Aug 27, 2026

Adopting a Dog in Orlando: $80, First Come First Served

The shelter charges $80, operates first come first served, and is unusually candid about what it can and cannot do. Here is what that means for your chances, and what to do the day you get home.

Luis ZamoraCo-founder of PetCompass; Dog Dad to Banzo and Tuck

Orlando, Florida10 min readPet Care & Services

Orange County Animal Services charges $80 to adopt a dog and $50 for a cat, and it does not hold animals for you.

From its FAQ, verbatim: "The standard adoption fees are $80 for dogs and $50 for cats. The shelter often offers promotions which may further reduce these prices." And on process: "we operate on a first come, first serve basis."

That second sentence is the one that changes how you should approach this. If you see a dog on the website you want, the useful response is to get in the car, not to phone and ask them to hold it.

The essentials


Where	Pet Rescue & Adoption Center, 2769 Conroy Road, Orlando, FL 32839
Phone	(407) 836-3111
Email	[email protected]
Adoption fee, dog	$80
Adoption fee, cat	$50
Process	First come, first served
Included	Microchip identification

Adoption hours, per the banner on the shelter's own site: Sunday to Tuesday 10am to 6pm, Wednesday 2pm to 6pm, and Thursday to Saturday 10am to 6pm. The source prints those ranges with dashes our house style does not use; the word "to" is ours.

Note Wednesday. A four-hour afternoon window rather than a full day. If Wednesday morning is when you are free, that is not an adoption day.

What kind of shelter this is, in its own words

Orange County Animal Services is unusually candid about its own operation, and the candour is worth reading because it tells you what you will actually see when you walk in.

It takes everything. Verbatim: "OCAS is an open admission shelter, meaning no animal in urgent need is turned away, regardless of health issue or behavior concern. Animal Services is the only open admission shelter in this county and is committed to being an available resource for people and animals in need."

It declines the "no kill" label, and explains why. Verbatim: "Orange County Animal Services does not identify as 'no kill,' a term that is ambiguous, as there is no clear and legal definition for the term."

It publishes its outcomes. Verbatim: "In fiscal year 2025 the shelter achieved live release, through adoption, reunification and rescue placement, for 91% of the dogs and 88% of the cats."

And it is direct about the remainder. Verbatim: "some have critical needs due to medical issues or pose a threat to public safety due to demonstrated aggression." And, of that group: "It is these animals for which there are extremely limited resources and therefore the shelter may need to make the difficult decision to humanely euthanize." Followed by: "Euthanasia of animals is a community issue, not just a shelter issue."

We are quoting all of that rather than summarising it because an organisation that publishes the hard part is an organisation whose easier claims you can trust more.

There is no time limit on a stay. Verbatim: "the shelter has had animals in its care for months at a time and will hold pets indefinitely as long as their medical and behavioral health remain stable and as long as space allows." Which is worth knowing if you have read that shelters put animals down after a set number of days. This one does not work that way.

What is actually available, and what is not

Here is the most practically useful thing on the shelter's whole website, and it will save some people a great deal of disappointment.

Verbatim: "Each day we receive dozens of inquiries from residents, both local and afar, wanting to adopt small dogs or puppies. they are by far the most in-demand types of pets and as such there is fierce competition when one does arrive at the shelter."

And: "the majority of dogs coming into the shelter are adult, large breed dogs."

The lower-case sentence openings are in the original.

So if you have arrived with your heart set on a small dog or a puppy, understand the odds. The shelter's own advice, verbatim: "If you have your heart set on a small dog or a puppy, we implore you to be patient." And: "if you see one on the website that interests you, we recommend coming in immediately as we operate on a first come, first serve basis."

Its alternative suggestion, verbatim: "If you know you want a specific type of pet and are looking to adopt sooner, rather than later, we recommend checking out our registered rescue partners. many of them will have small dogs and puppies available for adoption."

The other reading of that paragraph is the optimistic one. If you are open to an adult, large-breed dog, you are looking at the majority of what comes through the door and very little competition. That is the best adoption position anyone can be in, and it is exactly the dog most often overlooked. Our guide to adopting a rescue dog and the first 30 days is written for that arrival.

What you get, and what you still have to do

Every adopted animal is microchipped. Verbatim from the microchipping page: "All animals adopted from Orange County Animal Services have microchip identification."

That is the chip. It is not the registration, and the distinction matters enormously. The same page: "This number must be registered in the pet owner's name and changed when the owner moves or gets a new phone number." A chip that is not registered to you scans back to the shelter rather than to your phone.

So the first job after you get home is a phone call, not a walk. Register the chip in your name, with the number you actually answer. Animal Services publishes the payoff: microchipped pets were returned to their owners 52.2 percent of the time against 21.9 percent for pets without a chip. Our guide to microchipping your pet covers exactly what registration involves.

