Brooklyn Animal Action — Local services in New York

I'm absolutely furious at the sheer negligence of this shelter and the foster of my new kitten.

We applied for one of the kittens recently, and while the shelter was responsive to emails and calls, they neglected to mention the health issues our kitten has or the dangers this could have presented to our first cat, as they insisted she be placed in a home with another cat. They lied about her age to us- we were told she was around 5-6 months old and "she's small because she was feral and malnourished." When she was dropped off at our house by the foster, she was definitely a malnourished kitten, not a malnourished 6 month old cat, and the med records given approximate her at 12 weeks. They also pushed pet insurance in all of our correspondence.

They did not tell us until we already had the kitten in our home that she had a bad mouth infection, and they sent the medical records to us after we decided to adopt her and the foster had already dropped off the cat and left. No mention of health issues other than she had been treated and she was fine now. We fell in love with her and she loves our other cat, but she has a huge gap in the side of her mouth and bad halitosis. The foster that kept her prior showed us on video the room where the cats are kept - it was a dingy and dimly lit basement stacked to the ceiling with cages. She told us she had 30+ cats down there. Absolutely disgusting and im horrified that my very skittish kitten was ever living in that environment and in the condition she came to us in.

We noticed pus and blood in the gaping ulcers a few days after we decided to keep her, and as per their instructions, contacted them first for an emergency vet appointment. They had us go to Brooklyn Veterinary Group on New Utrecht. When I picked her up, the tech said, and i quote, "she's 99% healed", and gave us no further instructions or medication. Tara from BAA said the same thing. I didn't believe that because its still oozing pus and blood and is obviously not healed, so we took her to our own vet. Our own vet notified us that BROOKLYN ANIMAL ACTION AND BROOKLYN VETERINARY GROUP LIED TO US ABOUT HER MEDICAL HISTORY. She was positive for FCV and not vaccinated for it, despite BAA's handwritten medical records stating she was vaxxed, and Brooklyn Veterinary Group not stating this on their records. This handwritten page on BAA letterhead only stated a date, no mention of who vaxxed her and where. Our own vet gave us antibiotics and oral rinse, never provided by BAA or their "vet". She requires extensive dental work and cleaning, which was mentioned in passing by Tara and on the medical records, but never did we think it would be to the extent that it is. BAA claimed she was de-wormed, but she had to be de-wormed AGAIN by our own vet. She came malnourished from the foster, not from the fact she was previously feral - how do I know? Because in less than 2 weeks she gained over a pound, just from being fed regularly.

Never mind the fact that they specifically requested she be placed with another cat, knowing full well she wasn't properly vaccinated. If our other cat hadn't received his vaccinations already, they wouldn't have cared if our kitten had infected our cat with FCV and stuck us with even more vet bills. They don't care about the cats after they leave those awful basement cages and they certainly don't care about the cats you already have or whether its a good or safe placement. They just don't care. Its a scam to push out neglected cats and peddle pet insurance.

What a disgusting organization. Only adopt from here if youre prepared to pay for your own vet and any medical bills, because i will never trust their vet or any of their members ever again. Please DO adopt from this organization, if only to get these poor cats out of this woman's dirty cat hoarder basement. I will never allow my sweet kitten to go back to these filthy and...

I am so extremely disheartened by our experience with Brooklyn Animal Action. We were so excited to adopt a cat, specifically to be a companion for our dog since he does well with cats. The adoption verification process seemed extremely thorough (called references, multiple vets, virtual home tour, etc.) which made me feel confident and comfortable that I was working with a very well run organization who takes good care of their animals. I came to find out, that was not quite true for a myriad of reasons:

When looking to adopt , we specifically requested a young adult-adult cat. We were NOT looking to take in a kitten at this time, as we know how much more work comes with that. We thought we found the perfect fit with one, whose listing also specified he definitely needed another animal friend in the home and was listed at 2 years 9 months. When we brought him home, we could tell right away that he was far too small to be that old and also exhibited classic kitten behaviors. He also didn't seem thrilled about having another animal in the home. After bringing him to the vet, we found out he was MAYBE around 1 year old. Almost 2 years younger than his listing stated.

