Rescue & adoption at betrbowl
We don't sell animals.
We never have.
Adoption is the only way a pet leaves a betrbowl store. Every weekend our storefronts belong to local rescue groups, free of charge, and every adopter walks out with a New Pet Kit and a real conversation about what comes next. This isn't a campaign. It's how we think a pet store should work.
Our position
Guardianship starts before you get them home.
We call our customers Guardians rather than owners, and we mean it as a job description. A pet isn't property you maintain. They're someone in your care who can't advocate for themselves — which makes every decision yours, starting with where they come from.
Roughly 5.8 million dogs and cats entered American shelters last year. Most left alive, and that's a genuine and recent victory. But 757,000 didn't, Arizona sits about 3,600 animals away from statewide no-kill, and here in the Valley our shelters are fuller than they've been in a decade.
Meanwhile animals are still bred to order in backyards and sold through classified ads — no health testing, no screening, no obligation to take anyone back. When it goes wrong, the cost lands on a rescue and on the volunteers who absorb it.
None of that is solved by guilt. It's solved by a few thousand households making one different decision.
Read the full piece →Coming up
Adoption weekends
Our partner rescues bring adoptable animals into our stores most weekends. No appointment, no pressure — come meet them, ask the volunteers anything, and talk to us about what a new pet actually needs.
All stores available
Dogs & Cat Agencies WelcomeAll stores available
Dogs & Cat Agencies WelcomeAll stores available
Dogs & Cat Agencies WelcomeAll stores available
Dogs & Cat Agencies WelcomeUpdated monthly. Dates occasionally change — the host store will always know.
The people who got them this far
Every one of them was somebody's project first.
A foster who slept on the floor for a week. A volunteer who drove four hours for a transport. By the time you meet an animal at one of our events, a dozen people have already done the hard part.
Who we work with
Our rescue partners
These are the groups using our stores. Every one of them screens, vets and places their own animals — we provide the room, the promotion and the kit. If you're looking for a particular kind of dog or cat, go straight to their portal.
Looking right now?
Where to find animals who need homes
Start with our partners above. Beyond them, Maricopa County Animal Care and Control runs a Priority Placement Portal for dogs at the greatest risk — adoption fees on those animals are waived, and they are the ones with the least time.
The first ninety days
One day they sleep with their back to the door.
Three days to decompress. Three weeks to settle in. Three months to feel at home. Nobody tells adopters this, and it is the single most useful thing to know before you bring anyone home.
For every adopter
The New Pet Kit
Adopt through one of our partners — at our stores or at their own events — and you go home with a printed guide written for the animal you actually just took on. Separate books for dogs and cats, because the advice isn't the same.
What's inside
- The first three days, weeks and monthsWhat decompression actually looks like, and why the pet you meet in week one isn't the one you'll have in month three.
- What changes at each agePuppy through senior, kitten through senior, and what each stage needs from you.
- How to change their foodA ten-day transition schedule, and why switching straight over goes badly.
- Why, not just whatHow to read an ingredient deck, what treats are actually for, and the difference between a supplement that prevents and one that supports.
- When to call the vetClear thresholds, species by species.
And a welcome-home gift
- Special offers off your entire first purchaseFood, bed, bowls, litter, toys, treats — the whole first shop, in one go. Valid 30 days from your adoption date at any betrbowl.
- A conversation, not a sales pitchBring whatever they were eating at the rescue and a Pet Health Advocate will help you work out where to go from there. No appointment, no purchase expected.
- Special offers for fosters, year roundIf you foster or volunteer we want to help. Program details available soon.
What it's actually for
The whole point is the part that comes after.
Not the event, not the paperwork, not the kit. The ordinary Tuesday eighteen months later when they climb onto the sofa like they have always lived there.
How it turned out
Success stories
The best part of this whole program is the photo that arrives six months later.
Adopted from one of our partners?
Send us a photo and a couple of lines about how it's going. Tag @betrbowl or bring it up at the register — we'd rather show your animal than stock photography.
Run a rescue? Our weekends are open, free, in every store. Claim a weekend →