Cleveland County Animal Services expands adoptions, fees start at $10

At 1601 Airport Road in Shelby, Cleveland County Animal Services has turned a shelter visit into a full-service stop for adopting pets, finding lost animals and lining up rabies protection. The county expanded hours to make after-work adoptions and lost-pet reclaims easier, a practical change for residents balancing work, school and family schedules.

The adoption process is built to move pets into homes, not keep them waiting. Cleveland County says it aims to make matches as seamless as possible and requires a valid government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license, passport or ID card. Adoption fees are $10 for cats and $40 for dogs, and those fees include spay-neuter surgery, a microchip and up-to-date vaccinations. That bundled approach lowers the upfront cost of taking in an animal while giving adopters a pet that is already altered, tracked and protected against common disease.

The county also pushes adoptions beyond the shelter walls. Cleveland County promotes bi-weekly adoption events at Tractor Supply in Shelby, bringing adoptable dogs into a retail space where more residents can meet them. That kind of outreach matters in a county where transportation, work hours and distance can make a single trip to the shelter harder to manage. The county’s own department directory places Animal Services alongside lost-and-found work and field services, underscoring that the office is not only a kennel but a point of contact for the full cycle of pet ownership.

Rabies clinics are another piece of that system. Cleveland County has hosted clinics at the Cleveland County Health Department and Public Health Center on South Post Road in Shelby, including a clinic at 200 S. Post Road from 9 a.m. to noon. At that clinic, vaccinations were free for county residents with proof of residency and $10 for out-of-county residents. One county notice said services were available for the first 1,000 animals and limited to four animals per vehicle. Another warned that pets exposed without vaccination may be euthanized or quarantined for six months under state law, a reminder that a routine shot can determine whether an exposure becomes a family crisis or a manageable public-health event.

The county’s staffing structure shows the same breadth. Job postings point to dedicated roles for volunteer and foster care coordination, intake and resource coordination, and shelter attendants who maintain computerized records for adoption, intake, transfer, enrichment, animal behavior, clinic and shelter tasks. Brad Gates, identified by the county as Animal Services Director, has helped steer a department that functions as a local safety net, linking adoption, rehoming, vaccination and lost-pet recovery into one county service.