Had my problems, also. I would suggest all that are unhappy talk to the store manager. Petco has nothing to do with the in-house rescue group but offer them space to due adoptions. Therefore, the store mgr. Should be made aware of any issues. C.M. -- studies have shown Feline Infectious Peritonitis is Not contagious. I know it needs to be renamed. Please talk to your vet. As for smelly poop - caused by intestional infection and totally treatable ASAP. Sorry all had so many problems. There are many rescue groups that actually do a good job. You don't have to put up with rude people giving you stupid reasons on why they're not going to adopt a cat to you. read more

The only way I can justify the one star, I have to give to review, is because they 'supposedly' do rescue cats from shelters. But beyond that I am extremely disappointed and wish that I had read the reviews prior to filling out the application and taking my very hopeful three loving little girls to meet a sweet cat that would have been loved and cared for immensely. The kitten we were looking at was 5 months old and we were told that we needed to look for a younger cat so it could get used to my girls. My girls were gentle, loving, and playful with the kitten when we met her. I was shocked!! My girls are very disappointed!! We have had cats before. My girls know how to handle, tend to, and play with cats. Both my husband and I have always had cats and know how to care for them! If this company was truly in the business of saving cats, perhaps they should be a little less snobbish about people who want to help and adopt some cats. If they are turning down a couple with tons of experience (Chibi O.) and a loving family of five who are devoted, caring, and were eager to bring a new four-legged family member home, then I can't imagine who they are willing to adopt to. I'm not sure how they pick their foster families, but maybe they should be more picky about who they hire to foster these cats, because they don't seem to want to let them go to loving families!! read more

ZERO STARS!!! Went in today in hopes to adopt a kitten and discrimination is what I get from two foster parents and the older lady. Older lady Said "I shouldn't adopt a kitten because I'm pregnant." One foster mom took the kitten out of my hands and put it back in its cage. The other foster mom told me her kittens were not there to be adopted they were just there for shots. I drove from Simi Valley (30 min)and did not expect this to happen. Really rude service and I feel Petco should really address these issues with them because "cats at the studio" making the store look bad!! This ORGANIZATION NEEDS to RE-EVALUATE their volunteers!!! read more

Hello all pet lovers! I am sorry to read all of these posts and hope your cats are healthy now. If I could give zero stars about Cats At The Studio I would. Wish I had read these reviews before adopting our kitty. First and foremost Elyse Mayberry is absolutely RUDE and disrespectful ! After filling out the application, I received the third degree on a few questions from Elise, but the application was accepted. The adoption took place at Woodland HIlls Petco, corner of Ventura and Topanga this past Saturday. I have been a cat owner for the last 30 years, and grew up with cats, I know how to take care of cats. Which leads me to this post, as Elyse does NOT or certainly does NOT know what to do to keep a cat healthy. We adopted a 4 month old tabby. When I brought her home she kept scratching and scratching. I was told she was fostered and checked by Elise's vet, again nothing mentioned regarding fleas. I removed over 4 DOZEN fleas off this little kitty. It just made me wonder how long this little kitty was suffering and NO ONE noticed or even checked for fleas ! NOT Elyse, NOT the foster home, NOT even Elise's vet. Now the kitty is home with us, we need to be super vigilant about sanitizing any bedding she has come in contact with to destroy any flea eggs. Very disappointing. Seriously, are these cats REALLY checked out. I suggest to anyone looking to ADOPT any animal, go to your local shelter, they spay / neuter, give shots, de worm, chip, check for fleas and give you a coupon for a free vet visit, all for @ $75.00. There is no chipping with this organization, which I knew. Additionally, once you adopt your cat from a shelter you OWN your cat. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW WITH CATS, INC, the contract you sign with them allows them to do show up on your doorstep ANY TIME to see your house AND they can reclaim the cat if you do not meet the contract. Here is what is written in contract: "CATS, INC make may unannounced visits to my home to check my pet's living condition and assess my pet's overall health and well-being. Should the conditions be found unsatisfactory or if for any reason the pet's well-being is suspect, CATS, inc, reserves the right to reclaim the pet at once.". HMMMMM, did these standards apply to the foster care handlers for this kitty ? It makes me wonder what that particular foster home is doing to prevent the next cat (s) from contracting a flea infestation OR what accountability does CATS INC have to bring unhealthy cats into PETCO? Elise and her organization are below the standards, her attitude is horrible and I am considering contacting the Burbank Animal Care to issue a formal complaint. Also she said to contact her first if there was anything wrong with our cat, before going to a vet, she would give it medicine. Elyse is NOT a Vet, she can't treat a animal without a license. I feel right in keeping our kitty, providing her a loving and healthy home. She is an affectionate beautiful cat. I am thankful we RESCUED our Kitty from the poor care Elise's organization and vet provided. If anyone would like to contact me about how to make the contracts be null and void with this organization, please let me know. Thanks. read more

