Cats Exclusive Inc. — Local services in Margate

They raise cats to be quite good adoption choices, as far as I can tell... but there are a number of issues here.

Firstly: They never answer their phone, apparently under any extension. Not only I, but my apartment management, tried in utter futility to contact them by any means possible.

Secondly: Adopting here can be seemingly impossible depending on your life situation. If you live in an apartment, you'll likely be viewed with heavy disdain.

Thirdly: Depending on who is available will also heavily influence your experience. I went from having a joyous and positive experience on regular visits with some people around -- to feeling like I was annoying them just by being there when others were there.

I've had my heart broken at this place. I'm nearly 40 and I received the worst treatment I've ever had from any person in my life from the workers here.

I went through the process of adopting two cats that were still too young and sick to adopt out, but was willing to wait and see -- and visit them almost daily. The adoption process was jumped on immediately, but it was intensive:

3 personal references, my job, all my other pets, all the contact information for my apartment complex, all the details about adoption fees... I did not know the actual, technical details about pet fees as they actually don't care if you have cats where I rent. A neighbor told me what she thought the fees were. Cats Exclusive said they'd find out the actual numbers.

They, however, never called any friends or my apartment manager. They stuck to what I wrote down, but this information was incorrect, as my apartment manager soon pointed out -- so it'd be impossible to get a receipt for that amount! Regardless, they ignored me saying this and repeatedly insisted I provide receipts of paying this amount to my apartment manager per pet -- my apartment manager again said this was impossible as they won't charge me to begin with, but those fees aren't even valid amounts (and also if they charged me as a new tenant, it'd only be a one time fee, not per pet!)...

After a month with no word back on when they'd be adopted out, I was contacted via text message that I had two days to finalize everything. I had to get proof of receipt to them. No one ever answered the phone, no matter how many times we tried. They refused to personally call my manager to work it out. I finally got them in touch by e-mail but it took multiple attempts to get them to agree to this. My manager e-mailed them and explained that I could have the cats, did not need to pay anything, etc. We were all happy and satisfied on our end.

I was convinced I had worked out everything by their deadline, and showed up the next day to take the two kittens home, who I'd been visiting almost daily for a month straight. Apparently just saying I can have the cats by the management wasn't what their policy demands -- receipts only. Again, management couldn't get through and they wouldn't talk to my management on my phone right in front of them. Yet again, as many times before, I had to repeatedly drive back and forth to solve the issue as this haggard and stressed out middleman.

My management had to actually brainstorm with me on how to deal with these people. They attempted to fabricate a receipt for the totally made-up fees this center claimed they needed, that they saw on the 'apartment website'. They were satisfied with the result.

They still wouldn't adopt them to us -- our deadline was yesterday. They were going to adopt them to whoever wanted them next. However, we satisfied their 'policy', so they told us we could go in the back and pick out any two other cats.

...Really, so just. Pick out two other cats at random, after I spent a month getting to know and love these two? How heartless, how ruthless, and cruel a thing to say to a crying couple who, a day before, you told the "I HAVE A HOME!" tags put on their ID cards referred to us.

It's been weeks, and we're still in mourning. It was like losing a pregnancy, except a bitter person behind a counter caused it with an...

HORRIBLE! I was there 3 times. First visit with female doctor everything was perfect. Second visit, we meet Dr Bruce Zellmer for vaccines, it took him less than 20 second to vaccine both my cats (and made them shriek of pain). After 2 weeks one of the cats developed a big lump on his right shoulder so we went again. During my 3rd visit with Dr Zellmer, I experienced a behavior from the Vet that I found to be unnecessarily rude, dismissive and unprofessional. Instead of engaging in respectful dialogue about my pets concerning condition, the Vet was aggressive, seemed irritated and displayed a clear lack of empathy. He didn't even acknowledge my presence in the room when entering, was mumbling to himself the whole time and seemed upset and frustrated. Apparently, the cat developed an "adverse reaction" to the vaccine (that this doctor himself gave and was even questioning where the vaccine was given and how he never puts vaccines in that area). Gave the cat another shot and be back in 2 weeks. The lump is getting bigger and bigger even with his "treatment", it could also be a malignant tumor called FISS (Feline Injection-Site Sarcomas). What was even worse, was being contacted later by the Director who was more interested in discrediting my version of events than addressing the actual issue. Rather than listening, the call felt like an attempt to protect their veterinarian by downplaying my concerns, and saying things like: "It was your perception", "I won't believe that", "what's the issue if the Vet was rude to you but nice with the cat"? Nothing more to say here. If you want your cat to look like mine in the picture, after getting his vaccines, being mistreated by the doctor when you are worry sick about your baby and on top of that also having to put up with a Director that wants to turn the table on you and calls you melodramatic instead of taking any accountability, that we all make mistakes, including Dr Zellmer. She also offered me to return within 2 weeks for a follow up, but with the same doctor. Are you kidding me?

