Hound mix · 3 yrs · 52 lb
Biscuit
Sleeps on the porch step, bays at the mail truck, will follow you room to room. Good with kids over eight.
Foster-based rescue · West Asheville
Forty-one dogs and cats are waiting on couches across Asheville.
We don't have a shelter. Every animal lives with a foster family until they find their people, so we can tell you whether they snore, steal socks or love the vacuum.
Adoption day on Haywood Road, and a few graduates settling into their new couches.
Ready this week
Say hello to a few of them
Updated every Tuesday by their foster families. Each one is spayed or neutered, microchipped and up to date on shots.
Lab mix puppy · 4 months
Clementine
Learning 'sit' and 'leave it', mostly the first one. House training is going well, says her foster mom.
Bonded pair · 7 and 6 yrs
Otis & Mabel
They came in together after their owner moved to a care home. They go home together too; fee is for one.
Tabby · 2 yrs
Pepper
Will sit on your laptop during video calls. Lives happily with a calm dog in her foster home.
Siamese · 11 yrs
Duchess
A dignified senior who wants a quiet house and a sunny windowsill. Senior adoption fee is $50.
Shepherd mix · 5 yrs · 61 lb
Juniper
Shy for the first ten minutes and devoted ever after. Best as the only dog, with a fenced yard.
How adoption works
From hello to home in about a week
Most adoptions take five to eight days. We go at your pace and the animal's, not a quota.
Step 1: Apply online
Ten minutes, no fee to apply. Tell us about your home and who already lives there, two-legged and four.
Step 2: Talk to the foster
The foster family calls you within two days. They know the animal better than anyone and will be honest.
Step 3: Meet and greet
At our Haywood Road storefront or the foster's home. Bring your dog if you have one; we'll introduce them outside.
Step 4: Two-week trial
Take them home on a trial. If it isn't working, bring them back with no hard feelings and no fee.
Foster week two
Tank arrived at four pounds. He's now seven, and has learned exactly where the treats are kept.
Fostering
The job that saves the most lives takes three weeks
Every foster home is a kennel we don't have to build. When you foster, we cover food, crates, vet visits and medicine, and you get a coordinator who answers the phone until 8 PM, seven days a week.
Most fosters keep a dog or cat for three to five weeks. Some take a litter of kittens for six. Some stay for years and keep saying it's their last one.
- All food, supplies and vet care paid for
- Choose dogs, cats, puppies, kittens or seniors
- Weekend-only fostering if you work long weeks
- A coordinator on call, 8 AM to 8 PM daily
Happy tails
From the people who said yes
We met Biscuit's sister at a brewery on a Saturday and had her home by Thursday. Her foster texted us a list of everything she was scared of. Nothing on it was wrong.
I've fostered eleven dogs. I cry every time one leaves, and then the coordinator calls about the next one and I say yes before she's finished the sentence.
I'm seventy-four and I wanted an old cat, not a kitten. They had three. I took the grumpiest one and we suit each other perfectly.
Adoption days
Where to meet them this month
Oct17
Saturday adoption hours
11:00 AM – 4:00 PM · 763 Haywood Rd
Ten to fifteen dogs and a room of cats. Fosters on hand to answer questions.
Oct18
Yappy Hour at Burnt Ridge Brewing
2:00 – 5:00 PM · Burnt Ridge Brewing, River Arts District
Six adoptable dogs on the patio. A dollar from every pint comes to us.
Oct22
New foster orientation
6:30 – 8:00 PM · 763 Haywood Rd
Ninety minutes, pizza included. Leave with a foster animal if you're ready.
Oct25
Kitten shower
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM · Old Depot Cider, Black Mountain
Bring a can of kitten food or a fleece blanket; leave with a cider and a clear conscience.
Nov1
Low-cost microchip clinic
9:00 AM – Noon · Riverbend Animal Hospital
$15 microchips for any dog or cat in the county, while supplies last.
Nothing in that category this month.
Can't adopt right now? Lend us a couch.
One foster home means one more dog we can say yes to when the county shelter calls.