Halfway Home Rescue North Haven, Connecticut

Got our dog mushu from them and we love him dearly! Very nice people and would adopt from them again

The one star is for your rudeness. My pets are all up to date with vaccinations and they do see a license Vet when needed. I’m glad I read all those bad reviews I wouldn’t want to end up with a sick animal from your “rescued center” you should be ashamed of yourself. Instead of trying to shame customers on google you should concentrate on taking better care of the animal you claim you help. I’m happy that another shelter thinks my family is a great fit for a kitty. Have a good day lady!

Very rude organization culture, at least pretend to have an emotional bone in your bodies, jeez

I got my cat Charly (Charlotte) she was a 5 month old stray and almost a year and a half later she is very loved and big I ❤️ my ????

I understand that sometimes people just don't fit the requirements in order to adopt an animal, but I find the lack of communication this organization has to be extremely unprofessional. You don't just leave people who are really interested and want to be devoted to another animal waiting to hear back for weeks on end with absolutely no word. Not a single word. You can tell me why you think I'm unfit, that's fine, that's your judgement, that's your job; as long as you're communicating with your clients. We have sent in an inquiry to their email, sent in the application for one of the dogs, and even called numerous times. Not only did no one answer the phone when we called on days it says they're actually open, but they also never even returned our call when we left a voicemail on a separate occasion. Wouldn't you think that an organization in which people expect you to care for living beings would care enough to call someone back? Wouldn't you want to portray your organization in a way that highlights the good that shelters do for animals so that maybe somebody decide to adopt rather than go to a breeder? My family and I were finally ready in every aspect to adopt another dog after my childhood dog's passing, and the dog that draws us in, the one we would love to take home, is under the care of people who don't take their professionalism seriously. I get you have *volunteers* who run the shelter and the fact that it is COVID time, but dogs still need to be adopted and need permanent homes. I have seen the other reviews where people have also expressed the same issue I am. Please consider putting more effort into your organization so that your animals can actually find homes. Thank you.

Me and my boyfriend applied to adopt a cat from here and never heard back. When we called and left a few voicemails, this is the response we received (see photo). Based on the other reviews I have read, this place is terrible. Please do not bother with these people, they are unresponsive and presumptuous with a "holier-than-thou"attitude. The whole process is very confusing and convoluted. They are extremely judgmental and impossible to get a hold of. I hate saying this because the animals still need to be adopted, but if you're going to apply, use caution: these people are extremely unprofessional and rude. Good luck even getting a call back. According to their website they're only open 11am-3pm on Sat/Sun. I understand that they are all volunteer-run, but there's no excuse for treating another human being with such disrespect. Also we never heard back after this, and when I checked back on PetFinder, turns out the cat was ADOPTED. They're so shady. They are partners with Mew Haven Cat Cafe which is where we met the cat we wanted to adopt. They were also difficult to get a hold of and extremely vague about the adoption process as well. They basically directed all of our questions to Halfway Home because they are “separate” from the cafe and they were the ones who dealt with the actual adoption process. They were the ones who TOLD US to contact the rescue if we had any questions, but that they weren't open on the weekends so we might have to wait until Monday to hear back. And of course, at the time we didn’t realize they were actually ONLY open on the weekends. So we called during the week and left voicemails, and this was the response. And thanks to Mew Haven for omitting the fact that the rescue was closed for two weeks at the time of our application. When we were there we were told a bunch of people get approved for adoption the SAME DAY. Apparently not. We never got the information we needed between calling both places repeatedly to no avail. Everyone was completely clueless or didn’t answer the phone. We tried so hard to adopt this cat. We loved him and wanted him to come home with us for the holidays. When we didn’t hear back we obviously contacts them. But Halfway Home is on a power trip or something. Or they're just rude. Maybe it's just one person, idk. I think it's one woman specifically. Such a joke. Hopefully kinder and more respectful person replaces this staff member/s soon, because they are costing these animals good homes. To the owner: if only you were as communicative before as you have been this time! We were unaware that Mew Haven was there to “observe” our behavior. We were being rushed out because of an error on their part which cut our 50-minute session to only 20-minutes. Also other people were playing with the cats the whole time and we were trying to social distance ourselves so we did not get to interact with the cats as much as we would like. This cat was NOT meant to be a present. My boyfriend and I wanted to give an animal a good home so it wouldn’t have to be alone on Christmas. It had nothing to do with the cat being a present. Regardless, you need to be more specific about your requirements and what you expect of adopters. Applying your nonsensical standards to people who are only able to meet an animal one time and adopt them while there are others around, isn’t fair. Regardless, your response to our calls via email was extremely unprofessional. We should not have to contact you so many times just to hear back in that manner. And at least let us know the cat had been adopted so we can look elsewhere. And no, your rescue does not have a good reputation. There are quite a few reviews on here saying the same thing. You’re clearly an extremely judgmental person who is unable to take responsibility for anything. You were rude and unapologetic to every other negative reviewer as well. We will be adopting an animal elsewhere. I highly suggest learning how to be a professional in the future. It will go a long way. UPDATE: We adopted a puppy from an amazing rescue and could not be happier!!