I need to find loving homes for my two cats, because I am moving out of the country soon. They are great cats and naturally I am concerned with finding good homes for them. I found this place on the internet. Their webpage promised that "Ultimately, what we do is care. Cats at the Studios, Inc. ("CATS, INC.") is a non-profit rescue organization comprised entirely of volunteers. We are dedicated to nurturing, neutering & spaying, and finding homes for abandoned cats and kittens." I thought ok, this sounds good. I emailed the owner, per instructions on the webpage, explaining my situation and asking for help. This is the response I got: "you need to list your area of residence. need your deadline. you need to contact petco and petsmart stores in your area and find out when they do adoptisons (sic) go see them. make a donation to get them interested. don't you have family?" I found the tone and content of this message insulting and rude. First of all, why would a retail store accept a "donation" from an individual? These stores work with shelters and animal organizations, not individuals, and they certainly don't take money to do adoptions. Moreover, why would I allow my cats to be adopted by total strangers who have not been screened and about whom I know nothing. The whole reason I approached this organization was because I thought they cared about cats and would make efforts to ensure they go to good homes. Second of all, yes, I found the question about my family really upsetting. If my family - which is quite small - could take the cats, would I be going to a shelter? Is it even any of her business? It's upsetting enough that I need to find new homes for my pets, but to receive a message like this makes it even worse. Keep away from this place is all I can say. read more

Yes every other review on here that is negative is correct!! These people are crazy and the old woman Elise cusses at her potential clients argues and is just a miserable human being and she is apparently the owner haha nice owner!! My cat that I purchased one week ago has a cold and cough she has goopy eyes she has watery poop after insisting I feed her wet wet food only which btw is not the best for cats or kittens only once in a while! Elise the Crocketty old mean woman would not stick to her contract which says specifically that if something is wrong with my cat I have two weeks and they will send her to there vet to get checked out she argued with me forever and refused and told me she would personally just give my kitten an antibiotic umm no I don't think so she's not a vet wtf! Basically I'm telling you do not adopt from this lady and let's shut her down she's running a horrible and unhealthy organisation I don't know if she's doing any good at all and she's not going to get cats adopted with that mouth or attitude she's a crazy lady I have to repeat myself because you don't understand until you go through it but that's why I'm writing this review cause I don't wish this for anyone else!! Good luck Ok finally after attorney bs we get to the doctor and she insists on being not only there but in the room and they call her with the results wtf not us the actual owners! After the visit we leave with 3 antibiotics and she had to be treated for dehydration at the hospital! The doctor also requested a poop sample, well the next day she calls and says I'm broke and can't afford it I don't think she needs it anyways kind of bs she was trying to manipulate us once again! I swear to god this lady is the absolute worst human being! All of these things are part of the contract if she can't follow her own contract she needs to move on with her life and do something else I have had it with the old woman Elise and I will make sure she goes out of business!! Poor poor cats and poor poor people that have to be around her such a shame read more

