I approached searching for a kitty as I would dating. I contacted numerous rescue volunteers and…read morelet them know my specific interests. The first of this was a kitty that would get along with our other kitties, but that's hard to know unless the cats meet. With how far away Merced is from the South Bay, that was impractical. So, I had to rely on descriptions of personalities.
Over a period of three weeks, I perused shelter websites from all over the state. I made numerous inquiries and even visited some shelters and adoption events in person, but I just wasn't finding "the one". However, one kitty on Merced's shelter site stuck in my mind the whole time. Obviously driving two hours each way wasn't ideal, but I couldn't get this kitty out of my mind! It was only one picture and he looked so special.
During this three weeks, I phoned the shelter so many times that I probably spoke to every employee! I had questions about this kitty's availability, personality, ability to get along with people, with other cats, length of time in the facility, and health. The staff didn't know much about individual cats because it's a high-kill shelter and they simply aren't there alive long enough to get to know. In fact, if they enter the shelter unaltered, they don't even bother to alter them unless they're placed for adoption because they're more likely to be killed than adopted. Realize this, if you're squeamish about death (and what animal lover who wants to save them isn't?), this is an inescapable fact when dealing with a high-kill shelter.
So, the standard explanation given was that the kitty was there for three weeks, meaning he must have quite a special personality. They explained that most cats do not last three weeks there; they get four days (or fewer if they're severely overcrowded). So if this kitty was still alive, it's because the employees really liked him and wanted to keep him around. That meant, inevitably, that other cats would be put down first, so don't be too impressed that kitties get lots of time here -- most don't make it out at all.
I wasn't getting enough information to make a decision, so I kept calling in the hopes that I could find an employee who DID know more about his personality. It was critical that this kitty be highly social and tolerant of other cats. So, they put me in touch with the director herself. She was wonderfully helpful, taking him out of his cage and observing him in a room with other cats. She reported back that he was very social and friendly. The only requirement she had of me as an adopter was that I own my own home. (I don't know if that's a requirement across the board, but at that time, most of their strays were pets that people had abandoned when they vacated their rentals, so she felt better about adopting to homeowners.)
I explained that I lived two hours away and we couldn't make it out until a weekend (they're open on Saturdays and that's when most of their out-of-town adopters show up), so they advised me to pay over the phone, ahead of time, to ensure he'd still be alive by Saturday. The money went for his neutering. The vet only worked on certain days and they can't legally adopt out an unsterilized cat or dog. So, that's what I did; paid with a credit card ($15).
The really crummy thing (hence only four stars) was that depending on who I talked to each time I called, some employees said my kitty could STILL be put down by the time I arrived on Saturday, even though I had paid! They said it was so overcrowded that they couldn't guarantee he'd be alive within a couple days. That was horrifying. Another call clarified with the director that it was NOT the case; once you pay, the animal's safe.
My partner and I arrived as planned, walked up to the window and handed over our kitty's cage #, and asked if we could go visit with a bright orange and white kitty who was meowing at us from the socialization room. They said sure! This kitty stole our hearts right away! Our sweet kitty whom we'd already adopted turned out to be as sweet as we'd been told he was. So, we ended up leaving with both of them! We'd only brought one carrier, so they provided an extra. I could tell the staff truly loved the cats.
The other kitty was already neutered, so it was just $15 adoption fee. The state pays shelters more than that to kill each animal, so they technically lost money adopting them out vs. killing them. We also received starter goody bags and they applied flea control.
The staff were incredibly warm and nice. They thanked us for saving these lives. Because we "ordered" ahead of time, we were spared walking past a bazillion cages to pick out an animal (don't want to do that because we'll want all of them and we can't take all of them) and we didn't have to smell a death room (the scariest part of going to kill shelters). Overall a fantastic experience! Five years later, our Merced kitties fill our lives with love!
I wouldn't hesitate to adopt from here again.
