Virginia Beach Animal Care and Adoption Center

Additional adoption info

Adoption Procedures:

Citizens interested in adopting an animal are encouraged to visit the shelter. Some animals can go home right away, where others must be held for a few days first. All animals available for adoption are accessible to the public for viewing. In many cases the animal can go home with you the same day. A representative selection of animals in the kennel can be viewed at Petfinder .
All dogs and cats adopted from the Virginia Beach Animal Care and Adoption Center will be sterilized prior to the adopter taking the animal home.
Upon adoption and within 10 days the animal must be taken to a licensed veterinarian for a thorough examination.
If an animal is found to be ill and the new owner wishes to return it they may, with written proof of illness from the veterinarian.
Please keep in mind that as a municipal animal shelter, we have very few indications as to which kinds of pets will arrive at any given time and the best selections go home the fastest. Please visit our shelter early and often to find the pet you are looking for.
PLEASE, never adopt a companion animal on an impulse-having a pet is a full-time responsibility as well as a financial commitment. Make sure that you as well as every member of your family is ready, willing and able to take on the obligations associated with pet ownership, give careful thought to the kind of pet that would be best-suited for your home and then come and visit our shelter.

Adoption Fees:
Dogs that have not been spayed or neutered Total: $135.00

$25.00 Adoption Fee
$100.00 Refundable Spay/Neuter Deposit
$10.00 License Fee

Dogs spayed/neutered at City expense

$25.00 Adoption Fee
$100.00 Non-Refundable Sterilization Fee
$7.00 License Fee Total: $132.00


Dogs spayed/neutered not at the expense of the City

$25.00 Adoption Fee
$7.00 License Fee Total: $32.00

Cats that have not been spayed or neutered Total: $70.00

$20.00 Adoption Fee
$40.00 Refundable Spay/Neuter Deposit
$10.00 License Fee

Cats spayed or neutered at City expense Total: $65.00

$20.00 Adoption Fee
$40.00 Non-Refundable Sterilization Fee
$5.00 License Fee

Cats spayed or neutered not at City expense Total: $25.00

$20.00 Adoption Fee
$5.00 License Fee

Before You Adopt, You Should Know...

The Virginia Beach Animal Care & Adoption Center handles approximately 7000 animals annually. Many of the animals that arrive are strays with no health or behavior history. For this reason, the Virginia Beach Animal Care & Adoption Center, the Virginia Beach Police Department or the City of Virginia Beach cannot offer any form of guarantee as to the health or temperament of the animal being adopted. We will make every reasonable effort to ascertain the overall health and behavior of the animals we have available for adoption to the public, however the ultimate responsibility for choosing the right pet lies with the pet adopter.


If you adopt an animal from our shelter and if for any reason the pet is not suitable, simply return it to our shelter. Due to the high volume of animals that arrive at the Virginia Beach Animal Care and Adoption Center shelter from strays found by Officers, animals that have been surrendered to our care by their owners and those that are turned is as strays by citizens, we do our best to keep our listings updated with pets currently available in our shelter. In some cases a pet listed might have been adopted or reclaimed by it's owner. That being said we ALWAYS have more animals available for adoption that what is listed. Animals can be adopted quickly and we don't always get to them before that happens so the best way to see our available animals is to come visit the shelter.

For more information please go to our website at www.vbacac.com.