Merced County Animal Control

I wanted to wait a few days before I wrote this, to see if it was still something that was bothering me. It it.
I love rescue dogs. After having visited the Merced Animal Control Adoption Center, though, I can totally understand when people decide to purchase one instead. If THAT is the type of experience someone has with shelters, I wouldn’t want to rescue either.
The facility itself is gorgeous — it’s everything except the building that bothered me.
Before visiting, I went online to look at the dogs that they had posted as available on their website; Thursday there were 109 listed, on Friday there were 116, and Saturday morning there were 122. That’s an enormous selection and included over ten puppies (which is part of what we were looking for) so we were more than happy to make the drive out.
Upon arrival, we stopped in at the front desk where we found one lady to be extremely helpful, and the other brushed us off. We were told that there was currently a shelter there to pick up some dogs, so some of the ones that we saw in the kennels might already be spoken for. OK.
We were then informed that any dogs with a colored dot on their paperwork were definitely already spoken for, they were just waiting for their spay/​neuter. OK.
We were then informed that some dogs without a colored dot on their paperwork were also spoken for, or not yet ready for adoption. We would need to get the ID number for the animals we wanted to look at, and then they would tell us which animals were still available. Um… okay.
‘Also,’ they told us, ‘Some of the dogs have colored dots with writing on it — that means they’re on hold for transport for another shelter coming to pick them up.’ We asked if that meant that if we were interested in one of them, we would be able to adopt it since the shelter hadn’t picked them up yet. No.
…Why would you hold an animal for a shelter for possible adoption if you have an home for it right here? I understand that some places need to fill a quota to make a trip, and they may have a lot of a particular type of breed so they don’t want to take a bunch more on, but if you have several dogs on hold it would make sense that one could be swapped out if a suitable home were found for it before the transport arrived.
OK. After having obtained all of that information, we headed out to check on the dogs and see who we were interested in meeting.
Almost every single one had a colored dot on their kennel. We had made the long distance drive to look at these dogs, only to find that out of the 120+ listed, less than 20 were /​maybe/​available — we would still need to take their ID numbers to the front to find out.
The facility was nice — they had hallways that you could enter from one side and exit from another, making it easy to traverse the animals. Some of the doors were locked, which made it clear where we could go, even if there wasn’t a sign on the door. Cool.
We went out of one hallway and into the next — finding ourselves in a hallway with dogs marked aggressive, or illnesses marked on their sheets. We quickly exited out the other door, only to find that the door we exited out of had a sign saying, «QUARANTINE: KEEP OUT». There was no sign on the other door, and it was unlocked. Not good.
After looking, we decided on five that we would ask about. Only three of those five were available.
After looking at all three of them, we found that one of them had kennel cough; we asked if they would be able to hold and treat the animal so that we could safely introduce it to our other dog and make sure that they got along.
No; they don’t treat animals unless they’re already adopted.
That wasn’t going to happen.
There was one dog, though, out of the five we asked about, that might be available later that day — someone was coming to check her out, but they weren’t sure if she was going to take her home.
Okay.
As it turns out, that dog /​did/​get adopted, but while my husband was there to find out, he asked about why the dog with kennel cough was out with the populous and wouldn’t be treated unless someone committed to adopting. One of the women that was there mentioned that there were several dogs with illnesses like Parvovirus and kennel cough that were out with the populous because they simply couldn’t keep up with it, and that because they’re a high kill shelter it didn’t make sense to treat every single dog that came in when such a high percentage would be euthanized.
I understand not spaying or neutering, I understand there being a feesibility issue around treatment/​vaccination of every animal that comes through, but to put those animals out into the general populous thereby exposing healthy dogs AND THE DOGS OF POTENTIAL ADOPTERS (due to contamination issues) to highly contagious and (in the case of Parvo) life threatening diseases– is unacceptable.

