Paws Animal Shelter

This is an amazing shelter. They do so much for so many animals. And I am always amazed at how clean they manage to keep an open area shelter! Sharon was an angel to an abandoned injured cat that was brought in, nursing him back to health and continuing to provide him medical care for all of his injuries. Just one of so many critters she helps. I appreciate what they do!

I adopted a 6 month old kitten from PAWS at the beginning of December. She was orphaned and bottle fed. The PAWS team did a great job of socializing her. She is a sweet, cuddly little thing. She did have a cold when I adopted her. I wasn’t overly concerned as I know these things go through shelters. I took her to vet for a check and the vet had a lot of praise for the work PAWS does with orphaned animals.
However, a month later, my kitty is still sick and will be going on antibiotics. She is also infested with both roundworms and tapeworm. I have also had to deworm my other cats. While I do respect PAWs for doing work many other shelters won’t, I agree with others that $ 300+ on vet bills in the first month is pretty extreme for a $ 110 kitten. For that amount, you do expect them to have basic health care (i.e. deworming). That is one problem with the open shelter concept: using common litter boxes can spread worms quickly and clearly they are not treating for worms.
Be aware when you adopt that you may have some vet bills immediately. I do respect the work they do, but the fee should be lower if the health of the animals is questionable.
Edited to add: The kitten also had giardia, which can pass from cats to humans, so there’s that. The kitten is slowly improving, but she’s still a sick little thing, too sick to get her leukaemia boosters. We’ve had her a month now.

We adopted the most adorable cat… One problem. 2 weeks later and$ 300+ later on vet bills. He is unbelievably sick. He is on eye antibiotics, cold medication, anti-​diarrhea meds, and diaper rash crème for his swollen bottom. He also has ringworm. How can these cats not be checked better than this? I will happily pay $ 110 adoption fee for him but then, you notice as we walk out that he has eye irritation and let us know it’s probably from sleeping and keep an eye on it? You deal with animals all day. This little love is not the first with this kind of eye irritation. Just sayin.

We’ve been visiting PAWS for six years since we moved to Oregon and absolutely love how dedicated the owner and volunteers are. We’ve adopted multiple cats from PAWS over the past years (we have a house full of cats) and brought other friends and relatives in to adopt.
PAWS isn’t your typical shelter. The cats aren’t caged or isolated unless they are receiving special care. Most of the cats are rescued from other shelters or found as orphans. There is a very dedicated staff of volunteers who care for kittens, often bottle feeding them when they are found abandoned. The cats are well-​socialized and treated by a network of vets as needed.
Sharon, the owner, is absolutely dedicated to caring for animals, especially those who would otherwise not be saved. Her focus seems to be more on the animals and solving problems like cat overpopulation than on fundraising and marketing. As a result, PAWS isn’t fancy, but it is FULL of LOVE.
I’m truly surprised by some of the other reviews. I love my cats dearly and would never bring in new ones from PAWS if I thought there was any risk to my other cats. All shelters see waves of kitty colds. The staff is very attentive and isolates any potential health problem and gets the animal excellent care.
PAWS is a great shelter that is doing amazing things to help animals who may not have a chance without them!

I cannot express enough how happy I am with PAWS. I had a bit of a rough experience before adopting a very sick kitten and ended up returning her due to a possible permanent illness. So we turned to PAWS. My Son had fallen in love with a cat there. After several visits we decided to take him and another kitten home with us. My Sons kitten started having problems and I took him to the vet right away. With complications during the surgery and high expenses, my option was to put him to sleep or do somewhat of an exploratory surgery that could cost quite a bit. In tears I called Sharon at PAWS and she contacted the vet right away and saved my kittens life. It was a known complication and so they had helped me with the expense. She has since checked in on Wilson and gone above and beyond. The cats are not just animals to them. They are family members and each one is just as important as the other. I am forever thankful of PAWS and all that they do.

Completely agreed with 2008 review.

