Adoptable Animals

Adoption applications are the best way to show you are interested in an animal and are not a contractual obligation. Please submit an adoption application if you are interested in adopting or have questions about an adoptable animal.

We remove animals from the website when they have received a surplus of promising adoption applications or when they are adopted, whichever comes first. If you submitted an adoption application for a specific animal, you will be contacted about your application’s status via email. Please check your spam folder for correspondence.

Further questions about the adoption process? Check out our main adoption page.

Special Adoption Programs & Promotions

Some of our animals have unique needs, longer adoption journeys, or special circumstances. Ruff Start Rescue offers several adoption programs designed to support these pets and help connect them with the right homes.

Learn more about our Special Adoption Programs & Promotions

If you don’t see the animal you’re looking for, please contact us at applications@ruffstartrescue.org, and our team will follow up with you.

Please read the following general requirements carefully before submitting an adoption application. While this criteria is our typical standard, we understand all situations are unique! Don’t be discouraged if you don’t feel you meet one of these bullet points – feel free to submit an application anyway, so we can discuss your situation with you.

Interested in more than one animal? You are welcome to submit multiple animal applications, but our system may not allow a new application until our team has reviewed your first one. Only one application is needed for a bonded pair. Please contact our Applications Team if you need help submitting another application.

• Applicants must be 18 years of age or older.
• Submitted applications must be filled out fully and factually.
• All applicants must reside in the state of Minnesota or its bordering states, unless a special exception has been made. Please email us at info@ruffstartrescue.org if you would like to discuss the potential for an out of state adoption.
• Consider how you’ll manage an isolation period and be sure all existing pets are up-to-date on vaccinations and other routine health care before bringing a new pet home. An isolation period would be good for allowing that animal to settle in and learn the routine.
• Please be aware of any rental/association or homeowners’ insurance restrictions you may have before applying. Such limits may include breed restrictions, number of pets allowed, weight requirements, etc.
• All adopted animals must live indoors with their families and always be monitored closely when outdoors for their safety (with the exception of working cats).
• We do not allow any medically-unnecessary surgical procedures, such as declawing; defanging; debarking; or cropping/docking (of tails or ears) to be conducted on any animal adopted from our rescue.