What exactly is the process of giving up a pet for adoption?

Some shelters require an appointment to relinquish a pet and some shelters take walk in. Any government ID should work and there will be forms such as contracts and personality profiles of the pets. Some shelters require a contribution to help cover any cost of the pet while it is in their care. The pet may need to have a behavioral assessment done to make sure it will be safe to adopt back out. Every shelter is different in how they do things and what paperwork that will need to be done. The process shouldn't take anymore than an hour if an assessment needs to be done and around 1/2 an hour if no assessment is needed. Hope this helps!

It depends on they type of shelter. If it's animal control (the pound) they have you wait in line, then pretty much show id and sign some papers. That's it. Some places charge a small fee for owner surrenders, others do not. Rarely do they charge for strays. If it's a no-kill shelter - well, then it can vary from the above. Shelters can stay no-kill by not taking in any animals that they consider unadoptable. This includes the old, the sick, and animals with behavioral issues. These shelters make a quick assessment of the animal, and may refuse it - which drives people to either let the animal loose on the streets, or take it to animal control. Animal control doesn't keep the unadoptable - they euthanize them often immediately - but they bound by municipal contract to take all animals brought there.