You own the animal
They are yours, and your circumstances mean you need to find them another home. This is an owner surrender, and it begins with an email.
What we need from you →Pet Services
Surrendering a pet
Yes, C2CND still takes owner surrenders. It starts with an email rather than a drop-off, because we need to know about the animal before anyone can say whether there is a home for them. Asking is not something you need to apologise for.
Sending us this information is a request, not a booking. C2CND has no shelter building — every animal we take lives in a volunteer's foster home. Until the request has been reviewed and a foster home is confirmed, there is nowhere for the animal to go.
Where to start
Two different situations
Which one you are in changes the whole process, so start in the right place.
You found the animal
A stray, or a pet that turned up and is not yours. This is not an owner surrender. North Carolina law asks the finder to try to reunite the animal with its owner first, and C2CND will not consider taking the animal until that has been done.
What that means →Owner surrender
What we need from you
Email as much of this as you have. The more complete it is, the sooner you get an answer.
- Photographs Recent and clear, and not only the flattering one.
- Video How they move, how they greet a stranger at the door.
- All medical records Everything the vet holds, not a summary of it.
- Spayed or neutered Yes or no, and the date if you have it.
- Vaccinations Up to date or not, and which ones are outstanding.
- Good with dogs, cats, children Answer each one separately. "I do not know" is a real answer and a useful one.
- Behavioural issues Anything at all, including the things you would rather not write down.
- Medical issues Ongoing conditions, medication, anything a vet is watching.
- Age Actual, or your best estimate.
Please be honest about the hard parts. The most useful thing you can tell us is usually the thing you are worried will stop us saying yes. A dog described as good with children who is not good with children goes into a foster home that has children in it — that is how people and animals get hurt, and how a placement fails and the dog ends up back where they started. A known problem, written down, is something a rescue can plan around. A surprise is not.
NEEDS CONFIRMATION — where should a surrender request actually be sent, and what should someone expect after they send it? Our notes say the request goes to Renee by email, but Renee's address is not published anywhere on this site and we are not going to publish a personal one without asking. This page currently points people at info@c2cnd.org. Confirm that is the right inbox, or give us a dedicated address. Also: how long should someone wait before following up, and does every request get a reply, including the ones where the answer is no?
The decision
What happens next
Someone reads what you sent and answers two questions. Both have to be yes.
Is this an animal the rescue can take?
A judgement about the animal itself — the medical picture, the behaviour, and what they will need from a foster home and from whoever eventually adopts them.
Is a foster home free right now?
C2CND has no building. Every animal it takes is in somebody's spare room. If no foster home is open, the answer is no however good a match the animal would be — and that is a capacity problem, not a comment on your pet.
If either answer is no, we cannot take the animal.
NEEDS CONFIRMATION — what are the limits on what C2CND will consider? Species (dogs and cats only, or others?), any age, size or breed restrictions, and whether there is a geographic area outside which we would refer someone elsewhere. Also: is there a surrender fee or a requested donation, and if so how much? This page currently mentions none of these, so it reads as though there are no limits at all.
A rule that surprises people
You will not be able to foster your own pet until they are adopted
It sounds like the kindest arrangement for everyone. Here is why it is not the one C2CND uses.
Once C2CND accepts an animal, C2CND takes on full responsibility for that animal — the vetting, the costs, the adoption, the outcome. If the person surrendering were also the foster home, all of that would sit with the one household whose circumstances have already changed once. When they change again, the rescue is suddenly looking for an emergency placement for an animal it has already committed to.
The same applies if you found the animal rather than owned them. Once the rescue takes an animal on, the animal moves into one of our foster homes.
NEEDS CONFIRMATION — our notes say C2CND "normally" does not let a surrendering owner foster their own pet until adoption. Is there any situation where that changes — a bonded pair, a medical hold, a deployment, a hospital stay? If there is no exception at all, we will drop the word "normally" from this page. If there is one, tell us what it is, so that people ask about it rather than assume it.
Found animals
If you found an animal
A found animal is not an owner surrender, and the first job is not rehoming. It is finding the owner.
C2CND does not take in found animals until the finder has completed the steps North Carolina law requires to reunite a pet with its owner. Only then will the rescue consider taking in the stray. Somebody may well be looking for this animal today.
NEEDS CONFIRMATION — what exactly are the steps a finder has to complete under North Carolina law, and who do they contact first? We know the rule and we are not going to guess the detail. Needed: who to call (county animal services, the sheriff, somebody else), whether the animal must be scanned for a microchip and where that is done free, whether the find has to be reported and the animal held for a set number of days, how long that hold is, and what C2CND wants to see as proof before it will consider the animal. This is the most likely thing on the page for somebody to search for, and right now it is the one thing we cannot answer.
If the answer is no
If we cannot take your pet
A no from C2CND is not the end of the road, and it is not a reason to abandon an animal or leave them somewhere and drive away. There are other routes, and we would rather point you at them than let you find out the hard way.
NEEDS CONFIRMATION — this section needs a real list and we do not have one. What does C2CND actually tell somebody when the answer is no? County shelters and their intake rules, other rescues nearby, breed-specific rescues, low-cost vet and spay/neuter help, pet food assistance, behaviour and training help, and anything for people leaving a domestic violence situation or losing their housing. Names, links, phone numbers. Our own planning notes say this may be the most useful content on the entire website — right now it is the emptiest section on it.
If you are out of options and out of time, say so plainly in your email or call 704-879-1729. Being told is better than us finding out afterwards.
Start a surrender request
Email the information above to info@c2cnd.org. If you are not sure you have all of it, send what you have and say what is missing. If it is easier to talk, call 704-879-1729.