An application form has two jobs. It should give your team the information to make a good decision, and it should be short enough that people finish it. Every extra question adds to the time it takes, so each one should have a clear purpose.
Below are suggested questions for adopter, foster, and volunteer forms. Adjust them to suit your animals, your community, and your policies.
Adoption application questions
An adoption application should help you learn whether a home could suit a particular pet, and give you a starting point for a conversation.
Contact details
- Name, email, phone number, and address
- Preferred way to be contacted
Household
- Who lives in the home, including the ages of any children
- Whether they rent or own, and landlord approval if they rent
- Home type and any outdoor space, including fencing
Current and past pets
- Current pets, including species, age, and spay or neuter status
- Pets they've had before
- A veterinarian you can contact, if they've had pets
Daily life
- How long the pet would typically be alone
- Where the pet would sleep and spend time
- Who will be the main caregiver
What they're looking for
- The pet they're applying for, or other pets they'd consider
- Preferred age, size, and energy level
- Their plan if they move, travel, or can no longer keep the pet
It's usually better to save detailed questions about training and care for your conversation. Written answers can sound more alarming, or more impressive, than they would in person, and a conversation lets you offer advice at the same time.
Foster application questions
Foster forms help you match animals with homes that can care for them. They're usually a bit shorter than adoption forms, since the placement is temporary.
- Contact details and home address
- Home type, including yard and stairs
- Who lives in the home, including other pets and their vaccination status
- Types of animals they'd consider, such as puppies, kittens, seniors, medical cases, or nursing mothers
- How long they can foster, and whether they're open to emergency placements
- Experience giving medication
- Whether they can drive to appointments
- Their usual daily schedule
The question about which animals they'd consider is often the most useful. Use checkboxes for it, so you can search the answers later. See how to start a foster program for what to do once applications come in.
Volunteer application questions
Volunteer forms can be the shortest of the three. You mostly need to know how to reach someone and where they might help.
- Contact details
- Availability by day and time
- Areas of interest, shown as a checklist with options such as dog walking, cat care, transport, events, photography, and fundraising
- Any relevant experience
- Physical limitations or allergies that affect their role
- Whether they have access to a vehicle
- Emergency contact
- Parent or guardian details, if you accept minors
Our guide to finding and keeping volunteers covers the steps that follow.
Tips for better forms
Use checkboxes and lists where you can. They're faster to complete on a phone and easier for your team to filter than written answers.
Group questions into sections. Headings like "Your household" and "Your pets" make a long form feel more manageable.
Only require what you truly need. Make the rest optional, and be ready to follow up.
Explain sensitive questions. People are more willing to give a landlord's phone number or a vet reference if they know why you're asking.
Test the form yourself. Fill it out on a phone and time it. Ask someone outside your organization to do the same, and note where they hesitate.
Review it once a year. Look at each question and ask whether anyone used the answer in the past year. If nobody did, consider removing it.
Building your forms in PawPlacer
PawPlacer's form editor lets you add, reorder, and group questions for adopter, foster, volunteer, surrender, and donor forms. You can mark questions as required, keep some fields internal for staff, and require a signature on an agreement.
Your default form for each type gets a public link and can be added to your website with a widget. Each submission arrives in your Inbox and is connected to that person's record, so your team can review it and reply from the same place.
