Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter

rebecca hoffman

2023-11

I am not one to write a bad review, but this shelter deserves it. This shelter screwed us out of our dog!!! A dog we paid money for to put on hold and had come in and spoken to the staff about at least 5 times. If you want to adopt an animal this shelter does not want to do anything to make this process easier. We put a dog on early bird hold and weren't told when her stray hold ended or when early bird ended, just to wait for their phone call. We assumed they would in fact call any of the 2 numbers we gave them or 2 emails, they do not. We emailed them asking when we would be able to pick up the dog they had told us was ours. To which they responded by telling us they had already gotten her adopted that morning and they were "sorry for any miscommunication". Sorry isn't enough, our whole family including two children under 10 thought this was our dog and had already started to love her before even having her. We spent $300 on supplies for her, that is now all pointless. We even went into the shelter to talk about what happened and they just told us that we took the wrong steps. "Calls aren't part of the process", you sure called us a whole bunch to confirm about the money we spent on her. How is it fair that we put in massive amounts of effort and money to save a dog from a shelter and they takes that away from us as if it was nothing? They even had the audacity to suggest we go look for another dog after telling us that our dog was gone. We are genuinely devastated and heartbroken, this was our dog!! THIS ISN'T FAIR!!

HUMBLE 1029

2024-01

The employees here or at least the ones I’ve dealt with so far are very sweet! I don’t know everyone’s name I think one was Raquel and idk the girls name that assisted me with my early bird bid but her personality is everything! I highly recommend you go check them out and take a look at the animals they really need homes. Not saying that the animals aren’t properly kept I mean I’m sure they are doing the best they can with how many animals they get each day I understand it’s not easy but a lot of those animals have been betrayed and are lost and they deserve a home not to be confined to those cages! Can’t wait for Thursday so I can pick my guy up he seems so well behaved. It would probably be best if he reunited with his owner if he’s actually “lost” but I hope I can get him!

Jennifer Rollin

2024-01

I visited recently & it was a nice (but sad) experience. The dogs kennels were clean, there were treats hung down the rows on the kennels that you can feed & give the fur babies as you visit & walk along. To be fair, I walked down every isle & gave a treat to every one. It was close to feel time & I seen several workers feeding, one had a dog out on a leash while his kennel was being cleaned. I was greeted nicely upon arrival & they answered any question I had. It just made me sad I cant take alot of the dogs home. But please, anyone, if you can & will, go find a great companion who can give unconditional love who needs a furever home!🐕😊

Jenny Duckworth

2023-12

The people who work here have the biggest hearts and work tirelessly to care for every single animal that comes through their doors and to educate the community. Tuscaloosa is so lucky to have such wonderful people running our municipal shelter. They should be paid so much more for all they do. Give them a call to foster, adopt, donate, or just take a dog out for Happy Hour!

Cara Hoffman

2023-12

The volunteers were very caring, but so busy.The place itself is terrible. The cages looked so tiny, with no comfort items. There is a urine filled gutter with water and a grate over it. The smell was awful.They just didn't seem to have enough workers or time. The place is so full. This is not so much a complaint but a plea for more funding.We did adopt a sweet, chill, 6 year old lap kitty for Mom. Even if Mom hadn't loved her, I told her I couldn't bear to see Miss Buttons' heart break being put back in that cage. She curled on both our laps and just purred and didn't want to get off. We were NOT leaving without her. She's a wonderful cat and now has a forever home. 💜

Michael Sherer

2024-02

These girls are great. Dogs are well taken care of. Look at how happy Treat looks at his forever home.

Rickpaul Parks

2023-08

Great staff and I got a get little puppy name Nick on July 13, 2023. He's getting along great with my other dog RueDog. Nick already knows to the door when he needs out. I've got some pads down. He's got a big yard to play in. I'm keeping him inside for now. Hopefully he'll be house broken soon. He'll be an inside dog, but will stay outside with his brother, RueDog when I'm not home he's found the dog play box. He continues to bring toys into the Front room.

gerome gacula

2024-01

Thankful for the staff and volunteers for their hardwork and good heart taking care of all the animals at the shelter.The facility needs a good exhaust or ventilation system to minimize the odor. Hoping for more funds or donations to help and improve the welfare of the shelter and the overall welfare of the animals and staff too.

