Contra Costa County Animal Services Department - Martinez, California

Melissa S.

I adopted 2 kittens last month.
Picked up after they were spayed. They tried to give me one that was not the one I adopted. I'm so grateful I noticed. They bring them out caged up and difficult to see the babies. They seem to be rushed and maybe need to slow down.
Once home, i see that one of the kittens had blood on both sides of her mouth. And she was sneezing a lot. Called in and was told I needed to take her to a local vet, they will not see her now that she was taken home.
A month later, and $500 dollars of vet bills, all is well.
I'm not thrilled they wouldn't see her after a day and they did not notice the sores or sneezing. Please slow down. Were guessing the injuries could've been due to the cone being placed wrongly on her head?
I was informed I needed to bring the kittens back for their last shots. I was not informed there would be a charge, wish I was told, I would've paid to have my vet give the shots. I had to take half a day off work to come in. I asked for the supervisor and they are too busy to talk to me. Won't set up a time and say there is no complaint process. I spoke with Rebecca, who said Supervisor Stacey can't talk with me. These folks are doing a terrible job!

Jennifer J.

I had a terrible experience at this facility today with Michelle one of the “adoption specialists”. We were out in the yard with the dog Max who we came to see and the volunteer dog handler who was very kind to us. Michelle comes out telling us to hurry up and decide because someone else is waiting. I asked for 2 more minutes. She said yes then proceeds to scold and talk down to the gentleman who was out there with us for whatever reason. Then comes back yelling at me saying I've been there for 30 minutes and to hurry up and decide I said I just have a couple more questions. Shes said "NO we went over this! We have strict rules you have 15 minutes and you've been here 30 is it yes or no?" I said "fine it's no! You never told me I had 15 minutes!" She said “it's strict rules what do you think you get special treatment?” I said no but that she never told me it was 15 minutes.
At this point she's practically in my face as I'm walking to my car then my son started cryjng as did I in my car due to that traumatic experience. I have never been so poorly treated by a stranger. While I understand now there is allegedly a 15 minute rule I was NEVER told that. I'm glad Max was adopted by the lady who was waiting but if that's the way the Michelle treats not only me and the staff that is absolutely not okay.
If she was simply willing to not yell at me and answer my other question I would have proceeded forward but being put under that type of pressure by being shouted at while making this type of decision is completely uncalled for.

Jasi K.

I found a kitten yesterday and I called today asking for help to see if they can take him in and they told me to “take him back where I found him” I clarified that found him on the street and asked “back onto the street?” and they said yes. I couldn’t believe it so I asked if they could help me by giving me information where I can go for help and they just answered “no”. Donors give your money somewhere else where they actually care about animals

Olympia P.

We had a terrible experience . My cat was lost , and my sister in law found him at Contra Costa County Shelter website. He had been missing for a week. My kids were so excited we had found him , we had posted on our local Facebook and my neighbors were trying to help as much as possible . When I came to the shelter i was attended by a nice lady but the lady next to her kept interrupting and being extremely rude and cold. It felt like they didn’t want to give me back my cat, they asked for proof of pictures and when they showed my my cat they didn’t even open the door for me to see him. They ended up charging me $674.00 to get my own cat back! There were people next to me adopting for only $30 - I couldn’t believe it.
Impound $65
Board-$25x 12= $300
Rabies -$6.00
Microchip -$18.00
Vet fees $285.00

I have 4 kids and this is ridiculous to charge people !! I don’t understand why they had to charge me so much - when I never chose to have those services . I paid a small amount and will have to figure out how to pay the rest in 30 days. I am disgusted by the system they have . Extremely disappointed .

Codruta M. (.

We had an amazing experience with Contra Costa Animal Services. We adopted a kitten from them, and every person we met was extremely nice and helpful.
No one rushed us, they gave us all the information we needed, and they even gave us a gift for our new kitten.
All the animals at the shelter were treated properly, and they were friendly.
They really care about the animals they have, they called us to make sure that everything is fine with Ann.
We are happy that we adopted from their shelter.
We are extremely happy with our new kitten, she really made an impact on our lives.
Thank you everyone: volunteers, clerks, vets!

Sarah H.

Found 2 baby bunnies on the street and brought them in. The shelter volunteers were super helpful and kind. They immediately started looking for a foster bunny mom to continue nursing them and sent out more volunteers to search the area we find them to try to find mom and any more siblings. They let us know the bunnies aren't kept at the shelter, but go to local rescues. They reassured us that they would be kept together, as they seemed really attached to each other. I left glad knowing they are in excellent, caring hands!

ennkann Y.

PLEASE, don’t leave your furry friends here if you don’t want them to die. Seriously.

This shelter has very high kill rate. Some dogs are here for just 10+ days and are getting put down. They are fine and are not dangerous.

I am not here to blame the shelter. I just want anyone who is considering rehoming their pets to know that if you leave your dog here, there is a high chance that it is going to die.

Макс ?.

This place is the worst. Tried them twice to adopt and both times we’re not good experience. The staff are rude and don’t care that people are saving animals and also doing things to care for animals like spending money, arranging appointments and schedules etc. at least they don’t act like it. The second animal we never received when they failed to inform us of an issue. We show up on our scheduled appointment date after waiting two weeks, and they tell us we couldn’t adopt the animal we’d been waiting for that day. Not even a Sorry we didn’t call with smug looks on their faces, like oh well. Disappointing to my young child to not get the animal he was told he would after waiting for weeks. Front desk worker even said, I’ll tell your kid I have three kids, so what. I said “Well I only have one kid and I can’t have anymore and his dad just died so…” These people need customer service training. Obviously they work w animals because they aren’t evolved enough to speak to people. I will say the lady with the hand injury is amazing and helpful. She is great.