How to Find a Pet to Adopt or Foster on the RSPCA Website

Updated

The RSPCA website has a dedicated Find a Pet section that covers both rehoming/adoption and fostering, plus supporting pages for adopters and pet insurance. You can browse by animal type (cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, and more) and save animals you're interested in using the Favourites feature. This guide explains where each entry point sits and how to use them.

Where the pet-finding tools live

The main navigation on rspca.org.uk includes a Find a Pet menu. Opening it gives you these options:

  • Find a Pet – the main browsing area for animals available for rehoming
  • Rehoming and Adoption – explains the adoption process and what to expect
  • Fostering – information on temporarily caring for an animal in your home
  • Useful Links – additional resources related to finding and caring for a pet
  • Favourites – a saved list of animals you've marked while browsing

There is also a separate Advice for Adopters page and a Pet Insurance link, both grouped under the Find a Pet section.

Browsing by animal type

The site organises available animals into categories so you can narrow your search. From the Advice and Welfare menu, the pet categories listed are:

Category Examples shown on the site
Pets Cats, Dogs, Horses, Rabbits (and more via "See more")
Farm Animals Beef Cattle, Dairy Cows, Farmed Fish, Laying Hens, Meat Chickens
Wildlife Badgers, Birds, Deer, Foxes, Hedgehogs

For adoption and fostering specifically, the Pets categories (cats, dogs, horses, rabbits) are the relevant ones. The farm animal and wildlife sections are welfare advice pages rather than rehoming listings.

Steps to find a pet

  1. Go to rspca.org.uk and open the Find a Pet menu.
  2. Choose Find a Pet to browse animals, or Rehoming and Adoption if you want to understand the process first.
  3. Select the type of animal you're looking for (for example, cats or dogs).
  4. Review individual animals and use Favourites to save any you want to return to.
  5. If you'd rather foster than adopt permanently, use the Fostering entry instead.
  6. Before or after applying, check Advice for Adopters for guidance, and Pet Insurance if you want cover information.

Expected result: you'll either reach a listing of animals you can enquire about, or the relevant process page explaining how adoption or fostering works.

Adoption vs fostering: which entry to use

  • Choose Rehoming and Adoption if you want to give an animal a permanent home and go through the standard adoption process.
  • Choose Fostering if you can provide temporary care, often before an animal is ready for a permanent placement.
  • Choose Advice for Adopters if you've found an animal but want to understand what's involved before committing.
  • Choose Pet Insurance if your priority is understanding cover options for a pet you're adopting.

Common sticking points

  • The Find a Pet menu and the Advice and Welfare menu both list animal types, but they serve different purposes: the first is for finding animals, the second is for care advice. Make sure you're in the Find a Pet area when searching for a pet.
  • Favourites only saves animals you've actively marked, so it won't show everything you've viewed.
  • Farm animal and wildlife categories are welfare information, not adoption listings, so don't expect rehoming options there.

For the most current listings and any location-based filtering, use the Find a Pet section directly on rspca.org.uk, since availability changes regularly.