El Cajon Animal Shelter

Staff and housing were terrible. Really sad and dirty.

After seeing some of the horrible reviews I felt the need to write something positive to counteract that.
First of all, the condition the cats are kept in is… horrible. There’s, sadly, no other way to put it. However, this shelter — like other city run shelters — look for as many foster homes and rescues as possible to take animals so they get out of these horrible conditions and other animals can be taken off the street where they might starve, be hitten by a car, or even eaten by a coyote. In comparison, the little boxes are, depressingly, better for the cats. At least they see a vet and have a chance at a forever home even if they’re not the most adoptable cat — which is what shelters with more space and less cats allow through to the adoption process (others are labeled ‘unadoptable’.
As for my experience with this shelter and (practically) unadoptable cats. I adopted a senior purebreed (papers and everything) Siamese cat from them that had been surrended by the adult children of an owner that passed away because she kept attacking them. Despite her age and personality they kept Shishi alive to give her a chance at adoption. They didn’t have to do that. Given that Shishi hated other cats, dogs, humans, and (I found out) toys that make noise, plus her being 8 years old, she was not an easy adoption. She, in fact, attacked almost everyone that opened her cage. It turns out she didn’t attack me – she liked me when, after warning me this beautiful cat was violent, a nice volunteer opened the cage to let her out. She liked me so much she fought being put down in any way.
Consequently, even though I’d planned on coming back if I found any cats I meshed with and so didn’t have the supplies to take her that day, the office worker *gave* me a carrier case — about the retail value of the senior cat adoption fee — so that I could give Shishi a forever home. Shishi’s a friendly cat with ‘her’ human (me) and still has hated everyone she came in contact with besides me for as long as I’ve had her. But that office worker went above and beyond in making sure that Shishi ended up in a happy home that loves her even though she tries to bite the guests (it turns out she’s okay with other Siamese cats — but only Siamese ones, go figure) and while I would have gone back to adopt her it’s possible someone else wouldn’t have.
So, yes, the conditions suck. But they suck because this organization takes in all the cats they can give care to – even the ones I’ve had friends label ‘demon possessed’.

I had a great experience at the El Cajon Animal Shelter. Staff was great. They each took their time with each person that came in. We ended up adding a new member to our family and couldn’t be happier. Not a big selection of cats but that must be a good sign right?

After reading many of the previous reviews it has become very apparent that most people don’t know the facts of this shelter. First, this shelter is one of the oldest animal shelters in San Diego County. Funds available for the shelter are extremely limited as it is funded by the City of El Cajon. A new shelter will be built within the next 2 years but for the past 58 years this shelter has relied on the kindness of VOLUNTEERS to help clean the kennels, walk the dogs, and help in the office since their staff consists of ONLY 1 OFFICE PERSON, 2 VET TECHS, & 2 ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICERS. The shelter must be attended to 7 days a week so this very limited staff must make sure all of the animals are taken care of daily. Most of the paid staff (1 office, 2 vet techs, 2 animal control) MUST work overtime constantly since they are so short staffed. I would like to see some of these negative people come and work the hours these ladies do on a CONTINUAL basis, doing the demanding work they do constantly, and see how friendly they are at the end of the day! So instead of complaining, why don’t you come in and volunteer to help them clean the poopy kennels, get the dogs out for exercise in 100 degree weather or cold/​rain, wash/​dry the bedding, evaluate the strays — which most people forget are typically what the animals are, and then deal with the attitude of people who complain about a late fee, but fail to mention that they received a renewal notice 2 months in advance & are then given another 30 days before being charged a late fee for THEIR DOGS license! Try THANKING these hardworking people for a change instead of trying to find flaws with them. This shelter is old and at times smelly & cold, but the ladies working their go above & beyond to make sure the animals feel loved, are well taken care or, and appropriately adopted, with the limited resources available. To help instead of complain, try donating to the ACES Foundation and make a difference!!!

It has been about two months since we have adopted our cats and we couldn’t be happier. We adopted our kitties, renamed Ginny and Shadow, from here during the «Clear the Shelter» event in August. These two have doubled in size, and are adored by their fur-​parents.
Thank you for introducing us to our new fur-​children!

