view our adoptable animals

1. potential adopter submits adoption application, receives initial email and answers adoption questionnaire.

2. the adoptions team gathers any necessary information from the foster to answer questions from the adopter and reviews the questionnaire to ensure that the animal is a good match.

3. if deciding to move forward, the adoptions team will coordinate with the adopter and foster to schedule a facetime, zoom meet and greet.

4. if the meet and greet goes well, the animal will either be adopted or we will coordinate a 2 day trial period.

** please note: puppies and kittens under 6 months are only eligible for adoption. they are not eligible for a 2-day trial period. no exceptions **

if the potential adopter wants to move forward, the adoptions team will process the adoption and schedule a time for the adopter to pick- up their animal.

if the animal is scheduled to attend an event, the potential adopter will meet the animal at the event and will not do a virtual meet and greet. adoptions are done same day at events but are not first come. applications at events will be reviewed, potential adopters will be interviewed and the best fit for the animal will be selected to adopt.

all dogs are spayed/neutered, microchipped, and up to date with age-appropriate vaccines. if over the age of 1 year, we will have our vets do a 4dx test, to test for the following:

dirofilaria immitis (heartworms)

borrelia burgdorferi (lyme disease)

anaplasma phagocytophilum/platys (anaplasmosis)

ehrlichia canis/ewingii (ehrlichosis)

all cats are spayed/neutered, microchipped, and up to date with age appropriate vaccines. if over the age of 6 months, they are snap tested for fiv/felv.

we limit our adoptions to within 3 hours of northern virginia. we only adopt to dc, maryland, virginia, and parts of west virginia and pennsylvania.

as a foster based rescue, we do not have a physical location. we have a po box address for mail, but we do not have any animals or volunteers at that location.

while we do not have a foster to adopt program, we always allow our fosters the first preference in adopting! after intake, a foster will receive a foster referral deadline, which is a deadline to let us know if they want to adopt their foster or if they have a friend/family member who wants to do so. after the deadline passes with no referral, we will make the animal available for adoption. if a foster does not let us know by that deadline, they will no longer receive preference in adopting.

as an organization, we strongly believe in eliminating barriers for adoption. barriers get in the way of us helping pets and people, and they prevent us from truly engaging our whole communities. barriers are, by their nature, discriminatory. they disproportionately impact poor people and other marginalized groups. 

they also stop adoptions and foster placements. and in doing so, they slow down the entire system. animals don’t move as quickly and that leaves less space for incoming cats and dogs.

specifically in terms of home checks or references, how do we know that you are actually showing us your house? what someone’s home looks like is no indication of what type of pet owner they are going to be. no one ever provides a bad reference, but that doesn’t mean that they are an ideal pet owner.

we love it when cat/kitten littermates are adopted together!

we do not allow puppies to be adopted with their littermates. puppies adopted in pairs tend to develop littermate syndrome which causes some extreme behavioral issues.

adoption fees go towards your animal’s expenses as well as others in our program and help cover medical expenses and daily care. fees cover everything from vetting, spay/neuter, transport costs, food, boarding, to behavioral training. it is important to note that while your animal may not require all of these things, many other animals in our system do. thus, any “extra” money from adoption fees goes to help those animals needing additional lifesaving care.

NPA is 100% foster based. We will only accept returns if we have a foster home to place the animal in. Finding foster placement takes time and isn’t always available. If we are unable to secure a foster home we will assist with rehoming the animal or provide local resources to assist.

We encourage you to reach out as soon as you know you need help and provide detailed information on why the adoption is no longer working out.