All Sentient Beings

I adopted my beautiful boy, Sean sebastian Casey, from All Sentient Beings about 5 years ago. I was originally fostering him, but I fell in love with him and he got along with my other cats. Since I had passed the home visit it was a done deal. All Sentient Beings couldn’t have been more helpful with their advice on how to integrate the cats, etc. They also took care of the neutering and vaccinating. They’re very dedicated and take what they’re doing very seriously.

Well — they are cat people. This nonprofit organization rescues cats from the shelters’ death rows, take care of them until they are ready to be adopted from the ‘average’ cat owner — someone who just wants to have a fit, cute and healthy cat. Well, there is a long way between these two points in the life of these poor creatures!
It is probably true, that they are very picky about the person who wants to adopt and it is also somehow true that paperwork is not their strongest side. Perhaps they need more dedication to their internal organization and should focus on their administrative a bit more.
We decided to help them and took a cat from death row for fostering. Therefore we know a bit more about All Sentient Beings … just believe me, it is not about the money! They barely cover their vet bills. Everything else comes out of the pocket of the volunteers.
So, if you read this, please be a bit more forgiving and understanding — again: they are cat people, which are sometimes not the best ‘people-​people’.

All Sentient Schmucks
I initially contacted All Sentient Beings at the end of the summer of 2012, hoping to adopt a kitten from them. Although the adoption fee was a hefty $ 125, I didn’t feel too terrible paying them since they claimed all of the money went toward the upkeep of their animals. Perhaps the biggest selling point (aside from the adorable foster kitten they introduced me to) was the fact that they promised to have my kitten spayed through a vet that they worked with on the Upper West Side. Considering how expensive spaying is in NYC, I really found this to be imperative to my adoption process. Before I was given custody of my wonderful kitten, I was assured that she had been vaccinated and told that I would be signing legitimate paperwork that proved the adoption took place.
Needless to say, I never saw any paperwork, nor did I ever receive any proof that my kitten had ever seen a vet. After waiting weeks to hear from them about the promised appointment, I started contacting the organization, questioning them about her vet history and asking them when she would finally be spayed. The organization flat out ignored my messages. It has been months now, and I haven’t heard from them since the weekend they dropped her off. When I finally contacted them, completely frustrated, and asked for her vaccination records, so I could bring her to another vet, I was again ignored. Despite numerous attempts on my part to contact them regarding this matter, I have never heard back and am now forced to believe that I was intentionally misled throughout the entire process. Further, their refusal to respond when questioned about my kitten’s paperwork and vaccination history leads me to believe that their organization is totally illegitimate.
While I have held up my end of the bargain by loving and providing for my kitten, All Sentient Beings seems to have abandoned her entirely. Although I love my kitten and wouldn’t trade her for the world, I will never use All Sentient Beings again and would never recommend them to anyone.

Unfortunately, you can’t give zero stars.
The only way I can think to properly rate this agency is to share the story of my experience.
I went on
to adopt a cat after I moved into the city. I came across a whole bunch of adorable kitties, listed by someone named Felicia with an agency called All Sentient Beings. The ones I saw online had already been adopted, so she took my information, and what I was looking for, and set me up with an adorable kitten by the name of Marcel. The moment I held him, I fell madly in love with him, and wanted to take him home immediately. Unfortunately, he had been rescued from animal control, and suffered from distemper, and needed a round of antibiotics before I could take him. I anxiously waited about 4 weeks, purchased all my supplies, and finally, Marcel was dropped off at my apartment. He was absolutely wonderful — a little crazy (what kitten isn’t?), but adorable
I had Marcel for about 3 months. Over that time, I took excellent care of him — finished up his antibiotics, gave him organic and healthy food, played with him, got him a great climber, and spent hours just bonding with him, and getting to know his personality. My roommates loved him just as much, and he fell in love with them as well. Once his sneezing and distemper went away, I was able to call the agency and schedule his neutering. Around that time, Marcel started sneezing again. When I spoke with Felicia (the Vice President of the agency, and the foster parent of Marcel), she said she would come pick him up for his neutering, and have the vet check everything out. On March 17^th, 2011, Felicia came to my apartment, and placed Marcel in her cat carrier, and left without my really getting to say goodbye to him, and telling me she would call me the next day, letting me know how long she would have him for. That was the last time I ever saw Marcel.
After two weeks of calling and emailing both Felicia and Gregg (the owner of the agency), I received my first piece of contact from them — an email saying that I was an unfit cat owner, that Marcel was sick due to my neglecting him (even though he was sick when I took him), and that they were revoking my adoption, and it was just too bad. This was horrifying for me, as I have had cats my entire life, and never once had a bad experience with any of them. All Sentient Beings did a massive background check on me, my old vet, and called every one of my references. To have my new kitten kidnapped from under me was awful. I essentially spent money and fell in love with a cat for 3 months, just to be a foster. I do not recall signing up for that job.
I have since spoken with other people who have had similar experiences. All Sentient Beings is out for money, not for the care of animals. If they were truly interested in the well being of cats, they wouldn’t rip them out of their homes for no good reason. This agency should lose their license and their good name. Never in a million years would I ever recommend these people.

The dedicated cat rescuers at All Sentient Beings are, of course, as kooky as any cat people and will definitely want to make sure that you’ll provide a good home for their fostered kitties. But rightly so, since they pour their hearts into the effort and often, their own wallets into the vet bills for the abandoned.
We adopted two kittens from Gregg this last November and they have been the funnest way to procrastinate on just about anything. These cats are AWESOME, Gregg raised them well!