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May 2024 by James E.
Halfway Home recently posted elsewhere requesting that people post reviews here to combat some recent negative feedback that they received from other individuals. Given that this is a somewhat dishonest tactic to try and bury reviews that have valid feedback, I only thought it fair that I share my experience with this organization. I am one of Paisley's former pet parents who reached out to Halfway Home for help after it became obvious that Paisley was unhappy in her home with us and the countless things that we had tried and thousands of dollars that we had spent to help improve the situation for her just weren't going to work. We were brokenhearted to return her to Halfway, but our thought process was that this would give her the best opportunity to have a chance at a better family situation where we had failed. We were shocked and appalled to then see this Facebook post (screenshot below) come through from their team which painted a far different picture of Paisley's return to their care vs what happened in reality. I have also included screenshots of the email conversation that we had with Halfway Home leading up to us returning Paisley to their care. If you review the emails and then the Facebook post, it is already apparent that Halfway Home has not been truthful in their version of how the events transpired. It seems fairly clear to me that Halfway Home lied in their post regarding Paisley in order to manipulate their followers and anyone who viewed the post into engaging with it, promoting/sharing it, and to push for more donation money. They are engaging in deceitful tactics which take advantage of well-meaning people who would be justifiably horrified if the story that Halfway Home was telling was actually true. We of course reached out to Halfway Home after finding the post and requested that they take it down. We have since received no response from Halfway Home except to have Facebook/Instagram accounts banned from interacting with them. I can only assume this was an attempt on their part to prevent us from sharing the truth of what happened. We just wanted the hurtful and damaging post removed. Having these baseless and false accusations thrown at our family and the insults it led to from people who could be our neighbors in the comments is devastating and unfair. My question after all of this is what else is Halfway not telling the truth about? If they are comfortable in lying about a pet's return to try and and make a few more dollars, where does that end? Are they equally as comfortable with telling someone that a pet is good with kids when they know it's aggressive? Maybe an adopting parent doesn't need to know about an expensive health issue a pet has that wasn't disclosed on it's vaccination certificate. Pet rescue groups and animal shelters perform a critically important service. We should be able to trust in their love and care and authenticity. Halfway Home abused our trust. I hope they don't do the same to you.
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March 2024 by Julia Vincent
got my first cat from here and a buddy for her recently! always super easy to work with and they genuinely care about their animals. would recommend to everyone!
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March 2024 by Sarah Fischer
So I realized I hadn't been seeing your facebooj posts for a while and came to find out that I've been blocked from your page. I suspect this is because I disagreed with your opinion on a post. I was respectful and just offered a different view point.It is your right to run your page how you see fit, but I will no longer be donating or recommending you to clients. I don't expect all rescues to agree with me, but I do expect to be able to have an open discourse about animal welfare.I hope your rescue continues to be successful and that maybe you will start to look at things from all angles and assume good intentions before making judgements.
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March 2024 by Kainoa Rodriguez
I submitted an application in store at a local PetSmart in December, no news or call or email from anyone. Ok, maybe the holidays had everyone very busy. We are now at the end of February..... so I submitted an online application. Still, no call or email or updates. I called and finally reach a human, who said I would be called back. Great! Not so great, I received an email stating my application was incomplete. Hmmm, both of them? Ok, fine. Provided the information requested, which is what was provided on both applications. Sure.... still no update, no news, no email, no call. I am trying to do the right thing here and adopt an animal rescue to provide a loving home. I've thought about cragslist and pet shops but I'm not so confident the animals are cared for in a proper manner, and profit is their main goal instead of a steady loving forever home. Hopefully someone who volunteers here or works here reads this and is able to help. This has been a horrible experience.
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March 2024 by Brendan Murphy
I'd give it less if possible. Tried to adopt through them, no contact from them. We called multiple times to check in and didn't hear back until the 5th time. We were rejected for being under 25 (we're 24) and for being first time pet owners despite listing a long history of family pets. They didn't even offer the interview to check with us, just ignored our app until we essentially had to beg to hear back as to why no one has informed us on anything.
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February 2024 by Madison F.
