Become apart of the best community and foster or adopt in Shanghai
As a serial foster mom and confounder of Rascals on the Road I get loads of questions. I often get asked questions about fostering or adopting. Many people want to foster, but don’t really know how to start going about the process. The most common question is how long do I have to foster for? Well, that question has different answers as every rescue organization has their own requirements regarding fostering and adopting.
People also ask how long it takes for the dogs to be adopted. That question has no simple answer. It really depends on how active you are trying to find a home. I’ve had dogs adopted anywhere from 1 week to 6 months of being with me. All the rescue groups listed below host adoption days, these are great events to get the dog seen and meet potential adopters.
Below in no particular order we have made a list of the different rescue organization in Shanghai and what their requirements to foster or adopt in Shanghai. We will tell you about the requirements for Eleventh Hour Rescues, Furry Friends, The Haven and Shanghai Animal Rescue.
Eleventh Hour Rescue
Eleventh Hour Rescues is a Shanghai based animal rescue
community run by volunteers. Many of the rescues are stray or abandoned dogs, but they also rescue cats. Eleventh Hour Rescue does not have shelter which means they rely on fosters and adopters.
Eleventh Hour Rescue is truly a community, hosting mixers, adoption
events, brunches, and holiday parties (dog friendly of course)
Adoption Process
Step 1: The conversation: Let Eleventh Hour know why you’re interested in adopting and what your expectations for pet ownership are. What kind of dog are you interested in? Do you want an energetic dog or a mellow dog? Does your family prefer a big dog, or a smaller dog that fits well in an apartment? This will help the rescuers to know what dogs will be suitable to fit your lifestyle and allow them to suggest dogs with suitable personalities.
Step 2: Meet and greet. Before moving forward, it’s important to meet the dog or cat you will be adopting. Sometimes, you’ll see a photo of what looks to be the perfect pet, but their personality or needs don’t match with what you or your family can provide. The meet and greet allows you to decide if you’d like to proceed to the next step.
Step 3: Trial Adoption. Once you have met the dog or cat, you will proceed to a two-week trial adoption. If everything goes smoothly you can make the adoption official after the trial period. If it turns out that the animal is not a good fit for you or your family, Eleventh Hour Rescue will gladly accept the animal back at the end of or during the trial period. The most important thing is to make sure that the animal finds a loving and stable home.
Fostering Process
Step 1: Conversation: This is similar to the initial conversation when adopting. Why do you want to foster? How long are you able to open your home to the animal? Is there anything else you’d like Eleventh Hour to know about?
Step 2: Once you find a suitable dog to foster you can begin your fostering journey. Eleventh Hour Rescue requests a commitment of least one month of fostering to help the dog settle in until they find their forever home.
What are the responsibilities of the Foster and Eleventh Hour?
- Eleventh Hour Rescues will cover all medical bills during this time including but not limited to routine check-ups, vaccinations, spay/neuter surgery, and any unexpected medical issues.
Eleventh Hour will also provide items and support for animals with specific needs as appropriate.
- Foster pawrents are asked to provide food unless otherwise agreed upon. The organization also asks that the foster pawrent make themselves available to bring the animal to adoption events or to meet potential adopters
as necessary.
Furry Friends
Furry Friends is a Shanghai based rescue organization. They rescue many animals including stray cats and dogs. They just recently opened a small shelter to home some of their large number of cats and dogs, but they still have many animals being boarded. They rely on fosters and adopters to help get the animals accustomed to living in a home and ready for adoption.
Furry friends hosts many adoption events where people can come and meet a few of the dogs and sometimes cats that are up for adoption.
Adoption Process
Step 1: The conversation – What type of dog (or cat) are you looking for? Are you looking for a small dog or a big dog? Do you want an energetic dog or a mellow dog? Having the conversation about your preferred dog and lifestyle will help the rescuers suggest suitable dogs that will fit in your lifestyle.
Furry Friends will complete a screening process during this time to ensure you are ready to welcome a new animal into your home and all the work that entails.
Step 2: meet and greet – It is important for to meet the animal you will be adopting to ensure you are prepared to welcome this pup (or cat) into your home. Furry Friends hosts many adoption events where people interested in fostering or adopting can meet some of the available dogs that need a home.
Step 3: Adoption – Once you have met the dog or cat, you will proceed with adoption. You will need to sign adoption papers stating you will not abandon the animal and commit to giving them a loving and stable home.
Fostering Process
Step 1: The conversation – This is the same step as adopting.
What type of dog (or cat) are you looking for? Are you looking for a small dog or a big dog? Do you want an energetic dog or a mellow dog? Having the conversation about your preferred dog and lifestyle will help the rescuers suggest suitable dogs that will fit in your lifestyle.
