Have you been wanting a new cat in your life and are struggling on exactly where to look in the bay area? Here are a few highly rated options to help you begin your search!
Oakland
Oakland has a wide array of cat adoption shelters. Each shelter has their own way of going about business with social distancing and stay-at-home orders in place. Most involve more email, phone calls, and video calls than previously practiced.
Cat Town in the Hoover-Foster neighborhood of Oakland,has their adoptable cats visible on their website. You can click through and search by cat age; if they’re friendly with other cats; and other many criteria you may be concerned with. Once you select a cat you would like to adopt, you just send them an email and open correspondence with them to see if you’re a good fit. Cat adoptions cost $75 for one cat or $100 for a pair.
East Bay SPCA, nearby Oakland Coliseum, goes through a bit of a different process. While you also can look through cats on their website, you also have to fill out an application. It asks basic questions like what qualities you are looking for in your new cat, where your cat will be sleeping, and if you have any previous cat care experience. Once you have a cat or two you want to know more about, you can send them an email with the cat name in the subject line and your application attached. They will get back to you with more information about the cat or cats you’re interested in and if you’re a good fit! Adoptions with them cost $75 for an adult cat, $125 for a kitten, or $40 for a senior cat. The adoption fee includes spay/neuter, initial vaccines, microchip insertion and registration, and flea treatment.
Oakland Animal Services, near the Fruitvale neighborhood, operates in a similar fashion to EBSPCA, in that you look through their website and send in a questionnaire with the name of the cat you are interested in adopting in the subject line. The questionnaire asks similar questions to the EBSPCA application, including questions about veterinarians you plan on visiting and a signed commitment to take care of the cat. The adoption fee includes spay/neuter, vaccinations, and microchip insertion/registration.
San Francisco
San Francisco has its own network of highly rated cat adoption centers. Here’s our picks for the top rated ones.
San Francisco SPCA, located in the Mission, functions in a different manner than their East Bay counterpart. They have a cat-alogue like other websites, and they have live feeds of cats and kittens so you can watch them while they play! If you are interested in adopting a cat through them, you will need to fill out a very short form with your contact information and why you want to adopt a cat. They will get back to you about visiting appointments that are open and how to go about adoption with them. Adoptions through SFSPCA cost $125 for cats over 5 months and $200 for kittens under 4 months. Cats over 7 years old and adult bonded pairs come with waived adoption fees.
Give Me Shelter SF in the Parkside neighborhood, is a cat rescue we here at Precious Fur are very familiar with. Some of our clients work and volunteer with them, and our pet sitters have helped take care of their foster cats while the volunteers are away! One pet sitter highly recommends them, saying their workers really get to know each cat and can help you find the perfect cat for your household. They have detailed cat introductions up on their website detailing the cat’s personalities, including their likes and dislikes. If you want to bring one of these cats into your life, you send them your contact information under the contact us section on their website and they’ll get back to you with an application and a date to talk and video chat with one of their cats. Their adoption fees are $150 for one cat or $250 for two, and cover spay/neuter, vaccines, microchip, and FeLV/FIV testing.
SF Animal Care & Control in the Mission district, is another animal shelter that Precious Fur is quite familiar with, as one of our cat sitters also fosters cats for them. Their adoptable cats all have pictures and short profiles online. If you are interested in adopting through them, you will need to fill out their detailed application and questionnaire on their website. If you’re interested in a particular cat, make sure you save their ID number, as that is how you identify the cat on the questionnaire when it asks you if you have a pet you are interested in. Their adoption fees are $135 for an adult cat and $156 for a kitten under 6 months of age. They cover spay/neuter surgery, microchip, vaccinations, and a vet exam.
Several of Precious Fur’s sitters have adopted; some from these locations. They were able to give these cats furrever homes, and gained a new lifelong friend in the process. Purr-haps you’ll be doing the same too!