Surrendering Your Animal

Re-homing a pet is a difficult decision! Homeward Bound is here to help.

BEFORE YOU DECIDE ... DO YOU NEED ADVICE ON PROBLEM BEHAVIORS?

Feel free to call us for advice and referrals on common behavioral problem such as housetraining, inappropriate elimination in cats, chewing household items, barking etc. Your veterinarian is also a good source of help--many behavioral issues have physical causes!

SURRENDERING TO HOMEWARD BOUND:

If you need to surrender your animal to us for re-homing, you can rest assured that he or she will receive great care and a lot of attention while we work to find him or her a new permanent home!

Although we do not charge fees for surrendered animals, we do gratefully accept donations that will offset the costs of caring. Please fill out a surrender application. We will review your application and get in touch with you within 48 hours. On average, we can schedule an appointment for you within a week to ten days of your application, but there are times in the summer months when the wait may be up to 3-4 weeks.

When you bring an animal to us, please be sure that dogs are on leashes and cats or other small animals are in carriers. We encourage you to bring personal belongings, such as toys or blankets, that will ease your pet’s transition to the shelter. We cannot, however, guarantee that those belongings will stay with your pet throughout his stay here. Your appointment will take about 30-60 minutes. Please bring recent vaccination records. If you are not the owner, bring a signed letter from that person giving you permission to relinquish the pet. We do not have the staff or resources to pick up animals for surrender to the shelter.

When you surrender an animal to us, we assume you have done so because you had no other alternative and we expect you to trust us to make the best choice for the animal and the community. All efforts are made to place animals in our care into lifetime, loving homes. We do not have pre-established time limits for how long animals can stay in the shelter. However, there are times that an animal will not be put up for adoption because a health or behavior/aggression issue makes a responsible placement impossible. In these cases, we make the humane decision to euthanize the animal.