Find Your Perfect Match with These 12 Pet Adoption Websites

The internet has brought us many new opportunities, connecting us with people in every area of our lives including dating websites, job boards, educational opportunities, and (of course) pet adoption websites!

These websites make it easier than ever to see adoptable pets across the country and around the world, connecting available pets with their forever families.

Are you looking to add a new pet to your family?

To help you get started on your search, I have put together a list of the best places to find adoptable animals online.

12 Pet Adoption Websites

Petfinder

Arguably one of the most popular websites available for the purpose of finding available pets, Petfinder has a constantly changing database of over 250,000 adoptable pets including dogs, cats, small animals, horses, reptiles, and more.  

They allow you to search by a wide variety of filters including age, gender, breed, compatibility with other kids and other animals, special medical needs, and more.

If you’re not sure where to start, try the Personalized Pet Matches quiz. After answering a series of questions about your ideal pet, you will be shown a list of available pets that best fit what you’re searching for.

Create an account to save pets or set up email updates for new pets in your area.

Adopt a Pet

Like Petfinder, Adopt a Pet works with over 17,000 different animal rescue organizations and animal shelters.

This creates a large database of dogs, cats, small animals, birds, and reptiles that are available for adoption and searching for their forever home.

In addition to those in the care of rescues and shelters, Adopt a Pet also offers a Rehome program.

This allows private owners to list a pet that needs to be rehomed, allowing them to be found through the Adopt a Pet website and handling payment through the Rehome website to make the process as safe as possible for everyone involved.

This is where we found our newest rescue Lucifer, connecting with Baker Bridge Rescue through the Adopt a Pet website. It was easy to navigate and reach out to the rescue, allowing us to focus our time on getting prepared for our new arrival.

Petango

Another pet rescue site with a database of pets from animal shelters and rescue organizations across Canada and the US is Petango.

According to their website, they work with over 1800 organizations and were the first adoptable pet search site offering real-time updates of the pets that they are sharing.

They also offer a Lost Pet section to help connect lost and missing pets with their parents.

Cuddly

While Cuddly is best known for their efforts to collect donations for over 2000 rescue organizations and shelters, the Cuddly website also includes an Adoption section.

Similar to other sites like Petfinder, you can search by the species of pet.

The 4 different species currently available to search on the Cuddly site are dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and rabbits.

If you don’t find the ‘right pet’ while searching, you can still make a difference for pets in need by purchasing pet supplies from any of the rescue wishlists or making a financial donation.  

Ontario SPCA and Humane Society

Unlike the other sites listed up to this point, the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society website exclusively shares pets that are in the care of organizations in Ontario, Canada.

One unique feature of this website is the ‘Meet Your Match’ survey.

After answering a few questions about your ideal dog or cat, you will be provided with a color that represents a specific set of personality traits. You can then view the pets that have been identified as having those traits, helping you locate pets that will best fit with your lifestyle.

In addition to dogs and cats, they also allow you to search guinea pigs, rabbits, and rodents.

ASPCA

One of the best-known cat and dog rescue sites due to the reputation of the ASPCA organization in the United States, the ASPCA adoption database is a great place to find available dogs and cats in the US.

The database is designed to share the dogs and cats available in the ASPCA Adoption Centers, which are located in the Los Angeles or New York City areas.

However, if you aren’t looking in either of those areas, they do offer an additional nationwide database of adoptable dogs.

AKC Rescue Network

The American Kennel Club is an organization primarily focused on the health, well-being, and integrity of purebred dogs.  

This mission carries through to their AKC Rescue Network where they have partnered with over 450 groups across the United States.

These are purebred-focused rescues, connecting potential pet parents with amazing purebred dogs.

Here, your search begins with selecting a breed and then viewing the different rescues, rehabilitation organizations, and rehomes that are available to find the right pet for your family.

Best Friends Animal Society

Originally starting out as a sanctuary for homeless and special-needs animals, the Best Friends Animal Society has grown to include a large network of rescue partners.

Their efforts today include coordinating corporate donations, networking with shelters and rescue groups across the US, and working with celebrities to help share their no-kill mission.

In addition to fundraising and awareness, their website also offers a searchable database both of the animals at their sanctuary as well as the pets currently in the care of their network partners that are in search of their forever homes.

Rescue Me!

For those outside of Canada and the US, this is one of the best dog adoption sites and best cat adoption sites for those on the search for their ‘perfect match’.

You have the option of selecting not only the gender and breed (including searching ‘mutts’) but also selecting the country that you want to search from a long list of countries.

Disclaimer: This doesn’t mean that you are necessarily going to find every pet in every country listed.

Each pet listing includes information about compatibility with other animals (and kids), personality, health, and other important information.

The Shelter Pet Project

A collaboration between the Humane Society of the United States and Maddie’s Fund, The Shelter Pet Project is focused on advocating for the world of rescue and encouraging people to consider a rescue pet when searching for their new family member.

They do this both through advocacy and educational campaigns, but also through providing an easy to search database of dogs and cats.

This search is powered by Adopt a Pet, meaning that you will find the same pets in both locations. However, you may find one platform easier to use than the other.

PetSmart Charities

There is a good chance that you’re familiar with the PetSmart chain of pet stores. It’s one of the largest and best-known pet store chains in North America.

What you may not know is that the company also supports a charitable organization focused on supporting the animal rescue community including collecting donations, advocating for rescue, and providing an online database of animals available for adoption.

While their site is primarily focused on dogs and cats, they also offer the ability to search rabbits, birds, reptiles, small animals, horses, and farm animals.

DogsBlog.com

This site is a little different from the other pet adoption websites on this list in that the searches are not based on location.

By removing the focus on geography, DogsBlog.com encourages you to find the best pet based on their breed, age, and personality first.

The listing for each of the dogs is incredibly detailed, offering a lot of information to help you decide.

The site is based in the UK, making it a great choice for those in that area of the world that are searching for a rescue pet to adopt.

Rescue Websites and Social Media

In addition to the pet adoption websites listed above, you can try looking at a specific rescue and the adoptable animals that they have available.

This is a common approach for those that are familiar with a local rescue, repeat adopters adding a second (or third) pet, or those that are searching for a breed-specific rescue.

Some rescues list all their available animals on a website with an adoption application available there.

Others prefer to share their rescues using a specific social media platform, the most popular of which is Facebook where they can organize the animals in a photo album on their rescue page or in a Facebook group.

If you’re already aware of the rescues that you would like to work with, you may need to be patient, checking their page recently, until the right match comes along.

You can also reach out to the rescue to share what you are looking for.

Those that are working with kill shelters or overrun areas with a large number of animals can then keep their eyes open to pull a pet that would fit your family and your lifestyle.

Other Opportunities to Find a Pet Online

Finally, there are some websites and social media accounts that actively dedicate their time to sharing adoptable pets.

This includes Facebook groups created for the purpose of sharing or those who use their personal or business accounts to actively share available pets regularly.

The Shed Happens Facebook page is an example of this at work.

Every weekend we celebrate #RescueWeekends by sharing several different available pets from across Canada and the US.

The goal? Help them connect with their ideal forever home!

If you have previously used websites like Petfinder to find an available pet, which pet adoption websites do you recommend?

Feature Image Credit: JulieK’s Images | Canva