Do you need to give up your animal?

Before you decide to surrender your cat or dog, please consider the following:

• Family and friends may be able to help you out. Word of mouth is a wonderful thing and people will really step up to the plate to help out.
• Rethink why you want to give up your pet. If the reasons are due to your landlord or current living situation, try to find alternative arrangements. Temporary boarding might be the solution. Training might also help. We are happy to give you suggestions or strategies that have helped other owners keep their pets.
• Give yourself plenty of time to rehome your pet. If you need to rehome your pet immediately, you will probably not be successful, and risk placing your pet in an unsafe situation.
• If your cat or dog is having medical issues, schedule an appointment at your local vet. The treatment may be easier and less expensive than you think! (Few adopters are willing to take on an animal with unresolved pre-existing medical conditions.)
• Consider placing an ad for your pet on Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) or in the newspapers, but do not let your desire to rehome your pet cause you to give your pet to someone without ensuring they will be able to provide a lifelong home to your pet.

We understand that sometimes, due to circumstances beyond their control, people are not able to keep their pets. Our Oakland SPCA Adoption Center is able to take healthy and social cats and dogs under the following conditions:

1) We have space in the shelter for your dog or cat. Since we keep all adoptable animals until they are adopted, space is at a premium. Our priority is animals at risk in city and county shelters. Animals who are unwanted but currently in homes will be accepted as space allows. Currently (as of April 2007), we have more capacity to accept dogs than cats, as there are many more homeless cats at risk in our community.

2) The characteristics of the animal are not similar to many of the animals in the shelter. We try to keep a variety of animals at all times for our clients. Unfortunately, we cannot take in many animals of a similar breed or appearance. If your cat or dog is accepted into the program but does not meet the current population mix criteria, you may be put on a waiting list and contacted when some of the current animals are adopted.

3) Your animal must be healthy. We will perform a general health check on all animals before they are admitted. Any signs or symptoms of medical issues could be cause to not accept the animal into the program. We ask that you bring with you all recent veterinary records on your animal.

4) You must bring proof the pet is yours. Proof could include a dog license, adoption paperwork, bill of sale, veterinary records, grooming records, boarding records. Proof must be dated at least thirty days prior to the date of surrender. The legal owner of the animal must be present for the surrender.

5) The animal passes our temperament tests. Dogs are evaluated for any signs of aggression towards people and for tolerance towards other dogs. If a dog does not pass our temperament tests, it will not be accepted into the program. If a cat can not be easily handled, petted or groomed, it will not be accepted into the program.

6) There is no fee to surrender dogs or puppies. There is a $25 surrender fee per cat, payable when we take your cat into the shelter.

Surrender Info:

• We have a "first come, first serve" time slots for dog surrenders. This is not a drop-off time. It is a time where you can bring dogs to be evaluated for acceptance into the program. Clients will be helped in the order they arrive and there is no guarantee that we will take in the animal, even if he/she passes the evalutation. Other space and mix requirements must also be met. For cats, an appointment must be made.
• You must be able to answer pre-screening questions to determine if you may have an adoptable dog or cat. Although we do not have a specific age limit, we are concerned about the health and quality of life of every animal in our program.

Open Surrender Hours (Dogs Only) Saturdays 2 - 4pm: Oakland Adoption Center

Surrendering a Cat: Click here for more information

Should your animal pass the health and temperament tests, there is a possibility that we may not have space in the shelter that day or that your animal maybe too similar to other animals currently in the program. If either of those situations are the case, we will put your on our waiting list and contact you as soon as space opens up.