- Where are you located? Do you have a physical shelter?
- You seem to only have cats/kittens up for adoption, do you handle dogs/puppies?
- When/where can I see an animal I am interested in?
- What are your fees for adoption?
- I am having behavior problems with my cat/kitten/dog/puppy, can you help?
- I know someone who is abusing/mistreating an animal, what should I do?
- I am looking for a specific breed of dog, can you help me find one?
- Where do you get your animals from?
- I need to relinquish my cat/kitten, can you take him/her?
Where are you located? Do you have a physical shelter?
Animal Outreach Society has no physical shelter. Our adoption program is run using volunteer foster homes. By using foster homes, we are more easily able to tell how an animal would act in a home setting, and animals are able to get more human contact than they probably would in a shelter environment.
You seem to only have cats/kittens up for adoption, do you handle dogs/puppies?
At the present time, Animal Outreach Society itself does not foster dogs/puppies. We are looking into the possibility of doing this in the future. However, we do help the McHenry County Animal Control adopt out dogs and puppies (see our relationship with McHenry County Animal Control). You can see most of their available dogs on petfinder.com. In addition, there are a number of local shelters that handle dogs (the following links go to their available dog lists), they include Save-A-Pet - Grayslake, Helping Paws - Crystal Lake, Pets In Need - Ringwood, and ASSISI - Crystal Lake.
You can also use the main page on petfinder.com and enter information in Petfinder's form to see all dogs which may meet your request.
When/where can I see an animal I am interested in?
All of Animal Outreach Society's (and most of McHenry County Animal Control's) animals can be seen online through our View Animals Page. Select AOS animals can be seen in person at our adoption days at PETsMART and other locations . In addition, some of our foster homes can do viewings/adoptions on-site, please contact us if you are interested in a particular animal to find out how to see him/her).
What are your fees for adoption?
We currently charge $100 for kitten/cat adoptions if the animal is over 10 months old, $125 if the kitten is under 10 months. This fee includes bloodwork tests, initial vaccinations, deworming, microchipping, and spaying/neutering (Animal Outreach does NOT adopt out any unaltered animals). In addition, adoptions handled through our PETsMART adoption program get various PETsMART savings coupons. Petco also offers a coupon book to anyone bringing in their adoption contract.
I am having behavior problems with my cat/kitten/dog/puppy, can you help?
Our website provides links to much information which deals with behavior problems for cats/kittens and for dogs/puppies.
I know someone who is abusing/mistreating an animal, what should I do?
If you live in McHenry county, you can call McHenry County Animal Control at 815-334-4470. They have an inspector. If you do not live in McHenry, you can contact your local police department and they should be able to tell you who can help in your area.
I am looking for a specific breed of dog, can you help me find one?
The best place (in our opinion) to start looking online is petfinder.com. Here you can put in your zipcode and what breeds you are looking for and search their database, which usually contains 75,000+ animals. We also have a link to thePoop.com's extensive breed rescue list on our lost and found page.
Where do you get your animals from?
All of AOS's animals are either relinquished by their owners or strays.
I need to relinquish my cat/kitten, can you take him/her?
While AOS is dedicated to helping as many of our community's animals as possible, we (like every other animal support organization) have legal and realistic limits to the number of animals we can foster and put up for adoption at any particular time.
Because of this, often our foster homes are full, and there is a waiting list of animals (you may call us to see if your animal can be put on our waiting list).
Please, before you relinquish your animal to any organization, check out our cat care page, to see if there is any information which may help you keep your animal. This page contains a number of helpful links providing good advice on dealing with common issues which cause people to give up their animals.