Animal Humane Society — Local services in Coon Rapids

BECAREFUL!! Do not discuss with staff your feelings and processing thinking. I was thinking of getting another kitten. I had lost both mine to kidney disease this summer.I put one kitten I saw on hold, but of course out of the five litter the cutest one was already taken. You have to put them on hold even when processing if you are going to get the kitten as they need to be spayed. Because I was processing whether I should get the kitten the young girl banned me from getting a kitten for two months over the phone. Before she called after reflection and prayer I decided to put the kitten I wanted OFF hold because as an adult we have to make the right decisions for our families and I wanted to be SURE this was the one for me. I had showed her pictures of my kitten adopted three weeks ago and showed her several pictures of how well they bonded already. Hailey told me I could not adopt another kitten for two full months NOT as a punishment, but because I needed to let my others settle in. The level of CONTROL over an adult's decision was beyond my belief as this did not make any sense. I had NEVER SURRENDERED back a pet before. I told her the cute ones go and she told me I should not be focused on how cute they are but on how I like them. Well dah! You take ALL into consideration. Since I am an adult who reflects and prays I had ALREADY taken the kitten OFF hold to make it available ASAP for others. I did not need a person to phone me and tell me how I should feel or think and then ban me from buying a FUTURE KITTEN until the winter in which they have few kittens. This is beyond me!! She kept on stating because of my reflection (talk) that I should let the other kittens have more bonding time-success. Yet she saw the pictures and I even MENTIONED how well they bonded. She sounded like she was reading from a script over and over again. This is NOT a punishment. Well, if you ban someone from getting a pet when they decide they are ready and the other kittens have been together for almost a month and bonded quickly then WHY would you BAN someone from getting another kitten. This level of CONTROL seems UPSURD! They need to train their workers on how to deal with people better. Imagine in July if I opened my heart to the worker and she told me that based on talking to you we won't allow you to get a new kitten because we don't think you are ready because you just lost a pet then I would not have my adorable kitten today! That level of CONTROL from these young workers needs to stop. They are interfering with a sounded minded person's decision to come to their own decisions and conclusions on what is right for them. BIZARRE STUFF!! Don't reflect around these people because they may BAN you from buying an animal due to your verbal reflection. CONCLUSION: BANNED from adoption for: 1.) Wanting a cute kitten 2.) because my kittens need more bonding time (I guess she lives with me??) JUST SO BIZARRE! Just so STRANGE! She was polite and I was polite to her in the phone as well, but I told her it did not make any sense! What made sense is I had already made a decision on my own to not adopt another kitten and take her off hold PRIOR because I was not ready for this kitten not because my other kittens needed more bonding time, which they don't nor because a twenty year old needs to make that decision for me. I can see if someone had a MENTAL ILLNESS of DEMENTIA then you would treat them with this level of restriction, but not a sound minded person.

August 2024: The people that work there are truly a blessing! I came with a heavy heart after losing my cat and the lady got a kitten I had requested and sat with me with kitten. It was nice to have someone there with you supporting you ❤️ when you haven't adopted...

My husband and I are upset about the lack of care our dog received at the Coon Rapids Animal Humane Society prior to our adoption. I pointed out during one of my visits with her that she seemed sick - she was coughing, gagging, and shaking, and seemed lethargic. The staff member told me that another dog that our dog had traveled with from Oklahoma came down with kennel cough, so they would have her evaluated by a vet team member and monitor her for 24 hours. They called me the next day and told me she was fine and they didn't notice anything wrong with her. I asked specific questions regarding her health and they assured me she was fine. Hearing this, my husband and I decided to adopt her and took her home. She was clearly unwell, which we noticed within a couple of hours. She was coughing, gagging, and was lethargic. They next morning I had to take her to the emergency vet (because it was a Sunday). She was shaking violently, breathing raggedly, so lethargic that she wouldn't open her eyes, and coughing to the point of vomiting. The Animal Humane Society refused to pay for this visit even though they said her first visit would be covered. For some reason the emergency vet did not count. She ended up having a fever of 104.7 and pneumonia filling up an entire lobe of her lung. We had xrays taken to confirm this at our regular clinic the next day. She was placed on 3 different antibiotics to overcome her illness and essentially needed to be on bedrest. Between the emergency vet clinic visit, xrays, IV fluids, and antibiotics, we have spent several hundred dollars on our dog, just regarding this illness. My husband and I have had to monitor her closely for the past 2 weeks to make sure her condition didn't worsen and lead to hospitalization, but thankfully she is now finally starting to perk up. The vets (both emergency vet and our regular vet) said she was most likely sick with kennel cough or another respiratory infection for at least 2 weeks prior to adoption, because pneumonia just doesn't pop up overnight, it's a secondary infection. We are really displeased with the lack of care our dog received while being at the humane society. If we hadn't adopted her and gotten her the medical treatment she clearly needed she could have died. Pneumonia is very serious in dogs and they can end up hospitalized if left untreated. We wonder how many other animals at this location are unwell and have been, or continue to be, neglected their proper medical treatment. We are typically big supporters of the humane society, but this experience has definitely...

I went to this location today for the first time to meet an adorable senior chihuahua that I was interested in adopting. I walked in the door and no one said hello to me or anything. I actually had to work for the attention of the front desk attendant. She told me the chihuahua was still available for adoption, so I quickly made my way to the dog room. I noticed that the chihuahua appeared to be walking with one of her front paws abnormally. She also appeared to be very, very dirty. It looked as though she had vomited on herself at some point and no one bothered to clean her up. I asked to meet the dog and was lead to the typical meeting room. The dog came in and appeared to be very sweet and gave me lots of kisses. After a few minutes, the volunteer woman returned with a tablet to answer some of my questions. The woman seemed really confused about all the information she was reading. One moment she said the dog was a stray, then the next moment she said that the dog had been adopted once already. I asked why the dog appeared so dirty and the woman told me, "We don't bathe the dogs because we find it's too traumatic for them". This really surprised me because I've been to different humane society locations and have never witnessed a dog looking as seemingly neglected. The woman continued to jump around with the information being read, as I continued to find more things caught in the dogs coat (including feces). The woman then told me that the people that originally adopted the dog had returned her because they had discovered she had cancer, were told to amputate the paw, and that's why she was limping. The woman then told me that there was no proof of this but they did not know the reason for the dogs limping (very concerning). I decided that this dog had too many questions surrounding it and I couldn't bring myself to adopt it. I then asked to see another dog that had interested me, only to have it then come to the room and also appear as though it had not been bathed or taken care of. This dog also had feces in it's fur as well as dirt. I ended up leaving the facility feeling very concerned for the animals. I love the Woodbury and Golden Valley locations. Always clean and always nice. I would not recommend that anyone bother commuting to this location unless you call ahead of time to learn everything possible about the animal you are interested in and continue to ask questions when...