Stanislaus Animal Services Agency — Local services in Ceres

On August 05, 2017, I surrendered to Stanislaus Animal Services Agency (SASA) four 6-week old kittens, I had rescued and cared for, for 3 weeks. My cousin had found them abandoned outside her apartment. Her neighbors did not want her feeding them, but she saw that the mother didn’t come back, so she cared for them for 2 weeks prior to giving them to my wife and I to take care of because we have a house. Since it was taking so much of our time caring for them, we thought to bring them to SASA because they would have a bigger pool of adopters. I paid $40 to SASA for each kitten, a total of $120, to surrender them. The receptionist at the front desk who entered the information about the kittens reassured me that they would be fine and not to worry about them being euthanized because they were kittens and would have a great chance of being adopted. I then told him if ever there was a decision to euthanize, to please call me first and I would come over and pick them up, and he agreed to do so. I told him that I had recently made a transition from bottle feeding to dry food (made by grinding the dry kitten food in the blender with some water to make a paste). I also told him that after the transition, one of the kittens had slight diarrhea, most likely due to changing from kitten milk to dry food, since none of the 4 kittens had diarrhea previous to the transition. On August 9, 2017, I called SASA and left a voicemail saying I wanted to adopt one of the four kittens. They did not return my call. Then on Saturday, August 12, 2017, I visited the center with my wife and inquired about the kittens. The receptionist looked them up and matter-of-factly told me that they had all been euthanized. She told me that, “one of them had diarrhea and that most likely the rest of them had been exposed and it was way too much work to take care of them.” My wife and I were shocked since these kittens looked very healthy, were full of energy and very playful and social. Most likely they would have been easily adopted, all four were beautiful kittens. No attempt was made to treat the one with diarrhea. I thought the SASA had veterinarians who would have treated the one with diarrhea. My wife and I bottle-fed the kittens for 3 weeks. If the receptionist at SASA had been honest and told me that there was even the slightest chance of any of them being euthanized, I would never have left the kittens with him the first place. I was given no paperwork explaining the SASA’s policy. All I was given was a receipt for the $120 payment. My wife and I believe we were deceived by SASA, and we have been greatly negatively affected by this situation. We are so deeply upset and depressed since this incident, and have lost trust in SASA completely. I do not understand why I had been told that I would be called if a decision to euthanize were made, and then not receive a call. My wife and I spent easily 100 man hours on these kittens, and we were planning on taking them to our own vet (we have 2 cats). Kittens are not commodities; they are living things and should be treated as such. Euthanizing these four beautiful kittens, when you knew there was a family willing to take them in and to the vet, is simply unconscionable. I surrendered them thinking I was doing the best thing for them by giving them a better chance of being adopted. If I had any idea they would be euthanized because one of them had diarrhea (likely from food), or known that I was being lied to by your staff saying they would call me to pick them up if that decision were made, I would never have brought them to you. I plan to share my experience with everyone I know and advise them never to leave any animals with you since you seem to have no heart or...

I would give zero if possible. My experience with the stanislaus animal services agency was horrific, and traumatizing. I had found a kitten on their website and it was love at first sight. I went in to meet them and the adoption was official that same day. When we had adopted the kitten they told me it would take a week for them to be released.

My worry before adoption was worms due to previous experiences with them but the staff kept reassuring and guaranteeing me that they wouldn't have worms and that the kitten was vaccinated twice. So we had gotten a message 3 days later to pick up the kitten, which was fine.

When we got there to pick up the kitten they gave me their med records and it had said that they where vaccinated 4 times in the span of 2 months with the visit on the records mentioning that worms where found. When I had asked them if the kitten had previously had them or if they still currently do they had denied it all and said that it does not currently have worms nor did it possibly ever.

When we went to meet a staff member to get the kitten packed up the staff member had showed me the incision for their nuder but there was a bump above the incision, I had asked about it and the worker pressed on it making the cat cry and said it was probably a hernia. So we had them take her to the vet in the building to check for that and any possible worms. A vet had came back saying that if the bump is still there after a week to come back and in regards to worms that they did not have any nor could she tell us if they do in the first place.

So we took the kitten home, within 10 mins the kitten had used the bathroom and its poop was infested with tapeworms. I immediately took the kitten back and they refused to help us immediately. We had to wait 15 mins to even talk to them. When we told them what was going on we had also said we couldn't keep the kitten because of the worms due to us having other cats in the house. So they tried to charge us $45 to surrender the kitten even tho we didn't even have the kitten for 10 mins. We had talked to a manager who had took the price off but the lady at the front desk had a aggressive behavior the whole time. Making snarky comments and being all around rude and uncalled for. The other staff had acted the same way with another worker actually yelling at me over the paperwork and a man before that making the tapeworm issue seem like it was nothing and asking what did it mattered to me. By the end of my visit I had surrendered the kitten back to them and feel terrible for it because I truly grew attached to the kitten quick and the fact that the kitten has been hurting this long and they still haven't helped it was genuinely upsetting and hurtful.

I had gave them a stool sample to hopefully be tested so they can help it but with how they acted I am scared that they will not or worse put the kitten down over something that was their fault not the kittens.

In all please beware that staff here is aggressive and unprofessional, there are a few that seem like they genuinely care but 99% of them don't seem like they would batt an eye over any of the animals. I hope the kitten finally gets help but from this experience it was one of the most traumatic ones I've ever had with animal services. I will not be coming back here or supporting them.

P.S we didn't get the refund of $65 even through be brought the kitten back...

The process to adopt a dog here should not be so difficult and the staff could certainly assist more or be more receptive when someone is trying to adopt a pet. We had browsed their website and found a dog we liked. My wife was in contact with a volunteer there and we got some nice videos and pics. When we contacted the desk to try to arrange an adoption they were very unhelpful and told us the dog was set to be euthanized on Sat. We were coming from out of state and coming before the weekend would be difficult. We offered to pay to keep him for just 1 more day and they refused. We offered to donate to their facility but they refused. Ultimately they started ignoring our phone calls when all we were trying to do was adopt a dog. We arranged to come down Friday, the day before his euthanasia but they gave us no assurances that he would be there even though we were driving 6 hours. Ultimately we contacted a rescue that was able to “pull him and tag him” until we got there. When we got there and were at the reception desk we observed the employee looking at the phone ringing and not answering the calls just as ours had been ignored. Again, it should not be so difficult when someone is actively trying to adopt a dog. We see the weekly euthanasia list and it’s quite saddening. If you bring a dog here it is quite likely it will be put down. Please try to find another option. The only reason they get 2 stars is because the employee who ultimately brought our dog out was very nice and good with the dog we adopted. They also claim that they vax and neuter the dogs but ours was not neutered even though he had been there for a month.

It is not my intent to deter anyone from adopting an animal here. That only punishes the animal there are thousands of great pets that come through this facility, and desperately need a home. I just want people to know what to expect. My advice would be to try to get in touch with a volunteer here who can help you with the process rather than the paid staff. My only hope is that management would see this review and others like it and change some of their policies to improve the adoption process.

That being said, for those who are looking to adopt a pet, please give it some time when you get home. When we first got our dog home we were worried there was something wrong with him, like neurological issues. We read about kennel stress and a decompression period. In most cases your pet will need some time to adjust and you don’t know what it’s been through. We read about three weeks is an average time to decompress. Get a kennel for your dog and take it slow because in the long run you will likely end up with a great pet...