I really wish I could give this place 0 stars. It's appalling how difficult this staff makes adopting an animal and how belittling and rude they are. I moved into my own apartment and started a new job 8 months ago. When I moved, I took my childhood cat with me. I explained to them when I lived with my parents, they always stated that unless the cat seemed in bad health or their was a behavioral change, they didn't need to go to the vet every year. That being said, once I moved out I got my cat set up with an appointment as soon as available with a new vet in May. When my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to adopt, I knew May would be too far away as Jerry (my cat) would need to be updated on vaccines ASAP. Thankfully our vet is a family member and when we told her this, she made an exception and stayed after hours last week to get Jerry in. Again, I explained all this and they still denied my application stating that I "only brought Jerry to the vet to bring another animal home". It's very clear they heard what they wanted to in my previous emails and dismissed the fact that I had already had an appt set up prior to this application. I'm not one to usually write reviews but it makes me sad to think about all the cats that are going to stay in that shelter longer or not get adopted because of their disrespect and holier-than-thou attitude. (p.s our vet even told us that cats don't need to go to the vet every year!!). I really hope they get their act together and gain some customer service skills for the animals sake.
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February 2024 by Maria Maskowsky
We have had such a wonderful experience adopting from Halfway Home! So much so, that we have adopted twice from them over the years! We were and still are, so very impressed with the staff being so loving and caring to all of their animals. You can tell that what they do is such a passion to them; its not just a job. Please remember to donate and support such an amazing rescue team! Thank you for all that you do.
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February 2024 by Tabitha Capron
My husband and I just adopted two kittens from the rescue. The entire process was great. The kittens are healthy and so sweet. This rescue does so much and it shows. They took time and explained what had already done with them and what they experienced with the cats. I would adopt again in the future and they gained a supporter in me
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February 2024 by Vanessa Gallipoli
My son rescued a cat from here . No problems . My grandchildren love her . I’m glad they r strict about who they adopt out to. I’d hate to see a furbaby go to a lousy dirty home and get abused!!
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February 2024 by Spirit Catten
I adopted my kitty Amara from Halfway Home. Great organization. Would definitely adopt another kitty through them ❤️
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February 2024 by Ye Tian
HHR is a fantastic organization. Full stop. Their job is to find homes with competent owners, not maximize throughput.My wife and I had adopted 3 cats through HHR and they have also helped us rehome a number of post-covid abandoned cats that made their way to our door looking for help while other groups have turned us away. My interactions with the staff has been nothing but positive.Having read some of the recent 1-star reviews, I am appalled. They read with the same energy as “server didn’t smile at us enough, zero stars if I could”. If you guys can’t properly take care of the animals under your care already, you don’t need anymore. You are already part of the problem. Fix it.Anyway, I’m hoping anyone that actually read this far understands what an important job HHR is doing and what a positive impact they have had for our family.
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February 2024 by Danielle Gambardella
My family and I have rescued multiple animals from Halfway Home Rescue over the years, most recently my blind “babies”, Mitch and Mara. I appreciate their careful consideration when it comes to matching each of their adoptees to the right person, as well as their willingness to take in those who are more difficult to adopt out. I’ll always be grateful to HHR for giving me the opportunity to give Mitch and Mara the best lives possible.
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February 2024 by Amy Conroy
Halfway Home Rescue is an amazing rescue who is not afraid to take on complicated pets or scary diagnosis. They are committed for life and only want the best for any animal in their care FOR life. Each animal is placed in the best environment for the pet and home. Before believing any of the negative reviews there are two sides of every story and the story of the happiest ending for the pets is the one that matters.
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February 2024 by Renee LeBlanc
Adopted our sweet black panther kitty from HHR. We went in not knowing who would be the best fit for us, and HHR knew our girl was best for us. So happy with everything.
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February 2024 by Stephanie Fidis
In 2017, I adopted my furry friend Cooper after he lived in the shelter for an entire year. Here he is now, happy and healthy, recently celebrating his 6th christmas with me. The team at Halfway Home Rescue are so dedicated to the animals that they take into their facilities. They do a thorough job of evaluating applications and really make sure that you understand that this new friend you're bringing home is for life! It's not a temporary shiny new object until you're bored. Cooper has been with me through unemployment, two moves, relationships, good days and super bad. No matter what happens, I could never give him up. I am so thankful, everyday, to the volunteers at the shelter for choosing me and trusting me with him.I tried adopting a dog here in NY last March and it ended up being one of the worst experiences ever because the dog that i loved so much and really loved me, didn't get along with cooper, caused stress in the house because he (cooper) was terrified, and wasn't as trained as the foster family had indicated and I -- being an inexperienced dog owner -- didn't have the bandwidth to handle the situation in the end because she needed more than the foster said. I ended up fostering her and now she is in a loving home.BUT my point is that THIS is why shelters are so strict about applications. The worst thing that can happen is for an animal to keep moving from home to home. No one wants that. So please, trust them and be patient.