Halfway homes rescue gave us the perfect adoption experience. Amazing vetting of application, perfect communication, honest and up front about all their animals and what to expect. Their animals are clearly loved and taken care of. We brought home two kitten to complete our family and we couldn’t be any happier .

multiple emails sent during the week?

I adopted a kitten named Merrick (now Lobo since he looks like a little wolf), and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this organization. It did take a few weeks to get approved, however, I’d rather them take their time to look into my information instead of giving their animals away without ensuring their safety. I’ve read a couple of comments from adopters about their pets being sick. Listen, this unfortunately happens once in a blue... and happens at all rescues and pet stores (even worst at pet stores). Sometimes pets don’t start exhibiting symptoms of illness until later on down the road. These animals were found on streets, given up by their owners, etc. Their history is completely unknown. They cannot possibly run every single test in the book and do X-rays on every single animal when the animal is not giving any reason for them to at the time. Would you bring your pet to the vet and ask for multiple tests to be performed if they seemed healthy and normal? With this said, I can ensure every person who wants to adopt, that Halfway makes sure all of the animals are seen by the doctor and are given all necessary vaccinations. They make sure that the animals are healthy for adoption and they make sure that the animal goes into a home that is suitable for them. When adopting a pet, you will not be steered wrong with Halfway. I plan to adopt from them again in the future when I’m ready for another cat. Note: Check out Meow Haven Cafe as well when you can! They will have adoptable cats from HHR... and you can apply for one there as well!

We adopted two kittens, Olive and Orwell. Our application was vetted thoroughly but also quickly and efficiently. Their attitude was very professional, keeping in mind the pets’ wellbeing. After our application was approved, we could meet the kittens on the next Saturday in PetSmart store and took them home. After the adoption, Stephanie replied very conscienciously to our question, proving that they really care about the pets.

Where is that trash coming from is specific targeted Harassment .

Any place that helps responsible people adopt homeless animals is ok with us

no response weird adopting requirements

I had a horrible experience with this organization. They were extremely rude to me and my children. We were approved to adopt and invited to visit. We drove over an hour to adopt a dog, and when we got there, they said we were not eligible to adopt because we didn't bring our adult dog who has motion sickness with us. They also lied and told us that they had specified that we needed to bring our dog with us. But in fact they never told us any requirements and failed to answer my messages asking about their procedures. I offered to drive an extra two hours to bring our dogs there but she said they would instead just adopt the dog out to someone else. Though I tried to be calm and reasonable, they went on the offensive and insinuated that we would not properly care for the puppy. This also occured during Covid 19 and the volunteers were not wearing masks or using social distancing measures.

