How To Adopt

We welcome you to come in and tour our facility anytime during our open hours! Please come in, meet our dogs and cats! Ask us for an application at the counter, call us and we’ll fax you one, or download and print from here: Adoption Application. Please fill it out as completely as possible! If the entire application has not been filled out, we will NOT process your application. One of the most important parts to the application is the “Vet Reference” section. Please supply us with your current/previous veterinarian and phone number! If you have never had an animal before, please let us know. It would be to your advantage to do some research as to whom you may use. The Livingston County Humane Society does NOT offer vet services. All applications take a minimum of 3 days to be approved once they are received at the shelter. Please remember that we do not process applications Friday-Monday. Once you are approved you will be contacted to come to meet the animal!

You can EMAIL your application to lchumanesociety98@gmail.com or FAX to  815-842-0504. That way, we can get you pre-approved before you come in and find the animal that is the best fit for you and vice versa.

Adoption Fees:

  • Kittens (up to 1 year) $100              SPECIALS        Adopt 2 Kittens for $150
  • Adult Cats (1+ years) $75                SPECIALS        Adopt 2 Cats for $100
  • VIP Cats (7+ years) $50                   SPECIALS       Adopt 2 Senior Cats for $75
  • Puppies (up to 1 year) $325            
  • Adult Dogs (1+ year) $225
  • VIP Dogs (7+ years) $200

Once you find an animal you would like to adopt, you have an approved application, and you were chosen as the best fit for the animal after your meet and greet, you can put a $50 NONREFUNDABLE deposit down to ensure that no other family can adopt them.

Please bring a leash if you are adopting a dog, or a crate if you are adopting a cat.

We accept cash, check, or credit card.


Adoption Policies

  • Our adoption program is for individuals and families seeking a pet to live indoors and provide companionship.
  • You must be 21 years of age or older to adopt.
  • We require that all household members meet the animal during the adoption process, if all family members are not/cannot be present at the time of the meet and greet we cannot send the animal home.
  • If you rent or lease your home, we require written or verbal approval from your landlord before you adopt a pet.
  • If you currently own animals, your pets must be up-to-date on vaccinations (rabies and distemper) and be spayed or neutered.? Dogs must also be on monthly heartworm prevention.? This also applies to previous pets if you do not currently own any pets.? We will contact your veterinarian to confirm this.
  • In addition to local increases in heartworm disease cases, many of our dogs come from higher risk areas of southern Illinois. We treat all positive cases prior to adoption but it is very important adopted and current dogs stay on heartworm prevention to stop the spread of this deadly disease. Prevention is a fraction of the cost and safer for dogs than treatment. Talk to your vet about options that are best for your furry friends.
  • Some veterinarians require that you give them permission to release records to us.? Please call your veterinarian prior to submitting an application and make sure this has been done.? This applies to any vet reference you may be using if you are a first time pet owner.
  • If this is your first pet, we will need a friend or a family member’s contact information to provide a vet reference.? This means that they must have pets or have had pets in the time that you have known them.? We will need their name(s), their pet’s name(s), and the clinic that they use.? You must also provide a non-familial reference’s contact information that we may contact to get a character reference.
  • You must live within a 100 mile radius from our facility to be eligible for an altered animal.? Puppies/Kittens we like to keep closer to the facility so that they can return easily when they are old enough to be altered (60 miles).
  • Please take the size of your residence and you activity level into account before applying for a large, high energy breed.? Generally speaking, we do not adopt large breed, high energy dogs into apartments.
  • All adult cats and dogs will be spayed or neutered and microchipped prior to adoption. Kittens and puppies must return to the shelter to be spayed and neutered at a later date.
  • If you’re in the process of moving, we recommend you delay adoption of an adult cat or dog until after you’re settled in your new home.
  • If you have any existing dogs in your household, a meet and greet is required, but only AFTER you have been approved.
  • The adoption committee will approve/deny the application. We do not do same day adoptions.
  • The adoption committee also reserves the right to deny ANY adoption that they feel is unsuitable.