Independent Animal Rescue (IAR) goes above and beyond to care for companion animals in the Durham…read moreand Chapel Hill communities. They are truly all-volunteer and every decision they make is made with the best interest of the dog or cat in mind. I started fostering kittens with IAR in 2014 and continued on as a foster for several more years before transitioning to other volunteer roles. I also am what is known as a foster fail, having adopted an adorable lanky kitten early on as a companion for our resident kitty. Due to personal health concerns, I sadly stepped down from my volunteer roles last year, but I have a deep love for IAR and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking to adopt a dog, cat or pair of kittens, or to foster or volunteer! If you happen to be on one of the North Durham Nextdoor websites, on just about every post concerning community cats or dogs you'll see numerous individuals who have found help through IAR recommending them as a resource for guidance and support. I am sure the same is true throughout Durham, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro. IAR is quick to step in when there is a need - whether it's saving kittens who are in storm drains, feeding and spaying and neutering feral colonies, or rescuing and caring for homeless dogs and cats until they find their forever homes.

I admire these people. I really do. But I'm not sure of the vetting process. I put in an…read moreapplication for an available dog who sounds GREAT...like a real character...the description fit the type of personality I adore..quirky, small and silly. According to the application, I am not a good fit. Really? I would assume that if IAR wants an animal to be adopted, perhaps the protocol should be a meet and greet, rather than words that can be interpreted wrongly..I mean really...how can one even tell a dog would be compatible without looking in her/his eyes?... I'm not sure why the dog I wanted is STILL UP ON THE SITE months after I put in my application; perhaps a foster fail? Maybe some change in protocol would be helpful.

Thank you for everything you do for the community! I've had a wonderful experience fostering and…read moreadopting through APS. The animals are sweet, healthy, and simply need a little TLC. I highly recommend visiting - it's free and a great way to meet adorable pets looking for loving homes.

Oh, all these sweet babies need homes!…read more I dropped by today to donate some needed towels and several boxes of cute gingerbread dog biscuits I found at Aldi. The young lady at the counter said to put them under the Christmas tree where I saw about a dozen different types of animal donations. Unfortunately my spouse is highly allergic to animals, but I love dogs so I just donate what I can from time to time. I asked if I could take a look at the dogs even tho we can't adopt. Not only was I told yes, but if I wanted cuddle time with any just let her know. Be still my heart! So I went back to the kennel area and the first dog greeted me with non stop barking. Well, that's a fine howdy do! Turns out all the kennels were full and this first dog was the only one making a racket. The rest were so eager and friendly with tails waging wildly and eyes that begged to be taken home. They really tugged at my heart strings and by the time I reached the last kennel my eyes were welling up. I knew cuddle time with any one of them would make me have a major eye leak so said my good byes to them and said their new homes and owners would be there soon. As I opened the door from the kennel area a young couple was making their way to it. I gave them a heads up on the loud one in the first kennel, but said the rest would be happy to see them. Fingers crossed they didn't go home without one of these sweet pups!

This is a nice, clean facility that appears to take excellent care of the animals in their care. I…read moredidn't feel that disapproving condescension that permeates some animal shelters -- the ones where the volunteers who take their jobs a tad too seriously and seem to expect a criminal background check, credit report and drug test before you can adopt a kitten. Nice people and happy animals.

I can't say enough about this shelter the entire staff is absolutely amazing I adopted a dog almost…read more8 months ago ran into some medical problems and they were willing to care for her while I was in the hospital and treated her with the utmost care thank you guys so much and keep doing what you're doing you make a difference ! Thank you once again so much !

I've taken both my dog and my cat here for the last couple of years. They still have some covid…read moreprecaution: you text them when you arrive with the parking spot number that you're in and tjen they'll text you when you can go inside. Masks are optional now. I think they also are still doing curbside where they'll check in your pets and you can stay in the car during their appointment if you want. I did that once during covid times when they weren't allowing anyone inside. I think my pets have seen all of the doctors, but they had their most recent checkup with Dr. Soren. He's super nice and a great listener. It makes me feel good when the doctor tells me they both look great. He asked several times during the appointment if I had any questions or concerns. For the very few concerns I did bring up, he offered up multiple simple solutions. He seems to take a more conservative approach rather than ordering up expensive tests, so I really appreciate that. I liked that he also gave a recommendation on the order of the 3 solutions that he came up with. And then he mentioned that if I didn't see a change after trying all 3, then I could come back and have some tests done. The other thing that I like about Dr. Soren is that he tells you what to expect at their next appointment. For example, he examined my dog's teeth and said she would probably be due for a cleaning in the next 6-8 month. He also let me know that she would get a heartworm test and which vaccines were due at the next appointment. I like that I'm able to schedule annual exams for both of my pets at the same time so it saves me a trip. My cat isn't really a people person so I made sure to spray some calming spray on her blanket before we got there. Dr. Soren sprayed some more in the air before opening the carrier which I think helped a lot too. She didn't make a peep when he picked her up to examine her so I was shocked. She also didn't make a sound while they gave her 2 shots. Again, I was shocked! My dog is always super anxious but was mostly calm while being examined. She was super wiggly while getting her weight checked with the vet techs. But Dr. Soren checked her weight just to confirm and she was less wiggly, and he was able to get a more accurate weight. I was also going to get some more heartworm medicine for my dog but they didn't have the one for her weight so they told me I could order it from Chewy and they would get an email to approve it. I order a lot from Chewy so that's pretty convenient to me. After the checkups were complete, the vet tech came back to the room with a credit card machine and the bill so I could pay and then leave.

