Clean and Caring Care Givers to cats and dogs in separate areas although it's been a few years since going there

The Animal Haven, once a shelter dedicated to saving animals, is now a kill shelter. No longer adhering to its mission statement of providing forever care for ALL of its animals, TAH now sends its dogs to Florida or Maryland. The latest incident where a dog suffering from severe kennel stress bit a volunteer. This dog was euthanized. The volunteer returned to dog walking in two months with a small scar, no defensive wounds, and believes she spooked the dog. read more

very very poor management manager and assistant manager are anything but dedicated to the animals. They are there to collect a check and nothing more. Manager can not tell you one thing about any of the cats or dogs in the building except if it had a medical issue as that is all she cares about she is a shelter manager that fears animals? beware!!! She also just adopted out 2 cats that have had liquid poop for over a week and still adopted them out. Be very careful read more

The Animal Haven is a true haven for cats and dogs. They have take some tough cases trying all they can to save these fur babies lives. Here, animals come first. And boy are they all so adorable. Michelle and all the staff were transparent through the whole adoption process and very communicative. We stopped in a few times to meet different cats and fell in love with a bonded pair of brothers. Filled out the application thoroughly, chatted with the staff about our living situation, etc, and took the whole process very seriously. They know the animals well which helps aid in finding the perfect match for adoption. They work with some great people who foster, but I'm biased because the people who fostered our babies raised them to be social and such cuddle bugs. I can only imagine how incredibly busy this shelter is whether it's administrative work or staying up all night trying to keep an animal alive. Their priorities are animals and the safety of them - finding them the best home. So the negative reviews from folks who weren't approved or didn't hear back, well, there's always a good reason. Remember, you adopt animals for the animal, not yourself. Ya know? If you don't end up adopting, consider donating to support their work and animal medical bills. read more

The Animal Haven - Animal Shelters Near Me - North Haven, Connecticut

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5 stars to this wonderful shelter. It is located in a wonderful woodsy neighborhood in North Haven. I bring them linens and towels all the time. Don't forget you can do something this simple in helping out the animals. You can also donate animal food to help the little guys at the shelter. Please find it within your hearts to support the animals in any manner you can. The way a society treats it's animals is indicative of society, in general. This shelter puts on many fundraising events throughout the year for you to be able to support them. They also have a newsletter chock full of information. read more

Let me start this review by saying that the Animal Haven takes wonderful care of their animals and provides a great environment for the animals that are available for adoption. However, the main issue comes in when you hope to adopt an animal. After months of searching for the right kitten I found just the one I had been hoping for. I filled out the lengthy application at the shelter (which was Copied incorrectly and took two attempts) and submitted it. A few days later I found out that my comments I had made to them about cat-declawing had disqualified me from ever adopt a cat from them. I simply stated "I have no plans to declaw my cat but if it were to become an issue in the future I might look into it." They called me to inform me that declawing abusive and that I could not adopt the kitten I had fallen in love with. Nobody at the shelter bothered to inform me on this practice, what harm it could do to the cat, or anything else. They simply inferred that I am not fit to own this cat because of my refusal to write something off that I know nothing about. I am a Yale graduate student and haven't made it this far in life by making uninformed choices. If they wanted to talk to me and interview me in person that would have given them a chance to find the best fit for their animal as well as spread information on a topic that they say they care so much about. Tl;dr animal haven, great to animals, not great to people wanting to adopt a lifelong friend. Also, DON'T DECLAW YOUR CAT. read more

Rude beyond belief! That is all I can say about this place. I filled out a online application about adopting a kitten and forwarded it to them through the email given on their website. And heard nothing back. It took 2 more emails over a week time frame for them to even respond to me and they didn't even have the decency to write an actual email back! They wrote in the subject line the kitten wasn't available anymore and nothing in the actual email. Couldn't even be bothered to mention if they had any other animals available. Nothing! Just. "She has already been adopted" as the title and nothing in the email itself. You would think a place that wants to send their animals to a good home would be, I dont know...NICER!? or HELPFUL?! sad and disrespectful place I will not waste my time with again. read more

Thank you Animal Haven for all that you do for these special, beautiful animals to find them the loving, good homes and families that they deserve, and if no homes are found, to house them with good care for the rest of their lives. I've always been a huge animal lover, and I was a volunteer for many years when Annie was the president and Liz the vice president. I continue to attend fundraisers. I had three rescues that lived happily ever after with me, very dear to my heart. read more

On numerous occasions I have reached out to Animal Haven to adopt a cat. Finally after several weeks I was able to go and look at the cat I was interested in adopting. It has been over a month and haven't heard a word from Animal Haven. I went through the adoption process of completing the paperwork. What a shame that there are people willing to give a pet a loving home and the staff can't even communicate whether or not the cat went to another home. Needless to say, I adopted a cat somewhere else and the process was effortless. read more

