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| - I had been thinking about getting a cat for about the past 6 months. As a first time solo cat owner (owned dogs before, and cohabited with an ex-bf and we had a cat), I wanted a cat that wasn't overly young and was in pretty good health.
When the THS was shut down for a while, I decided as soon as it opened up I was going to rescue one of the sweethearts from the shelter.
When you go into the shelter, you are stopped at the door and asked if you are looking for cat, dog, etc. Cats are upstairs, dogs, etc are downstairs. You have to sign in and there is no touching.
Once my friend and I got upstairs we were overwhelmed by the mass volume of cages. Even though you cannot touch the cats, they each have a chart hanging from their cages that outlines their history. There were hundreds of feline friends lining the halls and rooms of this place.
The procedure is you see a few you like, you go to a desk and have a mini interview, and then you can get more info about your "shortlisted" candidates. I had 5 I was looking at, and after hearing some of the issues/concerns, I narrowed it down to 2. Then we went to the cages. And this is what I found weird - still no touching. I wanted to be able to pick up the cat to see if we chose each other. The lady that was helping me took pity on me and opened the cages of the 2 felines and let me pet them. The first one (that looked the calmest) was freaking out and hiding. Not for me. The second one he purred up a storm and started rubbing his head on my hand. Mittens chose me : )
Mittens is an older cat (10) and had been in the shelter since Aug (I got him in Jan). He had no apparent health problems, was neutered and ready go to his new home.
As for payment, they ask for a $50 donation. I was expecting a lot more for an animal that had been neutered and cared for. Note that this is seen as a donation, so it is tax deductible.
Mittens was placed in a cardboard carrier and off we went home.
After about a month I wanted to take him to the vet to get a check up. Turns out he has a very hyperactive thyroid. The vet barley touched him and found a nodule on his thyroid. They took blood, and did an overall check up. His teeth and gums are not good and there was talk of him even being diabetic, having kidney disease or perhaps a mass.
Now, I love my little boy, and I know that his life is so much better than it was, but it would have been nice if the THS had done more of a checkup so I would have known what I was dealing with and so I could better take care of him from square one. There were other cats there that had thyroid and diabetes problems and their chart outlined this. Mittens' did not. What ticked me off, was the vet I took him to just looked at him (he is quite skinny) and barely touched his neck and knew what was wrong - and this is very common in older cats.
I am also not impressed that the THS is a no kill shelter. I believe all animals deserve a happy, healthy life and full opportunity to be loved. Hell - if I could I would take all the cats and dogs!! But, sometimes an animal is injured or sick and is suffering and the most "HUMANE" thing to do is put them down. Case in point - there was this cat that was advertised everywhere around the shelter. It had been hit by a car and had suffered paralysis. The paralysis improved, but it was no longer able to urinate. So, the staff had to "milk" the poor cats bladder everyday. When I inquired about this to one of the THS staff, I could tell by her reaction it was not at all pleasant for the cat or the staff member.
All in all - I recommend getting an animal from the THS as they need to be rescued. Just be prepared to have issues that are not provided up front. Also be prepared to have a stressed animal. Although Mittens is settling in wonderfully at home here, he has suffered some hair loss due to stress. Thankfully his blood work is not showing diabetes or kidney disease. He will be on medication for his thyroid for the rest of his life.
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