I cannot begin to express my disappointment. My family and I fell in love with this adorable little girl last Monday ¹¹⁄₂₃. She’d only been in the shelter for a day. I called and inquired about her. The next day, Tuesday the 24^th, I received a call saying she was «spoken for». No elaboration. I thought, «well, at least she has a home», but something in my gut felt wrong. I called again today (Monday, Nov 30^th) just to check and they said she was transferred to San Francisco. WHAT?! Why?! If a local person was interested in giving her a loving home, why send her 2 hours away? Not only that, but she sat in the shelter until Friday the 28^th – 4 days after i expressed interest– when San Francisco SPCA was able to come get her. Now I’m trying to locate her in San Francisco. I can’t give them one star, because I knew a doctor that worked (works?) there and she is so extremely compassionate, that I can’t imagine indifference runs through the place. But what a huge let down. I feel that this was extreme disregard for the dog, as well as the customer.

The adoption process was quick and straightforward. I visited the shelter on Saturday with my family and my dog Dusty. Prior to my visit I looked through a list of their adoptable pets on PetFinder and found John Belushi. My family and I immediately fell in love with him! The staff were friendly, informative, and helpful; everything went smoothly. My dad and I picked up John this morning (Tuesday). He quickly got used to the house and is currently laying by my side. The 2 hour drive to Merced from Fremont was definitely worth it. He is a great addition to the family and an awesome playmate for Dusty. Merced Animal Shelter is my go-​to place to rescue dogs now.

I drove to the shelter and asked the receptionist if I could visit their cats. I was told that I could not. Then silence. I was taken aback, not sure how to proceed. I then asked, «I can’t see your cats? Why not?» Answer: «Because we don’t let anyone back there because we have too many cats.» I was taken aback again. What does one thing have to do with the other?, and I asked her that question. She simply replied again that they had too many cats and that no one was allowed back to see them. By this time I just couldn’t think of a single thing to say. It was like the Twilight Zone. I asked how any cats ever got adopted out. She shoved about a 30 page stack of letter size sheets at me, and upon each page was printed a dozen or two tiny pictures of cats. Either they were in black and white or the color was terrible. She said I could choose one from those pictures, and someone would go back and get that cat and bring it up. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When I choose a pet to live in my home for life I need to spend time with a variety of animals. It might take me many hours, or even several days, to interact and find the animal that most comfortably «fits». I don’t choose an animal based on looks anyway, so the idiotic sheets of small thumbnails of cats was utterly useless to me. Let’s think about this for a minute from the standpoint of efficiency and plain old common sense: A person could go back and look at all the available cats, looking from one to another in a matter of seconds, watching how they play, how they interact, etc., and get a sense for the personalities of many, many cats in the space of half an hour. Or, a government employee at an absurdly high rate of pay can travel back and forth with one cat at a time, and in the space of that same thirty minutes the prospective adopter could get to know how many cats? Two? It’s beyond ridiculous — it borders on mental retardation. I’ve run across this type of idiocy many times in many shelters across the country but never to this degree. Merced County Animal Control says repeatedly that they have too many cats. Gee, I wonder why, when they make it so incredibly frustrating for people to adopt one. Just more stupid government acting stupidly. I’ll go to a private shelter. These people are just plain crazy.

Animals were cute and lovable except for a few dogs that were either very aggressive or very scared. Staff was sub-​par; a Spanish speaking woman came in with a small, scared dog she found in a Walmart parking lot. The office worker brushed her off and did nothing to help the poor woman when the dog got loose. The woman did not speak English and the dog didn’t want to listen to anyone, but these things didn’t cross the worker’s mind while she stood there yelling, «Catch that dog! It’s not safe to have him loose. Catch that dog!» You’re the one working at an ANIMAL CONTROL CENTER, lady. You catch it.
Needless to say, all of this happened after my friend had paid for the adoption. The dog is sweet and well mannered, no regrets at all.
I called to see if the dog would be bathed before we picked her up as she needed to be seen by a vet for altering (spaying) and we were bringing her home to meet our dog. The woman informed me they do not bathe the animals before adoption. I’m sorry, what? Cats and dogs in the same facility, coming from who knows where, people coming and going back to their own animals, and you don’t bathe them? I certainly hope this was a mistake and either I misheard her or she has her information wrong.
Ask questions before adopting from this place and have a letter from your landlord/​leasing agent stating its ok for you to have a pet. Otherwise they won’t let you adopt!

