SPCA of Anne Arundel County — Local services in Annapolis

TL:DR Bizarre practices, ableist behaviour, poor management, one has to wonder if they're actually in it to get pets adopted after reading reviews on multiple sites - read many, see how many are similar. They strung us along for a full FOUR WEEKS while multiple kittens we applied for were adopted. A supervisor told me that the problems I read about online were OLD problems they had FIXED, and was mad I brought them up, but check out the reviews, they're similar to mine. A supervisor thinks it is everyone else's fault that his team cannot manage applications effectively or give correct information to people when they call. He said they do not lie, but I do not know what else to call it when I ask for an update on an application for two kittens on a Monday, and on that Monday I am told it is "perfectly fine!" and I should "get a call in the next couple days!" and then by Friday, the kittens were long gone, we never had a chance at them. Very cruel behaviour. I'm sure they will say I am crazy, as the supervisor told my partner I was pretty crazy, but my experience is NOT unique. This is a pattern, point blank.

We initial application for a cute black kitten on 1/2/2021, and by the 4th, we were told that this kitten was already adopted. I called and had the application switched for a different kitten called "Neon" (who is currently still up for adoption, this very moment.)

By 1/14, I had not heard back at all, so I went to the PAWS at the Mall location, and spoke with a very helpful woman who suggested she had the very cat for us! Fantastic! Better yet, he has a sister! She strongly suggested that I consider two kittens. I played with this kitten for a while, decided he was someone we'd like to take home, and had the adoption application switched from Neon to this other kitten. The very nice lady at the counter was, again, a bit pushy about considering BOTH this kitten and his sister. I was not ready for two kittens, but after talking it over with the family, on 1/15, I took my older children to PAWS at the Mall and we submitted an application to adopt both of these kittens. We played with them for a long time, my kids loved them both. We were told we'd hear back in "2-7 days."

On Monday, 1/25, I called the office and asked about our application. I was told everything was fine and good to go and I should hear back soon, within a couple of days. I asked more than once if there was anything else we could do, because it had been quite a while. No, it was absolutely fine. Today, 1/30, I called in and asked if one of the kittens we were supposedly still under consideration for (the girl of the pair above) was available. She was not, she had already been adopted. I knew I had recently seen her photo online, within a day or so. Perhaps I was mistaken.

The manager was defensive, rude, told me that the "old problems in reviews was being worked on, and even went as far as to tell me that if I did not want to take my entire family to go meet Neon (the second cat we had applied to adopt, back on Jan 4th!) that there was no point in even continuing the conversation. I have a large family, and we are trying to mitigate our risk during the pandemic. I do not want to repeatedly bring my children to shelters or cafes or wherever so they can meet cats we won't be able to adopt. That is cruel to my children, and risky for everyone. My partner is a cancer patient, and the manage was brash in telling me "well MA'AAM you did not SAY THAT, you just said you DID NOT WANT TO COME!" Dude, I don't have to tell you medical information right off the bat, and I was already there twice! Clearly I was interested, because we even came back right the next day! He went off on my partner, screaming at him while telling him that they're going to "update the form with new information." Horrid individual, vindictive behaviour, and guess what? A cat could have a home FOUR WEEKS AGO but he's still not adopted yet, because of the...

I've been to many shelters at this point in my life, and I have NEVER seen an adoption application process so horrible. Their mentality seems to be that if they can make it long and difficult enough, they will scare away all but the most determined and dedicated people.

You are not allowed to do more than look at a cat in its cage until you have gone through the application process and been approved, but they also expect you to be ready to identify the cat you want as a part of applying. They will tell you it will take 3-5 days for them to review your application, but after a week I'd still heard nothing. So I called them, and was told to wait a few more days. A few days after a few days later, I got an email saying I'd been rejected, but with no further explanation as to why. So I called, and was told the medical history I provided for my previous cat was not extensive enough because it only covered the last year of his life and a single local vet office. I then explained to them that I could not provide much more because prior to that, I'd been living in Japan with my cat. They told me that regardless, without at least copies of his vaccination history, they could not proceed. I told them that was not a problem at all and they should have just asked before rejecting my application, because I can in fact give them copies of his vaccination history while in Japan (no where on the application does it ask you to provide copies of vaccinations). So they gave me an email to send it to with a promise to review the documents and reopen my application. Over a month later, and I've heard nothing back.