I would like to write a review about Animal Haven, a place I visited on Saturday, September 8, 2018. I was shown a photo of two beautiful kittens on my facebook page. We are looking for two or three kittens (indoor only) as we have two sisters that are 11 years old. As we arrived at Animal Haven, we were introduced to these two beauties! We were not able to hold them due to a outbreak of ring worm inside (we were told). I filled out a application and answered the questions the best I could. Like another post here about two years ago I answered the declawing question incomplete. Not knowing there stance on this issue, I received a call today from (nameless) informing me that our application was terminated due to the fact of the declawing issues. Not given one chance for a interview, I was told it was nothing personal. Of course it is personal. I was talked down to because of the declawing issue and felt like a criminal. I thought (by there explanation) it was against the law in CT to declaw a kitten. It was explained by Animal Haven that it is not against the law in Connecticut YET. This is from the direction of there Board of Directors. We are good citizens and great with cats. We have a 10 room house filled with a lot of love and a great environment. I feel cheated that we were disqualified and discriminated against. I do wish The Animal Haven all the best and I'm very sad that they didn't get to know us. I also send the two beautiful kitties much love and hope that they stay together. After all it is about them. I wish The Animal Haven would see it that way but to them, I'm just a piece of paper Michael Smith, East Haven, CT read more

My husband, myself and our 2 year old went to this shelter yesterday afternoon to look at the cats. I cannot say enough good things about the shelter and it's staff. They were very warm and welcoming and had no problem answering all of our questions. Most of the cats are allowed to roam around in their rooms and you could tell they were very well loved and attended to. We will definitely be back to visit and also to donate items to this shelter. They were very busy with other guests as well as numerous phone calls and they still made sure to give us the time and attention to our needs and questions as well. Very friendly and super great at multi tasking. Thank you for such a wonderful experience! The animals there are obviously very loved by the staff and volunteers. read more

Preface: this is only in regards to their customer service; not their facilities or capabilities. Earlier today I tried to get ahold of this shelter about a stray dog I rescued. The dog was clearly a sweetheart but extremely malnourished w/ mange and partially blind. My local veterinarian recommended I bring the dog to the no kill shelter since they're the only one in the area. At no fault to either clinic, apparently it's unlawful to bring a stray to a shelter without contacting animal services first. However that's no excuse for the way this shelter treated me. I called this shelter multiple times, left messages, and called both when they were supposedly open and closed with no response. This was especially surprising because when I got to the shelter there were about four employees chit chatting with each other behind the desk rather than answering the phone. After I explained my situation the receptionist spoke to me like I didn't speak English. Not showing any concern for the dog's wellbeing she basically pushed me out the door and told me that I needed to call animal services but that I would have to wait until tomorrow since they were already closed for the day. Believe me, I would have love to avoid the 20 minute drive to be treated like an idiot and had they simply answered the phone or returned my call I could have. Thanks a lot guys for the help. read more

Friendly service and a great enviroment! Overall a great place for adoption! The animals are treated with great care. They have a great amount of land in the back where volunteers can come and walk the dogs, which I love! read more

About three months ago my boyfriend and I wanted to adopt one of their dogs so we met with the shelter's dog trainer and she said we were great with the dog. We were so exited to adopt him when the manger called my boyfriend and said (for no apparent reason) we would not be getting the dog. Then when I called her to ask why she said, "This isn't some dog you can put in your purse and carry around." I was so offended and hurt. Even when I started crying because we wanted this dog so much she had no compassion and continued to insult me. It was such an unpleasant experience that she put us off to adopting a dog for months. We ended up buying a puppy from a pet store just to not have to go through that experience again. We wanted to do the right thing and adopt. We didn't want to buy from a puppy mill. But when you buy from a pet store they don't ask questions they just give you a dog. Shelter managers and employees should keep this in mind when someone is trying to adopt a dog, if they actually care about these dogs finding homes; this manager clearly did not. read more

This place is wonderful they help so many animals and help any way they can I adopted a cat years ago was very happy now im.ready to adopt again and will go here read more

Great place to adopt an animal from, very friendly and helpful. Meed to upgrade facility in sense of rooms for people to visit with animals, and how often their site/petfinder is updated. read more

