I was lucky enough to find the 4-legged love of my life here after spotting his photo on Petfinder and coming in for a visit. The staff who was very friendly and helpful, asked many questions and had me fill out paperwork and were very conscientious about making sure I was a good match for a dog they clearly adored. They have a great fenced in pen for the doggies to run around in and having volunteered at the Quincy Animal Shelter for a while, I knew this was a great feature for any shelter. After checking references I was overjoyed to be given the thumbs up. Several staff members, who heard the cutie pie was going to his forever home, came to the shelter to say goodbye to him and to tell me how good a dog he was, they clearly care about these animals and wants nothing but the best for them! read more

Milton Animal League - How could anyone resist this face? - Animal Shelters Near Me - Milton, Massachusetts

I have been considering volunteering my time at a local animal shelter to give back to the community. I love animals and have adopted several older animals from the Animal Rescue League in Boston. Milton Animal League is one of the shelters that is closer to my home, so I headed down there today. I walked in the door, and asked if they were looking for volunteers, and the woman working there just looked at me and rudely asked "How old are you?" Now mind you, I don't look like anything like a teenager. I replied that i was 28 years old and only then the woman pulled out an application and told me to call before I come back and acted as though she were doing me a huge favor. I was with my husband and we are currently looking to adopt a rescue dog, so after the whole application fiasco, I asked if we could take a look at the available dogs. The woman pointed at a bulletin board with pictures of the available dogs. I asked her if I could go into the dog room to meet them. She replied, "I'd rather you not, they're all excited now." I left the Milton Animal League feeling patronized and brushed off. I feel badly for the animals there because I'm sure that they would have a better chance of being adopted if the staff at the shelter were more helpful and kind to people looking to adopt. If staff working in animal shelters like these were more attentive to people who came in to adopt and educated their patrons instead of instantly treating them all as though they are ignorant, less people would be buying from places supplied by puppy mills like pet stores and online breeders. If you want to adopt, I recommend adopting from a place where the staff sincerely care about finding their animals good home and treat potential adopters like they matter, such as the Animal Rescue League or Quincy Animal Shelter. read more

As a Favor to Trolly McTroll - my most blog-like review ever. This is the story of a girl, a boy and a cat. The girl's in college, and is just about realizing that being insanely busy and stressed out all the time isn't doing much for her health and her mental health. The demons that she thought to keep at bay by being just too plain busy weren't going along with the plan. Clearly they were crafty, tenacious and just down right bothersome. In the midst of all of this craziness, the girl remembers her year abroad in france in high school. Shortly after she got there, her parents told her that they were getting divorced. At times when she was upset, she'd lie face down on her bed and cry. And at those times, her host family's cat would sit on her back and purr. Back to college: Girl is miserable. She's diagnosed with acid reflux. She wanders around for a month saying "I wish I had a cat". Boy listens... Boy spends time on the internet and finds the perfect cat. The cat (Stella) was at Milton Animal League. Stella had been fed puppy food as a kitten, and had been abandoned by her previous owners. They think she had been stuck for up to two weeks before being rescued. She had lost all of her fur due to stress. Yet still, she retained her poise, even after living in at the shelter for ~ 2 months. Apparently people adopting cats want kittens... And adult black cats are often the last to find homes. (silly superstitions). Anyway. Boy takes Girl from Cambridge out to Milton... Girl and cat bond. At that point, Stella had grown back about half of her fur. And had just been spayed. Yet... there was something about her even then... Something both fierce and in need of protection. And so... The girl and the cat went home. Thanks to the boy, and Milton Animal League, the girl and the cat saved each other... And now, nearly 5 years later and 3000 miles from their starting point, the girl no longer has acid reflux, and the cat no longer cries pitifully when the girl leaves the apartment. read more

Two of my cats were adopted from the Milton Animal Shelter. I found the staff to be very helpful with their in depth information about the animals in their care. The cats had well documented medical information and were well socialized. There were follow up phone falls made to make sure that the cats were doing well and to make sure I knew that I could all them if i had questions or concerns. Although the Milton shelter is a small shelter, it seems to attract a very dedicated group of volunteers. The first cat I adopted from there was in 2001. Many of the same volunteers are still there today, which is something you don't often see. I would highly recommend this shelter. read more

I wish zero stars were an option. I am highly disappointed in my experience with this shelter and will never return. My experience began by walking in and not being greeted. The entrance is very tiny and has a strong urine smell. A volunteer was in the entrance, but did not say hi or anything. Once we finally were able to explain we wanted to look at kittens, she took us back there and couldn't even identify the kitten we were wanting to see that was posted online. She left us alone, didn't explain much of anything, and really didn't seem like she understood anything to do with adopting or the shelter. We decided we wanted to adopt the kitten we looked at and filled out the application. The application, given their "approval process," seemed lacking any real way they'd choose between applicants. It did not ask about if we could afford the cat, had time to spend with the cat, etc. It's only real focus was if our landlord allowed pets and if we've used a vet before. Which is great if the approval is first come first serve, but it was supposedly chosen by "best fit." However, no one who worked there bothered to know anything about us, really had a conversation with us, etc. I really question the usefulness of this application as it seems arbitrary and could easily favor any applicant that they happen to know (friends, family). We tried to ask questions, which the volunteer gave vague and unhelpful answers to. Right before leaving she said that we were the only application in for the kitten we wanted. We were eager to hear back and decided to check in on our application the following week. We spoke with more than one volunteer and each were rude and lacked any knowledge about the actual approval process. We later found out that we were not actually the only applicant, but rather 3 other families applied for the same kitten. We were disappointed to hear this, as that is not the information we heard before. After a few days we received an email saying that they narrowed it down to us and one other family, but went with the other family as they applied first. They also sent us the email a day after they placed the kitten. It was great to hear the kitten went to a home, as that place was disgusting and I felt it needed to be rescued from their unsanitary establishment. We responded to their email about how we were unhappy with their service and their response was that we should have received the correct information and that they have been trying to get a bigger facility. While this may be true, their volunteers should be trained and the facility should be clean and healthy for animals to be in regardless of size. We ended up adopting a kitten from an individual on Craigslist. This was a million times better as he communicated effectively and immediately provided the kitten's vet records. I'm happy we went with a different option. I would not recommend Milton Animal League to anyone. read more

The Milton Animal League is an all-volunteer non-profit group. We pride ourselves on responding to every call and e-mail promptly. I'm the person who responds to e-mails and want to apologize to Mike K. I couldn't find any of his e-mails on my computer and will contact our internet carrier to see if there was a problem with our service. If anyone else has had an issue with our e-mail, please call the shelter at (617) 698-0413 and let us know. We have some great dogs and cats we'd love to discuss! Linda P. read more