Animal Admissions

As your community animal resource, we encourage and support you, should you need to find a new home for your pet.

Home | Animal Admissions

Rehoming Services

We can help you make your home a better fit for your pet or we can work with you to find the best way to rehome your pet.

Needing to rehome a pet is a very difficult decision for families and we show compassion and understanding to those families who must make that choice. We support you and offer resources and services to help your pets find to the next chapter in their lives.

If you are caring for a stray pet (a pet that is not your own), please contact your local animal control officer first for next steps, rather than utilizing our admissions application. Your local animal control officer can be reached at your town’s non-emergency police department number by looking up the number here.

Rehoming Resources

Working together, we will try to help you to find a solution to rehoming your pet(s) before considering admission to AWS. Pets that can be find new homes without having to come to AWS ensures that our valuable resources and kennel spaces at the shelter are reserved for at-risk and in-need animals with no owner.

We offer several programs and services to support you and your pet and maintain that lifelong bond. If you dog’s behavior is the issue that is causing you to want to rehome your pet, we offer a wide array of dog obedience training, both public classes and private consultations. We also may be able to offer support over the phone to provide suggestions and/or resources to alleviate pet behavior issues. Should the reason you are looking to rehome your pet include a medical issue, we provide affordable veterinary care at our Community Veterinary Clinic.

There are many community resources, such as dedicated social media pages and groups to help you find a suitable home for your pet. There are also online services available in some parts of the country to help people rehome their pets. We encourage you to explore all avenues in your community before submitting an admissions request to AWS.

Through a partnership between our Community Veterinary Clinic and our Adoption Center, we can help your mother dog/cat and her new litter through our Mother Spay Program. Once the litter is 8-10 weeks old, we will spay the mother at no cost to you (and she goes home with you!) and we will find homes for all the little ones if you admit them to AWS’ Adoption Program. 

Admissions Application

If other re-homing options aren’t suitable for your situation, we are here to help. To get started, please click on the application for your pet’s species.

Please note that all admissions are done by appointment only. Making an appointment allows us to plan for the best care and support for you and your pet and to maximize available resources.

While in our care, all animals receive safe and comfortable housing, nutritious meals, any necessary veterinary care, preventatives and vaccinations and plenty of enrichment and exercise with our professional staff and dedicated volunteers.

All admissions decisions are at the discretion of AWS staff and are based on available space and resources.

Questions?

For more information, please contact Our Animal Care Team via email or telephone at (207) 985-3244.

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Jackie the guinea pig and his friend Chelsea want you to know that they're Team #awsdog! Just like guinea pigs, dogs love to cuddle and therefore, they deserve the crown. However, those pesky cats remain ahead of the competition! Help Team #awsdog win by donating now! Follow our LinkTree right to the Giving Tuesday page. Woof!
Giving Tuesday is just getting started and Team #awscat is already ahead! If you're a feline fan like our teammate Jesse here, donate to Team #awscat to help them keep the lead!
Team #awsdog is kicking off Giving Tuesday with a little love from Tahoe and his human friend, Sam. When it comes to the question 'which pet is the Coziest Companion: Cats or Canines?', Tahoe and Sam are here to say Team #awsdog all the way!!

If you feel the same, donate to the cause and help canines everywhere win the day!
The cats and dogs at AWS are ready for another friendly competition this Giving Tuesday on November, 28! Who will win?This year's competition centers around which species is the Coziest Companion: Cats or Canines? Throughout the day on Giving Tuesday, follow along on our social media pages as the pets and people of AWS try to convince you which of their favorite species deserves your support as the coziest, cuddliest animal. 

Remember, the team who raises the most funds on Tuesday will be crowned this year’s Giving Tuesday winner. Most importantly, all funds raised in this friendly competition support pet care here at AWS. We look forward to seeing which pet comes out on top as the coziest companion! 

(psst! You can help your favorite team get ahead by donating early on our website. Just follow the link tree in our profile to the Giving Tuesday page!)