The Adoption Process

If you are looking for an awesome dog, cat, or rabbit anxiously waiting for a place to call home, AC&C is the right place to find your new furry friend. We have been matching pets with people for over 15 years, and when you visit an Animal Care Center, an Adoption Counselor will try to find the perfect loyal companion for you. Enrich your life and the life of a pet by adopting an animal today.

AC&C encourages everyone to visit one of our three full service Care Centers when looking to adopt a pet. Adoption hours at our three full service centers are 12PM to 7PM everyday including weekends. We are closed on holidays.

If you adopted your pet from AC&C and wish to return due to problems (e.g., behavior, illness, landlord, etc.) please contact "Pets for Life" at 917-468-2938 before making any final decisions. Pets for Life may be able to help resolve your problems so that your pet can remain with your family. If not, you can return your pet to an AC&C shelter during normal business hours.

I want more information on an animal that may be up for adoption that I saw in the media or at a Care Center.

I want more information for adopting a specific animal I believe to be on AC&C's at-risk animal list.

View pets available for adoption.

To help ensure the success of each adoption, AC&C asks that you fill out a pre-adoption questionnaire. This questionnaire will help you decide what kind of pet will be the best fit for you, your family and your lifestyle.

Pre-adoption questionnaires are in html and downloadable PDF files.

Click here for the Dog Adoption questionnaire (PDF)

Click here for the Cat Adoption questionnaire (PDF)

When You Are At The Shelter

To adopt an animal you must have a valid photo ID, be 18 year of age or older, proof of current address and, if you rent, your landlord's contact information. If you have children living in your home, they must come to the care center and be a part of the adoption process. If you already have a dog in your home and you are adopting another dog, you must also bring your pet to the care center. Once you arrive at one of our Care Centers, take time to view all the pets up for adoption. If you find a pet that you are interested in adopting, spend some time getting acquainted before you make a final adoption decision. AC&C's adoption counselors and volunteers will help guide you through the process.

If you are looking for a particular breed be sure to fill out a breed request form and we will contact you by e-mail when that pure-bred dog or cat comes to one of our Care Centers.

To ensure that the dogs, cats and rabbits in our Care Centers do not add to New York City's population of unwanted animals, AC&C requires every animal adopted from our Centers to be surgically sterilized (spayed or neutered).

It is important to note that some animals may be able to go home with you as soon as your adoption is completed but others need to stay for one more day to have their spay or neuter surgery. If you see a pet on the AC&C website that you are interested in and would like to know if the pet will require surgery before going home, please call 311.