Humane Society of Schuyler County — Local services in Town of Montour

We have adopted three kittens from here over the course of three years (one in 2000 and two in late 2021) as well as looking for our fourth just recently. The staff’s focus is to match the right kitten parents with the right kittens or cats. They do this by getting to know you and your situation then with that and their tremendous knowledge that they have of every kitten or cat they have for adoption let you spend time with the potential match. In our case this method has worked for us, all three very happy kittens, now cats are proof of that. The staff are very caring and compassionate, they treat each and every animal under their care like it is one of their own, hence the focus on getting the right animal into the right home. Mostly we have dealt with Jackie, and she is the closest version of kitten whisper we have ever seen. We have gone down with an idea about who we wanted to bring home only to have Jackie introduce us to ones that we never thought of, we and they are so glad she did that. The facilities are clean and well maintained, the animals under their care appear very happy. The few times we have looked at adopting we have made the long drive here and it has been worth it every time. There are times where the kittens or cats they have don’t match, that is ok, and they understand that. This was our experience recently. In our case these kittens or cats are our family, and we want to make sure they are going to be happy and loved in their forever home, the staff...

I thought animal shelters were for people to go to to see if they may want to adopt at some point. We went to the Montour Falls shelter to look at the kitties today. They treated us like we were visiting a prison. The woman got all antsy when she saw Brad and we said we weren't adopting "just looking". She leaves and comes back and says "I'm not sure where to place you since you are "just looking". Then she told us we had to be "gentle" while visiting them. I was very irritated at all these not so subtle ways of saying Brad may twist their heads off or throw them across the room!! I mean are you kidding me!! Oh and her first question was "how many are there of you?!". Like one Down Syndrome boy is one too many?? If you think I would ever adopt a cat from your place you would be kidding yourself. Let's not stereotype a family with their most loving, gentle, and kindest son you will ever meet! Plus your poor cats are in a hot windowed room with no ventilation! My son and I could hardly breathe in the 2nd room it stunk so bad! Give the the poor kitties...

Over 100 cats to find homes for but they are not set up to effectively accomplish this mission. I spoke to a volunteer who was kind enough to open the door and step outside to talk to me at 9:15 am. She explained that they are appointment only, they do not transport cats to other cities where homes are waiting and adoptions are only done online and by appointment but they aren’t staffed to respond to phone or online inquiries. Shame on them. The volunteer said there were over 40 kittens and more were coming by October. We are a family of 3 with a 13 year old cat and would been happy to bring a kitten home with us. We left with the feeling that ever since Covid many humane establishments have completely removed in person communications and focus more on raising funds to care for and vet cats/dogs rather...