On April 11, I adopted a very sweet brown tabby cat through the organization, PetsAlive. I named…read moremy new cat Theodore and was told that Theo had been found on the streets and had recently had scabies, eye surgery and skin issues - all of which seemed to be healing nicely. I was never told of his extensive dental disease or that he had feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). I noticed that Theo's energy level seemed a little low, but he was eating very well and didn't display any signs of digestive issues. I DID notice that his breath was very smelly, so I took him to my veterinarian. The long story made short is that Theo will have to have several teeth extracted and his length and quality of life could be affected because bloodwork showed that he is positive for FIV. I have requested that PetsAlive take care of the dental issues Theo has since I can't afford thousands of dollars for teeth to be extracted. My concern of permanently returning Theo to PetsAlive is that his cycle of being an unwanted rescue cat will continue. His life could be one of going from adoption site to adoption site and never being adopted because of his bad teeth and FIV diagnosis. Please be aware that, according to my veterinarian, there are several no kill shelters that DON'T test animals for FIV or leukemia. Before you adopt an animal, please ask if the animal has been thoroughly tested for diseases that could affect the animal's health and wellbeing.

I love this rescue! They do amazing work and have an amazing staff! They put on a lot of great…read moreevents and doing their part to help animals. I really appreciate rescues like this that really care! I just recently went to Barktoberfest. I brought my dogs and we dressed up! Was such a fun time! The best event yet! Great vendors and a doggie costume contest. Hope they do this every year. Special thanks to Kathryn Riccio for all her help when we were at the event!

Over the years, I have adopted many dogs from Special Pals, usually large older ones. Every one of…read morethem have been great decisions. An Akita, German Shepherd, Mastiff Pit mix, Husky Shepherd mix, Pitbull that was such an ambassador to the breed. I now have a little Staffy pit mix that is sweeter than sugar. I have not had one complaint to share, only praise for their excellent fosters that ready dogs and cats for home life.

We learned about Special Pals & their great work to place pets in forever homes. We dropped off…read morefood and supplies after our little dog passed. The staff is very friendly and genuinely appreciative our donation and took us on a tour of the facility. When we are ready for our next rescue dog we will go to them. In the meantime we will make monetary donations to help this great group keep going.

This is a FANTASTIC, expansive store with everything you could possibly need!…read more Specializing in raw food made on site (and it looked fantastic) the staff is sweet & knowledgeable. It's also the CLEANEST pet store I've ever been in! 100% recommend a visit!!

I had a great experience while visiting this store. I had no idea places like this existed. The…read morestaff was super friendly and very helpful. I learned a lot raw food diet. They had lots of pet treats, leashes, etc.

Wonderful, kind people run this rescue. Thank goodness for this rescue and the important work they…read moredo. Please adopt from here.

I started following Adore on instagram about a year ago. I happened to be scrolling through one day…read moreand I couldn't help but to smile at this cute black and white puppy they had in need of emergency foster. I filled out an application to foster the same day and received a call from Andrea not long after. From the time we took Beaux in, they have been so helpful to our family. They have taken care of all of the vet bills, meds, neutering, and just pure concern of a first time puppy owner. The adoption fee of $200 is a small price to pay for all that they do for the pet owner. I love that you have the option to foster or adopt. They always have events to raise awareness about adopting animals and not "shopping" for them. We love our baby boy and couldn't be happier with Adore Houston.

Staff working with the animals are friendly and patient. Staff at front desk seems overwhelmed…read morepossibly because of being understaffed. It's lovely to see the cats and dogs be cared for. This place even has a shop you can donate pet items to and purchase from. Seems like a great option for adopting.

An excellent spot if you are looking for a furry companion that is super affordable…read more We were looking for a new furry companion to join our family and weren't having a ton of luck. As part of a last ditch effort, we decided to check out CAP. Upon entering, I was shocked by how clean and bright the adoption facility was. To the right, cats. To the left, dogs. Ahead, furry critters like rabbits. A great organization system with a very open layout! As we began to peruse the variety of dogs, I noticed amenities such as ample hand sanitizer stations, visit rooms, and friendly volunteers. They utilize an easy to understand color system to indicate behaviors/training levels of the pets. All of the rooms/kennels looked very clean and the pets inside looked well cared for. Additionally, each pet had paperwork and surveys filled out to give you as much upfront information as possible. An adorable recent stray caught our eye out of the sea of dogs that were in the process of being adopted. We had to wait a little for a visit room to free up, but once a room was cleaned, a volunteer brought us in to meet the pup. As we interacted with the pup, the volunteer enthusiastically told us everything she could including how long the dog had been there, how the most recent walk went, and how the adoption process goes. Hearts stolen, we decided to adopt. The process was pretty straightforward with paperwork first then a meeting with an adoption counselor. It was pretty busy on the Sunday evening that we went, but still the wait was not that long. The counselor was very knowledgeable and we found that the very affordable adoption fee included the spay/neuter surgery, a full service vet visit, rabies vaccination, lots of literature, and a micro-chip! A great value!! Overall, a great organization and it is super heartwarming to see all of the adopted signs. Definitely a place to check out if you are looking for a furry family member.

