Thursday, June 19, 2025

General Adoption Info

One of the most important programs to allow a county to become "No-Kill" is strong, readily available adoption programs. Animal Outreach has adopted out over 6000 animals, and makes itself available for adoptions as much as our volunteer resources allow.

Animal Outreach does not have a physical shelter facility, the majority of our animals are kept in volunteer foster homes, and some others are kept at local Petsmart Adoption Centers located in those Petsmart stores (and available for viewing whenever those stores are open).

In addition, information about all of our animals up for adoption is available at any time on this website or visit us on Petfinder.com

You can visit our animals at the following locations during business hours seven days a week!

Adoption Guidelines

Below are our general adoption guidelines which we consider on a case-by-case basis.

Please discuss adopting a cat with everyone in your household before beginning the adoption process. You need to be 21 years of age to submit an application. ALL FAMILY MEMBERS and current pets residing in the same household must be listed in order to be approved. ALL members in the household MUST be present for the adoption.
Renters must have proof they are abler to have a cat by either providing their lease or we will need to speak to the landlord directly.
Please understand that we reserve the right to deny an application for any reason if we feel it is an inappropriate home for a particular cat. We work very hard to make a harmonious match between families and our cats.
Our contract will specify that if you are ever unable to keep your cat from us for any reason, he or she MUST be returned to us.
NO DECLAWING - In addition to declawing being illegal in 36 countries and multiple US cities because of its inherent cruelty, we believe in the wealth of information that indicates cats frequently suffer long term behavioral and medical problems after being declawed. These problems include, but are not limited to, aggressive biting and eliminating outside the litter box. Animal Outreach Humane Society requires that you sign a CONTRACT agreeing that you will NOT have the cat's claws surgically altered in anyway, including laser surgery or Tendonectomy. If, after serious consideration, you feel you MUST have a declawed cat, please adopt a cat that is already declawed. Thankfully, it is not common for us to have declawed cats relinquished to us, but when we do, our ad will indicate he or she is declawed. Read more about declawing at www.declawing.com.

Adoption Information Checklist

Animal Outreach currently adopts out only cats and kittens. The cost of adopting an animal from Animal Outreach is as follows:

Prices Effective starting April 1st, 2023

Kittens under 1 year - $175.00
Adults 1 to 8 years - $150.00
Seniors 8 and up - $75.00
Senior to senior - no fee
Some cats may be less based on certain circumstances like special needs.

Each animal includes the following services:

Already spayed and neutered
Blood tested for FELV & FIV
Has already been given its distemper shot
Dewormed
Rabies vaccination (PLEASE NOTE: Kittens under 16 weeks of age are not old enough for rabies vaccination. For any kitten adopted under 16 weeks the owner will be responsible for cost of the vet visit and rabies injection.)
Microchipped
Vetchecked and deemed healthy (Note: if an animal has special needs it will be indicated)
48 hour health guarantee
Lifelong return policy of adoptable cats
1 year rabies tag for mchenry county residents
The vast majority of our animals are cared for in loving foster homes which gives the animals more social interaction and allows us to better see their personality traits.

NOTE: We do not do any pre-adoptions for animals that are not ready for adoption.