Furry Friends will complete a screening process during this time to sure you are ready to welcome a new animal into your home and all the work that entails.
Step 2: meet and greet – It is important for to meet the animal you will be fostering to ensure you are prepared to welcome this pup (or cat) into your home. Furry Friends hosts many adoption events where people interested in fostering or adopting can meet some of the available dogs that need a home.
Furry Friends requests a 3-month commitment when fostering. However, fostering until the dog has found their forever home is always better.
What are the responsibilities of the Foster and Furry Friends?
- Furry Friends will cover all medical bills during this time
- vaccinations, spay/neuter surgery, and any unexpected medical issues.
- Foster pawrents are asked to provide food unless otherwise agreed upon.
- The organization also asks that the foster pawrent make themselves available to bring the animal to adoption events or to meet potential adopters as necessary. These events or meet and greets with potential adopters will be agreed upon in advance.
The Haven
The Haven is an animal rescue group operating mainly in Shanghai. The main goal is to rescue, nurse back to health and relocate dogs into forever homes within Shanghai and overseas. Our rescues come from a variety of backgrounds many are abandoned, abused, unwanted or strays. Despite their tough start in life, they have the biggest hearts, and each dog has their own amazing story. Today, The Haven shelter is taking care of over 400 dogs. Our shelter was built in 2018 in Anhui, and we have been renovating and improving it ever since to make it a safe haven for our pups.
Adoption Process
Step 1: The conversation – What type of dog are you looking for? Are you looking for a small dog or a big dog? Do you want an energetic dog or a mellow dog? Having the conversation about your preferred dog and lifestyle will help the rescuers suggest suitable dogs that will fit in your lifestyle.
Step 2: Adoption – Once you have met the dog, you will proceed with adoption. You will need to sign adoption papers stating you will not abandon the animal and commit to giving them a loving and stable home.
Fostering Process
Step 1: Get in touch – Tell the rescuers you are interested in fostering. They may ask you basic questions about your desired size or temperament of dog.
Step 2: The Haven organizes dogs from the shelter to come to Shanghai for fostering. They will transport the dogs to Shanghai, and you will pick them up and start your fostering journey.
The Haven accepts fosters for different lengths of time. The longer the better, but short-term fosters are accepted. You need to give advance notice when you do not want to foster anymore to allow The Haven to find a new foster family for that dog.
What are the responsibilities of the Foster and The Haven?
- The Haven will cover all medical bills during this time
- Foster pawrents are asked to provide food unless otherwise agreed upon. The organization also asks that the foster pawrent make themselves available to bring the animal to adoption events or to meet potential adopters
as necessary.
Shanghai Animal Rescue
We are six friends who live and work in Shanghai for many years. We enjoy the hustle and excitement of living in a sparkling and ever growing city as Shanghai. But as true animal lovers, we also cannot look passed the growing number of street dogs in need.
We started small scale, on our own expenses, one dog at a time. But then we got the horrible news, one of the best shelters in Shanghai was going to be forced to close down. Many shelters in Shanghai are struggling to survive due to complaints of neighbours and raising rent prices. They are forced to move way out of Shanghai or even close down.
Katherine’s shelter was facing the same problem. She loves her animals more than anything and sacrifices a great deal of her time, money and energy. All the animals have a bad and sad past, but she takes them in without any questions asked.
With help from our amazing volunteers, local and abroad, we managed to find homes for 830 dogs (and counting) so far..
Adoption Process
Step 1: The conversation – What type of dog are you looking for. Are you looking for a small dog or a big dog? Do you want an energetic dog or a mellow dog? Having the conversation about your preferred dog and lifestyle will help the rescuers suggest suitable dogs that will fit in your lifestyle.
Step 2: Adoption – Once you have met the dog, you will proceed with adoption. You will need to sign adoption papers stating you will not abandon the animal and commit to giving them a loving and stable home. Adoptions can be done from the shelter or at various SAR adoption events.
SAR accepts trial adoptions. You can take the pup home on a trial basis and if things don’t work out SAR will take the dog back.
Adoption can be from anywhere in China, as well as international adoptions.
Foster Process
Step 1: Get in touch – Tell the rescuers you are interested in fostering. They may ask you basic questions about your desired size or temperament of dog.
Step 2: Meet – You can meet a range of dogs at their adoption days or at the shelter.
Step 3: Foster – This is where you welcome the animal into your home and shower it with love.
SAR accepts fosters for different lengths of time. The longer the better, but short-term fosters are accepted.
Mainly accepts foster families in Shanghai.
What are the responsibilities of the Foster and SAR?
- SAR will cover all medical bills during this time
- Foster pawrents are asked to provide food unless otherwise agreed upon.
- The organization also asks that the foster pawrent make themselves available to bring the animal to adoption events or to meet potential adopters as necessary.
