Complaint Review: Sandy Anderson - Lincoln Nebraska

Other Organizations may do those things but you will be charged for them. Our donation/re-homing fees are extremely minimal, if we even require anything from you at all. Did you make a donation at the time of adoption? I would guess not.

But you would have been told as per the contract that you must have the kitten spayed or neutered by the time it reaches one year of age. If you do not remember what you were explained it is not our fault. Each of us on average spend between two and three hours on each adoption so that everything is gone over and there is no miscommunication. Possibly you were preoccupied that day or tired or whatever. But you did not hear me say a kitten was spayed or given shots or dewormed. None of the issues you listed were things we do to any animal under one year of age.

Also, you mispoke when you referred to the Vet as a male and later named All-Feline. You need to get your stories straight.

Because you did not pay attention at the time of the adoption and failed to read the material you were sent home with, the end result is that your attempt at making me look disreputable was all based on lies. The public may not realize that; however, and you will have contributed to many animals in dire situations not being able to get a home.

You need to look through your material and read it thoroughly, If you no longer have it, I will be glad to send it to you. In the meantime it will be posted on this forum so that the public can understand that your denegration of the Organization was based on untruths. My guess is that you had to spend some money on the kitten you adopted and were angry because of it. Our volunteers live on a fraction of our incomes while we spend most of our own money on neutering and spaying other people's pets. I will not allow you to make me feel bad because I did absolutely nothing wrong. I am requesting that you read through the materials once again and see what I am saying is true and that you write a re-traction. You are 100% liable for this slanderous attack.

The website is currently not allowing me to upload documentation but it will be up as soon as they get it fixed and I would like you to carefully read through it this time.

During my years in rescueI never received a complaint on any of the animals I haveadopted into new, loving homes. I have always tried to do so with extreme diligence.Nothing is ever stated or promised that is not the complete and total truth; nothing is hidden or kept from potential adopters and nothing is "glossed over." Therecannot be a guarantee of any sort on any animal, the same as a human could not be "guaranteed." But myself and others in the Organization exercise the utmostcaution in making certain to the best of our abilities that no animal is afflicted with any type of medical or health situation when they leave the sanctuary. I have always made it a point to inform adopters of every issue and potential issue surrounding any animal they adopt. Not doing so could result in unintended harm to the animal and this is unacceptable to me. In this situation each and every one of these issues were addressed at the time of the adoption.

I have also always made it a point to screen the homes carefully but every once in a while someone will portray themselves to be something they are not. This situation was one of those. Even though I have a rule to avoid adopters who are relatively young and immature, because one parent accompanied these girls, I made a very rare exception. It has been a real learning experience and, unfortunately, undeserving animals will end up paying forthis. All I can do at this point is make certain that other area rescues and shelters avoid adopting any animals to these people.

Rather than contact me directly as they had for the two monthsimmediately following the adoption, they decided to take the low road and make a public report with no thought given to the animals that will suffer undeservedly. Even though every effort was made to make certain they had all my contact information, including email, phone, physical address and business cards and brochures with the same, instead of contacting me and inquiring as to why this cat might be having a problem, they chose to falsely accuse, criticize and judge publiclyall in one fell swoop. Sadly, the cat has apparently suffered at their hands immeasurably as a result of their not consulting with me and communicatingby openly discussing what the problem might be.

Even though the adoption process was thorough and unhurried and any and all potential problems were thoroughly discussed concerning this cat, for whatever reasonthe girlswere not listening. They were told the cat had a flea problem a few months prior but that she had been thoroughly bathed and treated and no fleas were present at the time of the adoption. She was carefully examined by both myself and the potential adopters. If the cat later developed a flea problem (I seem to recall they had other animals in the home or nearby), there is no way all future or potential problemscould be known or completely prevented. If the cat developeda parasite problem after being re-homed, there is no possible way I or anyone could have known that was going to happen. Sometimes cats will develop parasites after a flea infestation; sometimes they will not. I always err on the side of caution, however, as cats have very delicate, sensitive bodies and better to not inundate them with chemicals and treatments needlessly. They were, however, instructed to contact me ifany problem whatsoever developed so that I couldassist them.But they did not.They stated that no regular dewormer worked on the parasites and, had they remembered or read their adoption contract thoroughly, they would have known what to do.At the very least they could have contacted me directly as they knew that I had unequivocally stated and written in the adoption contract thatany animal could and should be returned to me if there were any problems or changes they did not want to deal with.

The sadest part of this entire ordeal is that theyhad this cat undergo a needless surgery! In my mind that borders on animal abuse. Having the spay certificate in their possession or, if lost, contacting me for a copy, they should have gone directly to the veterinarian who performed the procedure if they had any questions.Unfortunately for the cat, they did not even take the time to contact thespaying vet or even myself for that matter. They promptly took the cat to a second vet and had her undergoa surgery needlessly. This is absolutely inexcusable! This not only sickens me but underscores the essentialness of makingcertain that potential adopters havereached a certain level of maturity. Imay assume they also put the cat throughmultiple vaccinations even though they had record of vaccination andadditional vaccinationscould put the cat's health in serious jeopardy.

Since they have not contacted me and have disappeared I of course cannot contact them to find out how any of this could have happened. My guess is that the cat was probably "howling" as cats often do whenfirst being re-homed,and they mistook the howling for a cat in heat. Interestingly, the cat had been spayed almost 4 years before being re-homed and had never exhibitedeven the smallestsign of being intact.The reasonis because she had beenspayed--thoroughly and completelyfor nearly four years before. Did the veterinarian tell these young girls the cat was not spayed in order to make extra money even though it was unethical? I will never know the answer to that as they did not provide the name of the veterinarian. If they would provide the name I could take this up the with the Veterinary Association or Attorney General. I have since inquired witheach and every veterinarian I think it could possibly be and each one has adamantly denied ever servicing these girls. So, I am left with many unanswered questions and not even given the consideration to be contacted and communicated with.

I now worry incessantly about this cat, aware that she lives in a home wherethis type of situation could happen again. I have no recourseon their actions and accusations as they have made themselves obscure and unreachable. Normally in situations of ignorance or abuse the animal is taken back as per the contract. I can only hope someday,somehow I am able to find these young girls and take the cat out of harms way. Yes, theywill plead they didn't know or some other excuse, but that is the very reason I make it a rule not to adopt an animal unless the new home is a stable, mature, responsible home. Sometimes I am fooled and I guess this is one of those times.

I am deeply saddened that this cat was subjected to such treatment and only wish I could place her in a new and caring home where mistakes of this magnitude are not perpetrated on an innocent animal. If thesegirls have an ounce of decency I am requesting that they contact me. I am including documents that were also given to these young girls at the time of adoption or upon request. I am quite interested in seeing what they have to say after their bluff has been called.