An appointment is required to relinquish a dog or cat. Please call our Adoption Center at 802.476.3811, if no one answers your call, it is because they are busy caring for the animals. Please leave a message with your name and phone number. Once a staff member is available, they will give you a call back. 

• Our service area is Washington and Orange Counties.  We will consider accepting an animal from outside our service area, but due to space constraints, we may not be able to take in your pet, but we can refer you to other resources in your area.
• We focus on taking in dogs and cats. For small furry pets like rabbits, Guinea pigs, hamsters etc.(what we call smallies), we have partnered with Adopt-A-Pet Rehome, a trusted national program that guides you through each step of finding your “smallie” a new family to love. We require that you use Adopt-A-Pet Rehome for smallies first, before we can talk with you about possibly taking your small furry pet. This is because our shelter is not really built to house small furry pets, and the best place for them is in a home environment. The Adopt-A-Pet Rehome service is easy to use, and the dedicated team at Rehome will give you all the help you need to select the best adopters. 
  • Here are the steps you’ll take on to list your pet on Adopt-A-Pet Rehome.
    • Create a Pet Profile – Get your pets posted on Adopt-a-Pet.com to be seen by millions of pet adopters. Use our exclusive code to substantially reduce the listing fee: CVHSZZZZZZZ
    • Review Applications – The dedicated team at Rehome will give you all the help you need to select the best potential adopters.
    • Meet Adopters – The Rehome team will guide you through the process of setting safe and pressure-free meetings with applicants. One Stop Country Pet Supply in Barre has agreed to be a safe place where you can meet potential adopters if you do not want them to come to your home.
    • Finalize Adoption – Rehome will provide you with a template for transfer of ownership with your adopter!
  • Click here for more details on how Rehome works

Going from one home to another is much less stressful for your pet than coming into the shelter. We take great care of our animals, but a home is always better! In addition, research shows that you will do a great job of finding the next right home because you know your pet best. While we require you use Rehome first for small furry pets, it can also be used to rehome your dog or cat.  This way, your pet never has to enter a shelter, and you are in control, you are able to decide the best home for your pet. And, due to our partnership with Adopt-A-Pet, the fee is practically zero!

Relinquishing an animal to CVHS

Pet owners make the often heartbreaking decision to relinquish custody of their animals to CVHS for many reasons. Unpredictable changes in life situations, allergies in the family, financial difficulties, or developing behavioral issues with the pet are just a few of them.

Before deciding to relinquish your pet to CVHS, please call us and ask for advice on what to do. We can refer you to experts, or just give some helpful hints over the phone, that may enable you to continue living with your pet. If you’ve reached the decision that you simply cannot continue to care for your pet, please understand that we are here to help and that, in order to do so, we’ve put in place policies and practices that ensure the health, safety, and comfort of each animal that comes to our facility.

CVHS is sometimes the necessary link between an animal’s (or their person’s) unfortunate circumstance and its forever home. We accept animals from owners by appointment only, so please be sure to call prior to visiting our facility.  Please keep in mind that our facility has limited space and our staff is only so large, this is why appointments are required.

CVHS does not euthanize animals for lack of space in our facility. As we accept animals in a variety of conditions, we sometimes have to make the decision to euthanize due to extreme behavioral or medical issues. These decisions are extremely hard on everyone, and we do everything we can to make animals healthy and adoptable. We ask owners relinquishing their pets to please consider whether their pet is safe to place into another home, or whether your pet may be suffering beyond a veterinarian’s reasonable ability to treat. If your pet is unsafe or suffering beyond treatment, please consider making an appointment for euthanasia with your own veterinarian, or scheduling a requested euthanasia at CVHS. The cost is $150 for dogs and $75 for cats (if you are unable to afford this minimal rate, we can talk with you about a sliding scale fee for this critical service for your pet). Remains may be taken home for burial or cremated; cremains are not available for pick up. Owners may not be present for requested euthanasias at CVHS. CVHS reserves the right to refuse any requested euthanasia for any reason, and will not euthanize healthy, non-aggressive animals.

We’re often asked if surrendering an animal means that an individual will not be allowed to adopt from us in the future. Please know that is not the case. Making a good match is our top priority – and if that means that someone who previously surrendered an animal winds up being a great match for another pet somewhere in the future, then we’re thrilled to make that match. We understand that people’s lives change and that sometimes, due to a variety of circumstances, people are unable to keep, maintain, and care for their pets. Years later, under different circumstances, that same person may be ready and interested in adopting a new pet. Assuming that an individual or family meets all of our general adoption requirements, they’ll still be eligible to adopt from CVHS.

To make an appointment to relinquish an animal, please call our Adoption Center at 802.476.3811. If no one answers your call, please leave a message with your name and phone number. Once a staff member is available, they will give you a call back. Remember, if you need to find a new home for a small pet like a rabbit, hamster, etc., you must sign up and use Adopt-a-Pet Rehome first.

There are several things we ask you to remember when you make/arrive for your appointment:

• Be on time. Our day is very carefully scheduled according to our staff availability, the number of intakes and adoptions scheduled, and the number of
  residents in our facility. It’s often difficult for us to assist you if you’re significantly early and it’s nearly impossible to accommodate late arrivals.
• Bring all of your pet’s veterinary records and important documents. Having as much information as possible about your pet makes it much easier for us to get to know him or her, to expedite their intake process, and to get started evaluating them and working to find them a new home.
• Email us a great photo or two that showcases your pet’s best characteristics.
• Consider a donation. CVHS relies on private donations in order to provide care to the roughly 1,200 animals that come to our shelter each year. On average, each resident costs some $300 to $700 to treat, care for, and place. While we have no required intake or surrender fee, and no animal is ever turned away because of an inability to make a donation, we kindly ask that you consider a minimum donation of $50. Please give what you can; even a $5 or $10 donation makes a difference.
• Call to cancel if you’ve made other arrangements. At least once or twice each week, we wait patiently for an intake appointment only to find that the individual fails to arrive. As stated earlier, our days are carefully (and often tightly) scheduled and intake appointments are in greater demand than our space and resources allow. Please be courteous and simply let us know if you no longer need the appointment you’ve scheduled by calling 802.476.3811.