They finally called me! And we had a nice chat. Things are difficult during this pandemic....

If you want to adopt, you definitely want to go through this rescue. It is so obvious they love the animals they foster and adopt out, and work really hard to make sure they end up in a loving home. We adopted our Luna in August of 2013 from PetSmart (on Chad Drive) after the death of my previous kitty who was 16 years old. She was the oldest kitty in the room at the time (at 3,) and we instantly fell in love. I haven't had to worry about anything I don't know about her because on top of the rescue itself, I have contact with her foster mom who gives me info whenever I have a question. This included Luna's backstory, which was pretty heart breaking. All the animals are microchipped (which you have to change the info yourself - only downside!), spayed/neutered, and with the adoption we got all her records and coupons to get a bunch of stuff she would need (which saved us a good chunk of money). They even let us have the cat bed she was sleeping in, and her blanket, so she had something familiar to her. You really couldn't ask for a better place to adopt through and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Edit 2/8/2015: I just found out that my experience with Luna's microchip was a fluke - WCDC actually does deal with the chips. :) read more

They should be called "West Coast Dog and Cat Angels"! These are dedicated and knowledgeable people who love and care for the dogs and cats who are fortunate enough to find them in time of need. There are many organizations out there, but if you contribute to WCDC, as I have, know that their frugal use of your hard earned dollars will be spent on the animals and not on expensive administration and executive director salaries! read more

Now known as Cat Rescue Adoption Network (CRAN), they have apparently taken on more animals than they can keep track of. I adopted two kittens who, unbeknownst to me before the day of adoption, had a severe diarrhea problem. Now, I know it's a common occurrence but these kittens had had diarrhea for at least ten days. That's not normal. One of them had been seen by a vet five days before I got them, the kitten having blood in her stool (though her sister, who also had diarrhea was not examined, strangely) but I only learned about that when I called the vet after I saw blood in one of the kittens' stools. Had I been informed of this problem I would have told CRAN to hold up the adoption until the kittens got better. They had already been adopted out but returned before I took them in, and the poor little things were so traumatized by being shuffled back and forth so much it would break your heart. After I took them to the vet, they were pissed off at me for at least a day--that trip undid several days of acclimation to my home. When I was eventually contacted by their so-called "medical person," I got a list of excuses as to why she was too busy to know what was going on. Seems to me if she was that busy that a kitten with blood in her stool was not a priority than she's too busy to have that responsibility. Enthusiasm does not make up for incompetence, especially when it's at the expense of two such lovable critters. I get that volunteer organizations are overstretched, especially during Covid. But a group that is dedicated to animal welfare is doing the animals no favor if they can't actually assure the welfare of the animals they take on. The vet billed me over $300, this is only 4 days after I gave CRAN a $270 adoption fee. I thought CRAN would help pay at least part of that bill because the kittens weren't ready for adoption, the vet was surprised they had been approved for adoption in their condition. But their "medical person" told me that "You signed a contract"--that it was just my tough luck, essentially. Fortunately I'm very good about getting my animals the best of care, but I can't help but wonder what could have happened to these kittens if they were in the hands of someone less caring. They're doing much better now, still a bit skittish but getting less so each day. I've communicated with their fosters, who are loving, caring people, but the organization seems to be poorly managed, with one hand not knowing what the other is doing. They need to scale back their operation so that they can manage it effectively, especially when it comes to a sick pair of the cutest kittens you'll ever see. read more

I'm sure many people have found fantastic new animal family members through Cat Rescue Adoption Network, formerly West Coast Dog and Cat Rescue (aka WCDC). I want to warn people, especially families with children, about how the adoption process may proceed so that people can at least temper their expectations and also be prepared to protect their children. We had been looking for a fourth cat (one of our three feels like a fifth wheel when we each have a cat on our laps, a situation made intolerable when her buddy passed away). We happened to find a cat at Petsmart whom we felt, after meeting and observing her, would have a high chance of getting along well with all three cats as well as fitting into our home situation. During the time I was filling out the three-page adoption form, the volunteer flippantly revealed to us far too much confidential information about the previous adopter (the cat had been originally adopted out from WCDC as a kitten), and also made it clear that they had made no attempt to contact the original adopter nor were they going to do so. We probably should have left immediately, but we were already smitten with the cat, completed the application, and began making plans for the best possible way to introduce this particular cat to our household. We were repeatedly told by the same volunteer that someone would call us within 24 hours to discuss our application in order to assess whether the adoption would be a good match, which is neither unusual nor problematic. What WAS problematic is that nobody called! Late the next day, spouse was in town again and stopped by that Petsmart in hopes of finding out whether the phone discussion was held up due to the upcoming holiday weekend or some other problem (volunteers have lives, too), found nobody was there, and then called the number Petsmart provided, and left a message. Hours later, he finally received a text -- "Application denied" (BTW, his phone was the third number listed on our application, not the first one, so the text was sent to his inquiry, not to our application). I had him text back, "Can you elaborate? Please call me." and never did receive a response of any kind. Besides the shock and dismay at not adding this new cat to our family, we were floored by how rude and unprofessional the declination was. We have adopted animals of many species from a wide number of rescue organizations. We've never had an application turned down before, and although we wouldn't have a problem with a careful review uncovering more information that resulted in questions as to whether the cat might not fit in well here, an unprofessional rejection (apparently of us personally) wasn't even on our radar. Then, a bit of googling revealed something else -- quite a few cats listed as successful adoptions in years past were currently available for adoption again, right then! It is commendable that CRAN/WCDC takes back animals they've been involved with. It is very, very peculiar for any legitimate rescue organization to have THAT MANY animals returning. From their descriptions, all were very desirable animals without special needs. We operated a 501.c.3 nonprofit llama rescue for many years, so we are well aware of the stresses on volunteers and the various conflicts and challenges that occur when taking in and adopting out animals. At no time did we or any of our volunteers ever treat anyone in the manner CRAN/WCDC treated us. Nor at any time, did we or any of our volunteers give out personal information on the people we were involved with. We were always willing to take back a llama for any reason at any time ... and only had to do so a handful of times. We hope CRAN takes a hard look at why their compassion does not extend to two-leggeds, ensures that private information remains private, and successfully figures out why they have so many returns of apparently desirable pets from the homes that they did approve. However, hoping is not yet action. There are many other rescue groups out there; CRAN's animals are already neutered, safe, and fed. If we (and you) give a homeless pet from another, better-run organization a lifetime of love and care, that organization will be able to help another deserving pet. With that option available, there's no compelling argument to attempt to adopt from CRAN (we agree, it's still hard not to be tempted because CRAN seems to have a monopoly on the local Petsmarts' "adoption centers" and also has the largest number of cats on Petfinder for the Eugene/Springfield area). If you do decide to give a cat offered through CRAN a chance, please, please, protect your children from the unrealistic expectation that the adoption will go through ... and do not put anything on the application (nor verbally give volunteers information about yourself) that you wouldn't, say, put on the internet. read more

I have adopted three healthy, wonderfully socialized cats from WCDC. I couldn't be happier to have this rescue group in our area.