Then a collar tag with your phone number. Not required by Orange County, and it lifts the shelter's stray hold on your dog from three calendar days to five if it ever gets out. That is on the reclaims page, and it is the cheapest insurance in this guide.

Then find a vet. Animal Services is blunt that it will not be yours: "Our veterinary services are limited to our shelter pets and we do not currently offer any services to the public." Its own advice, verbatim: "It is essential that your pet receives an annual checkup and that you have a doctor you trust should your pet ever experience a medical emergency." For low-cost options it points people to the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando. We name that only because Animal Services does; its website did not return content we could verify, so check directly.

Our notes on how to choose a veterinarian cover the questions worth asking on the first visit, and two of them are Orlando-specific: where do you send patients overnight, and is the rabies vaccination current on the paperwork I was given.

The rabies point, which is not optional here

Orange County requires rabies vaccination from four months old, and Florida law requires it for dogs, cats and ferrets. Check what your new dog was given and when it expires before you leave the building.

There is a second reason beyond compliance. Orange County publishes what happens if a pet is exposed to wildlife: a 45-day quarantine if the rabies vaccination is current, and 180 days if it is not. In a state whose common carriers include raccoons, bats, coyotes, otters, bobcats and skunks, that is not a hypothetical. Our pet health and vaccination tracker is a place to keep the renewal date where you will see it.

Surrendering, and the alternatives first

If you are reading this from the other direction, the fee is published: "The fee to surrender a pet to the shelter is $40."

But Animal Services maintains rehoming resources and a Pet Sleepover programme precisely so that surrender is not the only option, and its framing of the shelter as an "available resource for people and animals in need" is genuine. If the problem is temporary, ask before you assume.

If the problem is housing or cost, ask anyway. Shelters generally know local resources that are not advertised.

The cat policy change, reported as the shelter reports it

Worth knowing if you are adopting a cat rather than a dog, and worth being precise about.

Verbatim: "Beginning May 1, 2024, Orange County Animal Services will no longer be testing healthy appearing cats for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) for adopters and owners."

Animal Services explains the change at length and cites the 2020 American Association of Feline Practitioners guidelines, a 2017 study in the National Library of Medicine, the Association of Shelter Veterinarians' standards of care and the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program. We read the shelter's summary of those sources rather than the sources themselves, so we are reporting that OCAS cites them rather than restating their findings as our own.

Its own figures we can attribute directly, verbatim: "across all 4,825 tested cats in 2023, we experienced a positive rate of 3.6% for FIV and 0.6% for FeLV."

And the practical consequence for an adopter, verbatim: "We will be requiring adopters to keep newly adopted cats separate from any resident cats until such consultation can occur", with the consultation being a conversation with your own vet about whether testing is warranted for your specific situation.

Cats arriving with symptoms are still tested. Verbatim: "Cats arriving at the shelter with medical challenges consistent with these viruses, or displaying symptoms throughout their stay, will be tested as a diagnostic tool."

Before you go

Check the website that morning. First come, first served means the list moves.

Know the hours. Wednesday is a 2pm start.

Bring identification. Standard for any adoption.

Have a plan for the first night. Our new pet supplies checklist covers what to have in the house before the dog is in it, which is a considerably better order than the reverse.

And be honest about size. The dogs waiting longest here are adult and large. If your home and your day can take one, that is where the good matches are.

If you are in Orlando temporarily and thinking about adopting later, our roundup of pet-friendly hotels in Orlando covers where to stay in the meantime, and our guide to moving to a new city with a pet covers taking one with you when you go.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to adopt a dog in Orlando? $80 for a dog and $50 for a cat at Orange County Animal Services, with promotions that may reduce those prices further.

Where is the Orange County animal shelter? The Pet Rescue & Adoption Center, 2769 Conroy Road, Orlando, FL 32839, on (407) 836-3111.

What are Orange County Animal Services adoption hours? Sunday to Tuesday 10am to 6pm, Wednesday 2pm to 6pm, and Thursday to Saturday 10am to 6pm, per the shelter's own site.

Can I reserve a dog at Orange County Animal Services? No. The shelter states that it operates on a first come, first serve basis and recommends coming in immediately if you see an animal you are interested in.

Is Orange County Animal Services a no-kill shelter? It does not identify as "no kill", calling the term ambiguous. It reports live release for 91% of dogs and 88% of cats in fiscal year 2025, and describes itself as the county's only open admission shelter.

Are adopted pets microchipped in Orange County? Yes. All animals adopted from Orange County Animal Services have microchip identification. You still need to register the chip in your own name with a current phone number.

Sources

Fees, hours and policies change. Confirm with Orange County Animal Services before you drive out.