We have 3 furry friends, 12, 9, and 7. They have been with NHAH for years (2 since pups). I…read morewouldn't trade that care with anywhere else. They mean the world to us! Thank you for all the great people at NHAH!

I came across Beautiful Together's website as a local animal rescue when I was looking to adopt a…read moredog. Since I didn't look at it until the day before I wanted to go, I was worried to see that they ask for an online application before visiting in person. However, they were very quick to respond. I filled it out on a Sunday evening, and they called me first thing Monday morning so that I was able to come in that afternoon. They use the information to help your family match with dogs that might be a good fit. We took 2 for a walk, and I fell in love with one of them. We were able to bring him home the same day! They make it easy to get follow up vet care and send your home with food and treats as well.

I have experienced nothing but kindness, compassion and excellent communication. They are truly…read morebeautiful people doing beautiful work!

I just happened to stumble across the review of Colony Park and Dr. McKinney from a few years ago,…read moreand I have to write to say I couldn't disagree more. My dog was recently very ill, and Dr. McKinney was incredibly supportive. She showed great compassion and patience with me, as a somewhat novice dog owner. She explained medical issues very clearly and in layman's terms without being patronizing. She has continued to follow up, regularly checking in with me by text and with phone calls. She's given me her personal number, and has responded promptly even at weekends. I highly recommend her. Another regular vet I see is Dr. (Erin) Tom. Full disclosure - she's a personal friend. I know her personally and professionally and can vouch for her genuine love of, and concern for, her patients as well as pet owners. I can call her day or night, and she NEVER minds. This is my first pet, and I can wholeheartedly say I wouldn't go anywhere else despite having other vets/clinics much closer to my home.

They have taken care of our dog since she was a puppy. Recently she became ill and they did a great…read morejob of working her in and figuring out what was going on. They treated her and got her back to good health and her usual rambunctious self.

I have known Cari and James for over 30 years and have stayed in their home with them and their…read moredogs many times while visiting from out of state. The are dedicated parents to their fur babies. These dogs are living their best lives as part of this family and I'm certain that you would be confident in that as well should you reach out to them in regards to a puppy. So if you are looking for a Laberdoodle than look no further as these puppies are precious and so are their parents. Penny and Max are like husband and wife. It's adorable! Now they have Dudley and Sadie also and I can't wait to see what their puppies will look like. I love them all, but Penny stole my heart and she knows it.

From the owner: We are currently accepting deposits on a litter of F1 Standard Labradoodle puppies expected to be…read moreborn around the end of September 2024! We have worked hard to be recognized as a CKC Preferred Breeder. We started River Home Doodles because we love dogs and want to share the joy of having a fur-ever friend!! We would love to help you find your next best friend and companion.

Pamela is exceptional in understanding a dog's character, energy level, and body language. She…read morehelped us with several issues over the last two weeks and we continue our sessions to reinforce learned behaviors. We met with Pamela while discussing the possibilities of socialization for our 9-month-old puppy. She asked more questions, quickly understood the things we wanted to work on, and suggested the best plan that fitted the needs of our puppy and our lifestyle. Over the last two weeks, she met with the puppy, took him to different places, assessed his reaction to people and other dogs, and build fundamentals of better reactions. After two training sessions, I noticed how much more responsive my puppy is and how less he is nervous about distractions on walks. She also gave us a lot of advice regarding jumping (before that we tried multiple methods and those have not been as effective), counter surfing, how to redirect out puppy energy into useful work, so on. Pamela is a very experienced trainer and we are looking forward to learning more from her and our collaboration.

Pamela has been SO incredible at getting our lovely but very active and somewhat addictive (to…read moreballs, sticks, anything she can put in her mouth) golden retriever puppy to learn to let go, to calm down, and to behave. She has also helped us to be better at understanding Darby's motivations and emotions. Fun and effective training for everybody!

