Holding Periods for the Pets at our Facility

At Pinellas County Animal Services, one of our most critical missions is to reunite lost pets with their owners and to adopt as many lovable pets to new owners as possible. To help this process, we have enacted a policy that has proven successful when uniting pets with their owners:

• We place all pets that come to our facility in a holding period before being put up for adoption.  This allows owners the time to come and retrieve their lost pets.
• We scan all pets for microchips several times throughout their stay at Animal Services. If we find any information that the animal has a possible owner, we do our best to reunite the pet with their family. We both call and send letters to the last known address to inform the owners we have their pet.
• Any pet that shows any indication that there is a possible owner is given a seven-day holding period.
• Strays with no indication of ownership are given a four-day holding period with the exception of cats three-days, kittens under 4 months zero-days, litter of puppies zero-days and single puppy two-days.
• At the end of the holding period, our veterinary staff examines the pet for health and temperament. Providing the pet is healthy and friendly we place them up for adoption. If they fail the examination they are humanely euthanized with a lethal injection (sodium pentobarbital).
• We do not have a “set holding time” once an animal makes its way into our adoption areas.
• If we are not successful in adopting the pet, we will transfer the pet to another pet adoption agency for adoption. We also will offer a discount to encourage an adoption. Animal Services is proud of its adoption success rate.

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