If I could give El Cajon Animal Shelter negative stars I would. I have been to the shelter several times over that past 3 weeks. 2 weeks ago they had 4 young chickens that I wanted to adopt. The shelter told me they were on a protective hold & would be adoptable on Sarurday, August 22^nd. That I could call & keep track of any status changes. They gave me a pink card with all 4 chickens id numbers as well as the time and date I could pick them up.
For the past two weeks I have been in touch with the shelter several times, during the last week I have spoken with the shelter on a daily basis to confirm that I was in fact 1^st on the list for the chickens. I spoke with the shelter yesterday (Thursday) and was told that the chickens were going to be available for me on Friday at 4pm instead of Saturday. I called the shelter again at 11:00am on Friday to confirm the pickup time was 4pm and the lady told me yes, I could pick them up at 4pm and since I was 1^st on the list, I could come pick them up anytime after 10:30am. I told her that I had some errands to run but I would definitely be there before 4pm to pick them up.
Around 2:30pm I received a phone call from the shelter, it was the same lady I had been speaking with for the past two weeks & this morning.
She told me that she adopted 3 of the chickens to someone else. I told her that I had spoken to her 3.5 hours earlier and she confirmed that I was going to adopt all 4. She the said in an extremely rude tone of voice «Well, you’re only getting 1 now because I gave the other 3 to someone else!»
The people that work at El Cajon animal shelter are rude & unprofessional and I would not recommend them to anyone. I have read other Unilocal reviews in which the same thing has happened to others. This is uncalled for.
I wish this shelter could be shut down or at least get some employees that acted like decent human beings.

I adopted a really nice cat from this shelter. Loraine was very helpful and courteous. She took the time to tell us about him. She knew a lot about the cat and his quirks and his health. She postponed her lunch to help us with the paperwork! My husband and I are satisfied and Julius, aka «mr bigbutt» aka magoo is really happy this shelter saved his life! I’m positive all the animals there would agree! Thank you!

When the «zero pet policy» was lifted from my apartment complex in 2013, I started going to shelters to find the perfect dog for me and my husband. A friend suggested I visit this shelter and I did the next day. The shelter seemed cleaned and well maintained, the staff was friendly and patient with us. They took one of the dogs out to the grass area, where he ran around, did his business, and sat right next to my husband and me as if saying «I’m with them.» We fell in love and adopted him.
The staff answered all the questions we had pertaining to pet-​care and provided us with a list of nearby vets and animal clinic. We were also told that we had 2 months to give the dog back if he turned out to not be a good fit. He had all his vaccinations up to date and also had a microchip that the staff updated with our information. He was also recently groomed, unlike other dogs we saw at other shelters. Needless to say, the 2 months came and went, and now I can’t imagine my life without my dog. If I were to get another dog, not only would I adopt again, I would consider visiting this shelter.

My boyfriend and I were fighting over which dog to adopt and we went to El Cajon Animal Shelter and came to same agreement when we came across this little dog. All of the other dogs were baking at us but her and she sat down and looked at me in the eye. I called her couple of times and she came to us each time so we knew this dog was for us and she was already house trained, good with kids, people, and cats. We couldn’t be any happier. She is an angel and the staff gave us free mat and she sat on the mat right away when we placed it on the floor. Everyone here was friendly. This dog has helped me deal with depression and find me a new career. Today, I don’t have depression and I am co teaching at Kahoots and working my dog to assist me in puppy training! Plan a visit to El Cajon Animal Shelter, you might get really lucky like me. =) (4 stars because they were free feeding the dogs and the vet said she was 5 Ibs over. Today she is 12 Ibs and is physically fit and her coat is growing)

Poor service and rude employees. Those working in the front office need more training as they seem to not all be on the same page for policies and procedures. Would suggest looking elsewhere if you are looking to adopt.

This place should be visited by PETA. I went looking for a cat. The cats are kept in this dark smelly place in separate cages almost lying on their litter boxes. They look miserable locked away in dingy room with no contact with humans. I wasn’t able to even hold one of them as the regular employees were at lunch. The place made me cry. Please do something a out this dilapidated dirty excuse for a shelter.

