Denver Municipal Animal Shelter Review

10 out of 10 experience. I got to take home the love of my life and they made it easy and painless. The staff is incredibly friendly and knowledgable. Come here if you want to adopt!!

Went to get a pet license! We waited outside after a while a worker came outside and let us in! Was an easy process if you have all your paperwork ready!

Clean facility with excellent professional staff and assistance. We adopted a small pup! Very happy with the pup and the adoption process. Highly recommended.

Very nice staff! Lots of dogs and cats need good homes, stop by and adopt a new friend!

The best shelter in town! Clean, modern, great kennels for the dogs, friendly staff and volunteers. Unlike Maxfund and other no kills they never turn an animal away . They receive approximately 8000 animals every year.

Got our new puppy from here a few months ago. Very professional staff and doing the best for the animals there. We even had to come back with our current dog so they can make sure the new one is going to get along and not end up getting dropped off again. Very impressed.

Is it possible that any of you adopted a black and white Australian Shepard that had a shaved body( because of surgery) and fluffy head? He is a very kind, sweet, and loving dog. This was around the end of October of 2015. He's an older dog, and he had surgery because of cancer in his rear end. Please respond if you adopted him, he was my dog & it would bring healing to know he is ok and maybe visit him if his new owner sees this and is ok with it.

The experience i had was great the care and treatment of our dog was wonderful

I found the joy of my life, she is the perfect fit. Thank you so much Baby Girl is fine and happy.

Amazing place. They truly care about the work and the location is an intrinsic part of the Denver community.

It was very clean, the bilingual staff was very friendly!

I haven't had any bad experiences here. Getting your pup vaccinated is a quick easy process, not crazy expensive. What a tough job to do with a smile on your face, the staff are great.

Go here find new family who will Love unconditional as cat's and dog's need rescued. Adoption is unconditional Love indeed

I volunteer here and the staff really care about the animals in their care. They have an amazing facility.

This is hands down the best shelter I've been too. Everyone here is so kind and 100% willing to help anyone find the right animal for them. They have a very wide range of animals to adopt. From dogs to even ducks and doves haha.

Great shelter with pretty friendly and helpful employees

I don't even know where to begin. One of the worst customer service experiences in animal shelters I've ever dealt with. Adopted an animal last week paid for him that day but was told he couldn't go home with me until he got neutered the next day ( forcing an animal to be neutered before he can go to his foster or forever home especially once he's older than 2 years old is just wrong the owner who is adopting him should be the one to have to make that choice) well the next day rolls around and I get a call that my animal had signs of kennel cough so they would be postponing his surgery a week and be putting him in quarantine and on antibiotics until then I wasn't able to visit him nor was anyone socializing with him causing him even more trauma. Once I was finally able to pick him up I was told by two different people on two separate occasions that I would be given a cone for him immediately after his surgery so that he wouldn't tamper with his incision something all vets do when they neuter an animal. Well when I went to pick him up and I asked for his phone they told me that they weren't going to send me home with one until he showed signs that he was messing with his incision and then I could come back and they would give me one well of course he started messing with his incision so I came back to pick one up all the way across town just for them to tell me that it would be an additional charge. I didn't bring my wallet only some cash in my pocket under the assumption by the workers of the animal shelter that I would be given a cone . When I explained to the woman at the desk who was the one who originally told me that I could just come pick up a cone that that's not what she had told me and I am a few dollars short to purchase the cone is she would work with me and she refused. I was 3 dollars short. Absolute disgrace. Don't try calling because you will never get them to answer those say that they'll call you back but they won't. Worst customer service if I could give this zero Stars I would.

Gave them a $ 20.00 donation to let me know when a certain was adoptable, never heard from them!!!!!!

Great place to adopt a future family member. All the dogs and cats come spayed/neutered, chipped, vaccinated, and a few supplies. And the adoption fees are very reasonable. This saves the families so much money and they save a furry friends life. It's a win-win.

