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Review content:
We had a terrible experience at Save the Animals Foundation. After losing our cat of 14 years to cancer, we made the decision to rescue two adult cats from a shelter. My daughters and I spent hours on the STAF website, looking at pictures and descriptions of adoptable cats and making a list of the ones we wanted to meet. Last Thursday, I took my daughters (ages 5, 7, and 9) to the open adoption session, a visit we were all excited about. Little did I know how disappointing it would be. \r
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After filling out a lengthy application in the waiting area, we were brought back into the main shelter for an ""interview""...although I think ""interrogation"" is a better term for it. While my girls waited, I was asked a variety of nosy, probing questions, which I answered honestly. Apparently, I sent up some ""red flags"" when I told her that my previous cat had been declawed 13 years ago and that he had gone into the backyard occasionally. By the end of the interview, the woman pretty much blatantly told me that I may not get a cat. I was stunned. ""But we're offering a cat a loving, safe home,"" I told her. ""Oh, I know,"" she assured me. ""But we have a committee who decides who is fit to adopt, and I'm just telling you now that we probably won't all agree.""\r
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Oh, did I mention this place is sheltering SIX HUNDRED cats!? 600 cats crammed into several small rooms, literally piled on top of one another, sharing dozens of litter boxes. Many are diseased and injured. And she is telling me that they can't risk sending one to MY home? Right, because it would be better off in that cramped, urine-smelling environment than a warm, comfortable home where it would receive the undivided love and attention of my family?\r
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Anyhow... after the interview, they did show us around and let us meet some of the cats. The girls fell in love with Elliott, a long-haired orange cat. The woman told us they had a 2-visit minimum, which meant we would have to come back to at least one more open adoption session to meet with MORE members of their committee before they would consider us for adoption. She also stated that they would need to meet my husband first, to make sure everyone in the house is ""on board"" with the decision.\r
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Again, give me a freaking break. It's a cat, not a child. I believe it was pretty obvious, after observing me and the girls interacting with dozens of cats, that we are not cat killers or torturers.\r
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She sent us home with what she called ""homework"" -- a packet of information about caring for cats -- with instructions that we all read it.\r
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I left with a very unsettled feeling, but I figured I would try to convince my husband to return on the next open adoption day, as the girls really wanted to adopt Elliott, as did I.\r
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Well, I didn't have the chance to try. The next day, I received an email from STAF with the following message:\r
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""Dear Melissa, Thank you for coming to Save The Animals Foundation last night to see some of the wonderful cats we have. It was great meeting and working with you and your girls. Unfortunately, I am writing to tell you that we will not be adopting to you. Please do not take this personally. It was clear to us that you would be a very loving home. You and your children were great with the cats. Your situation is just not the right fit for us.""\r
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YOUR SITUATION IS JUST NOT THE RIGHT FIT FOR US?????\r
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Oh, okay. So the 600 cats' current situation is a better fit. Right. Sounds perfectly logical to me.\r
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These shelters make it seem like purchasing a pet from a breeder or private seller is the worst thing you can possibly do... but then they make it virtually impossible for you to rescue an animal. In what world does this make any bit of sense?\r
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STAF seems to be in the business of hoarding cats, rather than finding loving homes for them.
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