Adoption process for individuals

• Go to the county’s listing of impounded animals; dogs are found here and cats here.
• Once you have pulled up the listing for the animal in which you are interested, click on “Interested in this animal? Click here!”, complete the application, and submit it. (You may need to scroll up to see the listing.) To follow up on your application if you do not hear back from shelter staff within a day, call 706-613-3540.
• If adopting a dog, you should bring any household dogs to the shelter in advance of adopting to ensure it is a good fit. Owned dogs will be admitted to shelter facilities so long as they are wearing current rabies tags and a staff member assists with introductions to the shelter dogs. While we provide information concerning a dog’s apparent friendliness with other dogs (and, if reported, with cats), our opportunities to see the shelter dogs interact with other animals is limited and thus any adopter should take care to observe any conduct necessary to make an adoption decision. This is also true for any children or other people with whom the animal must get along.
• Applications are reviewed by Animal Services staff for approval. Approved adopters will be given a timeframe following the day the animal becomes available for adoption to complete the adoption process.
• An adopter who does not have the first appointment for an animal should call at the start of his or her adoption timeframe to check whether the animal is still present at the shelter and available. If so, the adopter should come to the Animal Services shelter during the appointment window and complete the adoption paperwork.
• If the adopted pet is already spayed or neutered, s/he can go home with the adopter.
• If adopted pet is not yet spayed or neutered, Animal Services staff will schedule the appointment at a local vet. The animal will be transported to the vet by staff; s/he may not be released to the adopter’s custody until the surgery has been completed. The adopter is responsible for picking the animal up at the vet after the surgery.
• The adoption fee for dogs and cats is set by the county and includes basic vetting (including spay/neuter) as described above. The fee schedule as of 17 August 2020 is:
  • Cats (6 months of age or older): $25
  • Kittens (under 6 months of age): $50
  • Medium or larger dogs (6 months of age or older & over 25 pounds): $100
  • Puppies (under 6 months of age) and small dogs (25 pounds and under): $150
  • Dogs and puppies at the shelter more than 30 days: $50

  At times, the Director may declare a “Special Event”, during which all adoption fees are $25.

  For more information about adoption procedures, call Animal Services at 706-613-3540 or go to the Animal Sevices website.

For rescue groups

• Per state law, rescue groups must have a GA Dept. of Agriculture rescue license. (Out-of-state groups that do not have a license need to coordinate rescue with a local rescue group.)
• Send a current copy of the license to Animal Services, along with a Rescue Transfer Form and a list of people authorized to pull animals on the group’s behalf, by email to [email protected] or by fax to Animal Services at 706-548-6620.
• You may specify your group as a ‘last resort’ rescuer for an animal.
• Your group is responsible for keeping in touch with Animal Services on the adoption/rescue status of ‘last resort’ rescues.

This is a brief description of the rescue group process. For complete info call Animal Services at 706-613-3540 or go to the Animal Services website.