PAWS Chicago

I applied to adopt a dog. She needed dental care and I was told that I could bring her home that day as a “ help me heal” if I was willing to transport her to a vet on 26th street. As I live in Evanston and work full time, I opted to wait until she was ready for adoption.
Meantime I was told to return with my dog as a get to meet and greet. I drove down again with my dog ( 1.5) hours in city traffic, parking $) and guess what she wasn’t there. Oops.
The manager there said she wanted to make things right for me and would let me know when she returned.
I received a call today to come and see her tomorrow. Got a message confirmation.
Got a call 1.5 hours later she was adopted. Really?
What a disappointing organization . Are they really interested in providing good homes for animals? I wonder.
I could have given this dog an excellent home, back yard, walks, companionship and medical care.

This was my experience today at PAWS Lurie Clinic where I took my cat for the first time to get vaccinated.
POSITIVES:
-- The clinic is spacious, clean, and bright.
-- The staff, except for one I encountered, were pleasant and helpful.
NEGATIVE:
-- Bring your cat in a carrier. I was made to go home and get the carrier. Maybe my mistake, but I don't recall any mention of that in the appointment scheduling. Dogs don't need carriers, only cats. I could've easily held my cat in my lap, but there was no understanding from the office staff. Policy has a place, but so does a little kindness.
-- You will be asked to decide what vaccines your cat needs without speaking to a vet. That makes no sense to me. I am not a vet. Children aren't given vaccines without conferring with their pediatrician.
-- You will not be allowed to go back with your pet to get the vaccines. I've never been unable to be with my cat while getting vaccines at previous vets. Again, children don't receive vaccines without their parent. Mistakes happen. What if our pet receives 4 vaccines when only 2 were intended? Etc.
TAKE AWAY:
-- I was not as happy as I was hoping with this experience.
-- A little helpfulness with the cat carrier would have been a grace extended on their part. For future helpfulness, it could be made more clear on the appt scheduling notes.
-- Families should be offered the opportunity to meet with a vet before making decisions on vaccines. It would be a minor procedural shift, that seems common sense to me.
-- Families should also be offered to be in the room when the pet receives the vaccine. I realize there is a trend away from owners being present, but I feel each owner knows themselves (ie, their stress levels) and knows their pet much better than the vet. If I feel my pet will do better in my presence, I should be allowed the opportunity to be in the room with them. This office had a "policy" with no room for understanding individual family and pet needs/preferences.
-- I hope these concerns will be addressed by PAWS. The most important is to recognize the value of policy and the value flexibility for individual family circumstances. A little kindness can go a long way.

I was searching for the perfect Feline; I decided to scroll through Petfinder's Website. There after a little over an hour of reviewing the kittens for adoption, picking out at least three that caught my eye, and of course sharing them with my husband, we loved all three. Now, I didn't only complete an application with Paws, but with another adoption agency as well, but after completing the quiz, and advancing to the next stage and receiving the email to move forward with the application process and submitting it; then I was advised to schedule an appointment, which I did. We were excited we're getting a new addition to our family. I kind of got ahead of myself purchasing all the things our new family member would need for comfort and love in his/her new home. Carrying case, kitty leash, self-cleaning litter box, litter, an array of toys, climber/scratching post, food/water dish, dry/wet food. We've had our veterinarian for over 15 yrs. with a positive record for all of the pets we owned. Please know I've had 5 (Five) cats in my lifetime, never gave one away, kept each one for their lifetime and heartbroken from losing each one. When you've owned a pet for 12 to 21 years was our blessing. We lost our last cats 5 -7 years ago, and it was very hurting. Now we're ready to be parents to another pet who deserve love, attention, kindness, and the comfort of family.
Now, I must talk about the application, as well as the quiz. The applications questions were pertinent, and I had no problem with them; I was very concise with my answers. The number of people in the household, the age of my husband and me, if we owned any other pets, the number of pets we owned or formerly owned. The ages/names of each pet, the ages they were, what happened to them, if any were euthanized, the pets I owned then and now, were they ever spayed/neutered? I answered each question honestly and correctly. I also read the rules, regulations, and I read the POLICY.

My husband and I are now set & ready to go, kitty carrier, leash, toys, smiles, love and happy; only to arrive and be turned away because we have a 4 yr. old Goldendoodle (Ariez Hauchi) he was a rescue dog we've had from the age 4 months. We never consider having Ariez neutered of course we take about it when we first got him, but hands down we thought about it and decided no. We knew we were not going to mate him, and we spoke with our vet about our choice and inquired about the affect our decision would have on his health, if he never mated, would it harm him, the answer No, but to have him neutered because it's the only way to adopt a kitten; that or get rid of my dog. How Humane is that? The same s I would not have my kitten declawed; is the same way I feel about my dog.

