Adopting A Pet

What To Expect

All our animals are provided with caring foster families.

The Greater Derry Humane Society does not have a physical shelter and so there is no one location to visit our available animals. All of our adoptable pets are lovingly cared for by our dedicated foster families while they wait for their forever homes with you! An appointment is always required to see any of these animal. That appointment is made after the necessary steps have been followed. Please read the remainder of this page below “Steps to Adopting a Pet” Once the steps have been taken and the application submitted, you will be contacted to set up an appointment.

All our animals receive needed veterinary care.

All dogs adopted from GDHS are spayed or neutered, have vaccinations brought up to date, are on heartworm preventative, and microchipped. If you are interested in adopting a pet, please submit an application found on one of the links above

Note: Local candidates are always given preferential treatment and calls outside of the New England states will not be returned. We will NEVER ship any of our animals regardless of the suitability of the prospective home.

Adoption fees are as follows:

Dogs

Puppies (6 months and under): $495

Puppies (6 months to 1 year): $450

Adults: $395

Seniors (8 years and over): $195

Cats

$150 for adult cats
$195 for kittens
$95 for senior cats (8 years and over)

Seniors for Seniors program: Any senior adopting a cat over 8 years old is eligible for a reduced adoption fee of $25

Disclaimer:

GDHS reserves the right to refuse to adopt to any applicant. By requesting information on an animal and initiating the screening process, it is not a guarantee that the particular animal that you have inquired about is yours to adopt. This is only the first stage of the adoption process. GDHS does not place our animals on a “first come, first served” basis, but do adopt to the best home possible for the animal.”

Steps to Adopting a Pet

  • The first step in adopting a pet from the Greater Derry Humane Society is to fill out an Adoption Application. All potential adopters must be approved in advance. You can fill out your application online by using the menu on the right side of this page, or you can fill out a paper application using the menu on the right side of this page.
  • We recommend that you fill out an application prior to looking for a pet so we have it on file and you are pre-approved to adopt. Our animals go quickly on a first-come basis, so having an application already approved and on file is a big plus!
  • We will notify you that we received your application and are processing it.
  • We will let you know the minute you are approved.

Please note: not every application we receive gets approved. Sometimes the animal might not be the right fit for your family or home; sometimes if you are renting, the landlord will not give his/her approval; there may be other circumstances.

Once approved, it is time to start looking at our pets available for adoption. We get new pets on a daily or weekly basis. If you let us know what kind of dog, cat or other pet you are looking for, we will let you know when one arrives.