PetAdoptNow

LEGAL

Terms of Service

Effective date: May 15, 2026 · Last updated: May 15, 2026

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and PetAdoptNow (“PetAdoptNow”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) governing your access to and use of petadoptnow.comand any related features (collectively, the “Site”). By accessing or using the Site you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Site.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Site. If you are between 13 and 18 (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction), you may use the Site only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to be bound by these Terms.

2. The service

The Site offers free, advertising-supported informational resources, including: a directory of US animal shelters and animal hospitals; aggregated listings of adoptable dogs and cats; reference information about dog and cat breeds; pet-naming guides; and pet-care articles. We do not own, operate, or run shelters, we do not facilitate adoptions, and we are not a veterinary provider. Adoption decisions, applications, fees, and transfers occur between you and the shelter or rescue that currently has custody of the animal.

3. License to use the Site

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the Site for your personal, non-commercial purposes, and to print or save individual pages for your own reference.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

  • Use the Site for any unlawful purpose, or in violation of any applicable law or regulation;
  • Reproduce, copy, scrape, or systematically extract content from the Site for republication or for commercial reuse without our prior written permission;
  • Send automated requests (bots, crawlers, scrapers) at a rate that disrupts or degrades the Site or that ignores our robots.txt;
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Site or to its underlying infrastructure;
  • Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of any system or network, or breach or otherwise circumvent any security or authentication measure;
  • Submit material that is unlawful, harassing, defamatory, obscene, infringing, or otherwise objectionable;
  • Misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization;
  • Interfere with the Site’s display of advertising, attempt to commit advertising fraud, or repeatedly click ads in a manner inconsistent with normal browsing behavior.

5. Pet listings and third-party content

Adoptable-pet listings are aggregated daily from third-party shelter-management platforms — currently 24petconnect (HLP Inc.), ShelterLuv, and RescueGroups.org — and from individual shelter websites. We refresh, verify, and prune listings on a daily cycle, but a pet’s availability can change at any moment. You must contact the shelter or rescue directly to confirm a pet is still available before traveling to meet or to apply.Pet photographs are credited to the originating shelter or rescue. Each pet detail page links back to the source organization’s own listing or website, which controls the adoption application and the canonical record for that pet.

6. Editorial content

Pet-care articles, breed pages, name pages, and pet descriptions are produced according to our Editorial Policy. Pet descriptions are generated by artificial intelligence from structured facts (name, breed, age, gender, shelter location) and do not copy or republish narrative descriptions from third-party sources. We make reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of our editorial content but provide it for general information only — see the Disclaimer below.

7. Intellectual property

Except for third-party trademarks, shelter photographs, and other user- or shelter-supplied content, all text, graphics, logos, icons, code, and other content on the Site are owned by PetAdoptNow or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws. The trademarks and trade names of third parties referenced on the Site remain the property of their respective owners and are used only for identification.

8. DMCA / copyright complaints

We respect intellectual property rights and respond to valid notices of copyright infringement. See our DMCA Policy for instructions on submitting a notice or counter-notice.

9. Advertising

The Site is supported by display advertising delivered primarily by Google AdSense. We label every ad placement with the word “Advertisement” and follow Google’s placement policies. See our Advertising Disclosure for details. We do not control the specific ads served and are not responsible for the products, services, or content advertised.

10. Third-party links

The Site contains links to external sites operated by third parties (including shelter websites, mapping services, and advertising-related domains). We do not control and are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or practices of those sites. Following an external link is at your own risk and is subject to that site’s terms and privacy policies.

11. Disclaimers

The Site and its content are provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We disclaim all warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and uninterrupted availability. We are not veterinarians; nothing on the Site constitutes veterinary, medical, behavioral, legal, or financial advice. See our Disclaimer for additional detail.

12. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will PetAdoptNow, its operators, affiliates, employees, or contractors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to your use of (or inability to use) the Site, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Our aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Site shall not exceed US $100.

13. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless PetAdoptNow and its operators, affiliates, employees, and contractors from any claim or demand (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) made by any third party arising out of or related to your breach of these Terms, your violation of any law or the rights of a third party, or your misuse of the Site.

14. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Site at any time, for any reason, including violation of these Terms. The provisions that by their nature should survive termination — including ownership, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and dispute resolution — will survive.

15. Operator

PetAdoptNow is operated from Rm D07, Kai Tak Factory Building, 99 King Fuk Street, San Po Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR.

16. Governing law and dispute resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to the Site or these Terms will be resolved in the courts of Hong Kong, and you and we consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of those courts. Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

17. Individual claims

Where permitted by applicable law, you and we agree that any dispute will be brought solely on an individual basis and not on a class, collective, consolidated, or representative basis. This provision does not preclude either party from seeking injunctive relief if and to the extent required by applicable law.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may revise these Terms at any time. Material changes will be announced on this page with a revised “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, with prominent notice on the Site. Your continued use of the Site after a change constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

19. Miscellaneous

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and other policies referenced from this page, constitute the entire agreement between you and PetAdoptNow regarding the Site. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect. Our failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that right or provision. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

20. Contact

For legal questions or notices, email [email protected]. For general inquiries, see our Contact page.