City Of Columbia Animal Services — Local services in Columbia

I adopted a young dog from this shelter 8 years ago. We loved this beautiful dog immensely and she was a joy to have as a part of our family. We will be forever grateful that we adopted our gorgeous girl.

However, when my family fell on hard times and we were without income and a home, the shelter would not accommodate us in any way to taking our adopted dog back or making space for her in the shelter or with a foster.

We quite literally had nowhere to go. No friends or family to help. We had limited financial resources that were all going to keep some kind of roof over my children’s heads. We notified the shelter immediately once we knew the situation and also gave the shelter 30 days to work with us to try and find a solution with us.

Realistically, what do you do when you have no housing, no homeless shelter that will accept your dog, and no vehicle to stay in temporarily with your dog to wait out a couple of months before a spot is ready??? The local shelter funded by tax dollars should be a place where you can surrender your pet when you have no other options and you want to do what's in the best interest of your animal companion.

Yet, the response that I got multiple times from shelter employees when expressing that I was going to be homeless and so was my dog was, “I’d hate to be in your situation”, “We can't take owner surrenders”, and “Rehoming program takes several months before there’s space available”.

Very out of touch and inappropriate responses to the seriousness and impossibility of the situation my family was facing. Yet, that seems to be the attitude and tone set with the city shelter, you figure it out on your own, regardless if it’s your pet or a stray frequenting your area. The shelter employees are very hands-off to stay on brand as a humane shelter.

Very cold and very clinical. No room for genuine compassion, exceptions, or understanding in difficult situations where there is no way to keep your dog. Just a bunch of run around giving me a list that five other places (vets, shelters, local “rescues”) gave me and every single agency kept passing me around and telling me again and again that they were full and they couldn’t help in any real way, but to get on their wait lists which is months out of accepting any pets into their program.

So, after begging for help and waiting for almost 30 days, we had to make the awful choice to euthanize a wonderful and smart companion dog. She would’ve made an amazing pet to anyone who would’ve adopted or fostered her. She was trained, well-mannered, and socialized to be desensitized to stimuli.

This shelter’s desire to be “no kill” and shirking their stats on paper regarding euthanasia provided in reports are entirely false. Many pets are privately euthanized or are dumped on the street to end up sick, injured, malnourished, and/or eventually dead as a result of the shelter outright refusing owner surrenders and strays regardless of how perilous a family’s situation is and impractical it is to just keep a pet for however long it takes for a spot to open up when you don’t have the means to do so.

The shelter's no-kill policy effectively kills pets off the books by forcing people into desperate situations and it leaves large gaps where help doesn’t reach those most vulnerable...

Went to the shelter to find a dog to adopt and instantly bonded with one that still needed to be neutered and had one more day before he was available since he had only been at the shelter for 13 days. The staff informed me that the soonest possible pick up day was two days later because of the scheduling for surgery. The following day I was contacted by the animal shelter in the afternoon with the message that the owner had called and wished to reclaim his dog after two weeks of no contact from the owner. They stated that they extended the dog’s hold for the owner to come and pick him up, but to follow up in case he did not show. I came to the shelter the following day at 3:30pm as recommended by the staff. The staff informed me that the dog’s owner had still not picked up the dog and that I could spend time with the dog. After walking the dog to the kennel I noticed the dog had still been neutered that morning despite the claims that the owner was coming to pick up the dog. Two of the staff members came outside and informed me that they had spoken with their manager and that “because of your dedication to Buddy we're going to release him to you at 5:01pm if the owner doesn’t show up”. This was great news to me. After spending a few more minutes with the dog I went to get dog food and arrived back at approximately 4:40pm and filled out the necessary paperwork. After having filled out the paperwork, the phone rings at 4:51pm and the staff says that the owner had just called and was on the way. According to the staff, while I was playing with Buddy in the designated kennels, the owner allegedly arrived at 4:59pm, completed all necessary paperwork, positively identified himself and the dog, and then made payment all within 1 minute as I walked in excited to take home my new dog immediately at 5pm. This all strikes me as odd. There’s nothing I can do other than share what happened to me. Hopefully whoever has Buddy now, whether it be his original owner, one of the staff members, or a friend of theirs I just hope he is taken care of. I’m looking forward to going elsewhere to adopt an animal in need and never having to deal with the inexplicably inconvenient timing of City of Columbia’s...

I came to adopt a dog 2 weeks ago. I did end up adopting (she is the best dog) BUT… here’s my experience: I asked to take a dog out to play and was handed a leash. No guidance or help. I try to get the dog out of the kennel and she immediately goes crazy and it took everything I had to push her back in. When I found my girl I took home, I did foster to adopt. I was given no information about her spay or health history until 3 days later when I finalized her adoption. She had pneumonia from prolonged kennel cough that was not disclosed. I only found out when a day after I brought her home she had green snot coming from her nose. I called telling them she was sick and they said to bring her back and they would have a look. I came at the time they told me to and the gate was locked. Finally got in the gate but then the door was locked. They gave her an antibiotic (that did not help, she had to be taken to my primary vet) and fluids because she had an insanely high fever. They were well aware I already had a dog at home. One of the reasons I picked my girl is because she was good with dogs. So when they told me she had kennel cough, their advice was “just keep her away from the other dog for 14 days” yes, because it’s that simple, right? Also, she was already exposed to my other dog. She is just now, 2 weeks later, beginning to act like herself as she overcame the pneumonia.

Right after that experience coming to have her checked out, I adopted her on the spot to get her out of that hell hole. The place was disgusting and it makes me sick thinking how those animals are...