They have a huge selection of cats because they will not adopt them out to anyone they are not sure will be a perfect owner, yet their process for trying to judge the quality of owner you'd be is a lot of paper work without any attempt to just talk to you and get to know you. The application doesn't tell you everything they want to see, and if you're missing something they will reject you without a second thought or any attempt to ask you to provide the missing information. They were also consistently rude to me and my wife. Overall, their adoption process felt more like trying to adopt a child than a pet, which on the one hand seems to imply they really care about seeing the cats go to a good home, but if that's the case you would think they'd make more of an effort to speak with the people applying in order to better judge their character and intentions.

If you don't believe me, look at the other 1 star reviews - the complaints people have are consistently about either the application process or the kind of treatment they received from the staff.

Edit: you can see below this a response from them, where they defend their practices and brag about having "one of the lowest pet return rates in the country". I'm sure they do. But I'm equally sure they have one of the worst adoption rates, with pets languishing away in their tiny cages for months and years on end, while they wait for someone to finally succeed in jumping through their endless hoops. Again, if they were that dedicated to getting cats adopted to the right home, they would be highly communicative with the applicants. They would let people actually meet the pets before going through the application process to ensure compatibility. They would actually review applications in a timely manner. And if an application was lacking something they wanted to see, they would ask follow-on questions to try and fix it, before throwing the application away. A massive waste of time for both the people trying to adopt, and the pets that...

Where to even begin, talking about the experience I had here!? I suppose I'll start with the SUPER easy online application form! A single phone call and looking online showed me that they are going by appointment right now so I was expecting it to take 3 to 4 day but instead I was contacted THAT day (Sunday) and had a Kitten by Monday! The form is very easy and straight forward and as long as you're serious about wanting to take good care of an animal, you're even happy to see how far they go to make sure you're a suitable fur-parent! And it doesn't take long at all 😊 I even had a hick-up with my application and it was settled very easily with proper paperwork! The women I had on the phone/email (Tina!🧡) was so kind and understanding and I couldn't have asked to be in better hands when it came to my pet-finding needs! Be patient! You will have this animal for years! It is GOOD to make sure you're ready! When I arrived to my appointment I was quite excited but for me, that does make me a little nervous! Stepping into their front office completely shifted all my nerves because of how kind the office was! The amazing woman I had talk to on the phone was there and another just as happy Woman was there ready to show me some kittens! The women who took me around to meet the kittens was mind-blowing! She was so knowledgeable and showed so much genuine and individual love for every single Cat we passed! Old and new, she knew their stories and you could just feel how loved and well taken care of these little guys were 🥰 When I picked my new Tiny guy, everything was very quick from there! They even gave me a "sample" of the food he is currently on (much bigger than a sample in my opinion!) And a can of wet food! And then just as a cherry on top, they had these super cute calendars for Dec2020 - Dec2021 for adopting 😽! All of his medical information was all up to date and he was very well vetted! As I could tell with all their animals but it was beautiful to see in black and white 🖤🤍 I got him home and he's... perfect. What can I say? He's a kitten that has ALREADY fit into our family in so many ways! He's apart from our current cat right now but they already have so much in common and we catch them sleeping by the door near each other already so I'm sure it will be a very easy introduction 🥰 (Besides trying to play with eachothwers paws of course!) Now, I do want to add. That while I was there some nasty people walked up to their doors with total disrespect (more than one group too). Anyone and I mean ANYONE who is working with the public during all of this does not deserved to be cussed out, disregarded, or totally disrespected the way I've seen these ladies be treated. They don't HAVE to be open. Having a pet is not a necessity to us but these men and women are still working around the clock to give these animals a good home and if you can't even treat fellow human beings with common decency, than you shouldn't be trusted with an animal and I hope you get denied. Thank you for coming...