Adopting A Pet - Santa Fe Animal Shelter (2024)

Due to the nationwide veterinary care crisis, we strongly encourage you to contact veterinarians in your area to establish care before you bring your new pet home. All animals are spayed or neutered and microchipped before leaving and receive the required age-appropriate vaccines. Also, please consider reviewing some helpful materials on introducing your new pet into your home and managing some common behaviors.

Please be aware that some animals on the adoption pages may already be claimed. If you decide to adopt, please be completely prepared to take home your new pet the same day as we do not hold animals. All adoptions are done on a first come, first served basis.

One of the questions we often get asked by fosters and potential adopters is whether they can bring one or more of their own dogs to meet an adoptable shelter dog. The short answer is that we’d recommend against it, but we’d like to share the “why” behind this answer with you so that you and your new pet are set up for success!

Aside from the skills required to do so safely (i.e. carefully reading the behaviors presented by multiple dogs and understanding the subtle cues offered), meet-and-greets don’t actually offer real information because the home environment and shelter environment are so different. First, we’re putting a burden on your dog by asking them to show up to a stressful environment to meet another dog that is already at a high stress level. Now, even if both dogs are socialized enough to communicate effectively and things go well during the meet-and-greet, we create an impression that they’ll be OK in the home. But this is just that, an impression, and not necessarily a reality since there are so many variables to account for in the home, including home territory, resource guarding, etc. And if the dogs ignore each other during the meet-and-greet, it can be construed as positive when in reality that’s usually not a good sign because when dogs ignore each other, it typically means they’re not into each other. And, finally, if the dogs escalate during the meet-and-greet, we have no way to know if it’s due to the environment of the shelter or something else.

Dogs learn contextually. This means that any interaction occurring in the shelter does not necessarily translate to the home. Since transparency is so important to us, we will tell you the truth, which is that the only way to know if your resident dog and newly-adopted dog will get along is to bring them together in your home. We do have resources available to help you with new pet introductions, and if you have any concerns about how your adopted pet is doing in the home, we can offer support. If you have any more questions about dog-to-dog meet-and-greets, please give us a call at 505.983.4309 ext. 1610.

Get a headstart by submitting an adoption survey before you come in so we know what kind of pet you’re looking for:

• Click HERE to submit a Dog Adoption Survey form before your visit.
• Click HERE to submit a Cat Adoption Survey form before your visit.
• If you’re interested in adopting a critter, our adoption counselors can answer any questions you may have during your visit.

• Santa Fe Animal Shelter’s CASA Program: 505.983.4309 ext. 1606 or email casa@sfhumanesociety.org. Must be a resident of Santa Fe city or county.
• Care Credit is a credit card specifically for veterinary care with possible no-interest payments. 1.800.677.0718.
• Scratchpay offers alternative payment plans to pay veterinary bills over time.