Starfish Animal Rescue

I think the most important thing to remember about most rescue organizations is that they are completely VOLUNTEER run. Most of the people running this rescue have full time jobs, families to care for, and their own pets to manage, in addition to selecting & transporting hundreds of dogs a year from a high kill shelter in KY to IL, finding and screening fosters for them, getting meds and supplies and the dogs ready for the fosters, communicating with fosters for medical and other issues, and ultimately, paying the bills– all on adoption fees. I have fostered for Starfish numerous times, and while I can say that sometimes communication can be a bit frustrating, I remind myself of the things I’ve listed above. Fosters are also unpaid volunteers, doing what they can to help these poor dogs. I know I’ve had to deny people based on certain criteria in their home (kids, no fence, etc.) — but in doing so, I have EVERYONE’S best interest at heart– my foster dog, and the potential adopters. Every foster is a different person and will treat the process in a slightly different manner. To trash this rescue as a whole, with the work, time, and money they’ve spent in their off time to save hundreds of dogs, because of an off experience with a particular foster or person, is a shame. In the end, this rescue exists to save animals lives. Patience is key. Be patient with the process, with the people, and ultimately with your new pet.

Had a great experience while adopting our lovable buddy, Captain. The foster family was very accommodating and the process really seems to have the pets best interest in mind for he long haul. I would absolutely recommend!

I am a single girl and finally was ready to adopt a dog to have a companion. After being rejected by other adoption agencies, my friend who adopted through Starfish recommended the place and I sent in my application for a dog right away. Thankfully they accepted my application and responded back rather quickly. The dog I first applied for was pending adoption so they recommended I check out another one. I scheduled my visit with my now dog Harley with the foster mom for that week. She was very helpful, let me ask all my questions and spend some quality time getting to know and make sure I was a great match with her. Being this was a huge purchase I wanted my parents to meet Harley to approve of my decision and make sure they liked her as much as I did, the foster mom let me come back a 2^nd time with my parents. I then called after my 2^nd visit to say I was ready to purchase Harley and we set up a good day for the process. The foster mom was so helpful and even watched my dog when I went on vacation a few months after. Harley had so much of her shots, micro chip and other things taken care of that it was a great transition. I could not be happier with my dog and everything Starfish did during the process and all they took care of. My life has changed for the better now having a pet and I have Starfish to thank for that!

I adopted a dog about a year ago from Starfish animal rescue. While overall a positive experience, there were a few frustrations.
The adoption process goes as follows:
1) Find a dog/​cat you are interested in on their website.
2) Fill out adoption application. The application will either be approved or denied. If approved, it will be sent to the foster family. Note that more than one approved application may be forwarded to the foster.
3) From there, the foster will call you to set up a «meet and greet.» For us, we went to the fosters house and got to ask questions and meet the dog for a brief period. After this, you can decide if you would like to move forward with the adoption or decide the dog is not a good fit.
4) If you want to move forward, the foster or another volunteer with the rescue will need to come do a home check.
5) Once the home check is done, you can fill out the adoption paperwork, write a check, and the dog is yours.
I truly believe your overall experience with Starfish will depend on who the foster is, as they have all of the power here. You have to work around their schedule and ultimately, they will decide if they feel the dog is a good fit. This can be hard as different fosters will have different opinions and different ways of determining who would be a good fit.
Our foster called and was very pleasant. We set up the meet and greet for the next day, and drove to her house. Everything went very well there, and we fell in love with the dog. The foster said the dog still had to be spayed before we could officially adopt, but she had an appointment for the surgery the following week. In the meantime, she would come do the home check. I followed up with the foster the following week to see how the dogs surgery to get spayed went, but was told she had to push the appointment back as she didn’t have time to take the dog to the vet. Days would go by, and I wouldn’t hear anything. I felt annoying, but I kept following up with the foster to see the status of the surgery/​home check/​adoption. I was getting antsy, and excited to have my new dog, but nervous that the foster would change her mind and want to keep the dog or find a different family who she thought was a better fit. Finally after a few weeks, the dog had her surgery and was ready for adoption. She came to do the home check and left the dog with us from there. The dog still had stitches in her belly from the surgery, and we agreed to take her to get the stitches removed the following week.
It’s nice that this rescue places dogs in foster homes instead of a cage at a shelter, but your experience can either go great or terrible depending on the foster. We were fortunate enough to have a foster who thought we were a good fit with the dog. In fact, I still keep in touch with her. Starfish has saved so many lives and do great work. We love our dog we adopted through this rescue.

We adapted from starfish rescue in July of 2014. We rescued a 5 month old collie terrier mix. Later found out she also has greyhound in her. We had a few minor health issues in the beginning. We had a positive experience with the agency and foster Mom. I would highly recommend this organization.

We adopted our 2 year old Shih Tzu through Starfish in June 2014, and we couldn’t be happier with the whole process. The foster family and Starfish were great to work with, and we love our dog!

