"There are literally millions of animals in shelters and foster care that need homes. Adoptapet and similar sites provide a forum for organizations (and the occasional individual) to advertise them to prospective adopters.

But, any such site is only as good as the people who use it. Sadly, our experience has been that the majority of listings are out of date -- the posted pets are already adopted -- OR the advertisers don't bother to respond to inquiries. In the case of the latter, there's no way of knowing what is going on, but ignoring people is always a bad idea.

Yes, I know most of these outfits are run by volunteers and appreciate their efforts. In fact, I used to work with one. I'm disappointed that a lot of them haven't figured out that they could save themselves and potential adopters a lot of time and grief by simply keeping their primary communication tool up to date. What's puzzling is that once someone is logged in to Adoptapet, it takes only a few minutes to update one or more postings.

In short, we've found that it's a better bet to network with friends or go to adoption events to make initial contact and not waste time on Adoptapet."