Southeast Volusia Humane Society — Attraction in New Smyrna Beach

I went to the humane society to look as dogs and one caught my eye. I asked to take her outside she was super skinny but I figured it was normal, she’s at a shelter. They told me she tested positive for heart worm and they had been treating her. They told me she was doing so much better since she had started treatment & I was told she could still live a long happy life as long as I kept up with her meds. They told me she was adopted by someone not too long ago who returned her because they ‘didn’t have time for her’ and she required ‘too much attention.’ She seemed super calm and sweet and nothing really seemed wrong with her. She choked up some water in the yard which I thought was just from excitement and happened to actually be because the dog is deathly ill. When I brought her home I tried to feed her and immediately she threw up. Every time. She refused to drink water. She was lethargic, breathing super heavy even while laying down for long periods of time. She was randomly leaking diarrhea out of her butt on accident all over the place, choking, and clearly in pain. I wasn’t told any of this. At the shelter we were only outside with her for about 25 minutes, so not all of this was obvious at first glance. They also sent me home with her and forgot to give me her meds that if she doesn’t take she could die. She pooped in my bed and I had to put her in the bathroom. So I brought her back there today and told them what was going on with the dog, they made me feel like I didn’t know what I was talking about asking me if ‘a vet told me’ the things I was telling them, discrediting me and saying that she wasn’t doing those things at the shelter when she clearly was because she threw up water in the yard when I was there with her the previous day & is extremely skinny still, so she obviously was having a problem eating. Also on her medical records the vet that came to see her said she wasn’t getting any better & changed her meds but if they payed any attention she wasn’t getting better because she throws up everything she eats so the heart worm meds weren’t being digested & she was just progressively getting worse at the shelter. The day prior they had me pay $220 for the dog they knew was extremely ill and lied to me about. In the shelter crying about giving back the sick dog I asked if I could at least get a refund to which they pulled out a contract that I signed the day prior which stated I could only get a refund if I returned the dog within 72 hours with a vet note stating the dog had an issue not disclosed to me before adopting. The soonest appointment I could make was this upcoming Friday. I stood there with tears in my eyes waiting for some kind of empathy and received nothing but the cold shoulder until I just walked out the door with No dog, minus $220 and having to go home and clean up vomit and feces from the dog that I wanted to be my pet & was told wasn’t super sick. All while that dog is being put back up for adoption so they can scam the next person out of their money until that dog can’t take it anymore and unfortunately dies a slow painful death. After this happening to me I started looking at reviews on Yelp instead of Facebook & Google and found out that so many people have had similar experiences. This whole thing has been so traumatic. Please...

I very much dislike writing poor reviews for businesses that are trying to help animals but I have to say that our experience with the southeast Volusia humane society was anything but happy. We live an hour away on Merritt Island but we knew of a cat / kitten that they had up for adoption. We filled out the online form and after doing so called the humane society directly and spoke with Alexis. Alexis said that she had just received our application and would call us back to let us know if our application was approved. After an hour and a half there was no phone call from Alexis and I decided to call them back and again we spoke with Alexis who had said she had tried to call to let us know we were approved but the call went immediately to voicemail. After finding out we were approved we were happy and before driving down to pick the kitten up we stopped and spent almost $200 in supplies and toys for the kitten. When we arrived there, as soon as we walked in the door with our new carrier to pick up the kitten, they said "oh sorry it's been adopted already!!" Bre, the manager along with Alexis the person at the front desk, would rely on the phrase "first come first serve!" I asked them "Knowing that we had filled out an online form, called them personally, waited the for their return call for an hour and a half then we called them back and stated we were on our way !" would they have not considered calling us to let us know that someone else was currently there interested in the kitten?? No , that courtesy wasn't in their business practice. They just kept repeating " first come first serve! " I am happy for humane societies that do good work trying to find homes for animals. But if the people in charge Don't have common courtesy as part of their repertoire it doesn't help their cause or the animals they care for. It would have also been helpful if they had told us over the phone when they said that were approved and to come pick up the kitten that it is first come first serve. We would have been there much sooner knowing there was a possibility that the cat would have been adopted before we could arrive. This was not the case however after getting off of the phone with Alexis she merely indicated we were approved which to us meant the kitten was on hold until we were able...

My first cat was 22 when she died from complications due to thyroid. I recently lost my 3 year old cat to an enlarged heart. Life has not been the same for me orvthe neighbors who loved him. Both cats were indoor/outdoor cats who were great companions and came when I called them. I went to get a cat at this shelter to get an indoor/outdoor cat.

The first cat I wanted, chose a collar for, paid for, and was ready to take tested positive for FIV. At that point I decided to go to another room as I did not want an infected cat. They tried to convince me to take the cat and keep it indoors as “they can live long, healthy lives.” When I got home I found the cat on their web page and he was just a kitten. How long had he been in that cage?!?

The second room had 2 kittens in it that I just adored. While I had only planned to take one, I was trying to figure out which one to take and was considering taking both.... I asked if the $15 FIV test would be waived since the first cat had tested positive. The young girl went to ask and came back to tell me that I was no longer eligible for a cat. The only cats I could take, she said, were the “ones were outside that had lived outside all their lives.” It left me wondering if they were feral, so I left angrily.

There are so many things wrong with this... these people are letting people take cats that are FIV positive, not letting good cat owners take cats (perhaps because of the FIV?), and keeping the cats for years cooped up in cages. If they don’t want to put sick cats down, perhaps they should keep them in another room so that people don’t become enamored with them and want to take them home. If you have a cat from this shelter, be sure to test for FIV. Cats that are FIV can live long INDOOR ONLY lives. If they go out, they can infect other cats in the neighborhood who are...