Horrible Horrible Experience with this cat adoption Center inside of the Petco in Woodland hills on Ventura blvd and Topanga! My son is 19 years old and he and I went in to adopt a kitten. There was a kitten my son liked and they said he cant have that one cuz that kitty needed to be adopted with another kitten so my son picked out another one. We held it and played and decided we liked him so we filled out all paper work and the one lady Marcel accepted everything, we paid and went shopping for everything we needed spent hours getting everything right for the kitty and my son, .. My son wanted a kitty to have as companion and to help him cuz he felt lonely and thought it might be a good way to keep him occupied and he loves animals. Long story short we take him home for a week then get a call by these crazy people who dont even know how to run a proper business and they say we need to being that kitty in for testing of a virus called corona virus.. Now shouldnt all these tests been done before giving the cat up for adoption??? We brought the kitty in and Marcel said she was going to take him for testing and she would call us tmr.??? Why would she take a whole day to do when my vet said it is a two minute test.. She called us the next day and said shes sorry but the kitty has the virus and she wont be giving him back and to come get our refund.. We are extremely upset!!!! Emotionally distraught my son made a close bond to this kitty only to be taken away from us by these Crazy Marcel and Elise owner who dont know how to run a proper business and did this to us. They had different stories of why they werent giving us our kitty back one other reason they said was that they reviewed the application and didnt feel a 19 year old boy would be a good candidate for a kitten???? I dont understand why they didnt look and determine that before they adopted out to us. They are Sooo Negligent and should have their business shut down because it is not run properly they dont know what they are doing and the animals will suffer!!! I will file a complaint this was a disgrace and very humiliating!!!! We want our kitty Back he was perfectly fine healthy and no signs of him being sick.. Shouldve taken him to our vet instead, I dont trust these people!!!! They didnt even offer my son another kitty or a solution for the kitty:((( Like maybe saying after vaccination we will give him back to you.My son misses his kitten ...We feel Robbed and Saddened by this whole experience!!!! They should be Shut Down!!!!!! ZERO STARS !!!!!!! read more

Prompt email answer. I live on the other side of the country and asked a question about a specific breed. They got back to me asap and helped me with some information about the breed and their experiences. Cheri Friedman emailed me with some helpful advice. The local shelter in our area caused me a wealth of problems and I am in communication to find more out about the manx breed. I dont know these people personally, but they were respectful and courteous. read more

I have known Elyse Mayberry for 5+ years. This woman has not changed in all of that time, and it is a shame. She is doing harm to the rescue community. People who know her personally, myself, included, say that she is rude and abrupt; quick to make judgments without knowing the facts. Her way of communicating is shoot first, ask questions later. This type of behavior harms the rescue community causing people to lose respect for it. read more

after reading other reviews... now it all makes sense why we had the experiences we did with our adoption! anyhow. we adopted a cat from them in january of this year when they were at the woodland hills petco. they told us the cat we chose was a MALE, first and foremost, and that he was in good health, had his shots, de-wormed etc. they then tried selling us on the most expensive wet food at petco (are they contracted with them??), but we declined and told them we feed our other cat dry food, since our vet had told us it was perfectly fine. then they told us feeding dry food was "cruel," and almost refused to adopt to us unless we stocked up on wet food. so we did... 100 bucks later, we brought the cat home. seemed to be adjusting fine but less than a day later he became sick with a cold (sounds a lot like the cold that other reviewers were describing) followed by (again as described by other reviewers) explosive and foul-smelling diarrhea. didn't go away for a week so we called them back.... after being told by a very old and crotchety woman (elyse?) that it was OUR fault, and after much arguing, they gave us the de-worm that they were supposed to have already given him but they didn't for some reason. anyhow, fast forward to couple months ago... luckily health problems finally went away, and behavioral issues took their place. food aggression, and occasional lashing out at us... not very cool. we then found out we are expecting. our other animals have been more affectionate and happy than we've ever seen them.... it's almost like they KNOW. the (adopted) cat, on the other hand, almost completely stopped interacting, and then once we set up our nursery, began refusing the litter box and pooping in the same spot in the nursery. so long story short, after trying every training trick in the book and even consulting the vet, we made the unfortunate decision to re-home our cat. couldn't find any friends or friends-of-friends, so we contacted CATS to ask for their advice. unable to find a phone number except on some blog we came across via google, and the person we spoke to put us in touch with marshelle (spelling) who advised us to bring the cat back. so my husband did... and oh boy. first things first, we were advised that the cat was in fact a FEMALE. marshelle and carol, and elyse then proceeded to call my husband every name in the book, saying he was "cruel" for bringing the cat back. first of all, THEY told US to bring him back... secondly, it'd be CRUEL if we brought him to a shelter like most folks do when it doesn't work out. they then tried to get all of his info (you would've thought they were dept of children/family services), and our vet's info because they were pissed the vet said dry food was ok. they then tried to keep our carrier (which WE bought for our other pets) and demanded a donation, so my husband paid 50 to get them to leave him alone. i can understand them maybe not wanting to adopt to us again, but the way they acted was uncalled for. could have done without the dishonesty, shaming, pushy sales tactics, and health issues. do your research before adopting! read more

