Wayside Waifs

My sister had a terrible experience with Wayside Waifs this last weekend when trying to adopt a puppy. She had been interested in a male puppy and did a video visit on Saturday morning, but couldn't get that puppy because of breed restrictions at her place. The staff offered to show her another puppy, a female, that had recently come into the rescue and had just been spayed the day before. She agreed to the female puppy and she and my mom went to pick her up that afternoon. On their drive home, they found ticks on the puppy. They called Wayside and were told to bring her back and they would do a flea and tick treatment, which they hadn't done prior to adopting her out. So they drove back, got the treatment, and were told to just keep her separate from my sister's 11 1/2 year old dog for 24 hours, as by then any ticks would be dead. She kept the puppy in the kitchen, separated by a baby gate from her dog. On Sunday, my sister was worried because the puppy was not eating, was very lethargic, and threw up several times. She contacted Wayside again, and was told to bring her back to test for parvo. Well, she tested positive. Thankfully, she was able to surrender her back to Wayside without much fuss, but they told her she needed to deep clean her place to prevent her older dog from contracting it. My sister was absolutely beside herself worrying about both dogs. It is clear that Wayside did not take the time or precautions they should have to make sure this puppy was ready to be adopted; they even managed to complete an entire surgery without noticing ticks. Thankfully my parents were in Kansas visiting and could take her older dog out of the house so my sister doesn't have to worry he'll come in contact with anything outside in the yard. I don't know how it's acceptable to adopt a dog out when clearly they haven't been properly screened for health or treated for ticks and fleas. My sister is a great pet parent and has been wanting a second dog for years. This weekend should have been an exciting and fun time, and instead, it was a disaster and a huge emotional drain on her. Next time around, we will find a rescue who does their due diligence to make sure their animals are actually ready to go to forever homes. But don't worry! My sister can still have first choice to adopt that puppy *if* it survives parvo! She is also out the $250 adoption fee for a puppy she had for less than 24 hours.

I feel obligated to make a review about the insanity I witnessed at Wayside today. This is an organization that I have come to love and even have furmembers of my family that I adopted from them. Today, however, was a nightmare. I asked an employee volunteer in the cat area if I could see a particular kitten. She said "of course" and I proceeded to sanitize my hands. She opened the kennel door for me and I starting playing with this cute little baby. I was holding him and he was play biting me a bit (this is a kitten mind you) and I was softly correcting him and he was quickly picking it up. Another volunteer employee (I didn't catch her name but she was an older lady with very short, almost shaved gray hair) approached me angrily and asked if I was being helped. I told her that another volunteer had opened the kennel for me and she had wondered off. She then grabbed a stuffed animal out of the kitten's kennel and starting jamming it agains the kittens face even while it was still in my arms saying, "please don't let him bite your fingers, we are trying to get him to stop doing that". I said, "yeah, I was just working on that with him. He's a fast little learner." She continued trying to jam this toy into his face. He would bite it pretty hard when she did because, well, she was jamming something in his face. She then got angrier and without saying a word grabbed the kitten out of my hands rather roughly. She then proceeded to pin the kitten on his back in the kennel with the toy in the most violet way I have ever seen anyone treat a kitten. Then she tried to slam the kennel door closed. All of this is occurring because I was holding a kitten that an employee handed me that was play biting me. As she slammed the door closed the terrified kitten slipped out and took off running across the room and hid under another set of cages... this little guy was scared out of his mind and I don't blame him at all. She chased him and reached under the cage and grabbed him. This woman that had just violently attacked this little critter reached under and grabbed him when he had hid and backed himself into a corner. He bit her. Not a play bite, a real bite. And she deserved it. She put him back in his kennel and disappeared to the back telling another employee that he needed to be put on a bite hold. At this point no one had said anything to me and I was still standing there in shock. This continued. Every employee was actively avoiding me as they buzzed around talking about how this cat had attacked an employee and how it was MY fault. WHAT?? I sat down as I was shaken, expecting someone to approach me and ask me about it and no one ever did. They were actively avoiding me and trying not to make eye contact. I reached out to an employee and asked if the kitten was going to be okay and she told me he was on a bite hold. I started to try to explain to her that the lady attacked him and that it wasn't his fault and the SAME LADY THAT ATTACKED HIM called her over and said something to her. She then never came back and avoided me intentionally just like everyone else. Finally, being super upset I asked to speak with a supervisor. I was told that one wasn't available and they took me up to the front to talk to the lady at the counter. I recounted the events and told her how upset I was and that I didn't want that level of violence to happen to any other animals there and that I didn't want that kitten to be in trouble for defending himself when he was being attacked. This is a kitten people!! You have to be REALLY violent with a kitten to make it bite you hard enough to draw blood. I was basically given the run around and told that I would get over it and be laughing about it in an hour. No. I am not laughing. I would never laugh about someone being abusive toward a baby animal and then getting away with it. I asked for her to look over the report and she did saying, "oh, it will be blamed on the public". MEANING ME. It will be blamed on me. For literally standing in shock after being handed a kitten, having it ripped out of arms and handled in a super disturbing manner, and watching it run and fight for its life in response. Even when I asked to speak to a supervisor I was given the run around. It's not funny. It's not even okay. This is an amazing organization , but to let something so horrific happen and then punish the animal and blame it on ME without any repercussions for the abuser.... that is shameful. Absolutely shameful. I tried to reach out. I tried to make it right and help remedy the situation. It didn't work, and here I am. I will be a voice for these animals just like a true animal volunteer worker would. A person who is capable of getting so worked up that they become violent toward a 2 lbs kitten doesn't need to be working for an animal shelter.

The employees were very nice.  We looked at several different cats and I finally decided to adopt 2 kittens.  Afterwards they were very straightforward explaining the costs and the paperwork.  I've had the cats for 2 years now and they are both still in good health.

I adopted 2 kittens from Wayside Waifs and I have been very happy to have them. They have had no major health issues the first year that I have had them. I was also notified of existing conditions. | |The staff there was very friendly and knowledgeable. They gave me plenty of good advice on things like declawing, litter, etc. I will definitely adopt from there in the future.

They are amazing. They have a facility like boarding school for animals. They have an army of volunteers. When I put my bunny home, they were very well socialized. They live and breathe their mission. I have 2 happy healthy babies from there, I just adore. Going into their facility is entering the palace. Everything they do is response to a need of the animals. The people are working to support and heal them. I thank them for that.