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ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

  • 1.  ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 01-03-2025 01:42 PM

    Hello! 

    Does anyone have experience with ShelterLuv,  Shelterbuddy and Adopets? If so, which software system would you recommend or would recommend against and why? Any other systems you recommend instead and why? Hoping to find an intuitive system supporting virtual adoptions and many tasks, such as tracking behavioral and medical evaluations, medical procedures for both shelter and public animals, offsite adoptions, fosters, offsite doggie day trips, and much more. 

    Background in a nutshell: 1500+ annual intakes, low cost clinic servicing public clients through TNR, S/N and wellness, full-service clinic for shelter animals, offsite adoption events, foster program including doggie day trips, municipal contracts, community partnerships, humane law enforcement division, volunteers, camp, and more! 

    Thank you!


    #DataandTechnology

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    Sofia Rocha
    Director of Animal Services
    SPCA Westchester
    NY
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  • 2.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 01-05-2025 05:22 AM

    Hi Sophia. It's worth including AnimalsFirst in your review of software options. It is intuitive, innovative,  and highly customizable to fit your needs. There is a portal for adopters and a portal for foster parents. The system includes mobile checkout with donation prompt and there are loads of time saving features to make your team more efficient. You can learn more at https://animalsfirst.com.



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    Chris Fitzgerald
    Chief Product Officer
    AnimalsFirst
    Rochester NY
    cfitzgerald@animalsfirst.com
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  • 3.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 03-09-2025 06:45 PM

    Chris - I am currently evaluating products to upgrade our animal database from RescueGroups.  I've evaluated both ShelterLuv and AnimalsFirst.   What would you say are the key advantages of Animals First over ShelterLuv?  Are there any price incentives for groups who are willing to do longer commitments?  




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    Deana Seigler
    Board Member
    Friends of Rescue Animals
    TX
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  • 4.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 01-10-2025 10:44 PM

    Our shelter uses Shelter LUV and they are pretty good but they have a new credit card processor called stake and we're having a difficult time getting them to allow us to use the credit cards processing feature.  They required all kinds of paperwork and then they said we went over 90 days to get it all turned in and they made us start all over again. I submitted have to submit everything again like we never did it before we're still waiting to get approved it's been at least a year that we've been trying to get credit card service! And it's not like we're a new customer we've been with shelter love for probably four years but for some reason they got this new provider or whatever and it's horrible so that's my thing on that but other than that, it's great software and very inexpensive and you could do medical documentation adoptions, all kinds of variety of things you could do you could've processed adoptions without them being in front of you!



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    Larry Leitl
    Manager
    Pawsecond chance rescue
    CO
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  • 5.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 01-11-2025 05:38 AM

    Take a look at AnimalsFirst too. It's easy to use, highly customizable, and innovative software plus portals for adopters and foster parents. It's integrated with Stripe for credit cards but you can use a different processor, if you like. There are mobile and manual checkout processes to support adoptions on site and off site, via adopter's mobile device, kiosk, or the organization's own devices. Learn more at AnimalsFirst | The future of animal rescue and shelter management software

    AnimalsFirst remove preview
    AnimalsFirst | The future of animal rescue and shelter management software
    AnimalsFirst is a cloud based software for animal shelters and rescues
    View this on AnimalsFirst >



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    Chris Fitzgerald
    Chief Product Officer
    AnimalsFirst
    Rochester NY
    cfitzgerald@animalsfirst.com
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  • 6.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 02-06-2025 08:31 AM

    Appreciate this info, Larry, quite helpful and a little concerning!  



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    Sofia Rocha
    Director of Animal Services
    SPCA Westchester
    NY
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  • 7.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 01-11-2025 07:27 PM

    We use Shelterluv and are quite pleased with it..... 

    There is an online software comparison options which we found very useful in deciding.... 



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    Jean Harman
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  • 8.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 01-13-2025 03:02 PM

    We use ShelterLuv and it seems to work for our organization. We have both cats and dogs and a few locations, so it keeps everyone connected. I like that it is easy to maintain profiles of animals as well as keep track of meds and notes. We also like that other shelters in our area use it, so it is easy to transfer animals to their new location.



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    Stefanie Schmidt
    Animal Welfare Specialist
    Hearts Alive Village
    NV
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  • 9.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 02-13-2025 02:38 PM

    We are currently using ShelterBuddy but we are switching to ShelterLuv because SL allows to do remote adoptions and we have many foster to adopt cases in our shelter. We also find SL easier to navigate than SB, and it just reduces the amount of paperwork.



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    Diana Galarreta Aima
    professor
    Delta
    VA
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  • 10.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 02-19-2025 05:57 AM

    We use ShelterBuddy with Adopets (and switched to it from ShelterLuv in 2022). I really like ShelterBuddy, especially with the Adopets add-on.