This is a wonderful organization . The volunteers help save so many cats and kittens from shelters and from many other places. The kittens they have are healthy and beautiful. I highly recommend this place if you are looking for a cat or kitten read more

They save a lot of cats from the shelters. No rescue is perfect, but what do you expect with kittens from the shelter and streets? They do the best they can. This isn't a pet shop. They are a non profit rescue that is just trying to save kittens from being put to sleep at the shelter. read more

I cannot in good conscience keep silent about the things I saw being done to the tiniest of kittens during several Cats at the Studios adoption events. These people are not saving animals because they are altruistic and care about their well being. There is no earthly reason tiny kittens are having needles jammed in them by someone who is not even a vet. And who is the vet giving them the needles and meds. And what are these meds? if It is antiobiotics, what are these tiny kittens doing in Petco. This is cruel. One only needs to watch what is going on and to read other reviews to know this organization acts against all that is right and good for these precious beings. It is not in the best interests cats to be trapped and sold as merchandise. read more

I would like to thank the CATS organization for the adorable kitten adopted last week at Petco. The volunteers helped me select the right kitty for me and my family. Our new family member is a wonderful addition to our family. Thank you! read more

This is a wonderful organization. They rescue so many kittens and cats. Some of these cats would have been euthanized or been homeless and hungry . They always have beautiful healthy kittens and cats for adoption and The process to adopt if fairly easy read more

I am responding to the negative reviews left below. I just recently had dealings with CATS when a volunteer was taking some strays from a park where they had been dumped. I have been involved in cat adoption for years. Some of the ratings/reviews are unfair. No there is no testing done for corona virus. If all these tests were done cats would have to be sold for so much more. No one knows if the cat has it until another cat that was exposed comes down with it. As for FIP, a deadly disease, again, no test. I have found and cared for kittens that eventually got sick and after trying everything else and kittens just getting closer to death it is determined to be FIP. There are no vaccinations against it. It is a kitten killer that no rescue can guard against. if rescues are pulling from shelters they have no control over the many many germs and viruses that can get ahold of kittens. We all do the best we can and if a kitten adopted out gets sick it is not the fault of the rescue that is just trying their darndest to save lives on a shoe string budget. Please be sure to be fair with your ratings/reviews. This is volunteer work folks and those of us that do it work from the heart to save lives read more

If at all possible, I would not go through Cats at the Studio to adopt a pet. First of all, the lady I dealt with was very flaky. I was never able to see the kitten I was interested in. THEN, I received an email saying upon review of my application, my household was not a good "fit" for this animal. I am married with two children, own a home and have a 12 year old indoor only cat. Who are these people to judge anyone? I just wanted to rescue a poor kitten. I ended up going to the animal shelter and finding a great little kitten. These pretentious folk may think they are doing a good deed, but they are preventing animals from going to happy homes read more