This organization does a fantastic job helping so many dogs. The pups all seemed to be well taken…read morecare of in their facility and I can't thank the fosters enough for taking such good care of Macey and Leo until we found each other! These 2 dogs were really a bonded pair and the folks at K-9 Angels just would not allow them to be separated. Thank you so much for doing that- these 2 are the sweetest pups and I can see how they would have been heartbroken had they been separated. I really like how the dogs are kept in foster homes and only brought into the shelter itself on weekends or events. The shelter itself was clean and organized and all the people working there were super nice. There are so many homeless dogs out there and this organization is doing a great job in finding them furrever homes! You truly are angels! THANK YOU K-9 ANGELS!!!

Terrible place. Reached out for help when we found out a rescued dog was 5-6 weeks pregnant (the…read moreequivalent of 3rd trimester in humans) and the recommendation was to kill the puppies. From Mary Tipton the cofounder: I would have gone ahead and spayed her today. Pregnant or not. Mary Co-founder K-9 Angels Rescue

I have worked with the staff at FFL to help foster a sweet older lady cat. They have been nothing…read morebut courteous throughout the process. From what I've seen, they care a lot about the animals they're saving and do a job in the community that many of us do not want or are even able to do. I cannot vouch for the adoption program since I have not adopted an animal through the shelter.

I am a vet tech of about 24 years so I have seen every type of client, good and bad, from my time…read morein the vet field. Now, I am a school teacher but I still foster dogs for animal control and currently have 9 spoiled mutts at our ranch who are loved dearly, whether my own personal pets or one of my fosters. I feel like I am very knowledgable with regard to animal care and now as a teacher, spend my days reflecting on systems that work and ones that really need improvement. I am sure that Friends For Life has good intentions for placing these animals in perfect homes but the narrow minded approach they have to the adoption process and line of questioning is an absolute detriment to the pets waiting for their forever homes. A family member of mine began the application process to adopt a sweet young dog and I can vouge that she would be considered a TOP NOTCH loving, caring, responsible pet owner/client in the eyes of any vet because she has no kids and treats her dogs like the kings and queens that they feel like living in her home under her care. During the interview with her, Friends For Life asked her how she felt about the use of shock collars and she was honest and told them that under the direction of a dog trainer when one of her dogs was a puppy, she used one for the timeframe of about a month (and later, I found out it was only on the vibrate setting and was activated probably 3-4 times during the training sessions). They immediately sent her an email telling her that they could never consider her as a potential adopter because she believes in her trainer's methods and trains dogs by using fear as motivation. They told her that they were sure she could find a dog somewhere else to adopt, but just not from them. Any dog could only be so lucky to be adopted by her, as I have joked for years that she runs to the vet if her dog looks at her funny. She videos and keeps a log of their every move to give the vet a minute by minute calendar of what is going on when something isn't right. She will spend whatever it takes to help them, buying only a high quality diet, the veterinary recommended preventative medicines, and the best of the best in every aspect of quality care. I truly can't say enough good things. That month of using a vibrating collar with one dog in her 63 years on this earth was enough to stop the application process in its tracks. No further questioning, no checking references, no calling the vet for a recommendation, no nothing. Hands down... she is out and the dog is still homeless. The real victim here is a dog that could have landed the most loving home ever for it's entire life, with NO worries that it would ever be given away, given up on, or put in a bad situation. It could have had a stable, mature, active home that catered to it's every desire that a sweet, spoiled dog deserves. A 6am walk every single day, runs at the park, golf cart rides, car rides, regular medical care and more. I called this adoption facility, as a loyal and caring family member, and told them that I was NOT begging them to reconsider because the hurt that their assumptions caused had already settled in. Instead, since their own description of their animal adoption facility suggested that they were "innovating, improving and tracking results to find the most effective ways to save lives," I suggested that they consider and collaborate on a more extensive vetting of adopters by looking at the bigger picture of what the potential home can offer and calling various credible references, rather than placing judgment on a more-than-great family and negating the whole process based on a single application question that required further interpretation than an email or a text could offer. Anyone can lie on an application and let them hear what they want to hear, but she didn't... and further conversation could have probably clarified things to the point where this dog could have already started living it's best life. She had even cooked bland chicken and rice in preparation for bringing the new dog home and acclimating it to a new food. Prayers that every dog in this facility gets a great new home and a fresh start, but more... prayers that Friends For Life revisit their adoption process so they don't continue to run off any more perfect homes for these very deserving animals. Again, I am sure their intentions are good but... what an unfortunate loss to the animals for a possible forever home at the same time!