Our experience with Starfish Animal Rescue was very unsatisfactory. We attempted to adopt a dog who was grossly misrepresented to our family despite two meet & greets (adopter BEWARE — this poor animal, Livia, continues to be misrepresented as house trained on the Starfish website). During the three days the dog was in our home, it became apparent we were poorly matched with this animal and, in the best interest of the animal, decided we had to return it to Starfish. This was a heartbreaking decision for our family; I have grown up with shelter dogs in my family my whole life and this was the first time EVER that I had to return a dog. My husband, son, and I are still grieving the loss of our most recent pet, Newton, whom we adopted from Naperville Humane Society in 2001 and had to euthanize in October, 2013 (by the way, we had an EXCELLENT experience with them). We are no strangers to the amount of patience it takes when taking an abandoned dog into your home and felt horrible knowing that this dog was a poor match and had to be returned.
There’s no phone number to call for support or with questions. The owner can only be reached by text or email. She takes several days to respond to email, and only answered my husband’s numerous texts after he threatened to put a stop payment on the check. She then used profanity in her correspondence with him. What a miserable experience! If you want to work with someone who is untruthful about their animals’ attributes, has NO SKILL in placing animals, uses profanity in their DELAYED correspondence, and makes false accusations and assumptions of the adopters — then work with Starfish Animal Rescue. When we returned this poor animal, we happily donated approximately $ 200 worth of pet food and supplies. Needless to say, we will probably never see our adoption fee of $ 300 again despite the owner’s lack of knowledge and truthfulness in placing this animal. She made absolutely NO effort to work with us in finding a better match; that wasn’t even presented as an option. I was under the impression that pet adoption was a two-​way street. Our family paid dearly for her incompetence, lack of integrity, and dishonesty; apparently we are 100% at fault for this miserable experience. How can you sincerely encourage people to «adopt; don’t shop» when you treat them like this? Avoid the heartbreak and assault to your pocketbook by adopting from a reputable shelter that is sincerely interested in finding «forever homes» for their animals and not just taking your money. I wish I had read the previous review before trying to work with Starfish.

Want to adopt a dog? Work with a rescue organization that cares enough to put effort into matching your family with the right dog. Expect them to be honest with you about the dogs that they list. Starfish Animal Rescue did NOT! Our experience with them was full of dishonesty and disrespect! We were misled, lied to, heartbroken and forgotten.
Starfish’s adoption process: Find an animal online, complete and submit adoption application, if it is approved as a good match, a home visit and a meeting with the pet is scheduled, then adoption is finalized. Seems straightforward, but this is misleading. We submitted our application to adopt Stanley, and they quickly approved it and had Stanley’s foster-​mom schedule a time for us to meet Stanley. A few days later we met him and all fell in love! My 6yr old daughter timid around most dogs even loved Stanley! We wanted to adopt him! However, they require a home visit.
We were trying to act fast, thinking this was a first-​come-​first-​served type situation. So we contacted the foster that afternoon to schedule our home visit. She didn’t reply until late the next day, then she blew off our appointment the day after. We finally had our home visit three days after meeting Stanley. And when the foster finally arrived with Stanley that day, she brought HER OWN DOG along too, which frightened my daughter! Despite that, the visit was a success! We couldn’t wait to adopt him!
That evening I learned that the foster planned another visit for Stanley with a different family! Why is Stanley meeting other families if we have already been approved to adopt him and want to proceed? My girls had both fallen in love with Stanley and couldn’t wait for him to live with us!
Two days later we learned they got TWO applications at the same time, so the foster set up visits with both families, and «she will make a decision of which would be a better fit for Stanley. She will get a hold of you soon.» We’re competing with another family, and the foster will choose the winner. This is NOT the process listed on the Starfish website. We NEVER would have put our children in the position of falling in love with him and then setting them up for heartbreak had we known this would be the game!
Then we learned they actually got MULTIPLE applications at the same time and they’re all scheduling home visits. So actually, we’re competing with multiple families, and the foster is analyzing every single detail.
We watched online as new dogs were listed then adopted quickly. At least three of those dogs potentially could have been compatible with our family, but we did not apply for any of them because we wanted Stanley.
SIX DAYS after our home visit, Stanley’s listing online suddenly said «adoption pending». EIGHT DAYS after our home visit, I emailed asking for an update. The reply: «We found a home that does not have children for Stanley to be adopted into. Stanley nips fairly hard when he gets excited. A serious issue in a family with children.»
Here’s our response to that load of crap:
1) How could they approve us to adopt a dog, then allow us to spend time with that dog and fall in love with him, let our kids become attached to him and excited to adopt him, and then change their minds later? I really don’t understand why they think this is okay. There wasn’t even an apology!
2) The foster had been caring for Stanley for a month before we met him. How was this «nippy» behavior suddenly new information? Why was this not mentioned until after we were approved as a good match? And why didn’t she ask us about our opinions on this before or during our first meeting? Stanley NEVER was nippy or showed any signs of aggression whatsoever. He’s only 1 ½, so of course he’s going to use his teeth to express himself. If this was truly a concern, we certainly would have seen it in Stanley ourselves.
3) When was the decision actually made about Stanley’s adoption? Seems like it happened days before we were told. When was anyone planning to tell us? Were we supposed to just continue waiting patiently?
4) Why would they ever think it’s a good idea to have several families each have home visits with the same dog, each fall in love with that dog, and then just wait for the foster to choose a family? We never would have wanted to even meet Stanley if we were aware of their hideous system!
No other effort has been made whatsoever by anyone from Starfish to match our family with another dog. Zero correspondence has come from Starfish on the subject at all. We were disrespected, misled, lied to, and heartbroken! I am furious about our entire experience with Starfish! Avoid working with them to find your next pet! They see no problems with breaking your kids’ hearts and making them cry! If I could give them a rating of zero stars, I would!