I'm very saddened (and frustrated) with my experience at Animal Haven in North Haven. I have been a pet adopter and involved in animal rights for a long time. So when I was denied a young cat I was blown away. They, like many rescues of late, seem to look at all potential adopters as potential abusers. The reason they gave for not giving me the cat is because I stated I may or may not, depending on temperament of cat, let the cat out. I've had cats all my life, I am highly knowledgeable and experienced of about them and of them. The kitten in question, I saw back in October, I want a young cat for a friend my older cat and my young dog. In particular the older Cat - he has never been without a feline buddy in the house until last year when our Feral White Beauty (who NEVER went outside once she got inside) died. And I think he misses feline friendship in the house. So on recommendation of a friend I went there and saw this little Tuxedo cat, with very interesting markings on his toes...I filled out an application and never heard back...after calling a couple time and never getting a call back...I mostly let it go until a couple weeks ago. Im driving by and said HEY - so I went inside - I asked about my application and the cat I wanted to adopted...there was some confusion about my app and where it went....I guess I didn't put the cats name on it so the application seemed to get ignored...I don't know...anyway the woman tells the (paraphrasing) "cat I wanted was adopted out but returned for ringworm...which they treated and then cat was adopted out again, so he's gone now"...so she directs me to one room...and I walk around that room, then I go into the other room that she steered me away from...not sure if that was by design.. or not....BUT there sits the cat I wanted to adopt all along, in a cage - he's still there!...I fill another app..she tells me someone else is interested in him...so I put his name on the app along with another kitten, in case I cant get him. Then a message was left by the woman I spoke to on that Saturday when I filled out the application (for the second time) - that I was denied because I would let the cat out....no discussion, no questions, no consideration, but she said I could talk to the director to see if possibly she would change her mind...leaving me her name. She also stated they have a strict rule about letting cats outside...(if you dare breath a word of letting a cat out at any point in your life - you will NOT get a cat) - that stated I know people have been misleading on applications for the very reasons I experienced. So I decided called Animal Haven to speak to director to see if we could have a meeting of the minds......a young male picked up - I stated my previous call from shelter and can I speak to Director, he said hang on, came back on line and was extremely arrogant, rude and obnoxious. I never did get to speak to director, because this kid was probably told to just blow me off, but I wasn't letting him off the hook that easily......the conversation was insulting and my treatment was completely out of order. So what make me sad for this little cat is TWICE he a had home...with me....An Awesome home, so Awesome my Vet told me once...because my cats are so mellow - that if he was a cat, he'd want to live at my house, and now TWICE this cat lost a home. Rescues like this lack people skills, the have an over blown sense of entitlement to these animals and absolutely no faith in the goodness of heart that does exist in most people. Its all very sad, because these animals are not getting homes. and I hope that the cat I wanted that I knew would be perfect in my house...is out of that cage and in a nice house. And just another small point - If I had brought him home and he had ringworm, I would have had it treated , and NOT returned him to the shelter. their loss. my loss... kitties loss. read more

The Animal Haven is the best place around to adopt a pet! They have cats and dogs that are lovable and in need of good homes. They are friendly, and love the animals! read more

I went to the shelter to adopt a cat. I arrived a few minutes before 12 as their website states they are open from 12-3 on Wednesdays. They are not, they are actually open from 4-7. No matter they were nice enough to let me in when I explained. I stood in the cat room and a lovely cat named Pup wanted to play and so she decided to adopt me and I decided to adopt her. Things went quite off track after speaking to the woman in the shelter apparently runs it. Upon reviewing my application she began to "grill" me on my previous pets which is ok but she was extremely rude about it and "very know it all." She told me she was very busy and had 15 things to do. Okay so what EVERYONE IS BUSY. I think rude is never necessary particularly when someone is coming in with $150, references and a lovely home to provide for a cat--NOT a kitten. Everyone wants kittens, I wanted to rescue a cat! Yes, she does know it all about animals and that is where she should continue working because people are not her cup of tea. As much as I loved Pup and am able to provide her a lovely home she will have to stay where she is. I will find a cat and whoever is going to trust me with her or him will not attempt to make me feel like crap because they are on a power trip or believe they are running Microsoft. Please let me say her passion for animals I respected and I appreciate how sorely under paid and under appreciated the volunteers and employees are BUT it is never a reason to be such a rotten sore to a human under any circumstances because we actually have more in common than not...to protect and love any animal that crosses our path. Georgina read more

I would follow some reviews read here, great with animals, not with people! I spent 2 hours in the facilities, talked to volunteers, met few cats, and after putting an application for adopting a couple of cats, I got a phone call from a lady that ending up being very short, almost rude... Be careful about your answers in the application. I went to other places where the application turned into a kind of interview (one-to-one, meeting me, not on the phone), and I could explain more my point of view in more than a line in a questionnaire and I felt that these people were really trying to find who I was and what kind of home I could provide... I didn't feel that this woman really wants to find a home for the cats there! I'd like to know what people making donations to that place - thinking that these animals will find a loving home quickly - would think if they knew the adoption process and how easily an application ends up to be rejected!!! I understand the whole process and that they (are supposed to) try to find the best place for the animals, but as far as I am concerned, total fail on that point! Adopting an animal talks to the heart, this is not (only) about papers and administration: "good" people can make a mistake into an application while "bad" people can easily answer what you want to hear... read more

About a month ago we visited the shelter with the hopes of finding the perfect kitten. When we got there the staff was super friendly, greeted us at the door, and helped us right away. We walked through with the hopes of finding a kitten, and we did. Fell in love with him immediately and got the adoption process started. We picked him up a few days later. About a few weeks into having him we realized his vision wasn't all there. After having his eyesight checked our vet suggested getting another kitten to help him around could help him a lot. We called the shelter and spoke with the manager. Thanks to her knowing both kittens so well she had found us the best choice kitten for our little guy at home. We went to meet her and the kitten whom she fostered at the time. once again she was perfect. We took her home that day. I couldn't have asked for things to work out any better than they did. We've had them for about a month together now, and the manager stays in contact with us from time to time seeing how they're doing. She has gone out of her way, and helped us out a lot. I would recommend this shelter if you are looking to adopt. People that care this much about animals, are good people. read more