[ADOPTION AGENCIES AND THE SERVICES THEY PROVIDE]

Adoption agencies like Friendly Pets Inc are the matchmakers of this world, working hard to pair every pet with the owner she deserves. Many young pets leave home to move into an adoption center to prepare for their new lives in the company of others like them. It's like going to summer camp, or a college dorm without the stress of college classes. When prospective owners visit an adoption center, colloquially referred to as a pet shop, employees help them meet the girls and keep an eye on their interaction. Before a pet is adopted, they discretely run a background check to make sure everything is above board and only then release their charge into her new owner's care.

But this is not the only service adoption agencies provide. In fact, it's possible for a pet to find her owner (and vice versa) without ever visiting a center, by making use of online resources like a website where pets can upload their photos and describe their interests, almost like a conventional dating site. To prevent abusive owners from tracking their former pets, their profiles are only visible after registering and submitting to the same background check. The site also hosts educational videos and articles about pets, healthy pet-owner relationships, information about pet parks and other pet-friendly locations, and so on. (Much of this information is also available in print form for in-person visitors and the pets themselves, who are also taught their emergency numbers and who to turn to if they're in danger. Even though the same is taught in schools, it doesn't hurt to cover it twice!) Once an owner and a pet have found each other through the site, they can still arrange to meet at an adoption center so they can interact in a safe environment before committing to each other.

Of course a middle ground between these options is possible too. A pet could choose to stay with her family, but spend part of her day in a center to hang out with other pets and hopefully be noticed by a walk-in. A pet who doesn't feel ready for an owner may also stay in a center's living area for a while, but this is not meant to be a long-term solution. There are other facilities for that, like the pet café.

The agency's services don't end once a pet is adopted either. Pets and their owners can call or come in at any time for advice or just to visit friends who still live there, and it's customary for an employee to check in after a while to verify that pet and owner are getting along (in the main branch, this check was made redundant when they ran into the other FPI cats at the park). Any sign that a pet is being mistreated is investigated and reported to the proper authorities.