Can adopt be used for stray animals?

[alpacinou]

Can you adopt a stray cat? Or is adopt only used for animals that live in a shelter or with a person?

Jim wanted to adopt one of those stray cats wandering around in the streets and raise it in his house.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's more generally used to mean to take an animal from an existing shelter or similar and move it into your own home, but I find the use of it in your example sentence perfectly natural; "rescue" would work just as well.
I wouldn't use "raise" though - that's generally reserved for children and farm animals. Pets simply live with you.
You don't really need to use both "adopt" and a mention of Jim's house, nor do you need to say "wandering around in the streets". People know what stray cats do.

Jim wanted to take one of those stray cats home.
Jim wanted to adopt one of those stray cats.
Jim wanted to rescue one of those stray cats.