How to Adopt

View our Available Pets and select a few that you would like to meet.

Please note, it can take up to 4 hours for available pets to appear on the website after being made Available for Adoption or be removed from the website once adopted, so please be sure to check it frequently. For a more up-to-date list of available pets, try viewing our pets on Petfinder.

Download an Adoption Application and fill it out prior to visiting our shelter.

You will bring your completed application to your adoption meet and greet. If you are unable to fill out an application in advance, paper copies will be available to fill out when you arrive at the shelter.

If you have completed an application online, but you are unable to print it out prior to your visit, you can email your completed application to adoptions@kitsap-humane.org.

Our adoption process is a walk-up and queue-based, first-come, first-served system. 

• A queue will open each adoption day at 11 am. You will be able to join the virtual queue from your smartphone upon arrival at KHS by scanning a QR code in front of the shelter.
• KHS team members will be available to assist customers who don’t have access to a smartphone.
• Wait times will be accessible and auto-updated here.
• Prospective adopters will be able to view photos and information for available dogs and puppies posted outside the adoption center. However, walk-throughs of dog kennels will not be permitted. For adopters meeting with cats and kittens, their adoption counselor will be available to briefly walk them through our kennels to select the pets they wish to meet when it is time for their adoption.
• After selecting the type of counsel you’re interested in (dog, cat, kitten, puppy, small animal, etc.), you will fill out your name, email address, and phone number, and once confirmed, you’re in the queue! From there, you’ll receive text updates to your phone and emails about your place in line.
  • Adopters without the ability to receive text messages will receive a pager that will buzz to alert them when it’s their turn to be helped. These customers will not be able to leave the shelter property.
• Adopter wait times will be dependent on animal type and the number of individuals waiting in the queue. If wait times are long, prospective adopters will be able to leave KHS and return to the shelter once their wait time drops to a specified time.

You will have a meet and greet with an Adoption Counselor to discuss your application, review information on the pets you would like to meet, and you will be introduced to the pet(s).

You can meet up to two cats/kittens or one dog/puppy per counsel.

For dog counsels only: For dogs ages 6 months and older, all people in your household are required to come to the shelter for a meet & greet before an adoption can be approved or finalized. Additionally, if you have any other dogs in your home, they must accompany you to the shelter to ensure a good match.

If the Meet and Greet is a success, staff will complete your adoption paperwork to make it official! 

If your new family member is already spayed/neutered, they will go home with you right away! 

• If your new family member is already spayed/neutered, they will go home with you right away! If your adopted dog or cat is not yet spayed/neutered, your new pet will stay at the shelter for surgery, and you will get a call for pick up when your new pet is ready to go home – typically 1-2 days post-adoption.
• All adopted dogs must leave the shelter on leash and collar. Cats must leave in a secure carrier. Collars, leashes, and cardboard carriers are available for purchase at the shelter.
• Small pets must leave in a size-appropriate, secured carrier. And livestock must leave in either a size-appropriate, secured carrier (i.e., fowl) or in a secure trailer (i.e., goats, pigs, horses, etc.).

*Prong collars and choke chains are not permitted.*