Anna Augustini

2022-05

If I could give zeros stars I would. I went to go foster to adopt a 4 month old puppy named Asher. When meeting him at the shelter, he seemed extremely calm, I asked a member of staff if this was ok, if he was ok, and she said he was completely fine, just tired. I took him home and he was immediately sick. Throwing up, diarrhea, and would not eat anything. He got progressively worse night one, threw up 7 times. The day I got him was Saturday, by the time Sunday came around he was worse, but of course the metro is closed Sunday and their emergency number is no where to be found. I then had to take him to the ER where he had to be euthanized due to low blood sugar, decreased heart rate, and a bad case of parvo that went untreated. When calling the shelter today, they were no help, them giving me an already sick 4 month old puppy is somehow my responsibility. They also had no care in the world that my puppy had died, seems like this is normal. I’ve had friends with an experience similar to this, but I wanted to give this poor baby boy a good life. Now I have no puppy, and a large vet bill, as well as the $100 for adopting it. Clearly these dogs aren’t being taken care of in the proper way, they gave me a dog with Parvo telling me he was tired. I’m very upset and disappointed in this shelter and the experience I had. Although I want puppies to be adopted, this is not the place to do it.

Erica Cleveland

2023-10

I'm not one to write a review let alone a bad one but GOOD LORD, I don't understand the ethics or morals of this place. I recently adopted a kitten from them and she had a "sneeze" when I first inquired about her which is fine, they said they had treated her for it already. I go to meet her and she's seemingly completely fine. A week later I get her home and immediately after taking her out the carrier I noticed she's sneezing and has an IMMENSE amount of eye discharge. I called the place to ask if she was still on anything and was told she was not and the last day of her treatment was when I met her A WEEK AGO. I was also told by the person I spoke with that she probably got re-infected with whatever it may be from being in the shelter. Not to mention I was told that I'm supposed to make an appointment with a vet no less than 3 days after adoption. Now HOW would I have done that if I was not given a specific date I could pick her up until AFTER those 3 days were up??? Additionally, my confusion is HOW are you as an animal shelter letting illnesses run rampant within your facility?? Additionally if you KNOW this is the case then WHY not let adopters take their pets home after adoption to avoid KNOWINGLY giving someone a sick pet? Like I get they have a policy about spaying/neutering before taking them but if you know those animals run the risk of getting infected if they stay there then just require the adopter to come back for the appointment or BETTER YET let the adopter choose their own vet to do it and have them show documentation on it. Because not only is my kitten sick but because she wasn't given a cone collar or at the very LEAST a bandage, I had to get her stitches redone because she messed with them too much AND she had SEVERE inflammation in the area. I saw some bad reviews for this place before adopting from them and now upon reading more of them about getting infected animals, I am in COMPLETE disbelief as to how they can do this, not just on the business side either but MORALLY. What if I had small children or other animals at home? This wouldn't be safe for anyone involved.Edit: Very sassy and unprofessional response to a review given that you are a business. I promise you I can read and did read the contract that I signed. Just because you put in disclaimers and such in a contract does not make you immune to scrutiny. I was not given an "after care" sheet just a sheet saying what vaccines she had been given and needed in the future. You point out things in your response that I already addressed in my review to "give context" but the context was already given so why did you REALLY do that? Mentioning me paying the extra $10 for her to stay an extra day is very irrelevant because that one day did not get her THAT sick when the incubation period for URI in cats is between 2-10 days. Additionally, I'm not ignorant to animal diseases, how they spread, and general pet care as you seemingly must believe. Lastly, her incision was already inflamed the day I got her from your shelter. A cone/e-collar averages about $20, I paid $14 for the one my vet gave her...if you can't afford everything the animal needs after a procedure you require, due to your facilities lack of funds, either come up with a better system or don't do it at all :).

Nathan Shults

2024-04

Great facility with flexible options for shoet term checkouts for dogs prior to adopting.

Sarah LeAnn

2023-11

I was a little worried to be adopting from here after reading some of these reviews , but proceeded to adopt anyways . the staff was immediately friendly from the second we walked in . I had my eyes on a dog and they let me meet with him a few times before proceeding with the adoption . when we decided to adopt , they were quick and gave us all the infromation to take him home and even gave us a little sample bag of food . the dog i chose was fixed & had no issues besides needing a rabies shot . they gave me a voucher to get his shots and then gave us a sheet to get a free checkup vet visit ! ( unless pet needed extensive care . ) overall , the staff was super friendly and i would 100% adopt from here again .

Haley Arthur

2023-05

Wonderful experience. The staff was friendly and informative. The process was easy and we love our new puppy. The only suggestion I would make is if you look online and see a dog you like call ahead to see if it's at the facility or in a foster home.

