Halifax Humane Society — Attraction in Daytona Beach

I adopted a cat “tin-man” and was originally told he is 2 years old. Two days later when I went to pick up the cat I was told 5 years old with some slight diarrhea from a change of diet and possible ear infection. After taking tin-man who I then named “jasper” home I see that his tail had not been groomed in what looked like years. His tail was matted up with poop and white oil secretions to the point you could barely see his fur. I did not see this at Halifax because they won’t let you take the cat out of the cage so I only caught a glimpse of his tail in the lower cage with dimmed lighting. It was not until I got home that I saw the extent of it and had to shave it from the vets orders because there was no saving the fur that was left. I am taken back that they would send an animal home in that condition.

That being said his diarrhea hadn’t stopped for 2 more days and he was not eating any more than a few bites of food a day, if even that. I took him immediately to the vet because he was screaming meowing in pain from the diarrhea multiple times a hour. The vet informed me then that jasper was much older than 5 and is in fact a senior cat who is severely dehydrated most likely from the diarrhea. This is also when I was informed shaving his tail would be less traumatic than trying to groom it. The vet said herself “I am shocked that halifax would send a cat out in this condition”. I then was looking at a $650 vet bill to get jasper the medication and tests he desperately needed. This entire time thinking I was adopting a healthy cat to then get thrown a vet bill for that price and told the cat is actually very sickly was heartbreaking.

I was only able to purchase some of the medications for the cat to clear up the ear infection, get his appetite going, and get his poops solid. The vet had some ideas of underlying chronic issues that could be causing such bad diarrhea all of which would equal another vet bill over $1000.

With this being said I have a toddler at home and had the impression of adopting a healthy just turned adult cat. Not a very sick and malnourished senior cat. My only choice was to surrender jasper back to Halifax where I was treated like absolute crap for doing so. I come in with jasper and explain all of the issues he’s been having (not eating, spraying diarrhea all over in pain a few times a hour, etc) and in return get told that his diet just changed which explains the diarrhea. Mind you jasper came in as a rescue October 26 and still until November 11 was having chronic painful diarrhea. As someone who has had cats before that is not from a diet change. I was also told he had no parasites as if I was lieing about the diarrhea which is concerning because that means there is probably a more chronic issue causing it like the vet assumed.

In a summary Halifax admissions office basically told me that I only had him for a week and his diet changed which is why he wasn’t eating and having diarrhea brushing off everything I said to them. They did this in a very rude matter of fact way and then in front of my face talked amongst each other about putting him back on the adoptions floor completely ignoring everything I had said. As if it was not heart breaking enough to think I’m adopting a healthy cat and super excited then having to bring him back the cherry on top was the absolutely disgusting way I was treated there.

very upsetting and disappointing experience and hopefully jasper will get the medical help he needs and not get ignored by them like he was before.

UPDATE - tin man is now adoptable again which means he did not get a proper vet check up. Just this morning at 6am he was screaming and meowing in pain while spraying diarrhea ALL OVER the house. And now the same day he’s put back up for adoption!! This place clearly does not care about the well being of...