Staff was friendly and professional and facilities were clean and well-kept. Our dog adoption experience was painless and the adoption fee was incredible ($150) for the vaccinations, spay/neuter, and animal license services provided to every animal. The harnesses/leashes/training treats they sell are also reasonably priced (much cheaper than the local big box pet store). We had countless unanswered applications from local rescues over the past few months even though we are a home with resources/time/space to provide a dog with a lovely home and family. Denver Animal Shelter allowed us to adopt a furry friend without any unreasonable application paperwork, requests, or wait times. Although our pup came with a special "high energy level" disclosure, after a few days of acclimating to his new home and lots of exercise and space to run around, he is just as mellow and sweet as can be. On day one, we were surprised to find that he was potty trained, crate trained, and knew a few tricks to boot. In one week, he has improved tremendously on the leash and in his socializing with other dogs. Overall we could not be more pleased with our experience with DAS and our new family member!

Good place for finding new fur babies, Staff can be moody but I don t envy having to deal with the public like that.

Arrived at 10:55 am, 5 minutes before open. I was asked who I was here for, which I provided the name and reference tag for. Now, 5 minutes before the place even opens, they told me someone is already looking at the animal I wish to adopt? A bit weird, but ok, I'll wait out their appointment on the off chance that they may not want to adopt.

After 60 minutes at 11:55 am, I decided to knock on the front door (yes, I waited outside in the sun. No chairs outside and barely any shade.) And asked what the status of the appointment was, and was only told AFTER I ASKED, that they were in the process of filling out the adoption paperwork.

Absolutely disrespectful and incompetent staff warrant this 1 star, I can only PRAY and HOPE they treat their animals better than they treat their customers.

I get the regulations surrounding not being allowed inside due to covid-19, but at least get some chairs outside if you're going to ignore and forget about potential adopters outside your own front door.

Get a new hiring manager there!! The front desk girls are very unprofessional and very disrespectful! Get some classy professional people in the front so when people walk through the doors they're not as miserable and disappointed as I was! Seriously! I've took lost street dogs to the dumb friends league, maxfund, and animal rescue of the rockies and I've never been treated this way at any of those places! Follow the advice!

Horrible. Horrible. People. They do not care about safety of animals but rather money. Will do anything and everything to get money from you.

Great place to help out the community,find a pet a new home donations are welcome,come help or adopt a amimal in your community

This place is the worst place ever! Worthless people working here. Got evicted from my apartment and animal control took my dog while I was at work. I arrived little after 6 and wouldn't release my dog. I came next day at 10:30 to pickup my dog to find out she has been put down. They didn't contact me or anything. You will be hearing from my lawyer.

Had a wonderful experience adopting from here. They were very accommodating as I visited every day until my kitty could come home after her spay.

This is the best animal shelter I've ever seen and the staff truly care.

Got my Cara from the adoption event this weekend and an employee named Sean was extremely helpful in the process. Shes definitely got her a forever home. Thank you Denver animal shelter

Always been a pleasure to visit here. Very clean, animals well cared for and friendly and helpful staff.

I adopted a 9 week old kitten on 6/27/2018 from Denver Animal shelter. She was set to be spayed on 6/29/2018, and we picked her up that same afternoon around 3:30pm. We got Macy home and everything was great! She was a normal, vivacious kitten with a big personality. On Saturday (6/30), things took an unknowing turn for the worst. Macy stopped wanting to play, became lethargic, and disinterested in food. My roommate and I thought Macy was just tired from the slow-release pain meds she received after surgery, so we thought little of it. However, late Saturday night macy s Breathing became very labored. We thought it was stress. Today (7/1), Macy continued with extremely labored breathing, she grew more lethargic, and was completely disinterested in food - including wet kitten food. She got up only to use the litter box once. This afternoon, my roommate and I had to put Macy to sleep. We found out ($500 later), that she had a congenital heart defect, and she was drowning in her own blood (her lungs were filled with blood and other fluids). In order to keep Macy alive, it would ve cost $1700, and this was only going to give her a 20-30% chance of survival due to the extremeness and intensity of the situation. This heart defect that Macy had was there at birth, but in her paperwork she was cleared and said to have NO heart defects.

I will NEVER adopt from this shelter again. My heart is broken because of this place.

Denver Animal Shelter went above and beyond the Call of Duty to help our family in our time of need and we are so grateful for their professionalism and courtesy and assistance. I can't say enough good things about Denver Animal Shelter. Please go visit and adopt a new pet in a forever home

We had a wonderful experience adopting our newest family member. Kevin the cat counselor was so educational and kind. The ladies at the front desk were also exceptionally kind. The shelter is extremely clean and you can tell they care about the animals and making sure it s a good fit for both the fur babes and humans!

