The Cleveland-Bolivar County Animal Shelter

Adoption Process The shelter’s adoption process is designed to match animals with the best homes and people with the right animal for their lifestyle. We want adoptions to be for the life of the animal. To start the adoption process, please put an application at the appropriate link on our page. We do our very best to review applications within 48 hours of receiving them (not including weekends), but you are always welcome to give us a call if you have yet to receive a call back from us. Please also remember to check your email, as we may communicate that way! Please ensure that your vet and landlord info are filled out completely, as those two things are the items we most often have to follow up about needing to be filled out. We do require landlord approval if you rent. If you live in student housing, you would be required to have a letter for an Emotional Support animal from your doctor and approval from the university. This is to prevent an animal from being returned because it was not allowed. Returns are stressful on the animal and heartbreaking to adopters, so we do everything we can to prevent them! After you have filled out an application, we will contact you as soon as possible to set up a meet and greet where we can introduce you to the available animals. You will have an animal caretaker assigned to your meet and greet who can answer any questions you have about the animals you are interested in. Once you choose an animal, we may ask you to bring current dogs in the home to meet the dog you are interested in or offer a foster period to ensure they are a good fit. If the animal you are approved to adopt is already altered, adoptions can typically be processed within 48 hours of the meet and greet. However, if the animal is not yet altered, it can take up to a week or more to get them altered at our veterinarian, and we do hold them for 48 hours after surgery to assure you are taking home a healthy, happy pet. We do not do same-day adoptions. The reason for this is to give our staff time to ensure the pet you want is current on vaccines, has received its rabies vaccine, gets a medical check from our vet if necessary; and it also gives the adopter time to pick up the supplies they need for their new family member! All animals adopted from the shelter are altered before adoption, given age-appropriate vaccines, dewormed, microchipped, and provided an engraved ID tag at the time of adoption. Other medical tests may have also been done, such as heartworm testing for dogs over six months and combo testing for some cats. Adopters are provided copies of all medical treatments/vaccines given to their pet while at the shelter in their adoption email at the time of adoption but can be given hard copies upon request. Cat adoption fees are $50, and dog adoption fees are $70. Discounts may apply if adopting multiple animals at once, adopting seniors, or adopting animals with medical issues.