FAQ

A new report is published every May!

DOA employs 35 people and we can count on the help of some 230 volunteers.

DOA is an independent, private organisation. As such, we are not part of an animal protection institution.

We organise

every first and third Saturday of the month. Taking one of these tours will give you an excellent impression of our animals. Please note, however, that the tours are not meant as an opportunity to choose an animal to adopt. If you are interested in adopting one of our animals you are more than welcome to drop by, but please make an appointment first.

Of course, we’d prefer that you stay with us and remain a donor! :) 

You can always ask the carer about your dog’s day, when you pick him up.

In our day-care centre we have a group with small dogs and a group with large dogs. Only dogs that are sociable with other dogs and are able to behave properly in a pack are accommodated in such a group. High-risk dogs are usually not cared for in a group. Instead they are cared for separately or housed with a companion. Incidentally, day-care dogs never come into contact with shelter dogs. 

Unfortunately not. All dogs must be vaccinated in accordance with the schedule on the website and as described in our conditions.

Both are possible. 

Around the 15th of the month you will receive an email from us in which you’ll be asked to enter the required days. Once you’ve responded you’ll receive a planning schedule, which you can change or cancel, free-of-charge, until the beginning of the new month. You can also reserve an extra day. 

You can, of course, switch a reserved day for an unreserved day. You can make changes, free-of-charge until the first of the month. However, after the first of the month you will have to pay a surcharge in addition to the regular price. The surcharge will be equal to the difference between the subscription price and the price for an ad hoc day. 

It’s extremely busy between 07.00 and 09.00. That’s when many dogs are brought to us, which means it would leave little time to get to know and register your dog. Furthermore, from 09.00 onwards the reception desk is manned, which means the administrative aspects can all be properly processed.

Unfortunately not. Days that have been reserved for one month but are not used cannot be carried over to the following month. We have no choice but to charge you for these days. 

No, a subscription is “personal”. Every dog must have its own subscription. 

Can my dog stay overnight at the day-care centre, between two reserved days?

If, due to unforeseen circumstances, you are unable to pick up your dog, the animal may stay overnight in our day-care centre. We will, however, ask you to pay an overnight surcharge of €15. If the stay extends to several nights, it will be better to make a reservation at our pet hotel.

The invoice is emailed to you at the end of every month. 

If it’s something serious we will, of course, try to get in touch with you or your designated contact person immediately. Our vet will only act unilaterally if it’s a medical emergency. In the event of a common cold (cat flu or kennel cough) or the like, we will usually not contact you.

If you’re not sure whether your pet’s vaccinations are still valid, email us a photo or scan of the vaccination certificate/passport and we’ll look into it. Let us also know in your email when you want your pet to stay at our guesthouse. The email address is info@doamsterdam.nl

If you’re not sure whether your pet has received all the necessary vaccinations, email us a photo or scan of the vaccination certificate/passport and we’ll look into it. Let us also know in your email when you want your pet to stay at our guesthouse. The email address is info@doamsterdam.nl

Yes. For the applicable charge, our vet can give your pet a repeat vaccination during his stay in the guesthouse.

You can always email us to ask how your pet is faring, but please bear in mind the times at which we can be reached.

Unfortunately, we cannot be reached by phone or email on Sundays and public holidays.

Of course you can. But please ensure that you do so during normal collection hours.

No, we are closed on Sundays and public holidays.

You can compare it to a crèche. Illnesses can spread if a sick animal is housed with other animals because the likelihood of infection increases. Unfortunately, being vaccinated does not guarantee that your pet will not contract cat flu or kennel cough. As as the case with a flu jab for

humans, there are simply too many variants of the virus to guarantee complete immunity. However, in most cases the severity of the cat flu/kennel cough will be milder.

If an animal is housed with other animals the likelihood that it will fall ill increases. Furthermore, if the animal hasn’t been vaccinated, that likelihood is even greater and there’s also a chance that the illness will be more serious. Given that it takes a week for a vaccination to offer optimum protection, your pet must be kept away from other animals during the first week of his stay. This is a mandatory legal requirement for all animal shelters. A stay in quarantine is more expensive than a normal stay because we have to use a separate kennel or corridor.