We got our chicken permit here and didn't know that they actually keep chickens here--rather, roosters--because denver residents--who are not allowed to keep roosters--will let theirs loose. Tsk tsk!!! So if you CAN have roosters in your county, go adopt some from here! Tho this is a no kill shelter (unless there's health or extreme behavioral issues)--the bunnies and fowl/chickens/rooster are kept in a supply room and that can't be their ideal living environment.

I'm leaving 5 stars despite the fact that the facilities were smaller than we expected. However, if an animal fits your needs, you should adopt it from wherever you find it. Google reviews shouldn't affect your opinion on where to help out someone else in need.

My new bestfriend is adopted and has fur.

Wonderful staff and great selection of felines

I adopted Chloe, a small terrier, from the Denver Animal Shelter the end of September. They were just great to work with, didn't rush me into a decision, were more interested in me getting the right dog. I really appreciated that. And she definitely is the right dog for me, we bonded almost immediately. Very caring people at Denver Animal Shelter will help you find your next best friend!

If you go into the shelter and are a kind, respectful, and understanding individual then this is a great place and the staff will treat you well. The shelter cares the most about the animals and whether or not they are going to be going into a good home. The people who've rated this as anything less than 3 are just basically being children throwing a temper tantrum because they couldn't get their way. However do expect to stay a good few hours as it can get very busy, so just be patient.

I really like this place,they really care about your pets and you

I went to the Denver Animal Shelter May 1st, the day after I had to put my companion animal of over 7 yrs to sleep. Every staff member that I encountered that day treated me with extra care and compassion. I placed a hold on a 6 wk old kitten while a stray kitten was brought into the shelter. I checked the website and found out the stray was a little older and also a female. I went to the shelter again on May 3rd to place another hold on the older kitten. Again, all employees treated me great! May 7th I went back to DAS to "meet" this kitty and fell in love right away. I completed the adoption that day and was told Charlotte would be ready for pickup Friday May 10th after her spay surgery. I brought her home that afternoon and she bonded right away. I have no complaints with this animal. She will have a good, loving home for as long as she lives. I highly recommend the Denver Animal Shelter to anyone!

Lovely shelter. I got my cat there a few years back. Almost got another, but he was on hold. So that was unfortunate. But the place is easy to navigate. Good for disabled people in wheelchairs and other. And they have a lost side, and adopt side. I love visiting here in hopes to find a new life partner.

Best pet care in colorado hands down. Thank your for the care u give our loved pets

What a wonderful experience. I adopted my sweet, loving Chihuahua on March 23, 2019. The shelter was very clean and the staff was friendly and very helpful. The process was quick. I love my sweet Dodie!

They really care for the animals. Great, clean environment. Good, wholesome people.

Super friendly staff. I donated a bunch of sheets and blankets and the staff was grateful and invited me to walk around and look at the animals. Good experience

Got our wonderful dog candace now Shacha. Mixed beagle and dachshund. Staff was very helpful and courteous. Our baby abandons her own bed when we go to bed and just wants to be on our bed close to us. We just lost our beloved dog and she is helping us heal and ease the pain we feel. I recommend more people to please adopt and give a place i your home for these animals. Thank you Denver Animal Shelter for giving us this blessing.

Staff is friendly! We adopted our precious durby at this location and everything has been wonderful!!

if your per goes missing you only have 5 days to find them and they do a behaviour evaluation and if they dont pass they euthanize them and the crematory is next to the restrooms and you can smell it. i just barley made it in time to help get my friends dog back whi ch is a guard dog and no way would he pass that test

Adopted a dog me and my family absolutely fell in love with I was told he had just been nudered and had dental work I knew he would be a handfull for the first few days but he fell right into our household very fine 2 days passed and the dog seemes very ill with a bad cough and sniffle I took him to the ER where they told me to contact the shelter for medicine and treatment I went in and was offered no such thing and was told to go to my vet I ended up returning the sweet dog for the reason that they would own up to a mistake they did amd never telling me he had these issues I dont get how this organization claims to love pets but put this amount of work into a poor ill pup I have 90 days to go get another dog but my family is devastated and doesnt want to do that. We will see what happens make sure you get the full story of the dog you adopt these people take advantage of your kindness.