    We are able to have Adoptable pets information pushed to our website, Petfinder, and Adopets in near-real time automatically (and then take adopted pets off the sites too). The automation saved me a lot of time as I had to manually post/remove them in all locations individually before. 

    I do agree that ShelterBuddy is not always intuitive, but they have excellent help documents/directions AND their customer support is very responsive. We've customized some form areas (such as Behavior Eval for Intake) and they made those changes pretty fast too. 

    We do use tablets to assist with processing adoptions; with those on hand, it's been pretty easy for us to do offsite adoptions in ShelterBuddy.

    ShelterBuddy also has a Clinic area where you can record client information (without "intaking" the animals into your facility). 



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    Erin Dams
    Operations Director
    Roanoke Valley SPCA
    Roanoke VA
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  • 11.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 02-24-2025 07:15 AM

    Hey Erin! It doesn't look like Roanoke Valley SPCA ever had a Shelterluv account. I have in my notes that you used to use AnimalShelterNet before ShelterBuddy… does that sound right?



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    Heather Duncan
    Growth manager
    Shelterluv
    OH
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  • 12.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 04-14-2025 09:08 AM

    I would evaluate the full gambit of solutions for your specific workflows and use cases before making a decisions.  I have been with a few organizations and have championed using Shelterluv at two of them.  They recently made their platform more mobile friendly which is nice, but it took them 2 years to do it, and during that time they did not provide fixes/enhancements to their last version. That meant lots of problems we just had to live with for 2 years while they worked on the new version. When the new version shipped it felt like a better user experience, but without improvements to the core functions themselves. So, it's prettier, but not actually much better from a functional standpoint. The reporting capability is lacking, and the quality of data that comes out of the reports doesn't seem to be accurate so we are constantly validating the reports manually which takes time since it is so error prone.

    Their customer support folks are very nice and professional and they help when you need it.  However, they can't force their engineers to fix things when they are busy working on other things, so support from the support staff is great, but they are unfortunately limited in how much they can help you if it is more than a break/fix situation. I'm sure that is just as frustrating for them as it is us.



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    Eric Pollock
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  • 13.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 5 days ago

    Hi Sofia, 

    With the breadth of services you're managing, I'd encourage you to look beyond feature lists and really evaluate workflow flexibility.

    Many platforms can handle adoptions, fosters, and medical records. The bigger question is whether the software can support the way your organization operates without forcing you to make drastic changes to your processes. It sounds like you need more than a typical shelter operation.

    At Pawdango, we've found that organizations with complex workflows often benefit most from software that adapts to them, rather than the other way around. I'd be curious to know which areas are most important to your team and what limitations you're hoping to overcome with your next platform.



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    Destiny Crum
    CEO
    Pawdango Pro
    TX
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  • 14.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 4 days ago
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Hey there!

    There's a fairly new program called RescueOps looking for beta testers who can help shape the platform. But it's pretty comprehensive!  Take a look 




  • 15.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 4 days ago

    I have been actively looking for a replacement to RescueGroups for our cat rescue that has grown to over 900 adoptions a year. 

    I've ruled out ShelterLuv due to restrictions on how payments are processed.   Also it felt like ever moving off of them in the future would be a nightmare for accessing your data.  Shelterbuddy was in the process of changing their user interface so I didn't want our team to have to learn a new process twice plus they charge a $1000 setup fee which was crazy to me.   It's my understanding that Adopets just connects to Shelterbuddy to handle adoptions.  

    I really liked AnimalsFirst, but they were one of the most expensive charging both a monthly fee AND a per adoption fee.

    I spoke to the folks at Pawdango at a conference, but they never got back to me.  Definitely left a bad first impression to not even follow up after multiple in person conversations at the conference.  I'll check out RescueOps.

    If anyone else has other suggestions for a foster-based rescue with no animal control features needed, please let me know.



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    Deana Seigler
    President
    Friends of Rescue Animals
    Rowlett TX
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  • 16.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 4 days ago

    Hi Deana,

    Thank you for mentioning Pawdango. We were actually excited to continue the conversation after the conference and sent multiple follow-up emails, so we're disappointed to hear they never reached you. There may have been an email issue, or we may have the wrong contact information on file.

    We'd still welcome the opportunity to reconnect. Based on what you've described, your rescue is exactly the type of organization Pawdango was built to support. If you're interested, send us a direct message, and we'll make sure we connect.



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    Destiny Crum
    Executive Director
    Pawdango Pro
    TX
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  • 17.  RE: ShelterLuv vs. Shelterbuddy and Adopets

    Posted 4 days ago

    we are using https://buzztotherescues.com/  check out and see if it can fit your needs



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    Bella Samovsky
    Founder
    Help Meowt Catawba
    NC
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