CHA Animal Shelter — Local services in Columbus

Ok, first we got a beagle their and she is great. Now we were trying to get a new dog because the beagle we had was very lonely and was mourning the death of our terrier mix. But when we came to get a new dog it did not go as planned. We saw the dog on the cha animal shelter website and we said ok let’s go get him. So we went and played with the dog in the room for a little bit. We fell in love with this dog it was so beautiful and playful. But we wanted to foster to adopt but they wanted us to bring in our beagle for a meat and greet. We asked if they could hold the dog for us but they could not do that. Another family was also looking at this dog. I don’t understand why they would need us to bring in the dog. I do understand that the dog should meet but we did not want to go back home about a 15 minute drive to than another 15 minute drive back. Anyone could get this dog If they wanted to while we were gone they said. So we were about to leave and my grandma was the one buying the dog and she has a cane and doesn’t look like she can walk that well. The guy said at the front desk “I think with your physical ability you will not be able to care for this dog so you can not have it... that made her very upset because we were out the door ready to have this dog. Obviously my grandma started to tell the guy at the front desk that she has 3 grand children that could walk the dog and she could feed the dog. Yes she has 3 grandchildren that could have walked this dog but the man at the front desk decided himself that she could not handle a dog not even personally knowing her. And she was too old and couldn’t do it. Or she can’t walk good enough to own a dog. So we left very upset and we got in the car than left... We will never ever in any of our lives return to this shelter. And I will make sure that if anyone is trying to get a dog you can be too old to get one. Or if you have a problem you can’t get a dog here. I really thought this shelter was good. I really did until this one incident.instead of caring for the people that come in to adopt a dog they discriminate. This Shelter is full of discrimination and I can’t stand it. Please don’t go here if you don’t want to get told that your not good enough. Thank...

I just adopted my cat, Frida, from CHA Animal Shelter this past Saturday and they were wonderful! They take great care of their animals and keep diligent records of their medical history and notes from previous owners. They let me come in with only 5 min left on $5 Feline Friday to see if there were any cats with whom I might match well, and they immediately pointed me to my new love and family member, Frida. I didn't want to wait another week for the next $5 Feline Friday and risk someone else adopting her, so the next day I returned. They let me spend more time with her and answered all of my questions about her personality, temperament, health, history, and preferences. The application process was surprisingly easy and pleasant. I was unable to find a carrier that morning, so they lent me one of their plastic ones saying that I can return it whenever I'm done with it (they had just run out of the box carriers and Frida would have been too large for those anyway). Their kindness and knowledge made the adoption process a wonderful experience that I'll look back on fondly forever. Although their hours are limited, it worked well for my schedule so I have no complaints about that. I can't comment on their dogs because I didn't go into that area, but the kennel set up for the cats was surprisingly spacious considering the number of cats they had. They also had at least 2 private rooms you could use to play with the cats. When not being used privately, those rooms are just left open and then the compatible cats are allowed to run around and play for a while and then another group of compatible cats were allowed to leave their cages and get exercise/play. They really take the time to get to know the animals to take the best care of them and provide the best recommendations to the people looking to adopt. The staff also told me that they are involved in the local community and offer events such as kids reading with the kittens to help socialize the kittens and increase the chances of them finding their forever home. All around, I was thoroughly impressed! If I weren't a 1 cat/pet person, I'd certainly go back there to adopt...

The staff is extremely sweet. I went in for a little kitty cat and a pup. All staff was friendly. They let us relax, see the animals, and let us know to reach out if we want anything or have any questions.

They were really willing to answer questions, let me hang out with the animals one-on-one, and have a good system to make sure that if you like a little cat or dog you can take their sheet as you keep looking around for your next one to make sure the ones you already decided to take home can't be adopted by someone else in the meantime. I know it sounds like a silly thing to say, but I've read reviews of other shelters where someone was looking at a dog and another person decided to adopt it while they were.

They even stayed late to make sure everyone in line could finish adopting. That's definitely not something they needed to do and it warmed my heart that even though it probably took them an extra hour to get through that line they did it. Even so, they made sure to take care of everything each person needed in the adoption. They gave me the medicine I needed for my dog and some of the current food they fed her since I want to switch to grain-free and it's often good to mix the two foods at first to help their tummies.

They helped me bring my furbabies to the car and let me know I'm welcome to call if I have any questions. This shelter was extremely friendly and I'm happy to have gotten my new family members here.

Edit: I wrote this review 2 years ago and just want to say I couldn't be happier with my adoptions. Both of my animals grew up so well, and I think coming from a place that seemed as nice as Cha helped them be as comfortable with people...