Our standard adoption process involves personal interaction between prospective adopters and foster parents caring for the kitty they’re interested in adopting.
Adoption Applications – Adopting a kitty begins with submitting an adoption application.
Please allow up to 5 days for a response from one of our officers. As an all-volunteer crew with busy lives, we do our best to review applications as quickly as possible. If you do not hear from one of our adoption officers after five days have elapsed, we advise checking your spam, junk, or suspect mail folder first, as sometimes our correspondence winds up there.
We often receive several applications for the same kitty around the same time. We review applications on a first-come, first-served basis. The first application submitted, if approved, has priority over all subsequent applications to follow. If things don’t work out with the first approved prospective applicant, we will move to the next application. This is a process that can take time and can be a factor in a delayed response. We completely understand if you have your heart set on a specific kitty. However, we encourage applicants to list two or more cats of interest in the event one of them already has an approved potential adopter.
Once received, our adoption officers will review your application and contact you by email with additional questions they may have based on your responses. Adoption officers will inform you of approval and then route your application to the foster parent caring for the kitty you’ve applied for. The foster parent will contact you to schedule a Meet and Greet.
Application Status – If the kitty applied for has more than one approved application submitted, we will add you to a waiting list for him or her. You can determine whether the kitty you’re interested in adopting has pending applications by visiting their bio listing here on our website. Don’t lose heart if the kitty you’re interested in adopting already has an application submitted by another prospective adopter. We understand when someone decides to adopt a new kitty, they anticipate the process will be relatively quick. When it’s not, they may opt to adopt elsewhere. If that happens, we’ll update the kitty’s bio to reflect the next application in line.
Meet and Greets – The scheduled Meet and Greet allows you to meet the adorable kitty in the photo that prompted you to apply to adopt. Meet and Greets may be held in the foster parent’s home or at the Santa Ana Petsmart. Please check with the adoption event coordinator for Meet and Greet details at Petsmart.
Home Checks – If you wish to proceed with the adoption process after the Meet and Greet, a home check will be arranged. This may be in-person where the foster parent or another team member visits your home to get a feel for the space the kitty will spend his or her life with you. We may also inspect the home to ensure windows and doors are secured to safely contain curious cats. Now, post-Covid, we also conduct home checks virtually where, via Facetime, you take us on a virtual tour of your home. Unfortunately, interested adopters who refuse to open their home to a KD home checker or undergo a virtual home check will automatically be denied. Please know that it is also possible to have an application approved but later denied at the Meet and Greet or home check phase of the adoption process.
If there are no concerns with the home check, the Kitty Devore Rescue foster parent will schedule a time to deliver your new kitty to your home.
Adoption Donation – As a nonprofit charity organization, Kitty Devore Rescue relies on donations to continue our work for the kitties we rescue and rehabilitate. Our minimum adoption donation fee is $200.00 for one kitty and $375.00 for two. We accept several forms of payment: PayPal, Zelle, or personal check.
If paying by PayPal or Zelle, we ask that you complete the adoption fee transaction BEFORE your new kitty is delivered and confirm with the foster parent that it has been received.
Personal checks should be given to the KD representative who brings your new kitty to your home on the day of delivery.
We do not accept cash or money orders.
Adoption Pending Deposits – When your application is approved, you’ve met your new love interest at a Meet and Greet, and you’ve passed your home check, but the adoption date is delayed by more than a week, you may secure your intent to adopt by submitting an adoption donation fee deposit. This can be a minimum of half or the full adoption fee donation of $200.00. When received, we will mark your prospective adoptee as Adoption Pending here on our website and Petfinder as an indication we will no longer accept incoming applications for the kitty you plan to adopt. Adoption Pending indicates to other prospective adopters that he or she has a new person or family waiting for them. The adoption donation fee deposit is refundable in full if you change your mind.
Adoption Boxes – Within three weeks of the adoption delivery date, our home office will mail an adoption box to you via USPS mail. This box will include information about your newly adopted kitty’s microchip and registration procedures, an adoption certificate, a copy of your approved application, an overview of your kitty’s history while in KD Rescue’s care, and all accompanying invoices and documentation that confirm the various procedures they’ve undergone while in our care for your records. These documents can also be supplied to your personal veterinarian, so they also have documented medical history. The box also contains a few goodies for your newly adopted kitty to help get them settled into their new life with you.
We usually wait three weeks before sending out the adoption box and official records to allow everyone to adjust, as we’ve found that most returns happen within the first two weeks post-adoption.
Returns – In the event things don’t work out, we are always more than happy to take a former KD foster kitty back into our rescue’s care. If returned within 30 days, we will issue a full refund of the adoption donation fee.
We will also take a former KD foster kitty into our rescue’s care years after their adoption if the adopter’s life situation has changed. Once a KD kitty, always a KD kitty. We will forever be their backup safety net.
Out Of State Adoptions – We are unable to adopt outside of California. We make one exception for the Seattle area of Washington, provided we have available cats placed with our singular WA foster mom. We cannot transport cats placed with foster parents in California to Washington upon application or request.
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We understand you want to welcome a new kitty into your life, and we are committed to helping you make that happen with their safety, your safety, and the safety of the Kitty Devore Rescue team at the forefront of our mission.
Shelter Direct Adoption
Some confuse us with Devore Animal Shelter due to our name. While our rescue efforts are focused on the cats admitted to this shelter, we have no direct affiliation with the shelter beyond this. We do not determine the temperaments of the cats admitted there. We do not have any control over their release dates or whether or not they are euth listed on a given day.
If you are interested in a Friendly cat currently at Devore Animal Shelter, we cannot assist you. Please visit the shelter to adopt.
Devore Animal Shelter’s address is:
Devore Animal Shelter
19777 Shelter Way
San Bernardino, CA 92407
Phone: (909) 386-9820
Kittens determined to be “Friendly” by shelter staff and between the ages of 8 and 16 weeks are $62.00 to adopt. The adoption fee includes an FVRCP vaccine, a microchip, and the cost of sterilization.
Kittens and cats determined to be “Friendly” by shelter staff and over the age of 16 weeks are $57 to adopt. The adoption fee includes an FVRCP vaccine, a microchip, and the cost of sterilization if the cat has not been sterilized. If the cat has been determined to be sterilized by shelter staff, the adoption fee is $17.00.
Cats who are “Friendly” but determined to have medical issues can still be adopted but require the adopter to sign a medical waiver form releasing the shelter from expenses incurred post-adoption. These cats can be taken home the same day, but the adopter is expected to remit proof of spay or neuter within 30 days of adoption. Failure to do so will result in an inability to adopt from Devore Animal Shelter in the future.
All adopted cats who are healthy and require sterilization will be held at the shelter until the following business day. They are not available to take home the day they are adopted. On the following business day, they are transported to Loma Linda Animal Hospital (LLAH) for sterilization and can be picked up by the adopter after 3:30 PM that day.
Cats the shelter staff has determined to be “Rescue Only” are not available for public adoption.
Devore Shelter does not conduct adoptions or payments for adoptions over the phone. You must visit the shelter and adopt in person. All that’s required to adopt is a driver’s license or valid state ID, cash or a debit/credit card, and your signature. The shelter does not require a home check.