A rehoming portal where every animal has a status the public can trust, every application is matched against the animal before a volunteer reads it, and home checks, fees, fostering and follow-up are tracked in one place.
Rescue centres, rehoming charities and shelters, from a volunteer-run rescue with a dozen animals in foster homes up to a shelter with a kennel block, a cattery and a rehoming team, and county or breed networks that share one public site. It suits rehoming managers who need to see every application against every animal, volunteer coordinators who assign home checks, fosterers who want to update the animal in their care, and adopters who want to know where their application stands without telephoning.
Not the right fit
It is not for breeders or pet shops selling animals, which it deliberately does not support, nor for boarding kennels and veterinary practices, which have their own packages. Charities whose need is membership, events and fundraising rather than rehoming are better served by the charity and foundation package.
The operational problem it solves
How it runs, step by step
The rehoming manager opens the dashboard on Monday morning.
The board shows every animal by status: fourteen available, three reserved, six in foster and two adopted at the weekend, each with the number of open applications beside it.
A lurcher that came in on Friday is listed with its needs: no cats, an enclosed garden, an adult-only home.
Over the weekend seven applications arrived for him; the matching criteria have already ordered them, with two flagged because the home has a cat.
The manager reads the top three and moves one to home check.
The volunteer coordinator sees the home-check queue: four applications waiting, with the applicant's area beside each.
She assigns a checker who lives nearby, the system offers the applicant three slots from the checker's availability, and the applicant picks one from her phone.
On Wednesday the checker records the outcome on the application from the doorstep.
The lurcher is marked reserved, which removes the apply button and keeps his profile visible with a reserved badge, and the adoption fee is paid online when the adopter collects him.
A fosterer uploads a new photograph of a cat she has had for three months, which goes live on the listing without anyone at the centre touching it.
At six weeks the adopter receives a follow-up request and the answer lands on the animal record.
Features
What the package does
The package is grouped into animal profiles and public listings, applications and matching, the home-check queue, adoptions, fees and donations, fostering and follow-up, and multi-rescue administration. Each module below lists its features, and the comparison table shows which package variant includes it.
Listings and search
Animal profilesEach animal has a profile with its needs, medical and vaccination record, photographs and a status.
Public listings with filtersVisitors filter animals by species, age, needs and status.
Reserved and adopted statusesWhen an animal is reserved or adopted, what the public sees changes, so listings stay trustworthy.
Lost-and-found notice boardPost lost-and-found notices alongside the adoption listings.
Multi-rescue accountsSeveral rescues share one listing, managed by a network coordinator.
Forms and requests
Adoption application formApplicants complete a form that captures the details you match against.
Workflow and tasks
Matching and ordered reviewApplications are matched against the animal before a volunteer reads them and reviewed in order.
Home-check queueAssign a checker, offer slots and record the outcome of each home check.
Foster carer records and placementsRecord foster carers and where each animal is placed, with updates from the carer.
Post-adoption follow-upSend follow-up requests at set intervals after an adoption.
Messaging and notifications
Applicant status notificationsApplicants receive an email as their application moves on.
Billing and payments
Adoption fees and donationsCollect adoption fees and donations tied to the animal concerned.
Package variants compared
Website
Custom Platform
Which features each package variant includes
Feature
Website
Custom Platform
Animal profiles
Included
Included
Public listings with filters
Included
Included
Reserved and adopted statuses
Included
Included
Lost-and-found notice board
Optional
Optional
Multi-rescue accounts
Not in this variant
Optional
Adoption application form
Included
Included
Matching and ordered review
Not in this variant
Included
Home-check queue
Not in this variant
Included
Foster carer records and placements
Not in this variant
Optional
Post-adoption follow-up
Not in this variant
Optional
Applicant status notifications
Not in this variant
Included
Adoption fees and donations
Included
Included
Roles and permissions
Who does what
Rescue administrator
Create and edit animal profiles, needs, photographs and status
Define the application form, matching criteria and follow-up intervals
Review ordered applications and move them to home check, reserve or decline
See adoptions, fees, donations and open applications across the rescue
Volunteer coordinator
Manage the home-check queue and assign checkers by area
Maintain checker availability and offer slots to applicants
See outcomes and chase outstanding checks
Recruit and record foster carers
Home-checker
See the checks assigned to them with the application summary
Set their own availability
Record the outcome and notes from the visit on their phone
Foster carer
See the animals placed with them
Upload photographs and update behaviour and medical notes
Report that an animal is ready to be listed or needs a vet visit
Adopter
Browse listings by species, needs and rescue
Apply for a named animal and see the status of the application
Choose a home-check slot and pay the adoption fee online
Answer follow-up requests after adoption
Network coordinator
See listings, applications and home checks across every rescue on a shared portal
Manage the shared home-checker pool
Run network reports without editing another rescue's records
Example screen
Concept demo
Concept demo of the animal adoption portal package dashboard showing a status board, an animal profile with needs, ordered applications with flags and the home-check queue.