I love the Merced Animal Shelter! The newest member of our family was adopted from there three weeks ago. We had a very positive experience with the shelter: it’s clean and modern, the staff and volunteers were wonderful, and there are so many great dogs to choose from (cats, too, I’m sure, but I write this from a dog-adopter’s point of view).
When we decided it was time for a new dog, we wanted to rescue one from «death row.» There are so many strays in the valley that, unfortunately, they have a high euthanasia rate. Often times shelters in SF rescue dogs from these shelters, but we decided to head right to the source ourselves.
If you’re thinking of visiting, read Jen D.‘s review. Very helpful. Keep in mind that all animals need to be fixed/​neutered before leaving the shelter (very few are already «altered.»). Since we live in SF, that meant falling in love with our dog on Saturday, then having to drive all the way back to Merced on Tuesday to pick him up post-​surgery (2.5 hours of driving each way). A lot of driving, but he’s worth it. :)
If anyone from the Merced Shelter is reading this, please know that the dog you called «Elvis Presley» is well-​loved and very happy! An extra big thanks to the young man who helped us meet the dogs (don’t know his name, — a big 49ers fan). You made our experience awesome.
Save a dog! You’ll be glad you did.

Very nice looking and clean facility. I have adopted three dogs from here. They have awesome staff!

We just adopted our second dog from this shelter. We drove out from the SF Bay Area to do so, and the staff were extremely helpful both with finding the location of the dogs we wanted to see, and with a meet-​and-​greet and cat testing for the dogs we wanted to meet.
Why Merced County?
I volunteer in shelters, involved in animal welfare (blogging, social media), trained as a dog trainer and taken behaviorist courses… very dog-​centric (or crazy). I’ve been talking with a couple local rescue organizations… and while they do amazing work, got frustrated. No problem with the application or anything (they can be choosy, but I passed) — it’s the communication! We’ve been back and forth trying to organize with one very well known group for three WEEKS (after spending an hour meeting the dog and meeting them for training classes with the dog — over 6 hrs of driving total), and they can’t manage to set up a home check. Another organization just dropped the ball (called us, said they’d call at a certain time, never did — so we persued the other dogs we were checking out). Gave us grief about not having a yard despite the dog we were inquiring about was a houdini who jumped 6 ft fences and escaped). A bit crazy.
Thinking this might go nowhere, we decided to go to the source of where many rescues pull from, central valley. Not to mention it’s sort of a «one-​stop-​shop» when you want to check your dog against a good number of dogs at the same time to see how they’ll mesh.
Want to stress: rescues do amazing, life-​saving work, and there are hundreds of great ones locally.
The dogs.
Tons available. Variety — all sizes, shapes, breed types (herding, terrier, sight, etc) And many MANY who will make great family pets. I went down entire rows where the dogs simply sat there, gazed out at me, and wagged their tail. There are many dogs who are not stressed out, calm, well behaved. Most dogs are young. Most look like they’re in generally good or perfect health. By the time I finished the last row of kennels, I was choked up a little by how *good* the dogs here are — and yes, I volunteer regularly in shelters.
The shelter.
Recently built (2009) facility is nice. The kennels are not too bad (for a high-​occupancy shelter), and kept up decently compared to others I’ve seen and volunteered in. It won’t compare to some of the glossy bay-​area ones, but not bad for what they’re up against. The staff were very helpful and friendly, and the process is extremely simple. It’s also not busy (if you look at their stats, they adopt out ~250 dogs/​year but do ~1250 transfers — so you won’t be elbowing anyone out of the way for a dog).
What we did:
I recommend if you go out there (from any distance) the following — either have a good list of dogs you are interested in beforehand or call to check on the status the same day you drive out. They are a high-​kill shelter, and do many rescue pulls. Two of the dogs we wanted to meet out of a list of around 8 were gone (one was adopted– yay!) But there are a *ton* of dogs there, around 200, so you have a good chance of finding others who fit what you’re looking for.
Start with Petfinder,
. It’s not completely up to date, but has nice photos, video, and descriptions.
Then find the dog on Petharbor (click the top link on this page:
), which is also more up to date. Write down the «A» number. If you want to find out the dogs location, or have a hard time finding him/​her, the A number is the easiest way to find the dog. If the dog is not in Petharbor, chance it’s not at the shelter. Check out the other dogs — many more available here.
Note the intake day — dogs are held 3 days, so this affects who is technically adoptable on the day you visit the shelter. You can still at least see the dog though — they don’t hide the stray holds in locked rooms or anything.
Make a list, *calmly* walk down all kennel rows and check them out, shortlist the ones you want to visit, and the staff will help you out.
OR — just go there and look. So many dogs you’re bound to find a great one available.
Dog intros (w/​ours): they started doing a behind-​the-​fence introduction, and then we did several more in a room indoors. We introduced several dogs to our girl to see who she would be most compatible with. They also walked the dog around a bunch of cat cages and cats behind a window (moving around etc) to watch for his reaction.
If you find a dog, he/​she will need to be altered before they leave the kennel. Most dogs are not yet altered. This is a next-​day appointment for us, so it’s not a long wait (it seems as though they no longer do the alteration deposit). We return tomorrow to pick him up. Total cost is $ 110.
Highly recommended, and you’re really helping a dog in need. Central valley has somewhat poor «live release» stats, but absolutely fantastic dogs needing homes there — check them out and save a life!