I am stunned by the 2008 negative interview and feel it is almost spiteful in tone and intent. I adopted from this shelter in October 2013. I had visited, inspected and asked lots of questions.
Being very particular and especially concerned with health and integration into my home with other pets, I was very thorough in my evaluation. The kitten I adopted was taken to my own vet and tested thoroughly and was fine. He did have the equivalent of a kitty cold so I went back to PAWS to share that information — because it could’ve been contagious and they might have wanted to watch other cats for symptoms.
They actually (and gracefully) asked if I wanted to return or exchange my sweet little Otis! That is a hallmark of a shelter that truly cares.
My experience with this shelter has only one negative: they are very busy with a lot of walk in traffic and phone calls. Conversations with staff can feel a bit hectic. I would love to see them expand. To that end — and as a solid endorsement– I’ve been fundraising for them when I can.
By following them on Facebook, I’ve shared in the highs and lows of broken, abused animals being dumped on them for expensive medical care that isn’t always successful. I’ve loved the baby photos of kittens, puppies, squirrels and lambs (!) being bottle nursed rather than what happens at many city/​county animal impounds.
I highly suggest you visit and adopt. Check their Facebook page as well. If you follow for a bit, you’ll see their true (beautiful) colors.

Adopted a 6 month old cat. I like the sort of «open concept» of the shelter. It allowed us to really see the cats’ personalities. We don’t care what a cat looks like, all we care about is that it seems personable and loving. The people who were working/​volunteering seemed very nice. I really appreciated that they allowed us to borrow a cat carrier to take the cat home in. The cost of adoption when I went was $ 40 for a fixed cat. I was told it’s more expensive for an unfixed cat, but that they would reimburse the cost of having the kitten fixed.

Sharon, the owner, allowed my family to adopt a kitten for my son for his Christmas gift. After making the adoption payment and she assuring us he would be there the next morning for pick up we called to find out hours for pick up and she had adopted him out to another family!!! I let her know the way she could make it right would be to contact the family that adopted him and to let them know her mistake and to come pick out a new cat, her response? «I am not comfortable with that.» (!!!) Therefore she is letting my son go without his kitten on Christmas morning because she had me cut off his collar to show he was adopted, but still adopted him out. This woman has some nerve and is a sad excuse for an adoption agency if she lets these things happen and then wants to tell me it was my fault for not taking him at the time of adoption. You had me cut his collar off (that had a yellow ribbon tied on) to show he had been adopted!!!

PAWS is awesome! The owner and volunteers care for and place wonderful souls that would have no chance without them. I know first hand how much they care about the animals having adopted a PAWS (now) alumni. The process was rewarding and the staff at PAWS are inspirational.

I have never seen volunteers work so hard before in my life! It was quite touching when you see them trying to give love, attention to those poor kitties & cleaning at the same time.
This is not a pet store, it’s a non-​profit cat adoption center, the kitties are in shelter because they have been abandoned, abused & having health problem. BUT they all still need to be touched, held, petted, loved & played with.
The volunteers keep the place really clean. I was very surprised that it didn’t smell like cat poopy, when there were so many kitties in this tiny little shelter.
The Shelter’s director Sharon was so nice and friendly! She said, they always need volunteers at the shelter.
NOTE: Anytime is the right time to donate & volunteer. :)

Due to sick animals I cannot stress enough: AVOID Paws Animal Shelter.
While the young kittens might tempt you to enter and maybe adopt one: BUYER BEWARE.
We adopted a young kitten from Paws that turned out had both cat leukemia and ring worm. So, not only did we have to put down a new pet, we exposed our other pet cat to both these infectious diseases. When asked where we adopted the pet from the staff at the vets office shook their heads and shared with us that they have seen this same sad story play out dozens of times. The vet who treated our kitten was furious with the ignorance of the owner of Paws. Apparently the veterinary community has confronted the owner in the past on the lack of proper vaccination, leukemia screening and poor health conditions of the Paws facility to no avail. With ringworm, customers themselves can contract the fungus easily from simply walking into their unclean store front and petting the cats or kittens.
We will never return and strongly recommend avoiding Paws Animal Shelter.