Animal Welfare League of Alexandria

Reviews 4

RY

Ryan Muldoon

The people here seem to be more than a little fanatical, they are very good with animals, but seem to need a little training in customer service. If you wish to have your words misconstrued and your lifestyle and values judged on almost no information then youve picked the right place to adopt from. My complaint: After spending the better part of the day at the animal shelter bonding with a mother cat and her kitten, which needed to be adopted as a pair, we started filling out the paperwork to take them home. After review we did not bring our rabies vaccine cert for our other cat, so I asked that they put a hold on the two cats, and told them wed be back tomorrow. The attendant, dont know his name, goatee short hair, said he had to check if the cats would do well with another cat before they could put the hold in, ok no problem. After 20 minutes he finally shows up and ask if my wife was there and I said no she had taken our kids to the car. He then said that she told the front desk people that morning that we had to return a cat because we werent able to pay vet bills, and they were not going to consider letting us adopt a cat with a medical condition. I was embarrassed, and stunned. I was there next to my wife and what she actually said was, "we paid over 500.00 in vet bills and then HAD TO return the kitten." From this the front desk fanatics made the incorrect assumption that we were unable or unwilling to pay the vet bills for our sick kitten so we got rid of it. The truth which they could have just asked us about was that after adopting a tiny kitten last year she failed to gain weight, and after 4 diet changes, 5 vet visits, and numerous test, our vet told us that she had an incurable immune disorder that was causing her immune system to attack her digestive track, and that she was slowly starving to death. He recommended that we euthanize her, our adoption contract stated that if our vet wanted to put the kitten down that we HAD TO return her. So after 8 weeks and a lot of time and money our little kitten was returned, not because we were unwilling to pay for her needs but because she was sick and dieing and the contract we signed required it. These self righteous "animal champions" could have found all of this out had they asked instead of jumped to conclusions. I explained all of this to the attendant, and even offered to bring in our vet documentation, but to no avail and got a definite dont call us well call you type feeling. Very unprofessional. We did things by the book and were treated like we drowned our cat in the river. My advice if you want to adopt from here, lie. Tell them you have no pets and no pet history. It will save you time and possible public embarrassment.

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A

A Private User

I must unfortunately not recommend this shelter. I adopted a cat in late 2008, and the process was rushed and the details poorly explained. Because there is no "play room," it was not possible to see if there was any bond with the cat and myself--all you can do is take the cat out of the cage, which is a poor indicator of how well it will behave in your home. After an awkward scheduling process for an in-home consultation, when the fateful day came for approval to adopt I was told I had three days to pick up the animal or I had to go through the entire process again. Although I had a weekend trip scheduled, I was required to get my new cat that night or risk losing her. I ended up getting the cat and having a friend watch my home. Once I returned, I found the cat was hiding under my bed, and over the next two weeks she didnt come out except to eat and use the litter box. I asked twice about returning and was told it wasnt a big deal, but when I actually returned the cat I was told there was a good chance the animal would be euthanized because she would not be able to adapt to the multiple changes in environment. Of course I now felt like a cat murderer, and after getting back to the office later that afternoon I called to ask if I could pick up the animal to at least see if another few weeks would help her rather than risk putting her down. I was told that no, I would have to re-apply and get another home visit to see if I was a suitable owner, and I wouldnt be able to find out about the cats status for at least ten days. Overall I dont recommend this shelter for the above reasons. I felt like I was doing them a favor by adopting, and was chastized for daring to return a cat that did not click. I wont return there, and will instead search for a place that makes an attempt to match up an animal with an owner based on more than merely lifting a cat out of a cage.

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DA

Daisy Kinard

Loved getting our awesome dog, Brewster, here! The staff was great, helpful, supportive, and very good with their animals. They really care and know so much about them. We were just going to see what dogs they had available, potentially with the thought of adopting one. We found one we wanted to get to know, played with him in their yard for a while, learned his tricks, mannerisms and just fell in love. We had hoped to take him home that day or the next day, but they wanted a vet to check him out because there was an unusual spot on his belly that they had found earlier that day. While we were a little sad not to bring him home right away, it was great to know how much they really cared about him and wanted to make sure Brewster was ok. It took a few days to get him checked, but four days later, we took him home and he is all good. Brewster seems happy in his new home with us as are we with him. I definitely recommend going here to find a dog, cat, rabbit, chinchilla, or some other animal to adopt. Those animals have some great and caring people to look after them.

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AL

Ale Mendoza

The pet shelter is sincerely very clean and the staff workers treat the pets wonderfully. I am impressed by the conditions in comparison to other animal shelters. I adopted a female pitbull mix a couple months ago. The reason for the 2 star review is that my dog had kennel cough, which had not been treated at the animal shelter. She should have been treated since she had been in the shelter for a couple weeks. Not to mention the parasites she also had (but then again this is ok since most dogs get them in all shelters). However, two months later the dog had a serious case of HGE and nearly died. I spend a lot of money to treat her. Overall, I have spent nearly $2000 in two months to improve the health of my dog. The shelter assured me she was in great health condition. I guess they did not check her well enough. At minimum, I blame them for not treating the kennel cough and having it develop to nearly 6 weeks of illness.

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