Well all things put aside this organization is a complete joke! First things first Diane is a the rudest person I have ever met its almost like she hates herself and wants everyone to be miserable. And the women who processes the licenses is just as bad, demanding and despicable. After reading the other reviews it is apparent I am not alone on this. They need to clean house and get some people that are great full to have a job in there. I have gotten way better customer service at much more obscure places. These people are insane, they told me I can’t exercise my freedom of speech and all I did was complain about their late fee for a license that was purchased 3 years ago and on the tag all it says is expires in 2014 no month and no letter from them saying it was due for renewal back in May! First time late in over 8 years of owning a dog and they tell me my do is only 6 years old when she is going on 9yrs old. Then Diane goes off on me and compares their late fee to the DMV and I made the point that the DMV has a month of expiration on it and their tags do not. And she flew off the handle and tried to refuse me a dog license. Literally all I did was say this is ridiculous, I never refused to pay the late fee and she just went on this power trip and made me go sit outside on the bench like a 2yr old or she wasn’t going to give me my license. And to top it off she sent another employee out to get my credit card for payment which I refused to give them and they reluctantly let me in to pay my bill by myself when the animal control officer got back. Unbelievable!!! This place deserves NO stars. Never in my life have I ever been treated so poorly.

April 22, 2014 El Cajon Animal Control officers came by to my residence to give me an update about the complaint I had of possible animal abuse. That matter was taken care of.
There is an issue I need to address about one of the officer’s (Officer Collins) unprofessional behavior toward me. Description of officer: A heavy set woman officer with short hair, 5’6. She practically said I was a hypocrite for not having my own dog licensed. Her words were, but don’t quote me on this, «You are complaining about someone else’s dog owner and you don’t have a license for your own dog!» She frightened me and I didn’t like her attitude. Very rude!
After the warning from the officer I had to sell my high school ring in order to buy a dog license today (4÷22÷2014). I was frightened to the point where I went to a pawn shop to sell my ring. My dog has a 3 year license now.
The officer also said I shouldn’t be looking in someone’s yard to see what the owner is doing to the dog. Her exact words were, «That is unfair.» So I am not supposed to witness a crime by viewing the premises with my own two eyes while coincidently bird watching. Her words were out of order. I was deeply concerned for the animal. I witnessed the owner smack the dog in the face last month. Anyway, that issue was resolved.
El Cajon Animal Control shouldn’t turn the tables on someone who has a LEGIT complaint of a dog owner who is abusing their dog. The officer had no right to put me in a position of being the bad guy. I want an apology from the officer. I will confront my issue on Twitter and Facebook. I will never contact El Cajon Animal Control for a complaint again because of that one officer.

The office staff is literally insane!!! Beware of the old B word that picks up the phone. She refuses to give her name and sounds like Napoleon Dynamite! She seriously just asked me what my problem was when I was trying to speak to her about a dog. I guess I shouldn’t expect much coming from El Cajon since it’s home to all the tweekers.

I originally went to the El Cajon shelter to look for my lost cat, sadly she was never found. But they were so compassionate to me, and being new to the area, I decided to volunteer for them.
I’ve worked with animals my whole life, I have done a little of everything worked in shelters, for vets, groomed, showed animals, volunteered for rescues. I can say I have known the most opulent to the most humble facilities. Bigger doesn’t mean better, and a whole lot of ugly can hide behind a pretty façade. I judge a place by the work it does for the animals I love.
This shelter is small and nothing fancy, but the concrete is heated, the beds, toys and treats are abundant, it’s clean, and it is unsurpassed in the quality of care and love, for the animals.
Big shelters often lack the luxury of what animals reach the adoption floor. Due to breed, age, special need, or simply available space, a lot of pets never go up for adoption. No slander intended it is simply a fact of life.
I worked for a beautiful facility that only offered the cream of the crop in order to give itself a high adoption rate with as few returns as possible. It also had a five star rating. The facility called itself no kill, which only meant once an animal was put up for adoption it was almost never put to sleep, all others were listed as unadoptable
The El Cajon shelter may be small and simple, but it is unsurpassed (in my experience) in its care for and willingness to help the animals in its care.
It’s hard for a lot of animal lovers to go to a shelter and not have their heart bleed a little, imagine what it’s like for the staff who deal with it every day. No one works in a shelter for money or fame, so harsh judgement just seems ridiculous to me, for people who do so much from the love in their heart.
I am great full for all the animals this shelter gives a chance. And I appreciate how they treat me as a volunteer. I also owe them for saving the best little dog I have ever met.
Many hugs… Pat and Gizmo

The office staff was very rude to me when I came to check on a dog my mom had on hold.