It’s been two years almost to the day since we took home Pocket (who use to go by one of the many “Princesses” this organisation has had), and we love her. However; there were some things about her that Halfway Home not only omitted, but lied about. They also made it difficult to adopt her on our terms. HH had told us she was friendly with others and was house trained. We got her home and she wasn’t potty trained at all, she was food aggressive, crate aggressive and she didn’t get along well with other dogs. The latter was a little bit of an issue as we already had a dog to begin with, but the other issues required about a half year of steady, extensive behavior training, on top of the general training you do when you rescue a dog. Luckily, in my former life, I had a colorful background in animal care and had done extensive training with my first dog. Someone with less experience would have had an issue. I can second the other reviews in that the organisation isn’t great about communicating effectively, but unlike the other reviews, everyone I dealt with was pleasant. I wasn’t pleased, however, that they would only allow me to see her at a chaotic, petsmart meet and greet. When an animal is that stressed, you can not get a good representation of who they really are. I just feel that stressing a dog out to the max isn’t always what’s best for the dog or the potential future pet parent. I understand adoption drives allow many more dogs to be adopted that possibly wouldn’t be otherwise, and also increase revenue for the organisation, but if someone is contacting you requesting not to meet their potential pet at one of these drives, arrangements should also be made for them. I also understand that this particular organisation is a volunteer run thing, so that could get pretty tricky, but sitting in a crazy petsmart on their peak day of sales is the last way I would have liked to start our lives together. Since adopting Pocket, I’ve emailed them several times, as Pocket had two babies they adopted out and we have always been curious of their status, getting notified if they are returned, etc., but no one has ever returned my emails regarding her babies. Also, she did have some mostly minor health issues. When we adopted her, they provided minimal, very recent vet info. I decided it was better to let my vet check things out. She had an ear infection and her fecal came back positive for giardiasis. Giardia is fairly common, and mainly from drinking water contaminated with deer stool. What troubled me about it, is that when we had gotten her she was just healed from spaying, indicating there wasn’t much time between the adoption and her recent vet trip. Unless they use a spay and neuter clinic or van, an ear infection or giardia wouldn’t be missed during standard vet check up, as a yearly fecal is considered responsible. These were easily treated with some drops and tablets, but that came at the additional cost of an already hefty adoption fee. Additionally, the more troubling issues were that she came to us with a collapsing trachea as well as an abdominal hernia. Collapsing trachea is again, fairly common, but an expensive issue, particularly if it becomes life threatening. The abdominal hernia is the result of a bad spay, as it falls in the muscle of the abdominal wall on her spay mark. I speculate this is due to her receiving the spay too soon after giving birth, before her swelling had fully subsided. When we adopted her, her nipples were still very swollen. Our vet said repairing it would be difficult and costly as it’s a muscle on muscle tear. She has turned out to be an amazing dog, and I will always be thankful HH at least saved her for us, however, the adoption fee was high when confronted with all the other variables. I understand the basic economics of how some dogs fees offset others fees or vet costs, etc, but $425 was steep for her to come with these issues. For an idea we obtained our other dog from a dog pound for $50 with zero health issues and +$250 in vouchers for shots and neutering.

My boyfriend and I rescued Darcie from this organization. The process was smooth as can be. It was a basic application and they call you within a few days to set up an appointment to see the dog. All of the volunteers were very knowledgeable and friendly. Thanks guys!

Editing the review after getting the response from the owner of the rescue: 1.When I visited the cat cafe on December 7th,Boris was still there and available for adoption,so I'm confused why you are saying he was adopted in November?I also spoke with you in December and again,there was no mention of the cat no longer being available??? 2.I provided you with the name of the vet I had used for many years back when i had pets.I called the hospital he transfered to after reading what you said and I'm happy to report that he is practicing.Again,confused about your claim about his license being revoked?Even if you were informed otherwise-why wouldn't you simply let me know that there is a problem so we could address it?! I am sorry to say this again,but the administrative side of your organization lacks,which is clear from multiple reviews.I can understand that you are working with volunteers,etc etc,and the follow up can be a lot to handle.Admitting it&setting up clear expectations while working with people who are looking to support what you do(plus support the cat cafe where you keep the cats!) might not be a bad idea going forward.The thing that I found the most disturbing about your response (aside from it being frantically deflective) was the sharing of the details included in my application.This feels like a breech of trust and privacy. I would advise anyone to keep that in mind before submitting an application with your organization. Aside from that,it's puzzling as to why you would choose not to get back to someone looking to support your organization(who followed up time amd time again)to share all this information,but yet,jump on to promptly respond to a google review?Priorities? Thanks for considering my points;they were meant as constructive criticism,but also,as getting to what's true.TBC,what you said might very well be a result of someone doing a very poor/messy job following up on these applications vs you being untruthful.In any case,again,here is a piece of info for you to consider.Thanks ................... Weeks after submitting the application,multiple calls and emails,and no response.The person I spoke to was not very friendly and made me feel like I was unreasonable expecting to get some kind of response after a month of chasing after them.She told me they all had full time jobs and were busy.Said I would get an answer soon.When I called back the following week,same attitude.I was told I would get an answer within a week.I never heard a back. Needless to say,the cat is still in a shelter,rather than a loving home.

Adopted my cat through this shelter. Helpful and kind and they love what they do! Great experience.