Odd...when searching for the business "Pup Squad" in the Yelp search box, the business Smashburger…read morekeeps coming up as a result! =/ *gulp* Visited the Pup Squad Animal Rescue location at Houston Pavilions Saturday morning to peep through available pups. The rented space is large, airy, and spacious enough for several kennels to line the walls without overcrowding. Due to the high ceiling, warehouse style accomodation, it smells fairly fresh & clean in here. It's also dark and cool, and most dogs were found napping their way through the morning...a stark difference from other adoption places I've been to. It was easy to move through the space, and foster parents sat next to their pups like proud parents, eager to do a show and tell if so requested. What I liked most about this place is that the dogs here seemed to be happy! I rarely saw nervous, jittery dogs. Most were in their kennel, eager to play with visitors; others in their foster parents' arms, and some napping, barely opening an eye to peer at us. Though I did not come away with a new child that day, I wouldn't hesitate adopting one from this group. I spent a good 20 minutes talking to a foster mom about this organization and I'm completely thankful and hopeful that there are still many altruistic people left in this world. If you're considering adding a member to your family, please put Pup Squad Animal Rescue on your list as a must-visit.

This program is great when you think that most people want to get a puppy when they get a dog, but…read moreif you want to do your part and get a rescue dog, your chances of getting a small breed puppy decreases to about zero. They have dogs in all shapes sizes and colors and all (I'm pretty sure) in good health. Our first visit there we were just curious but pretty interested in getting another dog to play with our very energetic shih-tzu and one that was small enough to accommodate apartment living. We walked around a bit and they did have some really cute dogs, but it wasn't until we spotted this adorable pup that I had the "gotta have this puppy" feeling. They told us he was a puppy mill dog and that he was a Tibetan terrier and maybe about 3 months old. We personally didn't have all day to make a decision and were hesitant to commit on the spot, but they guaranteed that we could have a one week home visit to make sure that we wanted to keep him and that he was compatible with our dog. They would hold the $120 check and if we didn't come back, they'd cash it. So, for $120 you get a puppy in good health who's been socialized through the foster program with as many/all of the shots and exams needed for the applicable age an optional microchip to have put in later rabies and county tags You have to fill out an application form, but they review it on the spot and if you're a shoe-in (i.e. you have a dog or know the risks/responsibilities of having a dog) they let you adopt. It was a painless process and we are very happy with our puppy. These dogs are rescues so I'm attributing that to the fact that we weren't quite sure of the age, how big he'd get, and if he was really the breed they said he was (we thought he was a bit jack russell for a while, but now due to his size, we are back with the Tibetan terrier.) The other great perk to having a rescue is that I know at least the VCA will give you a free first exam for having just adopted a rescue. A great program and system for adopting puppies! Just a note, puppy mill dogs, as I later found out, can have a lot of health problems on their own due to poor/careless breeding. Do your research!

We hosted our ten year old daughter's birthday party at CAP and it was one of my favorite birthday…read moreparties to date. The staff kept the kids engaged and busy. Getting to tour the facility and interact with animals was so much fun! Then they brought animals into the room for the kids to play with more. The activities were fun and they were genuinely happy to have the kids there. Very highly recommend a birthday party here!

The staff are friendly and thorough. The whole application takes about 30-45 minutes and there are…read moreseveral contract and waivers to sign. You have a small room to meet the animal and then you have an option to leave the room and enter the back grass area to walk the animal with or without your current pets. The facilities look clean and new.

I would not recommend using Spring Branch Rescue Transport for out-of-state pet adoptions,…read moreespecially if you're adopting a cat. The rescue organization I adopted through was outstanding. They communicated clearly throughout the process, helped match us with the right pet for our family before we even adopted, and worked with us to find what they believed would be the fastest transport option. Unfortunately, the transport experience itself was the exact opposite. Communication from Spring Branch Rescue Transport was poor and often confusing. Updates were primarily provided through a Facebook group chat, which required scrolling through long message histories just to piece together where the transport was and when your pet might arrive. Even the dog owners--who make up the majority of their transports--were regularly asking for updates because information was so limited. One of the biggest frustrations was the transport schedule. The screenshots showing pickup and drop-off locations didn't include dates, and the stops weren't numbered. A simple numbered route with estimated dates or even the expected order of stops would have made it much easier for adopters to understand where the transport was and when to realistically expect their pet. Instead, it felt like you had to put your life on hold while waiting for updates. For cat owners, I would strongly recommend looking for another option. Our cat spent more than four days in the transport vehicle, surrounded by numerous other animals in what was undoubtedly a stressful environment. The uncertainty around arrival times also made planning nearly impossible. I watched other adopters in the group chat rearrange important milestone life events and even drive to different states because the delivery window kept vaguely changing or remained so broad. Looking back, I would have skipped the transport altogether. Flying to the rescue, renting a car, and driving home with your pet would have given us complete control over the schedule while likely making the trip far less stressful for the animal. While I appreciate the work involved in transporting rescue animals over long distances, the communication, organization, and scheduling experience left a lot to be desired. For anyone adopting from out of state--particularly a cat--I believe there are better options.

From the owner: Spring Branch Rescue is a 501(c)(3)non-profit organization with a mission to care for lost,…read moreneglected, and abandoned pets by re-uniting them with their owners or finding them loving new owners. We also educate owners in our community on population control