We have purchased a Yorkshire terrier at petland. With the amazing help of Bonnie and Ella , we…read morecame home with a beautiful fur baby . His name is Hunter after his family . Ella and Bonnie both were amazing to work with they help us picked out our fur baby to give him his forever home.. they were able to supply the mom and dad history and the family history. I can honestly say this is not a puppy mill .. This is a legit puppy place that helps you get your forever for a baby. This place is amazing. The people are wonderful. They keep it amazingly clean inside and out . The petland store makes you feel like family while you're there looking at the animals and we purchase an animal and when you leave.with a fur baby. If you're ever looking for a forever pet petland is a place to be. Please make sure you see Bonnie or Ella there are amazing young ladies to work with.

This company sells sick dogs and provides no veterinary care for them. I'm certain that any…read morepositive reviews were posted by people affiliated with this business. If your purchased dog is found to be sick you can return it, they will refund your money, they then take the dog, and return it to the breeder for credit just like if you returned an item to Home Depot. I can only imagine what the breeder does with the puppy. THIS IS A REVIEW FROM A FORMER PETLAND EMPLOYEE:vettechmnm OP * 5y ago At the Petland store I worked at the isolation room in the back was always full and I wondered why (before I learned the truth), considering those puppies each had price tags off $2000-6000, they weren't receiving veterinary care because they were so sick, and then I found out that they only paid $50-200 a piece for them and it would cost more to treat them than what they cost so it was more economically feasible to let them die so they could trade them in for credit towards other puppies from the breeder. We used to put a small towel in the puppy boxes where they housed the ones that were for sale and a few toys for the puppies to play with. I was reprimanded for giving the puppies in isolation a towel to lay on and toys to play with. The owner told me that he didn't want the sick puppies to have those items because he didn't want them getting overly excited and delaying their recovery (the puppies played with the towels as much as they did with the toys). I thought to myself, "this guy must be a complete moron if he really thinks that sick puppies who are lonely, depressed, bored, and uncomfortable could possibly recover faster or better than puppies who were psychologically well and comfortable while they recovered." It did not take long for me to realize that he wasn't concerned about interfering with their speedy recovery at all. Those dogs did not receive medical care so how could they ever recover from their illnesses? He didn't want them to have those items because he wanted then to be uncomfortable, with nothing to lay on but a grate, and he wanted them to be bored and depressed because he wanted to hasten their death so that he could send them back to the breeder for credit towards other puppies that were less sickly and he could make money by selling them. The puppies in isolation were just taking up space and resources he did not think they were worth and he just wanted them gone. I was also reprimanded for doing a fecal exam because I suspected there was a parvo outbreak because so many puppies had bloody diarrhea. They don't want to know if there is parvo, campylobacter, or any other contamination there because they don't want it to interfere with their puppy sales so there did not approve of my efforts to determine what was wrong with them. I was basically reprimanded for thinking like a veterinary technician rather than a Petland employee... I recently learned that the Orlando Petland was seeking puppies infected with coronavirus near the end of 2019. I worry about the dogs people bring there to meet the puppy before people buy them... They are risking their health and possibly their lives by taking them there. Petland is a corrupt, twisted, and evil organization and they are all the same. The corruption starts at the top, the Petland Corporation, and trickles down from there to every Petland franchise in operation. They don't care about their animals. They don't care about their customers. And they don't care about their employees. The only thing they care about is MONEY, and nothing else. People need to do their research, educate and inform themselves, learn the truth and stop enabling Petland to continue doing this by spending their money in that hell on earth called Petland.

Wow, where to start and what to say about our incredible experience with Kate's for our…read morekitty-care... Let's start with our two spoiled princesses, Mimi and Dora, one inside and one outside that we dote-on daily. As we had planned to fly out of town, their care was a huge stress-point for us, and we researched a service for weeks. Add to that is the home-security factor as well. Having Kate's team being so experienced, and secured, we've found that not only peace-of-mind, but an invaluable part of our support system for our kitty-girls. However, even more than that, is the incredible and amazing care and attention to detail they brought to the service, and... AND... connected us with Michelle who unbelieveably bonded instantly with our ultra spoiled indoor kitty Mimi (who warms up to noone). Not only did Mimi bond with her, she loved Michelle's coming over! We have the camera footage, plus Michelle's awesome daily photo's and video's too! It's almost impossible to convey our appreciation and happy stun-factor, but EPIC is probably the best word! 5 Platinum Stars Incredible!!!!!

We have been using Kate's Critter Care for many years to provide in home care for pur sweet pooches…read more(Pepsi and Sprite). The care, love and sincere affection for our pooches in addition to their RELIABILITY, CONSISTENCY AND FLEXIBILITY that Kate's Critter Care has provided makes them a premier service provider for anyone who loves their pets. The list of times they have made adjustments to accomodate our needs is endless, and our pooches truly do love them! I urge anyone and everyone to become long term clients! Kate's Critter Care rocks!!!