You do not need an appointment to meet with an animal on our website, unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to stop by anytime during our open hours to visit with the adoptable animals.

All of our animals come spayed/neutered, up to date with age-appropriate vaccinations. Microchipped, given a flea/tick treatment, and dewormed.

Our approval or denial process is not based off the adoption application, but instead based off of the meet and greet with the animal and conversational-based counseling with our adoption counselors!

We require all adopters to provide a valid ID at time of adoption. If adopting a dog, please remember that all canine companions will need to leave the building on their own leash and collar. If adopting a cat, please remember all feline friends need to leave in a carrier! If you do not have leash, collar, or carrier, they can be purchased at HSSW for an additional fee.

While we try to give you a pretty good first description of an animal’s personality based on our assessments here at HSSW, we always recommend a family introduction for every adoption. HSSW life is very different for an animal than a home.

This is definitely a pet-by-pet basis. Some animals prefer to be in a one-pet home whereas some pets are very social and love to be around other pets. If you are adopting a dog and you have a resident dog in your home already, we will have them meet at the shelter before finalizing the adoption. For any adoption, our adoption counselors will counsel you through the acclimation period of introducing your new pet into your home.

At our facility, we will place our animals on what we call “Available – Open Selection”. This just means that the animal is available to be met with and placed on an adoption hold; however, would not be available to go home until after the five day stray period. The animal will stay in our facility the entire time. If the animal was reunited with their original owner, we would refund the adopter that placed the pet on hold. We do make our adopters aware of this so they know there still may be an owner out there. Open Selection is a process that is recommended and recognized through UW Shelter Medicine to help length of stay (the amount of time pets are spending in shelters). It has become one of the best practices of animal sheltering!

Adopting a pet is a big commitment that requires a lot of time and patience and, of course, an acclimation period. Transitioning from the shelter to a home is a big change. In the rare case that a relationship doesn’t fit a match, we do not require that you bring the pet back to HSSW, but it is an option. Within the first 30 days of adoption, we ask that adopters that are having any troubles with their newly adopted pet get in touch with us as a little guidance and assistance often goes a long way, however if it is truly just not working out, the pet can come back to HSSW for any reason. After that 30 day period, we will still work with adopters to return adopted pets to HSSW, we just ask that adopters schedule an appointment with us to do so.

Because we are a non-profit, the adoption fee isn’t refundable. Depending on circumstances, we may grant an adoption voucher toward another adoption. We want to work with you to make this a beautiful relationship for both of you. Many times, just some advice and guidance can make a big difference.

At times, pets that are adopted from HSSW may have items from their previous home or foster home to take with them. 

Plus, everyone that adopts a cat or dog from HSSW can head to Mounds Pet Food Warehouse in Janesville and pick up a FREE Adoption Kit!

Also, all dog adopters receive a FREE 30-minute dog training session and 20% off a lifetime membership to GoodPup! Membership includes personalized weekly training sessions, trainer and medical support via chat, and online training library access.

Home-to-Home Adoptable Pets are pets that our fellow community members are rehoming independently. These pets have not been evaluated by our staff medically or behaviorally and are not located at HSSW.

A Cat Test typically refers to introducing a dog to a cat in the shelter setting. Sometimes this may mean walking a dog past a windowed room with a cat in it, walking a dog past a cat’s enclosure, etc. This is something we have moved away from at HSSW.

Cat testing dogs in a shelter environment is not predictive of how a dog will react to a cat in the home with a proper slow acclimation. Not only is this testing in the shelter stressful for both the cat and the dog, but it is also nearly impossible to re-create their home environment in the shelter, where the dog’s reaction to the cat could be different. Instead, our Adoption Counselors will walk you through introducing and acclimating your newly adopted pet to your home and any resident pets.

You can read more about Cat Testing here: https://tinyurl.com/566yurfb