The receptionist after advising her we had an appointment to see their kittens, she asked whether or not we had a dog in the house an whether he had been neutered, I said no. This person immediately said to me, I would not be able to adopt, unless I had my Goldendoodle neutered; she went on to say it was a part of their POLICY and written on the website. I asked her to please show it to me on the site or in their brochure, as she pretended to look at her computer, and could not show me where I could have possibly missed that especially important factor of information. If I had read this while reading and observing every requirement, and this was one I never would have made the appointment or travel the distance for our kitty. We were in and out within 10 minutes. I thought, how did we get pass the quiz and application stages in order to setup an appointment, take time from our day to drive the distance. Such a letdown, and customer repo ire left me speechless. Left with no other choice but to take this travesty to another level. "Not Being Allowed to Adopt a Pet based on the fact that I refuse to have my Pet at home (A Dog) Fixed, because we to dd a kitten to our family. We had two cats around him in our home. She said, it would cause a behavior problem for my dog. (How would she know this?) and that having my dog neutered would decrease the growth of unwanted animals. We decided not to fix our other pets. We didn't have to have them fixed, because we weren't exposing them to any environment where they would be at risk of reproducing.
We are Responsible Senior Adults, who, as I said owned between us 7 dogs, and 4 cats. No, I wasn't going to have my new kitty declawed. Definitely not humane.
The representative at the reception desk was a LIAR, and Dishonest, and acting as a representative of this facility she could not have read their Mission Statement.

This was Clearly "Discrimination at Its Lowest Form"
i.e., the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.

The words which came from her mouth were unbelievable, unprofessional and embarrassing, allowing me and other clients present & listening to her conversation, either laughed in disbelief or sighed in confusion hearing her newly invented on the spot made up, lie on Paws POLICY. Talk about opening Pandora's Box on outright blatant show of discrimination. Review the tape for the evening of March 2, 2022 @ 4:30p -4:45p.
Chicago/Clybourne location.

NOTHING SHE SAID WAS WRITTEN ANYWHERE ON THE WEBSITE OR IN PAWS POLICY
UNBELIEVABLE! We Weren't Surprised, We Heard about Their Practices.
WHAT'S THE PURPOSE OF THEIR MISSION STATEMENT WHEN THEIR STAFF DON'T FOLLOW THE MISSION STATEMENT THEMSELVES?

HYPOCRITES!

We adopted our dog, Buddy, from PAWS about 8 years ago. They were absolutely wonderful and my husband and I were impressed with the interview we had before PAWS allowed us to take Buddy home. We have donated to PAWS through the years, but not often enough. Today, I looked at their financials on Charity Navigator, and am thrilled to see that less than 4% of donations are used for salaries, and that the woman who runs the organization and the two vets listed, are paid reasonable salaries! Our monthly donation dollars are going to be sent to PAWS, starting today!

PAWS Chicago inspires me every day. It is Chicago's largest no-kill shelter. The homeless population of cats and dogs has been decreased over 55% because of PAWS' no-cost and low-cost spay/neuter program. The shelter is state-of the-art and cageless. PAWS has programs for every imaginable scenario--abuse, homelessness, domestic violence, natural disaster, it pulls more dogs and cats from Animal Care and Control than any other shelter, ---it has programs for everything, It also allows other rescue groups to use the spay/neuter clinic at super discounted rates. They are committed to spay/neuter--they are committed to all cats/dogs! It is an AMAZING not for profit.

I visited their facilities two times, they are a no kill shelter. There space is very neat and people friendly. The volunteers are very friendly and they carry a big selection of animals that are up for adoption. Their safety prompts are very well established. All in all, from what I see, it's a great organization!

We visited PAWS Chicago in order to get information on starting our own "No Kill" shelter in Northwest Indiana. We want to bring their model to our area and thought it would be a good idea to spend some time with them. We met with Rochelle Michalec who took several hours of her time to help us and give us much information on their organization and a tour. What Rochelle and the rest of the PAWS organization is doing is truly making a difference in the lives of so many animals and the people of Chicago. We were so impressed by their positive attitude, hard w3ork, dedication, and willingness to help us. Because of them, hopefully we too can save lives and reduce the number of homeless pets in our area