The 3 Most-Rated Dog Adoption Services in Adelaide

Paws and Claws Adoptions Inc. is a small South Australia-based nonprofit shelter. They strive to provide care and find worthy adoptive fur parents for abandoned and surrendered cats and dogs. 

You can choose from a wide range of animals that are up for adoption on their website. Should you prefer a dog of a particular breed, you’ll just have to watch out for the list of dogs they post every day on their website.

Each of their animals has been desexed, vaccinated, microchipped, and flea and worm-treated. 

Should you decide to adopt any of their dogs, you’ll get a free bag of all-natural Australian-made dog food. 

However, this shelter comes with a few downsides too.

The first one is the expensive adoption costs for cats and dogs. 

Adopting a cat can cost from $160 to $200. While for dogs, the price can go as high as $750. 

Another is they’re sometimes unresponsive to calls and inquiries. Since they’re a 100% volunteer rescue group, they don’t really have fixed working hours to accommodate inquiries and requests. 

Animal Welfare League’s main goal is to connect pets with safe and happy homes. They have a foster care program wherein they provide temporary shelter to animals.

They offer multiple animal services, including adoptions, finding lost cats, and pet boarding.

For deceased pet dogs or cats, they have a cremation and memorial team who can help perform a proper burial and celebrate the joy that your pet brought to your life.

Aside from this, they also participate in multiple community projects that involve animal welfare. 

These include cat management plans, promoting the benefits of pets in aged care settings, and serving as a locator for pet-friendly rental properties in South Australia.

One major downside of AWL is it has a history of having rude and inattentive staff. Most people won’t appreciate being welcomed by staff who can’t maintain a positive attitude towards hopeful fur parents.

Take note that they don’t accommodate walk-in guests. You need to book an appointment, and that can only be done manually. 

That means you still have to go to the shelter to set an appointment.

That’s one point less for convenience. We think it’d be a lot easier if people can book visits online or via phone call.

RSPCA has three shelters with one primary goal—to care for thousands of injured, sick, and neglected animals in South Australia. All their shelters come with complete facilities that promote and facilitate animal adoptions.

They’re part of numerous community activities involving animal welfare. These include combat cruelty programs, cat management plans, force-free dog trainers, dog and cat welfare, pets in rentals, and more. 

What’s more, RSPCA offers a wide variety of services aside from cat and dog adoption. 

They also do animal cruelty rescue, pet surrender, finding lost and found pets, cat desexing programs, and cat and dog boarding.

If you’re planning to visit one of their shelters, don’t forget to book an appointment.

Appointment scheduling is part of their COVID-19 restrictions since the virus can spread cross-platform and animals can have it too.

You can book an appointment online, but take note that even with an appointment scheduled, there’s still no guarantee that you can get inside the shelter. 

Also, there aren’t always pets inside their shelter, so make sure to confirm that on your booked date. It makes no sense to come into the shelter when there aren’t any animals to adopt.

Another major downside to RSPCASA is its unresponsive customer service hotline. They’ve had numerous complaints about unanswered calls and emails. 

We’d recommend following up near your booking date, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll answer.