Current adoption process:

• Adopters must be 18 years of age or older.

• View available Cats or Dogs.

• Complete and submit a questionnaire and submit a copy of your Driver’s License to wchsadopt@gmail.com with your first and last name, and pet you are interested in, in the subject line so we can process your application.

• From there, a member of our team will give you a call to discuss the pet’s specific needs and whether the pet will be a good fit for your lifestyle, and potentially discuss other pets as well (we call this pre-adoption counseling). You can expect to hear back from us within 24 hours of your survey and questionnaire submission.

• If you are ready to move forward with the adoption, an appointment will be set up for you to meet with the pet.

• We strive for same day adoptions, so will work to schedule your adoption appointment as quickly as we can after your pre-adoption counseling is complete. Please be sure you are ready to adopt/take your pet home when you submit your survey and questionnaire.

• As soon as your appointment is made, the pet will be considered on hold for you. Appointments are to be attended and cancelled timely. Failure to attend an appointment will result in the pet being placed back up for immediate adoption, and forfeiture of your appointment.

• Walk-ins are welcome, but scheduled appointments will take precedence. Our team will work with you to get the adoption process started and schedule additional pre-adoption counseling or an adoption appointment at our next available time.

• If you are adopting a cat, please bring a carrier to safely transport your new friend home, and if you are adopting a dog, please bring a collar and a leash. Carriers and leashes are available for a donation at our shelter.

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Some other things to keep in mind:

• We will be calling you from 419-352-7339. If you miss our call, you have until the end of that day to return our call (leave us a message if prompted). Some animals receive a high volume of interest and we will move onto the next applicant the following day if you do not return our call.

• Visiting with the pets in our care prior to submitting adoption materials and completing a pre-adoption counseling session with one of our team members will no longer be allowed. If you aren't ready to adopt, but would like to visit with the pets, please consider joining our team of volunteers! Visit our "Volunteer" page to learn more!

• We have a lot of great pets in foster, that are often times overlooked because they aren't in shelter when adopters stop in. Our staff will review your adoption materials and all of the pets in our care to work to make the most appropriate match.

• Our hours of operation are 12pm-5pm Tuesday-Sunday.

• We schedule adoption appointments in 1 hour blocks. Not all adoption appointments take this long, especially since we are working to have more thorough conversations before your appointment. This allows for time to meet the pet, dog introductions, family introductions, and to go over necessary paperwork.

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Adoption Fees

Adoption fees help offset some of the costs associated with providing for the animals in our care – this includes housing, food, medical care (x-rays, blood work, dentals, additional surgeries (beyond spay and neuter), heart worm treatment, etc.), enrichment, behavior modification and more. We use variable pricing and the adoption fee for each animal is dependent on many factors including age, size, and health of the individual animal.

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Cats 7 months and older are $50

Kittens 6 months and under are $100

Dogs and puppies range from $75-$400

(average dog is $125 and puppies and smaller dogs start at $250)