What the agent handles
- Books adoption meet-and-greets
- Logs lost and found pets
- Explains the surrender process
- Answers adoption fees and steps
- Takes volunteer and foster enquiries
Public and community
AI receptionist for animal shelters and rescues
Answers adoption, surrender and lost pet calls, books meet-and-greets with adoptable animals, and gets stray and injured animal reports to staff.
CallerI found a dog wandering by the highway with no tag. What do I do with him?
CallerIs the grey cat from your website still available? Can we come meet her?
CallerWe have to move and can't take our dog. Do you take surrenders?
Where calls go
AdoptionsAnimal careIntakeVolunteer coordinator
Warm transfer: When a caller reports an injured or aggressive animal, the agent warm-transfers to animal care staff or the on-call officer.
What it books
Adoption meet-and-greets
Why animal shelters and rescues miss calls, and what an AI receptionist changes
Shelter staff spend their day with animals: cleaning kennels, giving medications, doing intake exams and walking dogs. The phone is answered by whoever is nearest the desk, and it rings all day with people asking whether the dog on your website is still available, a family that found a cat on their porch, and someone who has to move by the first of the month and can't take their dog. Kitten season through spring and summer and the weeks around July 1 moving day bring the heaviest calls, usually when the shelter is already full.
A RealVoice AI receptionist answers every call from your shelter's own information. It explains your adoption steps and fees, the application form and what happens after it's submitted, and books meet-and-greets with an adoptable animal into the schedule. It logs lost and found pets with the description, the area and the date, and callers can text a photo of the pet to your number so it sits with the report in the portal. It explains your surrender process including any waitlist or intake appointments, and takes foster and volunteer enquiries for the coordinator.
As part of setup, the team connects it to your shelter software, so it tells callers whether an animal is available, on hold or already adopted, and it never promises that an application will be approved. When a caller reports an injured or aggressive animal, it warm-transfers to animal care staff or the on-call officer with a short summary of where the animal is and what's happening. The agent never accepts or turns away a surrender; those requests go to intake.
Example call, start to finish
- CallerHi, I found a dog on the shoulder of Highway 7 just east of Peterborough. No tag, no collar. I've got him in my car. What do I do with him?
- AI receptionistThank you for stopping for him. Can you describe him for me, his size, colour and breed if you can tell, and exactly where you found him?
- CallerMedium-sized, brown with a white chest, maybe a lab mix. Oh, he's holding up his back leg now, and there's blood on the seat.
- AI receptionistOkay. Please keep him in the car with you and don't try to check the leg yourself, since a dog in pain may snap. I'm getting our animal care team for you right now. What's your name?
- CallerKyle.
- AI receptionistThanks, Kyle. Stay on the line, someone from animal care is picking up.
- AI receptionist(privately, to animal care) Stray dog found on Highway 7 east of Peterborough, medium brown lab mix with a white chest, no collar, injured back leg and bleeding. The finder, Kyle, has him in his car. Connecting.
After the call: Animal care takes the call knowing the dog is hurt and in the finder's car, and can tell Kyle where to bring him. The found-dog report is also logged in the RealVoice portal with the description, location and time, so staff checking lost-dog calls about a brown lab mix can match the two.
How it fits your day
- Kitten season
- From spring through late summer, calls about found litters, nursing mothers and foster needs are answered and sorted, so staff can work on intake instead of the phone.
- Moving season
- Around July 1 and other month ends, owners who can't take their pets hear your surrender process and waitlist, and their details go to intake.
- Featured animals
- When a dog or cat is featured online, the burst of availability calls is answered from that animal's live status, and meet-and-greets are booked into open times.
- After hours
- Lost-pet and found-animal reports are logged overnight, and injured or aggressive animals reach the on-call officer or animal care staff under your rules.
Your software
Today it books adoption meet-and-greets into the RealVoice schedule in the portal, logs lost and found reports and every call summary there for staff, and texts adopters a confirmation. If your shelter runs Shelterluv, PetPoint or Shelter Manager, the team can set up a connection to it; custom integrations are quoted separately.
What a missed call costs
For a shelter, a missed call is usually an adoption that didn't happen, and with it an adoption fee of perhaps $350 for a dog. An adopter who can't get through about the dog they saw online tends to browse the next rescue's listings that evening, and the dog stays in the kennel another week, with the food, care and space that takes. If five would-be adopters a week give up on the phone and one of them would have adopted, that is around fifty adoptions a year, and fifty kennels that could have taken the next animal. Try the calculator on our homepage with your own adoption fee and call counts.
Questions animal shelters and rescues ask
Can it tell callers whether an animal is still available?
Yes. Once it's connected to your animal records during setup, it checks the animal's current status while the caller waits. If the animal is on hold, it says so and offers to book a meet-and-greet with a similar animal or add the caller to the list.
Can an AI answer our shelter's phone after hours?
Yes. Overnight it logs lost and found reports, answers adoption and foster questions, and puts injured or aggressive animal calls through to whoever is on call.
How does it handle surrender calls?
Gently and without judgement. It explains your surrender steps, any waitlist and what intake needs to know, such as the animal's age, health and behaviour, and sends the request to intake.
Can it screen adopters?
It asks the questions you choose, such as other pets at home, children, landlord rules or a fenced yard, and adds the answers to the meet-and-greet booking. Your adoption team makes every decision.
Will callers know they're talking to an AI?
Callers who ask are told straight away. You pick its name, voice and greeting, and it can open by thanking people for calling the shelter.
Hear it as your own animal shelter's front desk
Request a free demo call and the agent will phone you, set up as a business like yours.