BEWARE!!! Every place in our adoption process that could have a hiccup... DID! We adopted a new kitten from Halifax Humane after our 10 year old cat died from cancer. We went to Halifax Humane to find a new kitten. We fell in love with our new friend due to his calm demeanor. He was approximately 8-10 weeks old. Within 3 days of adoption, we found out that our kitten was extremely sick. We took him to one of the vets (recommended on our adoption paperwork). Our kitten was extremely sick and diagnosed with pneumonia. Prior to ANY care being provided to him, we contacted Halifax to see if they wanted to see the kitten. The vet was placed on HOLD for more than 10 min. They called back and were placed on hold again. I placed a call myself and the front desk told them they were very busy and took my name and number. I explained what was happening, but was told no one was available. I did not receive any recommendations on what to do and how to proceed. I made the decision to have our cat treated. The first vet bill was close to $300. After the visit my husband went up to the Humane Society. He was upset with the charges and asked if Halifax could help out with some of the charges since the kitten had just left 3 days prior. We were told that they were not able to help us with vet visits and that we should have brought the kitten to them first! We were upset... this was NEVER discussed during the adoption process and was NOT relayed during the 3 calls when I was at the vet! I ASKED FOR HELP AND ADVICE WHEN I WAS AT THE VET on how I should proceed. Needless to say Halifax has not helped with subsequent visits and didn't offer to do so until I contacted them NUMEROUS TIMES. I placed multiple calls/ emails to the center and then finally arranged a call with the on site vet and administrator. It wasn't until multiple complaints that they even offered to help... with future visits (not past visits). The kitten was already on the mend. Our vet bills are above $600 at this time. The last communication that was relayed to us stated "As I stated on the phone with you, it is always our hope that adoptions are without any issues. Unfortunately in dealing with live animals, issues cannot be predicted and illnesses cannot be diagnosed or treated if medical staff is never informed of concerns. We also never make guarantees about outcomes and our contract specifically states that we do not make any guarantees about health and even states that the pet may be incubating disease. Our contract also states that HHS is not responsible or able to provide financial support after adoption." On top of everything else... it was not disclosed during the adoption process that our kitten had been diagnosed with Giardia. This is VERY contagious and can be spread to humans. I have children that could have been affected. The kitten was treated with antibiotics(completed the last does before adoption), but it should have been disclosed at the adoption. More training of staff is needed so information can be relayed during the adoption process and education to the new pet owner is needed. We are frustrated that Halifax will not take any responsibility for their mistakes. On a positive note... the kitten is amazing and has been a wonderful addition to our family. I just wish this adoption process hadn't been to shady...

After losing our cat to cancer in January this year, we finally decided we were ready to bring our kids to adopt a cat/kitten this weekend. We looked online at the selection and we were super excited to go look. Upon arriving, we were surprised to see they only have about 5-6 kittens left. We wanted to look anyways. We found 2-3 we were interested in petting, seeing outside the cage. The volunteers were very young and seemed to know NOTHING about ANYTHING. Every question we asked, we were given a run around answer. We asked if they'd be able to go home same day, we got "I'm not sure". We asked if they were good with kids, we got "I don't really know anything about this kitten". Whatever, that's fine. We asked to hold the first one we were interested in and we were told "this one has had a lot of activity today with visitors so it needs to rest". Fine. Moved to the next one. We were told that one was sleeping and we could come back the next day (which they're closed??) and we live 45 mins away. We FINALLY got to hold a kitten. I decided to hold it first sitting on the couch to make sure it would be okay with the kids. Immediately, it began to scratch and claw and try to get away. The volunteers sat there talking about how it was their first and second shift there, laughing, etc. One of the kids in the cat room screamed, the cat jumped and took off into the back room, my husband immediately ran after it trying to catch it. An older woman with a black "Team Member" shirt asked him what he was doing back there, he explained a cat had jumped out, she angrily grabbed the cat, started yelling at the employees to open the cage, and then turned her anger on everyone in the cat room. She pointed fingers and tried to accuse everyone in there of opening up cages and letting cats out without permission. After explaining to her that her volunteers are the ones that had opened the cages, she kicked one of the couples out of the room stating there were "too many people" (there were less than 10 people in the entire space) and then started yelling that the volunteers needed to start washing some dishes or doing something helpful. My 5yo son absolutely lost his mind. We left very upset with 2 crying kids. Definitely not the experience we wanted. Especially having it mean so much to us after losing our baby in January. Although the staff members at the front were very sweet and apologized, the employee in the cat room should not continue to work with the public. It is clearly too much for her. We will not be back. I will never suggest them to anyone else. What was supposed to be a wonderful and beautiful experience was ruined for our babies. It's something that will be stuck with them and we cannot get back or change. All because of one employee who ruined the experience for an...