People are present in the kennels throughout the day.

No, there is nobody there at night. That’s when the animals - like people - sleep. Naturally, the building is properly secured and fitted with good fire and burglar alarms.

Yes it can. For this contingency we can fall back on our so-called crisis guesthouse. There are costs involved, but in extreme cases a payment arrangement can be worked out. If the owner of the animal is not in a position to sign the crisis guesthouse agreement, it must be signed by an authorised representative.

Absolutely not! There are plenty of animals in the shelter that have nothing wrong with them, which is why most of them will be rehomed within just a few weeks.

There are, of course, also animals that need that little bit more TLC, but even these guys are more than worth the effort! Whether an animal is a problem or not rather depends on your personal perception. What one person sees as a problem might be seen as perfectly acceptable to someone else. We affectionately refer to animals that need extra TLC as “misfits”. If you’re contemplating the adoption of one of our misfits, you certainly won’t be left out on a limb, because we’ll be glad to lend a helping hand with its care.

If you adopt one of our animals you can bring it to the DOA vet, free-of-charge, for the first three months. Afterwards, you’ll be expected to find your own vet. Only people who adopt one of our misfits are entitled to bring the animal to our vet for longer than three months. Sometimes this can even be for as long as the animal lives. We’re currently trying to make our vet’s practice more accessible to everyone who has adopted an animal at DOA, but we’ve still got some way to go. 

We try to put all animals that are available for adoption on the website as quickly as possible. Our website is updated every day, but due to limited capacity it’s not always possible to show all the animals online immediately.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to reserve an animal in advance. Given that we want you both to enjoy a long and happy time together, we can only reserve an animal for you after you have both gotten to know one another, and providing you are a good match of course! So if you see an animal that you’d like to adopt, we recommend that you make an appointment as soon as you can! These things can sometimes move quite quickly, which is why, unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that the animal you want will still be available when you arrive. However, the website is a good indication. If an animal is online, it means that he or she is still looking for an owner.

The animal has probably been rehomed or reserved.

No, the duration of an animal’s stay is never seen as justification for destroying it. If an animal remains in the shelter for a long time, we’ll pull out all the stops in our efforts to rehome it, such as promotion on Facebook or elsewhere. We’ll also check out whether another shelter in the region – one where there’s less competition, for example might be able to take the animal over. In this way, all animals are eventually found new homes. 

Thanks to what you pay when you adopt an animal, we can partially recoup some of the costs we incur for taking them in, treating them, training them and keeping them occupied. If we were to give away all our animals, we’d be bankrupt in no time. It’s mainly thanks to your contribution that we can keep helping homeless animals in future.

Incidentally, some of our misfits can be adopted without having to pay an adoption fee. These are usually animals with a serious chronic condition or who are not expected to live very long. It’s because you are giving another chance to an animal in need of additional TLC that we help with the costs.

You can create an account on our website, after which you can schedule an appointment.

You can always get in touch with us to ask questions. It’s best to send us an email with your question and we’ll then do our very best to respond within 24 hours. 

However, if it’s more urgent, if your animal is ill or if you have the type of problem that requires an immediate response please contact us by telephone.

If you adopt a DOA animal, we take care of microchip registration with the Stichting Chip (Microchip Foundation). They will then send you an email in which you can see what data is registered. You can keep your contact details up-to-date via the Stichting Chip website. Don’t forget to do so if you move house, for example!

Unfortunately, that’s not possible because we simply don’t have enough people to supervise it all properly. However, you will be more than welcome to participate in one of our guided tours every first and third Saturday of the month. The tour also includes a visit to the kennels. 

However, it’s not possible to select an animal for adoption during one of these tours. This is because we find it very important that there’s a good match between an animal and its new owner, and this can only be established by appointment.

Unfortunately not. If you’re not sure whether you have any affinity with a dog or cat you can drop by several times to get better acquainted with the animal. In some cases, we can suggest a trial placement for a misfit with “problematic behaviour”. However, a trial placement like this lasts between one and three months and is supervised by us.