Love Your Feral Felines — Local services in Vista

Our experience with this organization was not the best. We saw their cats on Petfinder, and my son really fell in love with one of them. We found out that they were having a 'meet and greet' at the PetSmart in Oceanside, so we excitedly went to it one Saturday. The cats were great, and I ended up talking to one of the volunteers for quite a long time to talk about things we need for a cat (we are new to having cats). She mentioned that a crate would be needed for a few day to help keep the cat have a safe space to go back to and help him get used to his surroundings until he's ready to explore the house. The one cat my son wanted wasn't there, so they recommended that we go over to their location, just a few minutes away to meet him. Ok great! So we headed over there- oh it's $12 per person to see the cats. Umm...ok. We had submitted an application and they said they would get back to us within 48-72 hours. No call or text for at least two weeks and in those two weeks, I had called and left 4 messages. This is a volunteer group, so I understand the delay but we had already done the application and were worried that the cat we wanted would be adopted out! Finally get a text and about 2-3 days later get a call. I spoke with the lady and she says to me 'Umm you mentioned a crate- are you planning to keep the cat in a crate?' I said, 'Well the lady I spoke with at PetSmart who is with your organization actually recommended it to me, just until the cat feels comfortable.' She says no you should never keep the cat in a crate ever! Ok got it. We won’t use a crate. We talk instead about other places for the cat to be to get used to a new environment, but after the crate issue, she was kind of brisk with me. At that point it's been 3 weeks since we were first at the PetSmart. Two days later we get an email saying our application was NOT approved. No explanation why but I assume because of the mention of a crate?? It would have been nice for them to explain why we weren’t approved. Fine- I'm still new to having cats and was very open about it. I get that we do not use crates for cats. Go tell your volunteer not to recommend one then!! And my son was really sad. The organization just seems really disorganized, and the fact that we waited quite a while to hear anything from them, just to be rejected, didn’t feel good. We would do anything to keep the cats safe and well-loved. We are animal people and have had dogs. We have now found another organization that is kind and loving and actually seems like they truly want to adopt the cats out. They also do a home inspection. Love Your Feral Felines did not seem interested in adopting their cats out to a good family, looking to love on...

Stay far far away from this place!! If I could give this place zero stars, I would. I'm truly in shock at how a business like this is still running. It's a total heartless place. I will ensure that I share this with everyone I know and on every local Facebook group.

I submitted an application Monday July 7th after seeing the "friends" kittens were going to be transferred over to LYFF from their foster. There were two kittens we were in love with(Rachel and Phoebe). They weren't even up on LYFF's page yet but I knew they would be coming soon. Their processing time says 3-5 days. I waited patiently and received a call Friday evening from Amanda. The call went great and I advised how nervous I was since they posted that they were bringing the kittens to their Petsmart adoption event the very next day and I STILL wasn't approved yet. She advised I would be receiving a text hopefully by Saturday morning. I never received a text and we went to the adoption event to show that we really really want these kittens.

Here's where it gets terrible.... We bring our 3 year old daughter to interact with them and she was beyond excited and we said 1000% we want them. By this time it was 3pm after we had been playing with them for about an hour. The staff called the director or whoever was in charge of approving I'm assuming. They said they promised to review my application and the gentleman at the event apologized profusely and said we would receive a call by 10am the next day and we could probably pick them up by then. I again express my frustration and concern that these kittens will get adopted before they review my application. He says there's no way that will happen since there was only an hour left at the event. So, My daughter went and picked out a bed for them and all the toys.

Sunday comes... still no word. In the midst of checking my email, I get a denial of application!!! It has absolutely no reasoning. I immediately drive over to their location and speak with their coordinator. She acts like she has no idea what's going on and says she's just a volunteer. I ask to speak to the person in charge and all she can give me is to respond to the email which I already did!!! At that point she tells me that Rachel and phoebe were already adopted.....

My 3 yr old was absolutely devastated. This was her very first experience and the kitten bed has been sitting in her room ever since. Thank you for absolutely ruining this first time experience for...

We love fur babies and were referred to LYFF by a colleague as a great organization to adopt a kitten (or two!)

We had high hopes for adopting two seemingly bonded kitties but have been sorely disappointed by the adoption process, lack of consistent follow up and what feels like arbitrary application of implementation of unusual filtering.

For example, there is question about whether renter vs owner and if landlord approves you having pets. These are normal and customary questions. What is unusual is a seemingly rigid halt to application process to reach out to an applicant's landlord to gain 3rd party consent for having pets. As a quite seasoned and mature adult, it is unusual to have an organization seeking confirmation from a person's landlord where things like this are already stipulated, outlined, or addressed in one's lease. To me (though still invasive), a copy of lease would be better avenue as landlords aren't accustomed to 3rd parties contacting them about pet adoption for their tenants.

Nonetheless, it took two follow ups from me and a direct ask about the two kitties we were seeking to adopt before I received a reply stating that they were waiting for my landlord to reply to them and that the two kittens we'd applied for were adopted out to someone else. I understand understaffing and high volume as I work as a Manager for a major Branded hotel but to not proactively inform an applicant that the kittens they're applying for were being redirected felt like a slap and severely insensitive.

Since receiving the info that the two kittens we had applied for were adopted out to someone else, we've received zero feedback, follow up, or reply. Particularly during these times, I find it difficult to believe that our application was halted because of a landlord reply when there are many alternatives to confirming, proving pet allowance. No other cat adoption organization or humane society appears to function in this manner.

Perhaps this was a one off process for us which was quite unfortunate.

I love sharing great experiences and positive stories. This experience however has fallen harshly short in so many ways.

Hopefully others will have a better adoption journey with LYFF...