I was lucky enough to find the sweetest little dog. It’s a shelter so all the dogs are kept in kennels, but all are very very clean. Trust the signs on each of the kennels. My little boy was very scared and growling while in the kennel, but the sign on his kennel said that he was a staff favorite. We gave him a shot and as soon as he was off the cold cemet he was all sorts of loveable and friendly. Just give the dogs a chance outside of the kennel, it’s understandable that they’d be unhappy in a cold kennel

Honestly, if I could give negative stars for this ‘establishment’ I would. Here’s my story;
my family and I went looking to adopt a puppy in July after coming back from Hawaii after months of deliberating on the dog subject. The Petco in Rancho was having their adoption event that saturday, so we went to check it out. I ended up finding just the cutest sheltie-​mix, and knew that he was the perfect dog. The lady let me take him out to get a feel of his personality and what not, and he was just perfect– including the fact that you could count all his ribs from 30 feet away (he was incredibly skinny). So we start going through the adoption process, and the woman tells us that this dog is 10 months old. Not giving it a second thought, we just assumed that he was that old. She also told us that he needed to be walked for 30 – 45 minutes twice a day and that he was a great walker and that she walked him all the time. (She also told us that he had only been in the shelter for 30 days and that he had already gone through a foster home with her and was completely house trained, loved other dogs, etc). And with that, we adopted him, brought him home, and that was that. Within the first few days, I’ll admit, he adjusted extremely well and only had a few accidents even thought we were TOLD he was house-​trained. The first time I took this dog on a walk, he had no idea what to do, let alone know how to take the lead. When we encountered dogs for the first time, he sat behind me and whined in literal fear and at that point it was obvious that he hadn’t spent time with other dogs. He was afraid of every toy we bought him, every ball we put in front of him, and it was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen because a dog that old, shouldn’t act like that, and my family came to the conclusion that he wasn’t 10 months old. So it’s now September, almost October, and he’s due for his first vet visit. We showed the vet all of his papers, and immediately told us that these looked really sketchy. She got one of the nurses to call the shelter, and whoever was on the phone told us that the dog DIDN’T EXIST or that the records were IN STORAGE. When she double checked his age/​birthday, it looked like they had written «4 months» crossed it out, and wrote 10 months, which is something we didn’t see before.
In all, my family and I adopted a great dog with the sweetest demeanor. Since his adoption, he’s gained a total of 18 pounds, loves to play with the neighborhood dogs, and loves to go to the park and play fetch, go on long runs, etc. When you’re running a shelter, there’s some things you don’t do, and that’s lie to future pet owners because without them, their animals wouldn’t get adopted. This ‘shelter’ is a joke, and I do not recommend adopting from them unless you enjoy being lied too, or from other reviews I’ve read, adopt sickly animals. I understand that every shelter has its flaw and that not every animal in there is going to be in great condition, but that shouldn’t make you have to lie about an animal just to get it adopted out? It’s not the animals that make a bad shelter, it’s the people who run it, and this is an awful, poorly run facility.

Dropping off some donations

Came here looking to get a dog. The place is pretty straight forward, There’s about 5? rows of kennels for dogs, you walk in and browse the isles. They have cats in a room but i did not go in. When i went i saw there was a lady doing some maintenance and all dogs had a clean kennel and water. They have a small area outside, where dogs can play. Most dogs/​cats are listed on the website so thats pretty helpful. I did not get a dog, so i did not go into the office. From What i saw looks like a pretty clean place. There’s not a lot they can do for the animals at the shelters.