Animal Welfare Professionals

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.

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!

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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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). 

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.

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 

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.

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.

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 

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.

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.

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 

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.

Hi Sofia, I'm Kyle, the founder of PawPlacer (www.pawplacer.com). We built PawPlacer after hearing many of the same frustrations you're describing from shelters and rescues trying to manage increasingly complex operations.

Based on everything you've listed-1,500+ annual intakes, a public clinic, shelter medicine, TNR, wellness services, fosters, offsite adoptions, day trips, volunteers, law enforcement, municipal contracts, camps, and community partnerships-I would focus less on comparing feature checklists and more on how well each system handles all of those workflows together. A lot of software does one or two of those things well, but organizations often end up managing the rest through spreadsheets or separate tools.

We designed PawPlacer to bring those pieces together in one platform. Some of the functionality that may be relevant includes:

• Comprehensive pet records with medical histories, behavior notes, documents, QR kennel cards, and relationships.
• Medical management for exams, vaccines, medications, weight logs, procedures, and clinic records.
• Custom forms and workflows for public wellness clinics, TNR, owner surrenders, fosters, volunteers, adopters, and community programs.
• Foster management, volunteer management, tasks, shared calendars, and event coordination.
• Offsite adoption support, public pet listings, Petfinder syncing, embeddable website widgets, and flyer generation.
• Donation management, wishlists, Stripe/Square checkout, contracts, receipts, and reporting.
• A REST API and SDK if you have other systems you'd like to integrate.

We now have over 250 features, but our biggest focus has always been making day-to-day operations easier for the staff and volunteers actually using the software.

We're still building based directly on feedback from shelters, so I'd genuinely love to hear what's most important in your evaluation process. If you'd like to see how we handle any of those workflows, I'm always happy to walk through them. We're also offering our highest-tier plan completely free, forever, to organizations that sign up over the next two months. Feel free to check out a full comparison chart below of how we are different:

I see some incorrect information about Shelterluv in the software comparison chart posted. If anyone is interested in learning more about Shelterluv for managing their operations, please email us at info@shelterluv.com for up-to-date information! 

Hi Sofia, I'm Kyle, the founder of PawPlacer (www.pawplacer.com). We built PawPlacer after hearing many of the same frustrations you're describing from shelters and rescues trying to manage increasingly complex operations.

Based on everything you've listed-1,500+ annual intakes, a public clinic, shelter medicine, TNR, wellness services, fosters, offsite adoptions, day trips, volunteers, law enforcement, municipal contracts, camps, and community partnerships-I would focus less on comparing feature checklists and more on how well each system handles all of those workflows together. A lot of software does one or two of those things well, but organizations often end up managing the rest through spreadsheets or separate tools.

We designed PawPlacer to bring those pieces together in one platform. Some of the functionality that may be relevant includes:

• Comprehensive pet records with medical histories, behavior notes, documents, QR kennel cards, and relationships.
• Medical management for exams, vaccines, medications, weight logs, procedures, and clinic records.
• Custom forms and workflows for public wellness clinics, TNR, owner surrenders, fosters, volunteers, adopters, and community programs.
• Foster management, volunteer management, tasks, shared calendars, and event coordination.
• Offsite adoption support, public pet listings, Petfinder syncing, embeddable website widgets, and flyer generation.
• Donation management, wishlists, Stripe/Square checkout, contracts, receipts, and reporting.
• A REST API and SDK if you have other systems you'd like to integrate.

We now have over 250 features, but our biggest focus has always been making day-to-day operations easier for the staff and volunteers actually using the software.

We're still building based directly on feedback from shelters, so I'd genuinely love to hear what's most important in your evaluation process. If you'd like to see how we handle any of those workflows, I'm always happy to walk through them. We're also offering our highest-tier plan completely free, forever, to organizations that sign up over the next two months. Feel free to check out a full comparison chart below of how we are different: