The basic steps are:

1: Get all your documentation in order and in electronic form so you can email it to us. (See the checklist for what you will need.)

2: Apply to add an animal using our “Apply to add an Animal” webform.

3: We review your application and get back to you.

4: We ask you to send us evidence – vets bills and certificates usually - that the animal has been blood-tested, vaccinated, microchipped and neutered. (If the animal is young – a puppy or a kitten - or you are rehoming an already neutered animal or an elderly animal, it may not yet have all of these – we will discuss what we require with you on a case by case basis. Our concern is that the animal has received what it appropriate to its age.) We may ask you to authorise your vet to talk to us about the animal.

5: All being well, we will send you to a separate webform where you can tell us about the animal in more detail.

6: You email us at least 5 – but up to 10 – high quality images of the animal. These images must be owned by you and you must grant us the right to use them on our website in perpetuity.

You can also optionally send us a link to a YouTube video of the animal. (See the sidebar for how to do this – it is really quite easy…)

7: We place these on our website, with your write-up about the animal. (We reserve the right to edit the write-up.)

8: If someone is interested in your animal, they will fill out our extensive “Network Adoption” inquiry webform. This comes to us, here at NPO CATNIP.

9: We do some basic checks on the application. If it is not “obviously inappropriate” we will pass it on to you. YOU MUST THEN DO YOUR OWN CHECKS. (We have good reason for doing it this way – check out or FAQ.)

10: If you decide to take the application further, you contact the applicant directly and arrange to meet him or her. If not, mail us and we will send a polite “sorry but no thanks” letter back to the applicant in Japanese or English, as appropriate. The applicant will only see personal details about you if you give them to him or her.

11: When the animal is rehomed, contact us and we will move it to our “rehomed” section. (Do this even if you rehomed the animal outside of our website – in which case we will still move it to our rehomed section.)