I found a dog by my house in denver and wanted him to find his owner or a home. The dog didn't look sickly or anything but i took him here to see if they could locate his owner. They were very kind and gentle with this dog, he was already scared not knowing where he was or who we were but thwy did great. I hope he found his owner but if not i know he is in GREAT hands.

I like this place because I couldn't afford the others and I love my dogs. But I have to say the staff were very matter-of-fact, direct, and efficient.

Having lived and traveled extensively in these United States during my 30 year Naval Career and visited many animal shelters, I can honestly say that I am very positively impressed with this facility and with the staff.

Always clean in here every time I visit. Fees aren t too bad either.

I GOT A TICKET FROM ANIMAL CONTROL
I'VE BEEN THERE TRYING TO GET MY DOG SHOTS N REGISTER HER..N WAS TURNED AWAY ...NOT ..ONCE...BUT TWICE! WHAT IS THE PROBLEM HERE? WHO IS IN CHARGE? I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF IT GETS DONE TODAY! NOW WHAT...IM GONNA BE IN TROUBLE. YOU JUST DONT CARE...ABOUT NOTHING..WHAT KIND A SHELTER IS THIS?

These folks are what you call a blessing in disguise. Thanks to all who work there

Clean, well cared for animals, staff was helpful and polite. But they only wanted my ID and did no other screening. I am very happy with my new cat though, she's a sweet baby <3

I go there just to look to get my dog fix as I all ready have 2 I only get my pets from 5hem or the humane society I never buy from puppy mills or pet stores

This week has been my first experience with the Denver Animal Shelter and I'm very disappointed by the mismanagement and bureaucracy that I encountered.

On Tuesday I called to inquire about a dog listed for adoption on their website. I was told that the dog was still available for adoption and I asked what time the shelter closed that day, and was told 6:30 PM. After work, I drove to the shelter and after arriving a few minutes after 6 PM was told that 1.) adoptions stop at 6; and 2.) the dog I was interested in had 2 other people already with a hold on him. I was not told either of these things when I called and had I known either I wouldn t have wasted either my time or the shelter employee s time.

In any case, after talking with the people at the shelter, I was told that if neither of the people with holds had adopted the dog by the close of business Thursday, the dog would be available for adoption on a first come basis. I asked if I could put a hold on the dog and was told that they only allow two people to place a hold on any dog.

So Thursday night rolls around and the dog is still listed as available. I wait until Friday morning just to be sure and he s still there so I called the shelter again and was told that yes, he s still available for adoption. I immediately go pick up my spouse and our dog and drive to the shelter, arriving about 45 minutes after my call only to be told that someone has just been in to visit him and has him ON HOLD until she can come back with her other dog for a visit. OK... I understand that this is just really bad timing the fact that someone came at exactly between the time I called and the time I arrived just seems like the universe doesn t want me to have this dog. But that realization doesn t alleviate the frustration I have at having driven to the shelter twice for nothing.

So then I ask if we can just go through and look at the other dogs available for adoption. The employee there told us that we could only go see a dog if we had already identified it online - that we couldn t go through and look at the other dogs because that area is not a free-roam area . So it doesn t matter that we ve already identified a dog and driven down there twice only to be told that he isn t available and that if we were given an opportunity to go look at the other dogs, there s a very good chance that we might have given one of the shelter dogs a new home. That just doesn t make any sense to me. Isn t the job of the shelter to encourage people to adopt? Not put up senseless, bureaucratic roadblocks? If people can only take a look at dogs that they ve identified already, why not provide some kind of system there in the shelter for people to identify them, like a computer there onsite with access to their website maybe? Or better yet, allow them to go through the area with an employee or volunteer if there is some concern about people free-roaming !

It just seemed to me that the employees had no interest in helping us adopt a dog there and that they couldn t or weren t willing to do anything that required any additional effort on their part. If you really want to help dogs find a home, don t make rules that make it unnecessarily difficult.

Lastly, it seems like the number listed on the shelter s website just goes to the overall city information, Denver 311, operator. The problem with this is that the people who answer the phone don t appear to be familiar with how the shelter works and don t have all the information about the animals. They could have prevented a lot of my frustration simply by informing me of the actual adoption hours and by being able to tell me if the dog already was on hold the first time I called.