RESPONSE TO DIRECTOR: Why Would I ask you for their medical records? if you are claiming I was there 2 times, but I was there 3 times, clearly your records are as bad as your doctor. 1st Visit: 05/23 with the female doctor, because my rescue kittens had ring worm. 2nd visit: 06/07 Dr Zellmer got them vaccinated. 3rd visit 06/21 for lump on shoulder, that you claimed is not life threatening but have no idea what it is, and the treatment is clearly not working. You say, “I have my mind made up”? I was just trying to share my experience, because I though you guys cared and we could have a friendly adult conversation. But YOU had your mind made up and did everything you could to discredit me. I never called you any names. Your Vet Tech is most likely afraid to be honest because she doesn’t want to lose her job and knows you are unable to receive any negative/concerning feedback from your Doctor of 20 years who can’t do no wrong, or that rude behavior is part of her day to day and she lost sight of what a healthy work environment is. You want to work with me? Don’t send me to see the same doctor. I requested to see the female doctor and you said it was not possible. I’m baffled by your treatment of people, like we don’t matter. I would like to remind you it is people like me that rescue animals, adopts them, goes to your place for care, volunteers, even your sponsors are people and the reason you have an establishment. I was not asking for much, just for you to listen with an open heart and say I’m sorry you had that experience, we will address it! But no, you were unable to handle that level of customer care and needed to prove me wrong at all costs. And now I have realized all the negative reviews you have with the same feedback (rude and careless), but you probably think all of our “perceptions” are wrong, because you guys are so perfect. I just hope this doesn’t happen to anybody else. Attached receipts of...

Update: I still have not heard back or received my cat’s records. The business apparently has time to respond to reviews but does not get back to customers. It has been weeks and I cannot get in contact with anyone, I have left multiple voicemails and still nothing. Everything I said in my review is correct about this business and our experience with them continues to be terrible.

Had a bad experience with them when my cat got a vaccination. We waited an hour and a half for them to see us for a rabies shot which took about 2 minutes, then they did the fecal test I had brought in, and wanted us to wait “a few minutes” for the results. They could have tested it during the original wait and had the results by the time we went back. I tried explaining that my child has a disability and we could not wait any longer. I let her know I would wait outside in the fresh air for those few minutes as the cramped tiny waiting room was full and we had already struggled to wait such a long time in there. We stood outside and waited another 20 minutes without them coming out to speak to us. Eventually we left as my child was on the verge of a meltdown and needed to use a restroom as well. After almost an hour, we tried asking for the wait time as that would have helped us get through it or we could have taken a short walk or sat in the car for a bit, but instead we were lied to about the time it would take, then when we did get back there, the person who saw us for those two minutes was rude and had no concern or empathy for the time we had already waited or our situation. We never received a call with the results and when I called them back that’s when they told us our cat had worms. We then had to drive back 30 minutes for the medicine, paid for the medicine, and didn’t even receive proof of rabies vaccination. They have terrible customer service, no regard for customers time or any interest in following up after care. I had to play phone tag with a very rude person to get answers. Now I’m in another state, needing proof of rabies vaccination for an urgent matter and they of course do not answer their phones, do not call people back, and have not gotten back to the company that is attempting to reach them for proof of rabies. The inside of the place is dirty and it’s clear they do not clean often. The waiting room chairs have no space between them and the layout is terrible because they have multiple customers with cat carriers squeezed into a tiny suffocating space but have a full room to the side as well as a large retail area to the other side. If customers are going to be made to wait for long periods without proper communication, the least they could do is make the waiting room a tiny bit...