Section Nine: Your adopters

Once you're set up on line you'll start getting people interested in your pets.  I highly recommend setting up your adoption application on a website called EmailMeForm.  Here is a copy of ours on there:  http://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/T733uinf5fhglob

The website is free and you can configure all kinds of applications and forms on there.  We also have our rescue partnership form on there.  It's a great site.  If you add the link to your application on every single pet you place on line for adoption, people will be able to fill the form out and it gets emailed right to you automatically.  Much easier and less time consuming than them emailing you and asking if the pet is still for adoption and then asking you to send the application, etc.  It just streamlines it for you, and it also logs every single application.  You'll be able to log on, pull each application and make notes directly on it as you call to confirm references and such.  It makes tracking applicants easy!

Ok, so you just got an application in your email.  Now what?

One of the first things I always did was confirm the vet reference.  To be approved to adopt from us every single pet you have and have had for the last five years MUST have been spayed / neutered.  Rabies must be current per state law and the combo vaccine can be no more than five years old.  So obviously that call to the vet is first.  When you call their vet, tell them your name and the rescue you're calling from and that their client has listed them as a veterinary reference on an adoption application for a foster pet in your rescue.  Ask if they're showing them in their system and if so if their pet(s) are spayed / neutered, current on vaccines, and if they've kept them on preventatives and such.  A vet can give you a good idea of how good a pet owner is based on whether or not they even need to go pull a file.  There is nothing that makes me happier than a vet office staffer say 'oh my gosh, they're wonderful' without needing to dig through paperwork to check.

These are really the basic criteria for vet reference checks.  There are a lot of rescues that go a lot further.  They want to know if they've had heartworm tests every year, if they purchase their preventatives from the vet, and some even go as far as asking if the patient has a balance on their account.  This is where you've got to decide how far you want to grill an adopter.  Personally, I think with as many homeless pets as we have in this country, if they've kept their pets spayed / neutered and up to date on vaccines, I'm not going to go prying too much more.  They're obviously a caring pet owner.  I'm not looking to put a pet in a home where it'll be fed caviar from fine crystal; I'm looking for an owner that will care for and give a lifetime home to a pet in need.

Beyond the vet reference, you'll need to make other decisions.  Most rescues will schedule a home visit to make sure the house is safe for a pet.  You'd be surprised how many people live in filth and want to add an animal.  Or live in a home that's falling down on itself.  Or have a kennel out back with a crate in it and an obvious wear path worn in the grass where a pet spent years running in circles out of neglected boredom.  If you choose to do the home visits before adoption, I always brought the pet with me.  I wanted to see how comfy it was in the home and how the entire family reacted to it.  You don't need to be nosey, checking bedrooms and bathrooms, but a walk through the main living spaces and the property can tell you a lot.

You can also do a Google image search for the home to see what it looks like and what the neighborhood is like.  You can ask for personal references and phone numbers of neighbors to see if they complain of dogs barking all night or running loose in the neighborhood.  You can call the local animal shelter and see if there have been any complaints from that address.

As a last note, sign up for www.dnapets.org   It's a database that's kept by rescues and shelters and others in animal welfare.  Anyone that's had a bad adoption or seen someone convicted of cruelty, neglect, etc will log the info there.  You can search for people by name and state.  I usually went on quarterly and just printed a list for the state and the surrounding states and kept it in a file for when I was at adoption events and didn't have internet access.

If you do get a hit on there, keep in mind that anyone that signs up as a rescue can enter anyone for any reason and they can lie.  And sadly with some of the catty people in rescue, it happens.  So if you get a hit, contact the person that entered it and ask for details that you can confirm.

Screening your potential adopters is a huge part of rescue.  This is a person that you might be handing a pet to that was once homeless and could have faced death.  Their life is in your hands and you need to take that very seriously.