Since starting Three Chatty Cats a couple of years ago, I’ve had several people reach out to me asking if I could help rehome a pet. A few times, people thought I was a rescue group. And other times, people just thought I’d be a good resource. I wish I’d known at those times about GetYourPet.com – a new website that offers home-to-home pet adoptions, bypassing the shelter altogether.
Anything that can help shelters, whether indirectly or directly, is a good thing in my book. GetYourPet.com does both, by not adding to already crowded shelters and also by donating a portion of their profits.
Direct pet adoption, from one good home to another. Rehoming a dog or a cat keeps them out of shelters. ~GetYourPet.com
About Get Your Pet
Angela Marcus, co-founder of Get Your Pet (a.k.a. “Pet Lover-in-Chief”), is a former animal shelter worker who saw the need to find a solution to help dogs and cats in need of rehoming – and to bypass the shelter – benefiting both the pet and the shelter system.
Angela says, “I got into animal welfare to save lives. After running a shelter for 6 years, I realized that the best way to save pets was to keep them out of shelters in the first place. We just needed to find a way to directly connect people who need to give up their pets with people who want to adopt. That’s what getyourpet.com does, adoption from one good home to another. The beautiful part is, not only do we save those pets directly, but we also indirectly help shelters save space and money for the strays and abuse cases that have nowhere else to go.”
How It Works
It’s simple. Someone has a pet they can no longer keep for whatever reason (no judgment, please). They post their pet on GetYourPet.com. Someone else is looking to adopt a pet. They visit GetYourPet.com to begin their search. Both parties correspond with each other to make sure the new home is a good fit for the pet.
We are the online community that connects people who want to adopt a pet with people who need to find their pet a new home. ~GetYourPet.com
Step-by-Step
- Pet Profile is Published on GetYourPet.com – The current guardian publishes their pet’s profile. By using GetYourPet.com, the guardian is keeping their pet out of the shelter environment, allowing them to go straight into a loving home.
- Start Looking for Your Pet – An adopter browses the pets in their area.
- Messaging – The adopter starts communicating with the current guardian of the pet they’re interested in to learn more.
- Meeting Up – Adopter, guardian and pet meet up. GetYourPet.com recommends a neutral meeting place, if possible.
- Vet Exam – If it is a good fit, then the guardian and adopter visit a participating “Get Your Pet” veterinarian. The vet exam is included in the adoption fee.
- Adoption – If everything checks out at the vet, the two parties can transfer ownership of the pet and complete the adoption online, which can be done right in the vet’s office.
It Works!
To date, Get Your Pet has helped rehome more than 2,000 pets via home-to-home pet adoption. And the site continues to grow about 20% each month. Numbers are one thing, but it’s the individual pet lives touched that really drive home the benefit of home-to-home adoptions.
Take Tiger Lily as an example. Tiger Lily is a 10.5-year-old cat who found herself needing to be rehomed. Considered a senior cat, chances are good that she would’ve been overlooked for younger cats or kittens if given up to a shelter. So, Tiger Lily’s guardian, Irene, who’d had her since she was a kitten, turned to Get Your Pet.
Chuck was looking to adopt a cat. He saw Tiger Lily on Get Your Pet and began discussions with Irene. Chuck ended up adopting Tiger Lily, and he and Irene still keep in touch. Irene, having gone through the heartbreak of not being able to keep Tiger Lily, now has peace of mind that Tiger Lily can live out her golden years with Chuck – never having needed to turn to a shelter.
What Does it Cost?
You can learn more at getyourpet.com/pricing, but the basics are below.
$10 to list your pet– Get Your Pet has indefinitely waived the listing fee for guardians. That means it’s free to list a pet.- For adopters, it’s free to browse pet profiles.
- For adopters, once they find a pet and have a successful meet-up and vet visit, the adoption fee is $99 for a dog and $49 for a cat. Remember, this fee includes the vet visit exam.
- A portion of Get Your Pet profits are donated to local shelters!
Next time someone mentions needing to rehome a family pet, perhaps they will turn to GetYourPet.com and help keep pets out of shelters.
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Disclosure: Three Chatty Cats is in no way affiliated with GetYourPet.com. We’re simply sharing because we feel it could be a good resource for those looking to rehome their pet.
That sounds like a great deal. I certainly will check it out. Thanks for the info.
That’s pretty cool and anything that helps is always most wonderful!
Excellent!!! Great adoption alternative to surrendering to shelter. Thank you for sharing
I’ll be honest, my first reaction was… This can’t be good!!! but as I continued to, I changed my mind. Think I will post this on Facebook!
Thank you for sharing!
this is a great idea !! sadly I’ve read to many stories where a pet needed to be surrendered, because of health issues with their current care giver. many of these people are devastated, and I think the stress of “not knowing” where their
pet is “going” only adds to their health issues. I hope this catches on super quick, if it hasn’t already done so ♥♥
I also agree it’s seems a great idea.
Excellent idea!! I’m all for this. Rehoming a pet is not easy on the pet or the owner. Peeps that must surrender their pet for so many reasons can relax this way.
Jean
Hmmmm, great info. There are always people looking to rehome on Next Door. That cat Tiny Tim looks strangely like my friend Herbie’s cat Tiny Tim only they got him from a friend.
What a good program! Thanks for telling us about it.
That is such a great idea, much better than the trauma of living at a shelter. Thank you for the condolences you left on my blog for my family’s loss. XO
when I first began reading I was HUGELY skeptical but I thank you for your thorough explanation! I LOVE that both parties meet at the Vet (that would cancel out someone who might be “shady” and “untrustworthy”) I also LOVE that there is a fee (and not something like $5 either) but a fee that would also cancel out bad people. This sounds like another viable option and I thank you for sharing! I pinned it!
Thanks for pinning, Caren!
This sounds great! I’ll bookmark this site. I may use it when the time comes to get another kitty. It’s awesome that the former guardian can stay in touch with the new guardian – so often when people have to give their babies up to shelters, they have no idea what becomes of them.
Another pawsum resource awnty Rachel. We so hate when anipals have to be rehomed. We wish it never happened. But, we are grateful this helps them avoid those pawful shelters. Unfurtunately, they’re not all good. Big hugs
Luv ya’
Dezi and Raena
I love Tiger Lilly’s story. It’s true her chances of adoption in a shelter would have been slim – so cool that she found a home AND that her previous person and her new person keep in touch. Also love that part of the adoption fee is donated to shelters. It’s a win win!
Wow. That’s really economical. I love the idea … but one part of my brain keeps thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Though the bullet points of details addressed every contingency I was worried about, so yay for keeping animals out of shelters!