Update to the owner: I find it rather insulting that after 3 long years, you replied that you couldn't verify our references. I have documentation that the application & references were approved. Word of advice: stop defensively replying to negative reviews, it confirms our mention of your rudeness. Listen to our experiences, apologize and improve. It makes me incredibly sad to write such a negative review because I don't want to deter anyone from adopting these wonderful animals. This poorly run shelter is of no fault of the animals who are there, so do keep this in mind while reading my review! I am sharing my experience so that hopefully this shelter changes their ways and so that the public can be forewarned of the rudeness and lack of compassion I encountered. I saw a lovely dog posted on Petfinder that was exactly what we were looking for. I swiftly submitted my application, and I do admit it was approved within 48 hours which is fast considering they are all volunteer run. I understand that such organizations are made up of part time volunteers so they are limited in resources. When I tried calling to follow up, I was always met with an answering machine. Which was fine, but it was like pulling teeth to try to talk to someone. When I finally got Katie on the phone, she was very abrupt and acted as if I was a bother and she needed to get me off the phone as quickly as possible. All I wanted was to learn more as the details on petfinder about this dog were vague. She kept saying she "didn't know" the answers to my questions, and that they are all volunteers. That is no excuse; wondering if a dog is good with other dogs and cats and his overall demeanor are CRUCIAL to give any perspective adopters! If you don't know the answer, at least offer to find out. Finally after much back and forth, I set up a meet and greet for Friday at PetSmart in Orange, but weren't given a definitive answer about the time. There was an adoption event on Saturday that I could not make it to, and I made this clear since I knew the dog would likely be adopted at that event and we are 100% interested now. So Friday rolls around, and I'm calling and calling wondering what time we are meeting. Finally, an exasperated Katie answers and tells me that there will be no meet and greet today for us. What?! My fiancé and I both kept our entire days open to go adopt this dog! The worst part is, after getting aggravated, she told me "if you won't be around on Saturday, which you told me you couldn't make it to the adoption event, we won't let you take a dog home just to leave it alone on Saturday." I was shocked. I never said we were leaving the dog alone on Saturday. All I said was that I couldn't make it to the adoption event. My fiancé would be very much at home, but I would be at a Mother's Day brunch for a few hours! How could she pass judgement like that? And lead us on to believe we could adopt this dog, and at the last minute make up an entirely unfounded excuse? So she tells me to call back after the adoption event because "not a lot even get adopted there" so that we could set something up next week. I was very mad at this point, but knew this dog still needed a home, so I called back on Saturday after the event. Turns out, the dog was adopted. She did not apologize, she was cold, and she again was annoyed by my phone call. The sad part is, we would have adopted this dog the first day he was in the shelter if they had allowed us to have a meet and greet! So he was held in their care longer than he needed to be, which makes me wonder about all of the other animals. While I am happy that the dog is with a loving home, I'm deeply saddened by what I experienced. The lack of responsiveness and acting as if I was annoying them by trying to adopt was the worst part for me. They are so poorly run as you can tell from the other negative reviews. If the volunteers who run this are reading my review: please change your ways. You are doing a disservice to these animals by being rude, judgemental, and inflexible.

I have adopted three times from Halfway Home Rescue in the last five years, and I have spent a great deal of time watching them interact with the public. I have found that their volunteers are not only the most dedicated, kind, and on the ball people I have ever met, but they know their stuff. As I read the poor reviews here, It occurs to me that the people writing them must be among those I have witnessed who are poor pet owners.Or just poorly behaved people in general. I assure you, those who speak poorly of this organization ARE the problem. And I am certain that the rescue had very good reasons to respond as they did. And they are the ONLY local rescue who has for years made the difference between life or death for thousands of local cats and dogs, as their motto states a rescue "of abandoned, abused, and neglected animals".

Went to get an animal

This organization is fantastic and completely transparent. I was approved immediately based on my application. I see some of the complaints on here and to be honest, most of them seem more like random comments/questions, otherwise people who are upset they were denied. I can sit here and say that my experience was not only great, but brought comfort. Once you really research this organization, you see how much time is invested into these animals. They take a lot of medical cases. Have a lot of events (Facebook is a great source for info). I adopted a dog who had a major medical surgery. Not only were they completely transparent on his medical condition, but they were so thorough on educating me and let me know they were there for whatever I needed. A week later, I had a question and they helped me. They provide tons of resources. Ignore the immature reviews, the happy endings and adoption updates posted to their FB shows how so many adopters become part of the HHR family and I’m glad to be one of them.

