Where to Adopt a Dog or Cat in Montreal?

Adopting pets instead of buying from breeders and puppy mills is a choice that benefits many in the long run. The planet is overcome with stray, abandoned, orphaned and recovering animals that need loving, healthy homes. When you adopt a pet, resources at shelters and rescues are freed up for other animals needing care and energy.

Pets are wonderful allies to humans, offering companionship, connection and affection. Dogs can enhance health by encouraging more time spent outdoors, and exercise such as walking, hiking and beach time. Dog parks are social places where longtime friendships are founded. The relationship between a pet and a human is significant and can be profound, changing the lives of both human and animal forever.

Pets are a huge, ongoing responsibility. Before deciding to adopt a pet, it's important to consider the following factors:

• Pet-friendly, safe living arrangements - Dogs should have access to a yard to run around in. If you are renting, make sure your rental agreement states “pet-friendly”. For example, an ideal living situation if you are adopting a larger dog would have a fenced yard big enough for the dog to play, and parks or wild spaces nearby for walking dogs.

• Finances - Pets are like children, there are many different expenses in caring for them. Expenses including gear, kennels, yearly shots, checkups, dental, grooming, dog sitting and vet emergencies.

• Lifestyle - Consider your travel habits, your city or rural lifestyle, etc. Most flights allow animals either in the cabin or in storage underneath the cabin. Buses don’t allow animals. If you travel a lot, consider hiring a dog sitter or having your dog board at a trusted dog boarder.

• Time management - Pets need constant care and attention such as walks, exercise and affection. Can you factor this into your schedule every day?

• Maintenance - Checkups, nail trimming, dental and grooming are regular aspects of pet ownership that require money and time.

For those in Montreal looking to adopt a pet, the city has many organisations dedicated to rescuing and rehoming animals. This article covers a selection of these special places:

• SPCA de Montreal

• Sauvetage Animal Rescue

• Berger Blanc

• Furradise

• Friends of Humane Society International

• Refuge Kitty-Kat Rescue

Keep reading to find out where you can go to find your future animal.

SPCA de Montreal

Operating for the last 155 years, the Montreal SPCA is the oldest animal welfare organisation in Canada. SPCA de Montreal started out by working to improve the treatment of work horses. It later branched out to address issues such as humane dog control, cock-fighting, and the killing of wild birds.

Throughout decades of evolution and growth, SPCA de Montreal has become the largest animal-protection organisation in Quebec, advocating for animals against ignorance, cruelty, exploitation, and neglect.

SPCA de Montreal - 5215 Rue Jean-Talon O, Montréal, QC H4P 1X4

Monday to Friday: 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. | Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

+15147352711

READ: Moving with Pets Made Easy: Best Pet Carriers & Pet Transporters

Sauvetage Animal Rescue

Sauvetage Animal Rescue Montreal rescues, rehabilitates, and rehomes abandoned, abused, and neglected animals in the Montreal area. They provide essential medical care, foster homes, and adoption services to ensure the well-being and safety of animals in need.

Through community outreach and education, Sauvetage Animal Rescue Montreal spread the word about responsible pet ownership and animal welfare.

Sauvetage Animal Rescue - 925 Blvd. De Maisonneuve Ouest Bureau 124, Montréal, QC H3A 0A5

Monday to Sunday, Open 24 hours

+15147733911

Le Berger Blanc

Le Berger BLanc privately-owned animal control and shelter service provides care for stray and abandoned animals. This organisation is involved in animal rescue, adoption, and veterinary care for animals in need in the Montreal Area.

Le Berger Blanc - 9825 Boulevard Henri-Bourassa E, Montreal, Quebec H1C 1G5

Monday-Tuesday, 8 am–7 pm | Saturday, 11 am–4 pm | Sunday, Closed

+15144942002

READ: Dos and Don'ts When Moving With Pets

Furradise

Furradise is a non-profit cat shelter that organises adoptions for cats needing a loving home. They go above and beyond to make sure that adopters and the animals are suited to each other, and they make sure all veterinary affairs are in order before adoption. Furradise is run by responsible, compassionate and devoted animal advocates.

Furradise - 4970 Edouard Montpetit Blvd, Montreal, Quebec H3W 1P9

Always open

furradise.rescue@gmail.com

Friends of Humane Society International

Friends of Humane Society International is a charity working to protect animals through hands-on animal care programs and through public education and awareness initiatives.

FHSI focuses on a variety of areas, including companion animals.

FHSI provides care and rehabilitation for thousands of animals rescued from puppy mills, the global dog meat trade, unethical sled-dog operations and other situations of mass cruelty and neglect. Once animals are ready for adoption, the shelter and rescue partners facilitate the adoption process. Shelter and rescue partners in Quebec:

• Animatch, Pointe-Fortune

• Mission Mayday, Montréal

• SPCA Laurentides-Labelle, St-Agathe-Des-Monts

• SPCA Roussillon, Delson

Friends of Humane Society International

Contact form

info@friendsofhsi.ca

Refuge Kitty Kat Rescue

Refuge Kitty Kat Rescue is a foster-based cat rescue charity run by volunteers. All of the cats at RKKR are socialised, vaccinated, sterilised and microchipped before they are ready to be adopted.

RKKR cats are rescued from high-kill pounds, of the streets, and those that have been abandoned. As a foster-based rescue, they do not mix the animals or keep them in cages.

RKKR focuses on the individual cat’s needs as well as education for those looking to adopt.

Refuge Kitty Kat Rescue

Contact form

refugekittykat@gmail.com

READ: A Guide to Pet Adoption in Canada: What You Need to Know