The short answer
The gentlest path for a pet is straight from your home to the next one. Ask friends and family first, then list your dog or cat with real photos and an honest description. Meet every candidate, set a modest fee rather than listing the pet as free, and hand over the vet records with a short written agreement. If you need a shelter, phone first: P.A.W. in Moncton charges $50 to $150 and takes what it has room for, Fulfilling Hearts charges $40 to $80 on approval, and the Fredericton SPCA gives strays priority.
Rehome your pet on LocalPetFinder, free
List your pet at no cost. They stay home until the right family is found, you screen adopters through a verified contact form, and you choose who adopts. Reviewed within 24 to 48 hours.
Listed by New Brunswick owners right now
10 dogs and 1 cat in New Brunswick are being rehomed by their owners on LocalPetFinder today. Your listing would sit alongside them, on the page for your city.
Your options, in order
Someone you already know is a family you can vouch for, and they can still ask you questions in the first weeks. Try that circle before anything else. Fulfilling Hearts asks every surrendering owner one question worth asking yourself first: what would have to happen for you to keep the dog?
If nobody can take your pet, an owner-to-owner listing keeps them in familiar surroundings while you look. You choose the family yourself. Our safety guide covers how to screen adopters and set a fee, and screening adopters has the questions worth asking.
Shelter surrender is a valid last step. In New Brunswick it is space-dependent everywhere, so a listing started today is the thing most likely to be moving while you wait for a call back.
What New Brunswick shelters ask at surrender
P.A.W. in Moncton says plainly that it does not have the capacity to accept all owner surrenders. Your circumstances are evaluated and you are contacted; surrender fees for cats and dogs range from $50 to $150, and it cannot take feral cats or animals with an extensive bite history. Its page also lists the programs it would rather you used first, covered below.
Fulfilling Hearts Rescue, a foster-based dog rescue with homes across the province, publishes the clearest process: an application, a decision that can take hours, days or sometimes weeks, no obligation to accept, and a fee of $80 for an unneutered or unspayed dog or $40 for a fixed one, paid in full when the application is approved. It is not a boarding facility.
The Fredericton SPCA (165 Hilton Road, 506-459-1555, Tuesday to Friday 11 to 4:30) says whether it can take an owned animal depends on the reason for surrender and available space, because its priority is room for strays; it does not allow visits after surrender and the handover is a binding contract. Its published fees date from 2021, so ask for current ones. Saint John SPCA Animal Rescue (Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 4:30) publishes no surrender policy or fee at all, so phone before you go.
Help that may let you keep your pet
- Roxy's Pet Pantry (P.A.W., Moncton). Monthly food assistance for families who apply, once per month per household, at 506-857-8698. Details on the pantry page.
- Pet Safe Keeping (P.A.W.). Temporary care for the pets of people leaving intimate partner violence, for up to 15 days after the owner departs. P.A.W. also runs PAWsitive Fix, a low-cost spay and neuter program; see its programs page.
- Kibble Bank (Saint John SPCA Animal Rescue). Pick up cat or dog food once a month, on two Thursdays each month. Details on the Kibble Bank page.
- S.N.I.P. (Fredericton SPCA). Help for low-income families to spay and neuter their cats; see the program page.
- Happy Tails Fund (New Brunswick SPCA). Financial help with some veterinary costs for owners in hardship, with a posted limited-resources notice. Apply through nbspca.ca.
No New Brunswick organisation publishes emergency boarding for an owner in a short-term crisis, so if your reason is a hospital stay or a few hard weeks, ask a friend or family member to bridge the gap before you surrender. If money is the reason, read our financial hardship guide and alternatives to rehoming.
What the law says
New Brunswick's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is unusually direct: a person who has ownership, possession or care and control of an animal shall not abandon it. You are deemed to have abandoned a pet if you leave it on the premises when a tenancy ends or a home is sold and you move out, or if you leave it with someone and do not collect it within three days of the agreed time. It is a category E offence, with a fine between $240 and $5,200. The Act also requires you to provide food, water, shelter and care, and that is a category J offence with fines up to $200,000. Animal protection officers of the New Brunswick SPCA enforce it.
The Act also says no person shall sell certain animals without a certificate of health from a veterinarian. A recent vet record protects you either way, so get one before you list and hand it over at the handover. Licensing is municipal: Moncton charges $10 for a fixed dog and $20 for a fertile one, Saint John $10 and $25, and neither licenses cats.
Frequently asked questions
How do I rehome my dog or cat in New Brunswick?
Ask the people you know first. If nobody can take your pet, list it free on LocalPetFinder so it stays home while you look for a family, and screen the people who reply yourself. Surrender is the last step, and in New Brunswick it depends on space: P.A.W. in Moncton says it does not have the capacity to accept all owner surrenders, the Fredericton SPCA gives priority to strays, and Fulfilling Hearts is under no obligation to accept a dog.
How much does it cost to surrender a pet in New Brunswick?
P.A.W. in Moncton says its surrender fees for cats and dogs range from $50 to $150. Fulfilling Hearts Rescue charges $80 for an unneutered or unspayed dog and $40 for a fixed one, paid when the surrender application is approved. The Fredericton SPCA and Saint John SPCA Animal Rescue publish no current fee, so ask when you call. Listing on LocalPetFinder is free.
Can I just drop my pet off at a shelter?
No. P.A.W. evaluates your circumstances and contacts you, and will not take feral cats or animals with an extensive bite history. Fulfilling Hearts works through an application that can take hours, days or sometimes weeks, and is not a boarding facility. The Fredericton SPCA decides based on the reason for surrender and available space. Phone first, everywhere.
Is it illegal to abandon a pet in New Brunswick?
Yes, explicitly. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act says a person who has ownership, possession or care and control of an animal shall not abandon it, and treats a pet as abandoned if you leave it on the premises when you move out, or leave it with someone and do not collect it within three days of the agreed time. It is a category E offence, with a fine between $240 and $5,200. The Act also requires you to provide food, water, shelter and care, a separate offence with fines up to $200,000.
Do I need a vet check before I rehome my pet?
The Act says no person shall sell an animal prescribed by regulation without a certificate of health from a veterinarian. Whether or not a fee changes hands, a recent vet record answers the first question every adopter asks, so get one and hand it over with the vaccination history.
Does the new owner have to license my dog?
In Moncton, yes: $10 for a fixed dog and $20 for a fertile one. In Saint John, $10 fixed and $25 unfixed, with the Dog Control By-law enforced by the Saint John SPCA Animal Rescue. Neither city licenses cats. Fredericton has its own animal control bylaw with limits on the number of dogs per household, so check it before adopting a third dog.
What help is there if I want to keep my pet?
P.A.W. runs Roxy’s Pet Pantry for monthly food assistance (506-857-8698), Pet Safe Keeping for the pets of people leaving intimate partner violence for up to 15 days after the owner departs, and PAWsitive Fix, a low-cost spay and neuter program. The Saint John SPCA Animal Rescue Kibble Bank lets you pick up cat or dog food once a month on two Thursdays. The Fredericton SPCA’s S.N.I.P. program helps low-income families spay and neuter cats. The New Brunswick SPCA’s Happy Tails Fund assists with some veterinary costs; apply through its website.
Related guides
Rehoming Guides by Province
Surrender rules, fees and the help that lets you keep your pet are different in every province. Each guide covers the shelters, the law and the owner-to-owner route where you live.