St. Louis City Animal Care & Control Center

Our kittie Ember is from the St. Louis Pound.

We had gone to the HSMO beforehand and after waiting patiently to apply until close time and recieving basically no service, decided to continue looking here.

The place looks scary from the outside, like a small prison. It's extremely outdated and small, from the days when animals taken there weren't really adopted out. But despite its creepy, archaic appearance, we got helpful and good service from the second we stepped into the building. Even though all of the workers were actually working (cleaning cages, feeding animals, etc) they were more than happy to give us advice about different cats, telling us more about temperments and the past of each one we asked about. They all clearly were very familiar with each and every animal.

The even bigger surprise:

we had gone there to save a life and give an animal a home. we figured there would be so many animals there, they would probably sign it over to us and we could take it home after the vet visit, similar to other kill shelters. But after we applied, they told us they would review our paperwork and call us within a week. A day or two later, dismayed that they hadn't yet called us, we figured we weren't going to be allowed to take our little girl home. But three days after applying, they called us, and told us that if we still wanted her we could pay for her spay that weekend. They actually took the time to go over our paperwork and decided she would be a good fit for our household, isntead of just signing her over to a random person who signed a piece of paper. To me, this shows that they actually care (as much as they can afford to) about solving the problem of pet overpopulation and animal abuse.


Anywho, Tora (our first cat) and Ember took very well together, and Ember is now a happy part of our family. I would definitely go back to the St. Louis ARC for another pet.

Pros: helpful volunteers, rigorous adoption process

Cons: they definitely need more space...good thing for the animal house fund.

If any shelter needed a makeover, it's this one. Luckily, there is a drive to help them move into a new shelter. Hopefully it will be soon.

Pros: good volunteer staff

Cons: overrun, cold, cramped