A very clean and modern facility. Filled to the brim (100+ dogs; 100+ cats) with many nice animals so lots of good choices. The staff was very friendly and professional. It is a kill shelter and though the nice folks there do everything they can to care for the animals, they will euthanize the animals if individuals and rescue groups don’t pull them. Definitely worth the trip and we adopted a beautiful and friendly new member of our family.

WOW! I don’t know how new this place is, but it is really nice! The area is very well maintained and kept up which is nice because the old one was far from impressive. The dogs for the most part seem to be paired in order to socialize along with the fact that they are fed and cleaned on a regular basis. The staff doesn’t want to intervene while you search for the newest addition to your family, but if you decide to go here I trust you won’t be disappointed as there are too many good pets to choose from. I honestly wish I could take them all!

I just adopted an adorable 6 month old dalmation mix. She is the kindest, calmest, cutest dog ever. The shelter is very nice and clean. A guy I spoke to there said it was brand new and it shows. We brought our lab, Buddy, to meet the Puppy before adopting her and they guy in charge of her was extremely nice and gave us alot of info on how she reacts to the other dogs and other employees. He was correct on everything he said, she is so wonderful and I am very thankful that I visited this shelter. I didn’t want to ruch into anything so I wanted to go home and think about it. The guy told me I could always adopt her over the phone since I put my application in already. Since I am from Oakdale, I wanted to make an adoption over the phone, the first lady I talked to said I couldn’t do that (she wasn’t very nice). I called back and talked to a lady named Heather, she said she will ask Management and they did it for me! Heather was awesome. Ask for her! The adoption fee is $ 110 but if the dog is not spayed or neutered it is included in the price which is a pretty good deal since you also get shots and a microchip.

I adopted two of the cutest, friendliest, most well-​behaved (if I do say so myself) dogs from here (see pics). I’ll admit that the aesthetic of this shelter does leave a lot to be desired, but who really cares when you’re saving a life. Right? Seriously, if you are in the market for a dog to love, get thee to Merced. There are so many (emphasis on many) wonderful dogs and cats to choose from that it can be a bit overwhelming in that you’ll want to rescue them all. Being that this is a county shelter with no on-​staff veterinarian, most of the dogs haven’t been spayed/​neutered so be prepared to leave a deposit and have the dog fixed either through your own personal vet or at a low cost clinic. As is often the case with shelter dogs, both of the dogs I adopted developed kennel cough, but it was nothing a round of antibiotics couldn’t fix. Despite this, I wouldn’t hesitate to adopt a dog from here again and again (if I could, but seeing how I get called a crazy dog person enough these days, I think I’ll stick to two.) I realize that while adopting any animal (rather than buying) is a good thing, adopting from here makes it feel like you truly made a difference.