The rescue dashboard as the rehoming manager sees it: the status board with counts per status, a lurcher profile with its needs, seven applications ordered by match with two flagged for a cat in the home, and the home-check queue beside it.
Scope and options
What is included and what is extra
In the base package
Animal profiles with needs, medical and vaccination record, photographs and status
Public listings filtered by species, age, needs and status
Adoption application form with matching criteria and ordered review
Home-check queue with checker assignment, slot offers and recorded outcomes
Reserved and adopted statuses that change what the public sees
Adoption fees and donations tied to the animal
Applicant status notifications by email
Common add-ons
Foster carer records and placements with carer updates
Post-adoption follow-up requests at set intervals
Multi-rescue accounts with a shared listing and network coordinator
Lost-and-found notice board
Needs custom work
Integration with a supporter database or charity CRM
Microchip keepership transfer from the adoption record
Bespoke reporting beyond the standard rescue and network dashboards
The package runs on hosting the charity chooses or on hosting we manage, and in both cases the charity owns the code and the data. Animal records, applications, home-check outcomes, adoptions and donation records can be exported in standard formats at any time. Applicant data is held under role-based access with an audit log and the retention period agreed at set-up, and nothing in the package stops the charity moving it to another provider.
Maintenance
Maintenance is optional and scoped separately. When taken it covers security updates to the platform and dependencies, monitoring of notifications, payment callbacks and the public listing, backups with a tested restore, and a monthly window for configuration changes such as a new application question, matching rule or follow-up interval. Larger changes are quoted as change requests.
Pricing model
Priced per proposal.
The package is priced as a one-off set-up and customisation with optional recurring hosting and maintenance lines. The set-up figure depends on whether one rescue or several share the portal, the depth of the application and matching rules, the add-ons chosen, the payment and messaging providers connected and how many animal and applicant records are migrated. Each line appears separately in the proposal, and charities are told where a lighter configuration would serve them.
Prefer a fully custom build?
Adoption portal development
Custom rehoming portals for rescue centres and charities where listings, applications, home checks, fostering and follow-up have outgrown the inbox and the spreadsheet.
Each animal profile carries needs such as no cats, enclosed garden or adult-only home. The application asks about the home, and the package orders applications by how well they fit and flags conflicts. A person at the rescue reads and decides; the package never declines anyone on its own.
What does the public see when an animal is reserved?
The profile stays visible with a reserved badge and the apply button is removed. If the adoption falls through, the administrator sets the status back to available and the button returns.
How are home checks arranged?
The coordinator assigns a checker, often by area, and the applicant is offered slots from that checker's availability. The checker records the outcome on their phone and it appears on the application immediately.
Can fosterers update the animals in their care?
With the fostering add-on, yes. A fosterer sees the animals placed with them, uploads photographs and updates notes, and the public listing reflects the change without an administrator stepping in.
Can we take donations against a specific animal?
Yes. Each profile has a donate option, and the donation is recorded against that animal and the rescue holding it, so a sponsor can see what their giving supported.
Can it connect to our supporter database or the microchip registry?
That is custom work and depends on what the other system exposes. It is scoped on the adoption portal development service page rather than included in the package.
Is this a finished product with a live demo?
Not yet. The readiness badge on this page states the real position: it is a custom build assembled from our listings, forms, booking and orders modules for each rescue, and the example screen is a labelled concept demo rather than a live client system.
Get a quote for Animal adoption portal package
Tell us about your locations, the people who will use it and the add-ons you need. We reply with a clear, competitive proposal.
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