When I left today I was frustrated and as I left said It s sad for the dogs and I do think that this is the really unfortunate part of this. They had people there in the shelter who were obviously interested in giving a new dog a home but they let their red tape get in the way of making that happen. I guess from now on I ll be working with different shelters.

They didn't have a dog I liked except a puppy on hokd.

We adopted Otis, a dachshund/lab mix (I know, that's a crazy combo) and he is the perfect addition to our family. DAS is a very clean, nice shelter and most of their staff is very helpful and friendly. HOWEVER, just make sure you ask them about any health issues with the adoptable pets before you meet them because those are not listed in the animal's bio nor will the staff always tell you on their own accord.

Very nice staff, I was almost glad to see that they didn't have many dogs because that means they find homes for people.

Denver Animal Shelter does a wonderful job rehoming pets that others have abandoned or abused.
I have fostered 3 dog's from them and would recommend adopting your next four legged family member from DAS

Please do not take a stray pet you find to the Denver Animal Shelter! They are not able to accurately assess an animal's personality and disposition. They have a history of euthenizing perfectly healthy and well behaved pets. I know of a dog owner who checked at the Denver Animal Shelter "in person" for his lost dog for several days in a row, only to learn that the shelter had euthanized his dog!!!
OMG!!! So, so sad!! Disorganized and dysfunctional shelter!!

Everyone here is SO much nicer than at the Dumb Friends League!! I'd recommend visiting these guys before DDFL any day!

My child found a beautiful kitten and i thought to keep her but already have four cats. I'm a cat lover. I went to this animal shelter and the lady was really nice, polite, and she answered all my questions. She told me that the shelter can take the kitten. I felt relief when I asked her if they keep the animals alive until someone adopt them and she said, YES. I donated $20.00.
Awesome place for animal shelter, great location, and friendly customer services.
Thank you guys for your hard work and for helping these pets.

Our experience at the Denver Animal Shelter was wonderful. We adopted a dog last week. Everyone at the shelter where really amazing. Many thanks to Tracy and Danielle, for all your help. We are so happy to give our new little boy a home.

Our dogs got out today and it was a horrific day for my husband and I. Once we found out animal control picked them up, It was frustrating trying to find where they were taken to but when I called Denver animal shelter, Rita helped me with the animal ID I got off their website. The best person of our experience was Derek. Derek was so understanding of our experience and gave us all the information needed to release them. One of our dogs rabies had just lapsed and our other dogs was going to lapse next month. They vaccinated them and pulled the serial numbers from their chips that we didn t register when we had them spayed and neutered . I registered them immediately with the steps Derek gave me. We would have paid whatever we could to get our dogs back but Derek helped figure out where he could waive fees if he could. I didn t catch the mans name that came out with our first dog when they were releasing them but he was so funny and said he smells like caca, because they got in some animal poop or something when they got out. Literally can t stop laughing at that. He then gave us their intake forms (mugshots) to make us laugh even further at what a horrific day this was for us. I can t thank this staff enough for making a nightmare truly a relief. I hope no one goes through this experience but if they do I hope it s with this staff. Thank you so much Derek, Rita, and man with the mugshots.

I had a wonderful experience the last two days at Denver animal shelter. I was going to go to Foothills, and redirected at the last second on a whim. They were having a promotion, and as a result I got the best cat in the shelter for free.
Eugene spent two hours getting used to his new home and is now right as rain. I wish I could bring him back in to the shelter, not to stay, but to visit people like the former police officer that made his time there so wonderful.
They take you in the back, everyone in your house ( so don t forget anyone!!!) and make sure you are a good fit for your pet. Eugene came into the room and crawled into my lap. The experience was very intimate and made me feel wonderful, like my pet was choosing me. I see the negative reviews on here from bad pet owners and it breaks my heart. Denver shelter is the best of the best.

AWESOME STAFF...
THEY were well TRAINED and Credible...with ALL the Process of an Adoption.

I give the animal a 10 star if there was an option for it... They were very understanding worked with me to come up with an unbelievable option to get my dog back home.. thank you guys at the animal shelter I really wanna thank each and every last one of you that did take care of my dog when he was there.. great wonderful people that we are lucky to have to even care for our animals

Wonderful shelter, they take excellent care of the animals there. We adopted a wonderful kitten named Beauregard and we are forever grateful to this place for continuing to serve the stray animals of Denver. Consider donating.

Denver health inspections for food trucks are performed here.