I adopted my dog from Halfway Home Rescue and the match was perfect, I loved him so much and he brought joy to my life. Unfortunately, I only had him for only three weeks before I had to put him down- one night he collapsed and could not walk or use his back legs. I brought him to the emergency vet where the Dr. said he had a massive tumor in his abdomen and a lot of internal bleeding. She said I had very little options to save him. I could do surgery that was not guaranteed he would survive and she advised against, or I could bring him home where he would pass, leave him at the vet to pass, or put him to sleep. Seeing all the pain he was in and taking the Dr.'s professional opinion advising against surgery, I opted to put him down. I'm heartbroken he is gone and disappointed HHR let me adopt him with this tumor. Being in their extensive care HHR should have known he had the tumor before allowing someone to adopt him. If they knew and did not tell me, that is even worse.

My wife and I adopted an older chow from Halfway Home Rescue Inc. and couldn't be happier with the organization. Contrary to some of the reviews, this organization is very thorough and does a fantastic job finding homes and providing medical care to all of the animals at this shelter. We followed their lead on everything and maintained in contact with them after the adoption. It seems to me that people just think they know better and then don't reach out to the organization in a timely manner. Our chow was old. He was medically cleared by the doctor and we were made aware of his heart murmur. We knew that with adopting an older dog and him being a purebred from unknown circumstances that it was quite possible that his time with us could be limited. It was OUR choice to give a home to an adult/senior dog and knew once the dog was under our ownership that anything could happen. Unfortunately, Charlie didn't live very long after we adopted him. He was perfectly healthy when we got him. He saw our personal vet after already being cleared from HHR's vet. We also decided to get a second opinion on his condition and didn't rush to euthanize him. We contacted HHR and felt that we were all on the same team on trying to do what was best for Charlie. Whether it's an older dog or a puppy, anything can happen when an animal leaves the care of the originator. We have seen countless friends purchase puppies from breeders and end up losing hundreds of dollars spent on an animal due to parvo. Isabel Skarzynski, you are a quitter. You took the easy road and wanted to point fingers. We did what it took to save Charlie even if it meant us having a few more days to say goodbye. Do you honestly think that a NON-PROFIT rescue organization is going to have abdominal scans done on every animal when not showing symptoms? How would any organization have the money for such a thing? The problem wasn't the organization, the problem was you having unrealistic expectations of an animal that was in it's golden years. This organization does amazing work, follow their lead and advice on training, medical, etc. and you will be happy with your choice of a new best friend.

Sent them an email about a dog I was looking to adopt and it’s like they don’t even care no reply I sent them my number no text or call they don’t care about people adopting the dogs they just want to keep in cages and have them euthanized extremely unprofessional never going there.

...and the land of the brave!

We got our beautiful chow chow from halfway home and we couldn’t be happier. All of the volunteer staff are very kind and helpful. The process was smooth but you have to be patient. I would absolutely recommend them. They take great care of their rescues.

We adopted our cat through Halfway Home, and they were responsive throughout the process. They stayed in communication from the time we applied, and provided all of the information we needed. The animals are obviously well cared for by devoted volunteers. The actual adoption process went smoothly, and the volunteers did all they could to make it successful.

Halfway Home Rescue Inc is a horrible organization. Called Stephanie Maselli of North Haven to present her with the Ridge Hill Vet Bill after her dog Angel bit my dog at the West Haven dog park while she was on her Cell Phone. Come to find out, the dog's Petfinder listing says the dog is highly aggressive and is an only pet type dog. She denied all plausibility, leading to my police report. The dog tried to climb the cage from one side to another, causing other dog owners to leave. Very disappointed in the outcome of her decision. Not many One-white eye dogs named Angle from Georgia coming from the Orange PetSmart to the West Haven Park running around CT.

Such an incredible rescue. The stories that come with these animals are heartbreaking. I spoke to several of their volunteers who were really nice and professional. They are very dedicated to each and every animal and want to best (as if they are their own). What I loved most about this group was they were honest! They told me what characteristics of my dog were in need of improvement and that my dedication to her training (with provided resources) would determine her success of bettering those traits. If I fail, she fails. Some people may label that as "rude", but I think people only want to hear what they want to hear. No animal is perfect, just like no human is. I loved my dog for who she was, but I knew I could make her even better of a dog. I committed to the challenge and thanks to their transparency, I trained my dog to have exceptional manners and she became a therapy dog! I am forever grateful for finding my new best friend through this organization. Definitely consider this rescue. They have beautiful dogs and I ended up loving their veterinarian so much that I switched.