Petfinder API
✓ Official Vendor SpecLifestylePet Adoptionoauth28 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Search adoptable animals, retrieve breed and organization data, and filter by location, size, age, gender, and compatibility traits through Petfinder's adoption database.
Use for: I need to find adoptable dogs near me that are good with children, Search for cats available for adoption within 50 miles of 10001, Find senior pets available for adoption, Get a list of animal shelters in California
Not supported: Does not manage shelter operations, process adoptions, or handle payment — use for pet discovery, search, and organization data retrieval only.
Jentic publishes the only agent-ready OpenAPI specification for Petfinder API v2, keeping it validated and integration-ready. Search adoptable animals by type, breed, size, age, location, and behavior traits, retrieve animal welfare organization details, and access comprehensive pet adoption data. Filter by good with children, dogs, or cats, house-trained status, special needs, and location radius. OAuth 2.0 client credentials authentication with hourly token refresh. Supports paginated results with up to 100 pets per page.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Petfinder API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Petfinder API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Petfinder API.
Search adoptable animals by type, breed, size, gender, age, color, coat, and behavior traits
Filter pets by good with children, dogs, cats, house-trained, declawed, and special needs
Search by location with distance radius up to 500 miles from postal code or coordinates
Retrieve detailed animal profiles with photos, videos, descriptions, and contact information
Access animal welfare organization details including mission, hours, and adoption policies
Browse available animal types (dog, cat, rabbit, bird, etc.) with associated breeds and attributes
Retrieve breed lists for each animal type with full metadata
Paginate through results with customizable page size up to 100 records
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Petfinder API for, with concrete tasks.
★ AI Agent Pet Adoption Search
AI agents use the Petfinder API through Jentic to search adoptable animals by location, breed, age, size, and compatibility traits without managing OAuth credentials directly. The agent searches Jentic for 'find adoptable dogs near me', receives the /animals endpoint schema with filter parameters (location, distance, type, size, good_with_children), and executes. Jentic handles OAuth token refresh so the agent never manages client credentials or token expiration logic.
Search for medium-sized dogs within 25 miles of 90210 that are good with children and house-trained, then return the first 20 results with photos and organization contact information
Location-Based Pet Search
Search for adoptable animals within a specific radius of a postal code, city and state, or latitude/longitude coordinates. Filter by distance up to 500 miles and sort by proximity, recency, or random. Results include distance from the search location, animal details, photos, and organization contact information. Ideal for building pet adoption tools, shelter integrations, and location-aware pet discovery features.
Find all adoptable cats within 100 miles of New York, NY, sorted by distance, and return the name, breed, age, photos, and shelter contact details for each
Organization and Shelter Discovery
Search animal welfare organizations by name, location, state, or country (US and CA supported). Retrieve organization profiles including mission statements, hours of operation, adoption policies, contact information, social media links, and photos. Use this to build shelter directories, partner with local organizations, or integrate adoption data into community platforms.
Search for all animal welfare organizations in California with 'rescue' in the name, then retrieve their mission statements, websites, and adoption policy URLs
Breed and Type Metadata
Retrieve all available animal types (dog, cat, rabbit, small-furry, horse, bird, scales-fins-other, barnyard) with associated breeds, coats, colors, and gender options. Use this metadata to build search filters, validate user input, or display breed-specific information. The /types endpoint returns type metadata, while /types/{type}/breeds returns the full breed list for a given animal type.
Retrieve all available dog breeds from Petfinder, then use the breed names to populate a dropdown filter for a pet search form
Key Endpoints
8 endpoints — jentic publishes the only agent-ready openapi specification for petfinder api v2, keeping it validated and integration-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/animals
Search adoptable animals with filters for type, breed, size, age, gender, color, coat, location, distance, and behavior traits
GET
/animals/{id}
Retrieve detailed profile for a specific animal by ID including photos, videos, and organization contact information
GET
/organizations
Search animal welfare organizations by name, location, state, or country with pagination
GET
/organizations/{id}
Retrieve details for a specific organization including mission, hours, adoption policies, and social media links
GET
/types
Get all available animal types with associated coats, colors, and gender options
GET
/types/{type}/breeds
Retrieve all breeds for a specific animal type
GET
/animals
Search adoptable animals with filters for type, breed, size, age, gender, color, coat, location, distance, and behavior traits
GET
/animals/{id}
Retrieve detailed profile for a specific animal by ID including photos, videos, and organization contact information
GET
/organizations
Search animal welfare organizations by name, location, state, or country with pagination
GET
/organizations/{id}
Retrieve details for a specific organization including mission, hours, adoption policies, and social media links
GET
/types
Get all available animal types with associated coats, colors, and gender options
GET
/types/{type}/breeds
Retrieve all breeds for a specific animal type
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Petfinder OAuth client ID and client secret are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem). Agents submit requests with Jentic handling token refresh and credential injection — raw secrets and tokens never enter the agent's context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g., 'find adoptable dogs near me' or 'search animal shelters') and Jentic returns the matching operation schema with filter parameters, so the agent builds the right query without parsing Petfinder's documentation.
Time to first call
Direct Petfinder integration: 1-2 days for OAuth flow, token refresh logic, and parameter validation. Through Jentic: under 1 hour — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
Complementary
RescueGroups.org API
RescueGroups.org provides rescue management software while Petfinder focuses on public pet search and discovery
Use RescueGroups.org for managing shelter operations and rescue workflows; use Petfinder for public-facing pet adoption search and discovery
FAQs
Specific to using Petfinder API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for Petfinder API?
Petfinder does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call Petfinder API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.
What authentication does the Petfinder API use?
Petfinder uses OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow. Agents obtain an access token valid for 1 hour (3600 seconds) by presenting a client ID and client secret to the /oauth2/token endpoint. Through Jentic, credentials are stored encrypted in the MAXsystem vault and tokens are refreshed automatically — agents never handle raw client secrets or token expiration logic.
Can I search for pets by location with the Petfinder API?
Yes. The /animals endpoint accepts a location parameter (city and state, postal code, or latitude/longitude) and a distance parameter in miles (default 100, max 500). Results include the distance field showing miles from the search location. Sort by distance, recency, or random to customize result ordering.
How do I filter pets by behavior traits like good with children or house-trained?
Use the boolean filter parameters: good_with_children, good_with_dogs, good_with_cats, house_trained, declawed, and special_needs. These parameters accept true or false and filter the results to only include animals matching the specified criteria. Combine multiple filters to narrow the search (e.g., good_with_children=true and house_trained=true).
How do I search adoptable pets through the Petfinder API via Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'find adoptable dogs near me' or 'petfinder search animals', then load the /animals operation schema. Specify filters like type, location, distance, size, age, and behavior traits, and Jentic handles OAuth token refresh and credential injection. Results include animal details, photos, and organization contact information. Install with pip install jentic or sign up at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.
Can I retrieve organization details for animal shelters with the Petfinder API?
Yes. The /organizations endpoint searches organizations by name, location, state, or country. The /organizations/{id} endpoint retrieves full details including mission statement, hours of operation, adoption policies, contact information, social media links, and photos. Use this to build shelter directories or integrate adoption workflows.
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