Big rant for Chicago SPCA

[IntlSet]

I vaguely mentioned this in another thread, but I am APPALLED by Chicago's SPCA.

First of all, upon entering, I noticed that the pets that were already adopted were still in prime real estate, meaning cages at the top where there's higher visiblity. Granted, all of these pets by some far fetched reach of the imagination may have been adopted just an hour since, but it seems like you should give the other kitties a chance for such highly visible space.

Secondly, their adoption requirements seemed too strict and unlike anything I'd experienced in California. I have a cat at home, and they wanted his records... I told them I just moved and they are all in a box somewhere back in California (I mean, the airline didn't even require health documentation). They said without those records, I could not adopt another cat. Also, they wanted to talk to my landlord. To be totally frank, my apartment charges a $300 per pet nonrefundable fee. I have paid the $300 for my cat, which I think is insane and excessive considering a cat will not do $300 worth of damage to an already shabby apartment, and I do not want to pay another $300. If they did discover I had another cat, I would just say I had forgotten to let them know and pay the fee (and I doubt they would evict me and go through the trouble of finding another tenant, etc.).

Also, there was one kitten I was very interested in. It was placed "on hold" and was supposed to be picked up yesterday at noon. They said they had to keep holding her... no clue why. It seems like these people should've picked up the cat they committed to adopting.

Sorry for the long rant.

I'm just very sad that I can't get another cat for my little guy to play with, at least not from the SPCA.

 

[Blue824]

Well, actually, that all sounds totally normal to me... the landlord, health information and other such things. Animal shelters really have to cover their bases when they adopt animals out. The landlord stuff is a pretty big issues because they obviously don't want to have returned animals because people didn't have the approval of their landlords first. That is just too stressful on the animals and obviously the no kills want to rescue another animal to fill that empty cage in their facility as soon as possible. Sometimes you just need to have a copy of the lease that shows that they do allow cats though. I had a friend turned down for a dog she ewanted because her lease limit was like 45 pound dogs and the dog she wanted was 50lbs. Seemed so silly, but they didn't want to risk it.

I did find it a big strange the last time I went looking for a new kitten when they needed the health records of my deceased cat (who had been dead for like 5 years at that point) and they wanted to do a home inspection before they released the animal to us! And to come back and visit too.

I don't know what the adoption procedures are like, but I've always donated to Paws (PAWS Chicago) and they are bldg a new place where the cats aren't in cages anymore opening up in LP on Clark. They have their policies online, but I just can't view it because i'm at work.

Hope you find a new kitty soon!

 

[IntlSet]

^^^
Blue, I think I will try PAWs.

While I do understand the landlord issue, I guess I'm a little miffed because I assume in a big city people aren't always honest about what pets they own -- more often than not in the experience of myself and my friends, nobody's the wiser. I would just pay up if my landlord found out I had an extra cat (and honestly, is $600 in nonrefundable fees really fair?) but I guess not a lot of people would. Perhaps in California, more people own their own homes (more suburbs and all), so I'm unused to the idea of having anybody talk to my landlord.

 

[boxermom]

I'm sympathetic to your situation. You know you're a responsible pet owner. It's just that they need to know that, too. We adopted 2 dogs from a rescue group and I swear, I never filled out so many papers and answered so many questions in my life, before they approved us.

I hope you get the kitty you want. Good luck.

 

[passerby]

IntlSet, we know you are a sweetie (judging from your posts, that is ) but the Chicago SPCA doesn't know that, so they are just looking out for the cats and dogs, for which I applaud them. Hope you get a great companion for your cat!

 

[pidgeon92]

Any responsible adoption agency will ask for all of the same information. It's a shame that your landlord deems your deposit unrefundable, talk to him first and see if it's OK for you to have another cat. I don't charge my tenants a deposit for cats anymore, but I still won't allow dogs in the building at all.