Don't go to the Humane Society of South MS

I
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']know that a.)most people won't have a problem with this as this is not a local forum and b.) that most people will also be annoyed that I'm saying this because it is negative and not helpful to the animals but this needs to be said. Now I will keep saying that the animals in this story are too big. I only say that because I have a 15 year old Dachshund and they are already bigger than he is. I don't want them to hurt him and I want him to accept them into our home. [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']June 9th, a Saturday, I went and adopted two four month old Australian Shepard puppies. Brothers. I looked around their puppy room making my stop at every cage. Before I found my already maybe too tall guys I held two sweet but very tired lab mix puppies, brother and sister. After I woke them up they began to play still sluggish but I didn't think anything of it. So we made our way around the room again and very quietly some staff members came in wearing medical gowns behind us, took those puppies from their cage and left whispering words like "outbreak", "quarantine", and "parvo". Keep in mind that they said nothing to us about the subject. About an hour and a half later the puppy room was shut down, no one in or out. Still when we asked what was going on they said weakly "Um they are uh.. sick." [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']We adopted our two boys and were told they would be fixed Monday and we could get them on Tuesday. 200 dollars for the pups, fixing, microchiping, and small things like bags of food. So Monday came and we called. No answer. We called again. No answer. Finally on Tuesday after more calls we got an annoyed answer from a volunteer whose attitude about them not answering the phone was one of 'what-do-you-want-me-to-do-about-it?'. We asked if our dogs were ready. They said they hadn't been fixed and they didn't know where they were. We were sent to the clinic phone and they said they weren't there. When we asked where they were we were told there were no dogs in a clinic only papers. We told them to go look only then were we told that our dogs were to be quarantined for two weeks due to the parvo. We were also told that they don't test for parvo they just look to see if anyone looks sick. Very scientific. I guess I've seen too many animal cops to think that they would test them for infectious diseases before putting them in general population. I was wrong. Annoying but fine. So we waited for the two weeks. We called about two weeks later. The girl told us that one had been adopted out which was a very upsetting misunderstanding. But the end result of the conversation was not a misunderstanding at all. Outbreak and quarantine number 2. That's right folks an outbreak in the quarantine room. My mother pointed out to the girl that it parvo is not airborne asked if this was Africa? The girl told us that the dogs would be fixed and ready on the 1st of July. Fine. Three weeks after we adopted the already too big dogs we would bring them home. Okay then everything is fine until we look at the calendar. The first is a Sunday and no one will be there. Ugh annoying. We call back again after the phone tag we get someone on the line. No that girl didn't know what she was talking about the dogs will not be ready they will be fixed on Monday and we can pick them up on Wednesday. (The fourth of July) After pointing this out they said fine we will put them on the top of the list and they will be fixed first and we will pick them up Tuesday. My mother asked if we could just get them Saturday and bring them back in a few days. They said no we don't allow that. So we were supposed to receive a call after they got fixed Monday morning. Nothing. Later that day we called. Here is when it gets good. OUTBREAK number 3 in the QUARANTINE room!!!! (At this point I won't lie I and my mother who bought them for me are done with this place and this situation and everything. They offered me to more or less return them like they are shirts. I don't think so.)[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']We finally asked if we could let our vet, someone who is I don't know competent enough to read directions and keep them safe, quarantine them. After more phone tag they said yes but they forgot to mention that they were now sick with kennel cough. Not surprising since they have been here for close to a month. Our vet told us our dogs aren't in danger of getting parvo since they have been immunized but the kennel cough could potentially kill my older dogs so they not only have to run out the quarantine at the vet but also they must get over their kennel cough. The pups smelled so much like poo that I was gagging. If parvo is spread though feces I'm not surprise that they have problems there. The pound staff on our last phone call told us they have procedure for this sort of thing. They also let it slip that they have recently found out that some volunteers were not following procedure in the quarantine room, like changing gowns and gloves between cages and "disciplinary action has been taken". I certainly hope so since someone's stupidity led to more and more puppies dying in that shelter. I don't know if them not testing is an excuse to do a clean sweep of the place or if as others say they can't afford it. If they couldn't afford food they would not be allowed to be opened. They would never be able to say "We can't afford food so some will have to starve." No. I'm also not surprised that the volunteers are to blame at least partly.[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I had been going to the shelter for a few weeks before I found them looking for a birthday present for myself. I found the staff and volunteers to be EXTREMLY rude and didn't seem to care at all about finding animals homes. They were more interested in gossiping and when I finally did pull one away from here conversation (politely I might add) to show me a kitten she sighed more than once and stood there looking at her watch bouncing from foot to foot waiting for me to make a decision in less than 5 minutes. Sorry this is a HUGE decision. This animal will be with me for the rest of its life! Shortly after we went to hold the cat her friend came to continue their conversation rather loudly. They also slipped in "Ugh could you stay with them I have to finish that up" the other said sigh "we I WAS trying to hurry up and get out of here but I guess." Wow people wow. Way to make me feel comfortable. What I don't think these little girls understand is that their behavior is directly related to the life and death of that animal. Why would I want to sit there and be treated like I'm in the way like that? There are always more puppies and more kittens for a lot less money. They should be sunshine and rainbows all the time! They need to be pushed along obviously they have become complacent and no longer care. I want to point out that it was hours from closing time not the end of the day. Also I find it funny that when I asked if there was a place I could put the puppies down to play with them he said no because they could get parvo. Its called bleach. Pet stores all over the country have little room and even half rooms where you can play and see if they are the one you want. Nope not there. I guess he's right though. If you don't test for parvo the risk is a lot greater. I want to also say that this is not some back country animal pound. It is a new facility and though I'm not a fan of the design it is modern and only a few years old. I bought my 8 year old German Shepard from there. No problems at all. None. That was the little old dirty crappy building they had before though. The prices have also tripled since I was a child. I'm 20 now. Not exactly like grandparents saying 'when I was a child I could get and ice cream stake dinner shoe shine and bottle of wine for one dollar!' No not the same. I will never go back there. It is a shame that those poor animals found their way there but when I go to get more pets I will find another cities animal shelter. Gulfport and Biloxi do not bring your animals there. [/FONT]
For the animals sake I'm not going to stop telling everyone this including our paper and tv station until something huge changes. Again I know some people will be so offended that I'm doing this. I don't see it that way. Too many puppies died this month. The girl also said ma'am this never happens. In the same conversation she said they have four or five back to back a few months ago. Yea try and tell me something isn't wrong now Humane Society of South Mississippi.