SPCA of Texas Dallas Animal Care Center — Local services in Dallas

On February 1, 2025, two young cats, Custard and Midnight, were placed on a plane and flown to the New England area to be adopted. I was not allowed to accompany my fur babies to their destination at the SPCA's location. Instead, a transporter took them and dropped them off. The person who had arranged their adoption through the SPCA called and said that both boys had been adopted as brothers to one family. Then the same person and I had an issue with kittens concerning their placement with the Humane Society of North Texas. What happened was so disturbing that I began to wonder about Custard and Midnight. I was informed that there was money to be made in selling these animals and I should not trust anyone who would not let me be involved in this process. I called the service center line at the SPCA and shared my concern with the intake person. That night I received a phone call from a woman named Sarah. Sarah demanded to know who had claimed they were making money off the animals. I refused to answer her question. I then asked what had happened to Custard and Midnight and Sarah took a photo of an email she had received about Custard and sent it to me via Message. I then asked her why they didn't say anything about Midnight and Sarah did not know anything about any cat named Midnight. She was supposed to find out and call me but she has steadfastly refused to answer my question about his whereabouts. I drove to the SPCA on Sunday, February 16, and that is when the SPCA learned that the person who was involved with this transfer had LIED to them about the ownership of them. She stated that they were her cats and they believed her. That is when I told Ms. Valverde that those cats were mine. They began looking for the manifest for Midnight and said that he arrived in New Hampshire with Custard, but that they had been listed separately. Ms. Valverde said that where Midnight was they couldn't say, but they did know the name of the shelter/rescue group and refused to divulge that information to me. All I wanted to know was that he really was adopted and again I was not given an answer.

According to Texas law, no rescue group can adopt out an animal without the written consent of the owner. They had the owner standing before them. They, according to the law, must return my cats to me. No one is willing to help me correct this awful injustice. I know that Custard is supposedly with a loving family. Midnight, who is a completely black cat, could be anywhere.

Would you donate or surrender your animal to a group that has no empathy for the actual owner? Would you want your animal placed with a group that does not ask for any documentation that the liar who states the animals belong to him/her at face value? According to the law, any rescue group must have in their possession a signed statement that the owner is surrendering the pet in question. The SPCA did not follow the law.

My next step will be to file a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau against the SPCA of Dallas. Finally, there will be a podcast with more details of this sorry mess than you are reading here.

Thank you for taking the time to read this review. Please share it with all animal lovers that you know. DO NOT LET ANYONE INTO YOUR HOME WHO WANTS TO "HELP YOU" FIND HOMES FOR YOUR ANIMALS. THEY ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

My response to the SPCA's comments:

Yes, I agree misinformation harms the animals. The trapper LIED to me and to the SPCA. Again, the SPCA took her word as true and it was not. I never said that there is money in the selling of these animals. I said I WAS TOLD that information by a third party. I shared that information with the SPCA. I never claimed it was true. However, because of what I was told and what I now know to be true about rescue groups, I will write about rescue groups using facts that are indisputable and document where the information can be found if anyone wants to fact...

On a whim we decided to visit the SPCA. I had lost my seven year old anatolian to a tumor a while back and took my time to mourn but yesterday felt I was ready to have another furbaby in my life. Upon walking in I noticed how clean it was in there. It didn't reek of urine or feces, the pups were all smiles from ear to ear and the staff were all friendly. We fell in love with the firt pup we saw, her name is Jelly and she's the loveliest puppy you'll ever meet. It was love at first sight, I didn't even have to look at other dogs. Within ten minutes we were visiting with her in a super clean room. The staff member knew Jelly hadn't received all her shots so she took extra measures to make sure she was safe, blankets and all. Her fee ($150) seemed steep at first and we did have to ponder on it, but she was just too good of a baby to pass up. My boyfriend and I have visited other shelters in the area with the hope of possible adoption but these other shelters, tho lower adoption fees, seemed to neglect or make their animals miserable. Jelly was a dream and you could really tell she was well taken care of. Sadly, we went home. But I knew within hours what I wanted. I felt connected to this dog and tho the shelter had already closed I reached out to them. It was past 6pm and the staff still responded to me! (Excellent customer service might I say) they ensured me Jelly was still there and I could get her tomorrow and I did. I got there right at noon, today. The staff greeted me with smiles and I was even remembered. They wondered why I hadn't just snagged her right then and there, we seemed to clearly have a bond, but I was so lucky God looked out for me and ensured she was mine. The staff went out of their way to put her harness on for me, they went over all her records thoroughly, let me take some treats off their hands due to her leash weariness and they even helped us encourage her to walk on it. Everyone there was literally so nice. Jelly has now been home for seven hours. She now knows how to walk on her leash without pulling and with minimal hesitation. She plays well and despite her accidents she's responding well to our excitement with potty outside. She's a blessing, thank you Dallas SPCA! We love our Jelly! (Well she's now pumpkin, we felt she needed a sweeter name for her sweet...

❗️Please read review before setting up appointment or taking your pet to this facility. What to expect when you arrive: They will tell you to be there by 7:30 am, you will be in a line outside until they open doors then in a waiting room with 15-20 dogs (maybe more) & some cats so if you have an aggressive pet be aware. If your pet has ringworm or you think your pet has ringworm don’t bother setting up an appointment you will waste lots of time that you can’t ever get back. Melissa was the lady we set our appointment up with earlier in the month & told her we needed our dog neutered that he might possibly have ringworm, she said just to let the facility know what all our dog needs when we get there the day of appointment. We live 30 mins away but since we had to be there at 7:30 we left at 6:30 am, we hit all morning traffic arriving at 7:25 then after waiting about 45 mins one of the facility ladies ended up telling us that our dog can’t be seen at all and not to bother bringing our dog back to the facility. Our dog desperately needed to be seen & had a list of things that was needed: neutering, shots, fecal sample, test for heart worm, flea medication, possible ring worm and needed to be chipped. I asked the lady how she knew our dog possibly had ring worm she said she read it in the notes, I was super upset b/c if she read it in the notes why didn’t they call us ahead of time to let us know our dog can’t be seen! No animal in the world should be denied services of any kind at any time, on our way back home we hit more traffic so didn’t arrive until 9:30 am. I’m exhausted, the stress level of all pets in one room being anxious, scared & barking all at once takes a lot of energy away, not just stressful on you but also on the pets, this whole experience was Horrible & that is why I rated this business 1 star, thank you SPAC for caring for the well being/over all health of my dog and for wasting my time. I will not be making any kind of contributions to this facility in the future b/c a facility like this should be prepared for pets that have ringworm or parvo, no service should ever be denied, there should be a special separate room for these type...