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 rehome 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 why you’re considering rehoming, we offer dog obedience training, both public classes and private consultations. We also may be able to provide suggestions and/or resources to alleviate pet behavior issues over the phone. If you are facing unaffordable veterinary bills, we provide affordable veterinary care at our Community Veterinary Clinic.

There are many community resources to help you find a suitable home for your pet. Try social media where you’ll find dedicated rehoming pages and groups. 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 animal admissions request to AWS.

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!). We will find homes for all the little ones through our animal admissions and adoption processes. 

Animal 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 animal 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.

There is no fee to admit your pet to AWS. Donations are always accepted, and we will gladly take the pet’s favorite toys, beds, etc. and make sure they go home with the new family!

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

Questions?

For more information on our rehoming resources, including our pet admissions process, please contact Our Animal Care Team via email or telephone at (207) 985-3244.

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Ready for the cutest creativity event of the season?!

AWS’ Youth Programs Coordinator, Miss Amanda, as well as professional artist, Piper Castles, from River Tree Arts will be hosting a fun and interactive drawing workshop here at the Boston House at AWS! Designed for students in Grades 6+, children will learn and practice drawing skills of springtime animals while also being able to interact with them! What’s better than drawing alongside some adorable, hoppy bunnies?!

Join the event on Saturday, April 6 from 9 am- Noon. Registration is through River Tree Arts, but you can access the registration form on our website! 50% of all proceeds will be donated directly to AWS. We can’t wait to see your little artists there!
St. Patrick's Day may be over, but we can't miss the opportunity to share this sweet Happy Homes story of a dog previously named Shamrock. Adopted from us years ago, his human sister wrote in to tell us how happy she is with her best friend, now named Coda. We'd definitely say he's one lucky little shamrock alright! 

"Coda is just the most amazing dog ever! He is so humorous and adventurous and I could not think of another reason that I would ever wake up early and walk in below freezing temperatures. But he inspires me to take that nightly stroll! He is so fluffy and loves being snuggled and going to his occasional ice cream stops. I got him when he was just a puppy and I was only in 2nd grade. Now I am 17 and we sure have grown up together. I love him!" 🍀

We love Happy Homes stories like these! Share your own with us by writing in online or posting below!
𝗗𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮, 𝗔𝗪𝗦 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟰. While our friends at @klpdnews work hard to get the electricity up and running, our aptly named bunny Snowball wants everyone to know that AWS' staff, volunteers and resident pets are doing just fine. 🤍
Happy National Puppy Day! One of the best ways to celebrate your furry friend is to learn how to keep them healthy and safe. And since March also happens to be Flea and Tick Prevention Month, now is the perfect time to review where those pesky parasites could be hiding. Ticks like to attach where they can't easily be removed by the host! 

Making sure your pets are up to date on their flea, tick, and parasite medications is the best way to keep them safe from unwanted guests. Even in the winter months, pets should be on preventatives. Happy spring to you and your pup!