Surrendering Your Pet

PLEASE NOTE: Owner surrendered animals are accepted only from residents from Contra Costa County (**if you live in Antioch please see info below**) on a space-available basis ONLY.  Proof of residency must be provided at time of surrender.  CCAS has limited ability to accept owner surrender pets and does so after evaluation on a case by case basis taking into consideration concerns such as public safety, bite risk, other severe behavior concerns, severe medical need, and hoarding situations. If the shelter has reached capacity or is unable to provide humane housing for your pet, you may be asked to seek alternate arrangements and/or be added to our wait list.

** Antioch Residents need to contact Antioch Animal Services at www.antiochca.gov/police/animal-services/  for information on surrender requests.**  

Making the decision to give up your pet can be a difficult one. We strongly encourage residents to exhaust all other means of finding a new home for your pets before surrendering to the shelter. Talking with friends, family, coworkers, placing cute photos and video on your social media accounts, and posting flyers are good ways to let people know you're looking for a new home for your pet.

If you have been looking for a new home for your pet and have been unsuccessful, or you need help keeping your pet in place, please visit our Keeping Your Pet In Your Home page for helpful tips.

If you originally adopted your pet from another shelter or rescue organization, please contact that organization before beginning this surrender process to see if they may take your pet back into their organization.

For County residents that need to surrender a pet to Contra Costa Animal Services (CCAS), please know that we will do all we can to provide your pet with the best possible outcome. Our goal is to find a happy home for every healthy and treatable animal.

Owner Surrender Process


Complete and submit a Request Form.  NOTE: you must be 18 yrs old or older, and be the legal owner and a resident of Contra Costa County, to surrender your pet. 

Pet owners coming to the shelter to surrender a pet without prior approval may be asked to complete a Request Form, and to return after staff has contacted you and approved your pet's admission into the shelter.

If you are unable to access the Request Form, please email a detailed request to Pet Help.  After your admission is approved and scheduled, you will be required to complete a Pet Profile Questionnaire prior to coming to the shelter.

After submitting the request form, you should receive a response from Pet Help via email (be sure to check your spam) within three business days, though may take as long as five business days for the next step in the process.

*Please note that completing our request form or emailing Pet Help does not guarantee placement of your pet. Please be advised that owner surrendered pets become the property of Contra Costa County immediately upon surrender. As such, owner surrendered animals may be considered for adoption, transfer to a rescue organization, or humane euthanasia.

Steps You Can Take To Set Your Surrendered Pet Up For Success In The Shelter


1. To help keep your pet healthy after they arrive at the shelter, please try to ensure your pet has been vaccinated within the week prior to arriving at the shelter. Talk with our staff to see if you may be able to take advantage of our low cost vaccine clinic. Vaccines recommended are: FVRCP (cats), DHPPV (dogs), Bordetella (dogs) and Rabies vaccine (dogs and cats).

2. If your pet is spayed or neutered BEFORE coming into the shelter it will help them to stay healthier during their visit and will help them to go right home the day of their adoption. If you would like to ask about getting your pet altered before surrendering them to the shelter please enter that information on your request form so a staff member can help you to explore that as an option. It is much better for them to recuperate at home AND maybe you will find them a new home while they are recovering!