Red Deer & District SPCA

Adopting a pet requires some careful consideration. Some of the responsibilities that come with owning a pet include providing essentials such as a balanced diet, litter, licensing, socialization and vaccinations. Remember, providing a home and care for a pet is a lifetime commitment.

After you have decided you and your family are willing to make this commitment, please take a look at pets available for adoption online or come and visit us at 4505 77th Street. Both will give you an idea of the types of pets that are available for adoption daily.

The Adoption Procedure:

Choose a pet:
Please feel free to enter the adoption areas during adoption hours. Take your time choosing your new pet. The pet's gender, age and type can be found on the sheets attached to the clipboard outside the kennel. Please do not touch the pets! We know it's hard to stop yourself from petting them, but by keeping your hands away from the kennels, you reduce the potential for spreading disease from pet to pet. Speak softly to the pets and avoid sudden movements. Our pets are already under a lot of stress and you want to see them at their best.

Discussing the adoption with our animal care attendants:
Once you have seen some of the pets available for adoption, our animal care attendants may be able to give you some background information on the pets you are interested in and can assist you in finding the pet that best suits your lifestyle.

Fill out an adoption application form:
Once you have decided on a pet, our receptionist will assist you with the adoption process. You will be asked to first complete an application form. Take your time, answering each question completely and honestly. If you do not understand a question, please ask one of our staff for assistance.

As soon as you have completed the application form, our receptionist will review and discuss your responses to the questions with you.

After the application response questions have been assessed, our receptionist will complete the rest of the adoption process with you. Your pet will then be microchipped, where a microchip (about the size of a grain of rice) is implanted under the pet's skin to provide permanent pet identification. The implant is safe and painless.

Please Note: Applications should allow a minimum of half an hour for the adoption process.

Payments:
Please review our Packages & Prices page for current adoption fees.

Basic requirements:
All individuals who will reside with, or will be in frequent contact with the adopted pet will need to come down to our facility to meet the pet before the adoption process can commence.

If you currently have dogs in your home, we require you to bring them to the adoption interview so we can conduct a "meet and greet." This process ensures your new pet will adapt successfully in your home. Please note that this is for dogs only. Cats are not required to be brought into our facility for a “meet and greet."
 

We currently do not provide public boarding services.  We recomend calling one of the kennels in the Red Deer area. 

At Red Deer & District SPCA our ability to take in cats and dogs directly from the public changes daily. It depends on our available space, our current population, and how quickly the animals already here are finding homes. In addition, the pets being surrendered to us must meet our health and behavior requirements.  A surrender fee is also charged at the time of admittance.  For more information, please speak with one of our animal care attendants, 403.342.7722 ext 205.

Residents of Red Deer and some surrounding areas may be able to call Alberta Animal Services to surrender a pet. They provide animal control for the City of Red Deer, Town of Innisfail, Town of Lacombe, as well as several other towns and municipalities within Central Alberta. We recommend you call their office to discuss their surrendering policies and procedures.

Medicine River Wildlife Centre is a nonprofit organization operating under federal and provincial permits to care for injured and orphaned wildlife. MRWC now treats close to 1000 wildlife patients annually. Through an extensive network of volunteer relayers, patients arrive from all areas of Alberta and even some areas outside the province.

Their facility is located about a ½ hour's drive west of Innisfail in central Alberta.  Their visitor facility is open May to September, from 10:00am to 5:00pm daily. Patients are accepted 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

They have a new website available to help you learn more about the Wildlife Centre, wildlife rehabilitation, their public education programs, and provide information how you can help injured or displaced wildlife.