Are you ready to open your home to a new, furry family member? If you plan to adopt, choosing a rescue group is just as important as choosing your next pet. Consider this: When you enter into an adoption contract, you are legally bound by its rules for the life of your animal. As with any long-term relationship, it is best to start off on the right foot.

Examine Your Needs

The first step is to honestly assess your situation. Think about “a day in the life” of your perspective pet. How will you manage vet care, exercise, obedience, etc.? Do you have a fenced dog yard? Will you leash walk? Will your cat be indoors or have outdoor access?

While my husband and I more than meet the typical adoption criteria, our 2 dog doors pose an interesting issue for cats. Knowing that many agencies require adopted cats to remain indoors, we could not promise ours wouldn’t learn a way out. Cats are smart. Cats are crafty. And cats are persistent. Realistically, rapid-fire water blasts rarely deter instinctive quests for the natural environment.

Find a Contractual Match

The next step is to research your local rescue organizations for a good fit. Understanding your contractual responsibilities will expedite your connection with the new friend you are meant to have.

We found an amazing cattery with an truly holistic approach. Respecting the life that each cat has previously known, indoor cats seek indoor adopters, barn cats from bad situations seek responsible barn owners, and so on. This seemed like the place for us.

Find Your Perfect Pet

Once you find the perfect place, it’s time to choose your new friend. If you still have questions, find somebody in the know. Then find your new friend.

Although I assumed this organization was a good fit, I explained our circumstances to the woman in charge. She appreciated our honest concerns and happily accepted our application. Because we were all on the same page, our adoption experience was perfectly positive.

Let the Love Fest Begin

I am proud to introduce you to our new boys, Jackson and Jed. You can see their heartwarming adoption day in the video below. We sincerely wish you the same success and incredible joy that we’ve experienced through this process. The love these animals give is well worth the little bit of investigative work it takes to place the right one in the right situation.

Kim Clune writes for This One Wild Life (http://ThisOneWildLife.com), a video blog about life with foster and rescue animals. You can also find her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/kimclune), Facebook (http://facebook.com/thisonewildlife) and YouTube (http://youtube.com/kimclune) more often than she cares to admit.