Gulf Coast Humane Society — Local services in Fort Myers

Having been a Cat Owner for over 40 years and the recent passing of my 19 year old Tabby who scummed to pancreatitis after a number of days in Hospital and follow up that required me to give him medication regularly. He made it for about 3 months after his hospitalization. I adopted almost immediately after I had him cremated, because a cat or multiple cats have always been part of the Family. I adopted a 4 year old female from this shelter. After about a week the Cat would not use the litter box and began soiling all around the house. My Sister was visiting who has 2 cats and she suggested we put the Cat in the guest bathroom with food & litter box and the cat used the box. After 3 or 4 days the cat was permitted access the rest the house and continued to use the box. Once the cat was comfortable in the House again it went back to soiling on rugs etc. I took the Cat to the Vet and they said the cat was running a low fever and could have an infection of some kind? I paid for an anti -biotic injection and the Vet suggested I put the Cat litter box and food on my lanai that is walled on both sides with a slider to the interior of the house so it has a more indoor feel and leave the cat there for 4 or 5 days. The cat used the box! The first day I gave the cat free roam again I was awaken to the Cat soiling on my bed??? We went back to the lanai and the cat used the box. I then gave her free roam again and the cat was using the boxes on the lanai. I even switch the cat on the Vets suggestion to wet food with water added to avoid any dehydration that she may have from the fever she had experienced. After about 4 days the Cat soiled on one of my rugs right in front of me. I immediately put the cat back on the lanai and it came right back in the house though the pet door I forgot to lock and began soiling on a rug in another room. After returning the cat to the lanai I found three large stools that she had dropped out side the box. I cannot blame it on the litter or cleanliness all clumps were removed ASAP and she had multiple boxes with both scented and unscented litter. I am a pet lover and always have been and never returned a cat I adopted, they all lived long happy lives and were part of the Family. It was very difficult for me but sadly I had to return this one. My main disappointment with the shelter was that this cat is genuinely unhealthy or has extreme behavior problems and they were not aware of it. I am now faced with the task of having a pillow top mattress and 3 Oriental Carpets professionally cleaned as well as having a Home Entertainment Center refinished. Besides the Vet Bill, this was a very expensive non - adaption??????? I still plan to adopt another cat in the near future, but I must do more research on local shelters and find one that screens their Cats to be sure I am getting a healthy cat without behavior problems. Any suggestions on such a Shelter...

The Worst experience of my interactions with shelters all over the world to date. The Volunteer coordinator who i was so nicely connected to while trying to assit in the reuniting of an adult Female Boxer named Echo to her rightful owner, had to of been the most nastiest, rude, unprofessional, immature woman i have ever had dealings with. Having a bad day or not is no reason to yell, talk over, or have attitude with another when the main goal is to be all about pets and cutting down on the Euphemism and instead getting these pets back into the homes of their loved ones. The Volunteer coordinator at Gulf Coast presents herself in a manner just opposite of that goal and has a short temper when asked who is above her. I was hung up on as if i were not talking to an adult t begin with. She not only hung up on me once, or twice it happened three times. All the while all my intentions were to renite Echo with her father who has been relentlessly trying to retrieve his pet from first animal control then the humane society and where is Echo now, according to Gulf coast, the Boxer rescue has her but because the kennel manager is not available until tomorrow morning and the person above the kennel manager that i asked to speak with was on vacation, essentially all operations cease in this situation because according to the volunteer coordinator she was the next in charge and excuse me in my knowledge their is always above in rank at any job and when i ask for that person is when i get hung up on. This woman told me that in Lee County when a pet is brought in as a stray the owner has three days to claim the pet or it goes up for adoption, in my understandings i believed that when a "stray" is brought in to a shelter it is customary to scan to check if their is a microchip in the pet so that the owners can be notified that their pet can be claimed. Echo's father has been trying for 10 days while getting the run around with nothing but cunfusion let alone stress because the fees are mounting, with absolutely no positive direction from Gulf Coast who would rather put the pet in a rescue after the trauma of being in 2 different facilities and without her dad of the 10 years, Echo sits in a rescue wondering, why this woman could not help her get home to her rightful owner. I am ashamed at the way this woman acted towards another professional and i apologize if any other person comes across her miserable exsistence and looses their family member due to her lack of information on how to get Echo home. When someone works in the animal field its wise to have a love for animals living not the opposite, because with your disreguard for the feelings of others and the pets they own you are definatley not doing your...

Utterly all around disappointed. All of the paid staff at this facility were extremely rude, condescending, shallow, and unprofessional. They gave me the run around for FIVE WEEKS, I was looking to adopt a puppy and I visited this shelter 4 times prior to the day I went to adopt this puppy and I finally realized the staff was just giving me bits and pieces of information re. the adoption. They told me there was 8 puppies and I had to watch their website everyday which I did bc they would not tell me when they would be ready to be adopted. The second I saw the puppies being posted I got all my stuff together and even arrived at the shelter early. When we got in the told me 6 of the 8 puppies were already pending adoption WHICH THEY TOLD ME THERE WAS NO HOLDING ALLOWED ON PUPPIES, (because I tried to pay for one in advance and they said no) so they straight up lied. THEN I was told oh now the puppies are in a foster home and THEN I was told "oh the volunteers and staff may have slip in applications for dogs" and obviously they work there so they know what goes on behind the scenes , so essentially I never even had a change to get one of theses dogs in the first place. I cannot tell you how uncomfortable I felt by the 5th visit to this shelter, its honestly sad and pathetic that they make people feel this way and turn what should be a peaceful and happy process into a miserable and hostile standoff/battle to adopt/rescue a dog. I will say most of the unpaid volunteers were very nice and Anthony (one of the supervisors) was the ONLY person to give me any information and the time of day which I am very grateful for. I ended up going to the Lee County Sheriffs Pound and found the perfect dog for me! They were extremely kind and helpful, they cost was way less and I got my pup in less than 2 days. Overall I'd recommended that shelter over the Gulf Coast Humane Society to anyone looking to peaceful rescue /adopt a dog. BUT I do feel bad for the dogs at this shelter because if that is how they treat humans who knows how they treat...