⇨

Every day except Christmas Day and Good Friday

⇨		General and pound enquiries 9am - 5pm daily.
⇨		Adoption hours 11am-4pm daily.
⇨		For Wellington and East Gippsland click here >>

⇨		Coldstream: 35 Killara Road Coldstream
⇨		East Gippsland: 40 Giles Road Bairnsdale
⇨		Wellington: 111 Hopkins Road Fulham

⇨		Our adoption counsellors have great expertise and an intimate knowledge of the animals in their care.
⇨		All of our adoption candidates have their health, personality and behaviour assessed to ensure we make the most suitable matches possible.
⇨		We don't just have cats and dogs we often have a variety of pets to choose from.
⇨		Many hopeful adoptees are already housebroken and trained.
⇨		Animal Aid provides follow up support and advice for the life of the animal.
⇨		Pets offered by Animal Aid are great value. Shelter fee includes the cost of desexing, vaccinations, worm and flea treatments as well as a microchip.
⇨		Because it is the right and ethical thing to do, you can be sure that you are not contributing to the tragedy that is pet over-population.

⇨		Unclaimed and stray animals collected from within the Yarra Ranges Council, Wellington and East Gippsland Shire Council areas.
⇨		Unclaimed animals transferred from other Council pounds and shelters.
⇨		Owner surrenders, where the owner is unable to keep them.

⇨		All animals undergo a vet check upon arrival, where they are vaccinated, wormed, flea'd and given a thorough once over for any health concerns.
⇨		All pets are given time to settle in and then have their behaviour assessed using: • Dogs - SAFER assessment and have their personality type determined by the Meet your Match Canine-ality Program. • Cats - experienced staff assess cats sociability and use the Meet Your Match Feline-ality Program to assess personality type.

⇨

By law, all adopted dogs and cats must be de-sexed and micro chipped prior to going to their new home. Therefore not all pets will be available to go home on the same day as you meet them, as they may be awaiting surgery.

⇨		If you have a cat at home, we can conduct a ‘cat test' with one of our house cats to assess the dog you wish to adopts reaction around cats.
⇨		If you already have a dog/s it is mandatory for a dog meet to take place here at the shelter. Please ensure your dog/s is up to date with their vaccinations as we will need to sight their vaccination card.
⇨		For cat to cat meetings, it is impractical to conduct such a test in our cattery but we can provide you with suggestions and guidelines to ensure that you have the best chance of a successful integration.
⇨		For those dog owners that would like to adopt a cat we recommend that you bring your dog in to meet one of our house cats under supervision by one of our experienced staff.

⇨

You will need boundary, yard or enclosure fencing that is secure and appropriate for the size and type of dog. Some dogs may have specific requirements on the type of fencing they will need due to prior history or circumstance.

⇨		We recommend that if you would like to buy a pet as a gift for a friend that you come and purchase a collar (and lead if appropriate) to give to your friend and then bring them to the shelter and let them choose their special friend to fill the collar.
⇨		The gift recipient must come along to meet the adoptee to ensure that they are a match and that both the person and the adoption candidate will get along.

⇨		There are advantages and disadvantages for both, so it really comes down to your personal circumstances. Whilst young animals often look cute and appealing, they do require a big time commitment, especially for the first year of their life. Older animals have usually gone through the early learning stage, but may still require some retraining.
⇨		Older animals are often house/litter trained and may be less inclined to be destructive.
⇨		Often there is only a matter of weeks between a kitten/puppy and a young adult so even if you choose a baby they grow up very fast.
⇨		Older animals are traditionally more difficult for us to rehome so we urge you to consider this option.

⇨		Once adoption candidates have gone through all of the assessment stages they will be made available for adoption.
⇨		When available, we will only take up to three ‘holds' or options (details of interested parties) per adoptee. These are allocated in the order they are taken and are held for 24 hours once you become the first in line.
⇨		Adoption requirements include some of the following: • Completion of a Meet your Match adopter survey. • Supervised meet with the adoption candidates. • Participation of all family members in the adoption process. • Any existing dogs must meet the adoption dog at the shelter. • Special requirements may need to be verified eg. fencing etc
⇨		Once your adoption counsellor is satisfied that all requirements have been met, including the adoptee being a suitable match for your requirements, the adoption can be finalised.

⇨		The dogs adopted from the shelter have different levels of training prior to arriving at the shelter. Some may undergo various manners training whilst at the shelter. All shelter dogs and adopters benefit from undergoing some training together. That is one of the reasons that PAT (Post Adoption Training - see link to PAT) was developed to assist the new family member settle into their new life.
⇨		Cats adopted from our shelters will have varying levels of life experience that could present you with behaviour modification requirements but our staff are here every day to offer advice and training suggestions.

⇨

To allow your new pet every opportunity to settle into their new home, through training and quality time with their new family, we do not recommend adopting two dogs at the same time unless they came from the same family originally. Due to the communal nature of our catteries, however, it is generally easier to select two cats that will be happy to live together.

⇨

We have a variety of support available post adoption, such as : • Vet clinic and Grooming service. • Boarding facilities for cats and dogs. • Training: puppy school/home consults/reactive rovers/PAT • Our knowledgeable staff are always on hand to help and advise between 9am and 5pm, 7 days a week.

⇨		Aside from the initial shelter fee for the adoption candidate there are other initial purchases, plus the ongoing costs. link to this price page)
⇨		Shelter fees are as follows: • Dogs over 6 months $250 • Puppies 3-6 months $290 • Puppies under 3 months $350 • Cats over 5 months $120 • Kittens under 5 months $170 • Fancy Felines $250 • Rabbits $75 • Guinea Pigs $45 • Goats and Sheep permanent foster • Pigs permanent foster

NB: bringing a new pet into your home can include significant costs, including appropriate housing, bed, food, bowls, lead and collar, toys etc. The ongoing cost of food veterinary care and general upkeep also needs to be considered before committing to adopt.

⇨

The "shelter fee" payable does usually not cover the costs we have incurred to prepare the pets for adoption. Costs that the shelter incur can include:  • Vet check upon arrival, including vaccinations/worming/flea treatment • Surgery for de-sexing, dentals, patellas etc • Micro chipping • Behavioural assessments • Feeding/cleaning and housing of dog for minimum of 1 week, but average of at least 2 weeks.

⇨

We try, to the best of our ability, to have as many of the animals looking for homes available to view on our website, but sometimes due to lack of resources it is not always possible to update the site every day.

⇨

Due to space and resource constraints, we are usually not in a position to hold an animal here for a significant length of time, once they have been adopted. Every pen is precious and highly sought after at Animal Aid, so for that reason and the length of time that the animal may have already spent at the shelter, we cannot hold them for more than seven days. In some situations the pet may not be ready to go home for a week or two depending upon the timeframes associated with any surgery requirements and recovery periods.

⇨

Due to the resources involved in maintaining this sort of list, we are unable to offer this service, but we do recommend keeping an eye on our website to check what is currently available for adoption. The only exception to this rule is with small livestock such as goats, sheep etc.