Deborah A Horn

2023-05

That was "Bren" at 2 months when I got now named Dakota.This is her now.She's a fantastic emotional support dog. Very protective of "mommy"This is her in Oct and Nov 2022

Jace Wright

2023-10

Absolute worst experience ever. Went through all of the process of adopting for the animal only for the animal to run away which they probably poorly secured the animal. Was told a bunch of lies and confusion they didn't honor the replacement policy and constantly pushed the dates off as if I didn't drive 2 hours to pick up my animal. Were not understanding and Insensitive to the emotional process of them loosing the animal after I adopted it. Animal should have been spade and or neutered before it was put up before adoptionI would never adopt through them again or recommend them. Most all of the animals inside were In Poor condition skin missing off them full of fleas very malnourished and the kennels were absolutely filthy full of feces and urine. I would have ran away as well if I was the animal too. It was the nun caring attitude that Katy had about the entire situation that was distasteful. How your not open on Wednesday to the public BUT you tell people to come on Wednesday to pick up the animal or replacement animal. Full of it then there was a $10 a day fee to hold the animal but there's no animal to be held because they let the animal get away and hadn't found it for 24 hours after it got away. Was told to come back on a Friday which would have been 6 days after my initial adoption date with no animal. Then are consistently sending g emails about chip registration reminders or vet appointments reminders on a dog that I never received n one that they no longer have as well. Very poor customer service

ace

2024-03

i love volentering hear the people are so nice like the staf sadley there are undersafed and donrt have enfoe volenterars comeone knowe t-town we need to band to gether the once of us that like dogs and cats we need to help tmas

Maegan Duncan

2024-04

The people here are really nice and want to help you find a furry friend. Nice atmosphere and pretty clean.

Justin Smith

2023-11

We currently foster for this shelter and the experience has forced us to look at other locations to help at. Voicemails are not returned and contacting the correct person(intake, or fostering) is nearly impossible. Emails are not responded to and the process of trying to help them out is more trouble than it’s worth. Very disappointed with Tuscaloosa metro as no other facility has made it this difficult to help them or do the right thing for animals.

sarah nolle

2023-05

I absolutely love this shelter, the staff is so friendly and helpful! I adopted both of my animals from Metro and just fostered a pup from them. They care about their animals so much and ask about them even after you’ve adopted them!

J Killough

2023-05

These are the two dogs we adopted from the shelter. Both are precious. They are now living their best lives. We had a good experience and highly recommend that others consider adopting shelter dogs.

Tubbs

2022-05

The staff was so nice! And we saw so many amazing kitties,they were all so loving, you can tell the shelter treats them well.I ended uo fostering two little babies, who I love to death already, haha.If you're looking for a loving friend, I'd recomend a sweetheart named Hermin! He has feline lukemia, but was the most loving and sweetest baby I've ever met.Defienitly look into him, He deserves an amazing home.

Carole Peters

2024-01

Found a stray little dog and they would not take. So uncaring. I’m glad “humane” is not in their title.

A B

2023-09

Kind staff very accommodating and friendly one young lady working was so kind and very honest the whole team genuinely care for the animals and will do anything for them. It’s refreshing to see such animal lovers and caring kind people! Thank you so much for being so amazing metro!

Justin W

2023-05

The employees, and volunteers are always nice and helpful. The animals are well taken care of. Volunteering is not easy because the website they tell you to sign up for is NOT easy to navigate but from 12pm-4pm on Mon,Tue,Thu, and Fri you can pick any dog 🐕 to Walk, Feed, and Bathe for an hour 😘

Russell Frost

2023-05

This was my first visit to Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter in quite some time and I must say, it was a stellar visit. As soon as I entered the building the staff said hello. In the midst of waiting on others they made sure we were included as well, and told us where to go and look at the animals. The kennels are very well kept and the animals looked to be very well cared for. Although we didn't find a new forever friend for my mom that day, we've already made plans to go back. If I could give them 10 Stars I would. Thank you guys for everything you do, and please, keep up the good work.

Amy Barkdoll

2023-10

Wonderful experience! The staff is absolutely amazing. We are beyond happy with our new pup!!! Thank you TMAS

Trish Farley

2022-05

The staff here is amazing and so very helpful!! The adoption process was thorough and smooth. Thank you for helping with our new family member . . He is such a joy!!!!!

theressa boehm

2023-11

They don't take animals unless you book months ahead . So if you can't have an animal in your apartment anymore I guess throw it out.

Clyde Barrow

2024-02

The staff that I delt with were nice. Other than that there will be no further comments.

Nicole Hitt

2023-05

We adopted our lovely 2nd dog from Metro and the staff is incredible. It's a bummer they have so much intake and do much responsibility for the county since it's where Animal Control takes the pups. But the staff is empathetic, they want the best for every animal, and they take care of pets in such dire need and endeavor to always do the best for them. They are amazing and really do all they can.