The day after we brought him home, Claire (whom we'd been working with throughout the process) reached out to me to inquire whether or not we had let the cat interact with our dog yet. She asked because apparently another one of their cats that our cat had been fostered with tested positive for coccidia, an intestinal parasite. She said she doubted our cat got it but wanted us to isolate our cat away from our dog (in a small NYC apartment???) and to give both of them medicine which we were told would treat the coccidia in case the cat had it. She emphasized that it was highly unlikely. I found it suspicious that the day after we brought our cat home that we were now JUST finding out he had been living with an infected cat for weeks as opposed to them taking care of treating both beforehand.

Out of concern for the cat's wellbeing and being unsure about any of the medical info BAA had provided us at this point, I brought the cat in to our own vet. After the visit we come to find out the fact about his age and he also tested POSITIVE for coccidia as well as a severe yeast and bacterial double ear infection which the doctor said must have been going on for weeks.

I understand that they are a volunteer based organization with lots going on and other personal priorities, but adopting a cat out in this condition is absolutely unacceptable. The fact that the cat was in their care when these health concerns went unattended and exacerbated is completely unfair to us, but more so to the cat. Thankfully he is in our care now and we will ensure he receives the medical attention he needs. I don’t know how often this happens with BAA, but even once is too much. I appreciate their mission and intentions but they need to consider being more thorough with the health and wellbeing of their animals while they’re still in their care.

TLDR: They either lie or don't properly verify their animals' health or medical info before adopting out. We got a very sick cat. Not to mention, not ONCE did Claire ever own up or take responsibility for the situation. She was constantly defensive and never apologized for their mistakes and always had an excuse. We love our cat, but you should only adopt from here if you're prepared for a lot of inconvenient and...

PLEASE GO ELSEWHERE :(

I am usually not one to write reviews and generally give the benefit of the doubt, but this upset me so much that I need others to know what happened. Long story short, they “forgot” to include health information about the cat I was given and I had to look through the (sparse) vet info myself to find it, and was then guilted about returning a cat that I was not ready to care for.

I saw one of their cats online and thought he was really cute, so I applied for him. It’s worth noting that this cat was listed as Felv/FIV negative. Also relevant is that a cat of mine passed away recently. 

I got through the whole process (to which they were very nice, albeit a little scattered) which included a virtual home visit in which I had to open all my closets + show screens on windows, and reference calls that included asking about my financial situation and general ability to care for cats. A little invasive, I thought, but worth it if I’m getting a cute cat, right? I was also reminded throughout this process that he was FIV/FELV negative. While in conversation, I was told that the cat had a chicken allergy, which was also not listed on his listing (only that he was on specialized food).

I signed the contract, paid $200, and went to go get the cat (because allergies don’t bother me much!).

The next day, when planning to take him to my vet to get him situated with me, I finally had a chance to look at BAA’s provided vet document (which was sent AFTER I paid/signed the contract). It was very sparse with no indication of age despite the listing stating he was ‘young’, which concerned me. I then noticed he was actually FIV positive! 

I asked his foster if she knew about this, and it turns out she did not and BAA did not tell her. 

I asked the rescue group via e-mail, and was told by Claire, that she “FORGOT” to include that information, but that, quote “It wasn’t actually a big deal, more of a stigma than anything,” sending me a resource. This and the subsequent conversation I had with her on the phone, however intentioned, came off both patronizing (as If I don’t truly understand the nature of FIV) and guilting. Included in this conversation was her stating that “other vets are jerks” and “the only real risk for FIV+ cats is that they are a little more susceptible to dental disease.” I wanted to return the cat given that I had stated multiple times to people in the organization that I just lost a cat and I am not currently emotionally prepared to take on one with a known health issue that I WAS NOT TOLD ABOUT PRIOR TO ADOPTION.

I hope that this cat can find a new safe home as soon as possible because he truly was sweet. For me, this was an extremely jarring and unpleasant experience. To BAA, please do better by your animals and adopters and be more thorough in the future. 


*Note: The listing of the cat is now updated but I do have proof of it beforehand along with all documents provided to me.

UPDATE. They have changed his listing to include his new name, Pancake, that I gave him. Not sure why they did that. Old URL still links to the same page and I've included proof that I am the one who was going to name him Pancake. This is the third time they have changed his name. Note the same language was used in the new listing as was told to me in my e-mail, and FIV+ was not listed on his medical information, just in the description. They also removed his chicken allergy from...