introducing pets to children to understanding adoption contracts. This educational approach aims to set realistic expectations before adoption occurs.
Kinship Integration for Veterinary Support
Through partnership with Kinship, Adopt a Pet provides three months of free access to licensed veterinary chat services. New adopters can ask questions about their pet’s health, behavior, and care directly to veterinary professionals via the app.
This service proves valuable because 46% of adopters book a veterinary visit before bringing a pet home, according to platform data. However, new pet parents typically have numerous questions between that initial visit and follow-up appointments. The chat service fills that gap without requiring an office visit for every concern.
The Kinship app also includes nutrition calculators, training resources, and product recommendations. After the three-month trial, users can continue the service through paid subscription or access free content.
Banfield Partnership for Veterinary Care
Adopt a Pet’s partnership with Banfield Pet Hospital offers new clients a free first veterinary visit at any of Banfield’s 1,000+ locations. This represents tangible value, as initial vet consultations typically cost $50-$150 depending on location and services provided.
The offer includes a comprehensive wellness exam where veterinarians assess the pet’s health, review vaccination records, discuss nutrition, and establish a care baseline. For newly adopted pets, this examination can identify issues not detected during shelter intake exams, which are often basic due to volume constraints.
Banfield’s locations inside PetSmart stores make the service accessible in most U.S. regions. The partnership also provides adopters access to Banfield’s Wellness Hub, which contains pet health information and care guides.
PetSmart Adopter Kit Program
Adopters who visit a PetSmart store with adoption paperwork receive a kit valued at $350. The kit includes food samples, treats, toys, grooming products, and training tools. More importantly, it contains vouchers for:
- Discounted or free pet supplies
- Training class discounts
- Grooming service vouchers
- Additional veterinary care coupons
This program addresses initial cost barriers. While adoption fees from shelters typically range from $25 to $300, the first-month expenses for food, supplies, and setup can exceed $500 for dogs and $300 for cats. The PetSmart kit reduces this financial burden during the transition period.
Rehome Program for Direct Pet Placement
The Rehome service helps pet owners who can no longer care for their animals find new homes directly, bypassing shelter placement. This matters because shelter capacity has become a critical issue—in the first half of 2025, shelters took in 322,000 more animals than were adopted out.
The Rehome process includes:
Profile Creation: Owners create detailed pet profiles with photos, personality descriptions, and care requirements. These listings appear on Adopt a Pet alongside shelter pets, reaching the same audience of potential adopters.
Application Review: The Rehome team helps owners review applications from interested adopters, providing guidance on selecting appropriate matches.
Meeting Coordination: Staff assists in arranging safe, pressure-free meetings between current and potential owners at neutral locations.
Transfer Documentation: Rehome provides templates for ownership transfer agreements, ensuring legal clarity.
A portion of reasonable adoption fees collected through Rehome goes to support shelter and rescue operations. This model keeps pets out of already overcrowded shelters while still supporting animal welfare infrastructure.
The program uses background screening and provides safety guidelines. This differentiates it from classified ad sites where pet placement carries more risk of problematic outcomes.
Partner Discounts and Offers
Beyond Banfield and PetSmart, Adopt a Pet coordinates with additional brands to provide adopter benefits:
Pedigree brand products offer ongoing discounts to adopters. Pet food represents a significant recurring cost—mid-sized dogs consume roughly $500-$1,000 worth of food annually, while cats consume $200-$400 worth. Even modest percentage discounts add up over a pet’s lifetime.
Various brands rotate promotional offers through the platform. These might include discounted pet insurance, training class credits, or microchip registry services. The specific offers change, but the consistent pattern is providing cost relief during the expensive early months of pet ownership.
Shelter and Rescue Support Services
While these services primarily benefit shelters rather than adopters, they indirectly improve adoption outcomes. Adopt a Pet provides free listing services to legitimate shelters, rescues, and SPCAs. Organizations can:
- Upload unlimited pet listings with photos and descriptions
- Update availability status in real-time
- Access basic analytics on listing views and inquiries
- Receive inquiries directly through the platform
For small rescue groups with limited technical capacity, these tools provide professional presentation they couldn’t otherwise afford. Better presentation leads to more adoptions. Platform data indicates that listings with multiple high-quality photos receive 60% more inquiries than single-photo listings.
The platform enforces quality standards—organizations must respond to inquiries promptly, keep listings current, and operate ethically. These requirements maintain platform credibility for adopters.
Content Library for Post-Adoption Success
The blog contains specialized content addressing common post-adoption challenges:
First Week Guides: Articles walk through the first 72 hours with a new pet, covering topics like establishing routines, introducing pets to family members, and recognizing stress signals. The first week represents a critical adjustment period—many behavioral issues that lead to returns start here.
Species-Specific Content: Separate resource sections for dogs, cats, rabbits, and other animals provide care information tailored to each species’ needs.
Problem-Solving Articles: Content addresses common issues like separation anxiety, litter box problems, leash training, and introducing multiple pets. These articles aim to help adopters work through challenges rather than return pets.
Community Stories: Adoption success stories provide encouragement and demonstrate that initial adjustment difficulties often resolve with patience and proper approach.
The content strategy recognizes that adoption success depends partly on adopters having realistic expectations and access to guidance when problems arise.
Mobile App Features
The Adopt a Pet mobile application brings platform features to smartphones:
- Pet search with location-based filtering
- Saved searches and favorites lists
- Push notifications for New Pet Alerts
- Direct messaging with shelters
- Quick access to educational content
Mobile functionality matters because many adopters browse listings during downtime at work, while commuting, or from locations without computer access. The app ensures the adoption search remains convenient rather than requiring dedicated time at a desktop computer.
The app also includes a Pet Parent Dashboard that provides reminders for veterinary appointments, medication schedules, and vaccination due dates after adoption.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a fee to use Adopt a Pet’s search platform?
The basic search functionality is completely free for adopters. Creating a profile, searching listings, saving favorites, and setting up standard New Pet Alerts costs nothing. Premium New Pet Alerts, which provide instant notifications rather than daily digests, require a subscription fee.
How quickly do pets get adopted after being listed?
Platform data shows that 20% of listed pets are adopted within the first 24 hours. Puppies, small dogs, and kittens typically get adopted fastest, sometimes within hours of listing. Adult large dogs and senior pets generally stay available longer.
Can I trust pets listed through the Rehome program?
Rehome listings go through screening, and the platform provides guidance on safe meeting practices and transfer procedures. However, Rehome connects private owners with adopters, so due diligence remains important. Ask questions about the pet’s history, veterinary care, behavior, and reason for rehoming. Meet in public locations and consider a trial period before finalizing adoption.
Do all shelters participate in Adopt a Pet’s network?
The platform works with over 15,000 shelters and rescues, but not every shelter participates. Some larger municipal shelters maintain their own adoption systems. If you don’t find pets from your local shelter on Adopt a Pet, check whether they list pets on Petfinder or maintain an independent adoption website.
The collection of services Adopt a Pet offers works together to address different friction points in pet adoption. The search platform solves the discovery problem, alerts handle timing, educational resources prepare adopters, veterinary partnerships reduce healthcare barriers, and the Rehome program helps pets avoid shelter entry entirely.
Shelter data indicates that for every six to seven pets entering the shelter system, only about four get adopted. Services that improve match quality, reduce cost barriers, and provide post-adoption support can shift those numbers. With 607,000 shelter animals euthanized in 2024 despite millions of pets being purchased from breeders and pet stores, adoption infrastructure that makes the process easier matters considerably.