PAWS AND CLAWS ADOPTION FEES & PROCEDURES

The Paws and Claws family is made up of a small group of dedicated volunteers. We all foster out of our private homes along with maintaining our full-time employment. Paws and Claws Animal Rescue Foundation does not have a shelter facility.  

Although we each have different jobs we share the common goal of finding the “right fit” for each of our furry foster placements! In order for this to happen we have developed what we call an “adoption procedure”.

We understand all the excitement that is involved in finding a new furry friend for families, and we make every attempt to accommodate each and every one. We will return every phone call or e-mail. We simply ask for patience and understanding during the adoption process.

All of our puppies/dogs are brought to individual foster homes and are allowed to “settle in” prior to being viewed by potential forever parents. There is a two-week time period when all of our dogs/cats/puppies are considered “under quarantine”.

All the animals remain in two-week quarantine to ensure that they are free of disease and parasites. It also allows the foster parents to get to know the quirks, likes and dislikes of the dog. Knowing these things helps us guide the right puppy to the right people. This time also reveals if the dog has any medical condition that requires the adoptive family to take over responsibility for.

During the two-week quarantine each individual foster parent will take their pups to one of our vets (Dr. Linnell and Dr Mattson) for the initial vet check and first set of shots. People are more than welcome to view our dogs/cats/puppies during this two-week period. The animal, however, must remain in our care for a minimum of two weeks prior to official adoption to ensure it is free of disease.

DOG/PUPPY VIEWINGS ARE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY and every attempt is made to fit the times into everyone’s individual schedules. Click the picture of the dog you are interested in, and its profile page will load. The first step in the adoptions procedure is to fill out the adoption application, located at the bottom of this "Fees and Procedures" Page.  You will be contacted by a Paws and Claws volunteer once your application has been read.  Please allow five days before writing again; all of Paws and Claws are volunteers with full time work and families.  We will respond as soon as possible. Questions may be e-mailed to adoptions@pawsandclawsanimalrescue.ca.

Please do not tell your kids that they may pick out one of our puppies. We recommend you simply tell them you are going to visit some puppies. There is an adoption procedure to follow. We do not want to have your children’s hearts set on getting a puppy, until your application has been given final approval. You will be asked to give the foster parent 24 hours to respond after your visit.  Our focus at Paws and Claws is finding a stable, responsible home for the puppy, dog, or cat in our care.
 
Each puppy has a unique personality and needs; a few have certain breeds in their mix that require the new home to be experienced with dogs. On rare occasions one of our dogs cannot go to a home with children. The Paws and Claws volunteer will help guide this process.

It is the hope of the Paws and Claws family that once an initial viewing has been arranged that the potential forever family will take a night to “sleep on it” just to ensure that the “right fit” has been found for both the family as well as the furry addition.

During the initial appointment the application form can be filled out with the individual foster parent. This process also allows the application to be reviewed by the Paws and Claws board of directors. If you are unable to make your appointment with the volunteer foster parent please call her as soon as possible.  We will not re-book appointments for those who do not contact us.

This may seem like a very involved process, but unfortunately Paws and Claws has had dogs returned after the “cute stage” is over. We have had people unprepared for the hard work of owning a puppy. Paws and Claws have had families want to return the dog because the high cost of owning a dog was too much of a burden. Our volunteers want to ensure the health and happiness of the foster puppies we love. This means we need to know if you are the right person for our furry one(s)! We appreciate your patience.

Please note: Adoption of a Paws and Claws animal is final. Once you adopt the responsibility for the dog or cat is yours. We recommend that you enroll your puppy in obedience training as early as possible. From the moment you bring a dog home you can work on and enforce good manners. Because puppies are so cute and small we often will tolerate behaviors that we wouldn’t with an older dog. Although unwanted behavior can be brought under control most of the time, it is easier on everyone to get started early and prevent it. Most behaviors can be modified, we recommend that you consult a professional trainer and take the time to work with the dog, don’t wait until you are frustrated to the point of not wanting to keep your pet.

A well behaved dog can make the difference between a keeping your dog or him/her winding up as one of the many unwanted animals in shelters across Canada that are euthanized each year.

Please call us if circumstances dictate that you must find a new home for a Paws and Claws dog or cat. No fees are refunded if you have to re-home your dog, but we will make every effort to work with you to find another suitable home. Paws and Claws volunteers foster out of our private homes and we have our own dogs and cats, as well as foster puppies to take care of, so we are usually not able to take the dog or cat back into our care. We will, however, place your pet's picture on our Courtesy Adoptions page, and screen potential owners for you. Please note that the older an animal is, the harder it is to re-home it, so we will need plenty of time to find the right home. This difficulty is why we have a stringent screening procedure and try to make the appropriate choice from the start.

In very rare circumstances we will consider taking an animal back into the foster care system to re-home. No fees are refunded in this circumstance either. As we are a small non-profit animal rescue charity, we would also appreciate a donation to go towards the cost of your animal's care as we endeavour to re-home it.

 ADOPTION FEES

 Puppies – Puppies under six months of age have a $150.00 adoption fee, plus $100.00 spay/neuter incentive. This incentive fee is kept in a trust account, and refunded upon proof from your veterinarian that the pup has been spayed/neutered by seven months of age. Please note the deposit will not be refunded after the above stated date. All puppies are health checked and have their first set of shots; if they are still in our system by the time their second set of shots are due, then we ensure that their shots are up-to-date.

Note: Please make a spay/ neuter appointment for your puppy as soon as it arrives in your care! These are often hard to schedule with your veterinarian; in some cities it takes months of waiting before your appointment. Discount spay centers are even more heavily booked.

Neutered Male - $200.00 comes with initial vaccination and tattoo. You are responsible for any boosters that might remain in their vaccination schedule.

Spayed Female - $250.00 comes with initial vaccination and tattoo. You are responsible for any boosters that might remain in their vaccination schedule.

Cats - $125.00 - All cats are spayed/neutered, initials-vaccinated and micro chipped/ tattooed prior to adoption. You are responsible for any boosters that might remain in their vaccination schedule.

We put your adoptionn fees to good use, click here to find out how!

Adoption Application Form

All adopting pet owners will receive a voucher for six weeks of complimentary pet insurance coverage.

Having pet insurance allows pet owners to provide care for their animals that they might otherwise not be able to afford. Petplan Insurance coverage assists at that critical time when the difficult decision to treat your pet should not be based on the cost of treatment. What would you do if you were faced with a bill for hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars to care for your family pet?

Established in 1957, the CFHS is a national charitable organization working to improve conditions for all animals across Canada. As a national voice on animal welfare issues, CFHS represents over 100 member societies and branches across the country, and speaks collectively for more than 400,000 individuals.