I volunteer, foster wand have adopted from GHP. I love this organization. Together we have save, find good homes for over 100 homeless animals. I'm shocked with the bad reviews. I have work with this group for over 10 years. read more

Poor email communication, rude and unfriendly at the Dunwoody adoption event. They handled the cats roughly and were more interested in playing and holding them than letting other potential adopters do so. One woman stood in the enclosure talking on her cell phone while ignoring people who were interested in the cats. Many of the kitties had notable eye infections. I ended up not adopting from them. There was a specific cat I was interested in and it was clear they weren't really willing to let him go. read more

I've been a volunteer with Georgia Homeless Pets for the last couple years and it is a wonderful and rewarding place to spend your time helping the homeless dogs and cats. Living in an apartment with no back yard of my own for a dog(s) to roam, I especially like being here to get the dogs out for a run/walk and try to do some training here and there to help them get adopted to a new ASAP! :-) If you want to get your exercise in for the week, the dogs are there to help you out! Georgia Homeless Pets does their adoptions Saturdays and Sundays at three locations 12pm - 5pm: 1) Dunwoody PetSmart (my hangout) 2) Smyrna PetSmart 3) Austell PetSmart Over the years I've met many great people, fellow volunteers and "adoptees" and also "fosterers". Just a nice place to be, help the homeless pets, feel like you did something good and you can simply say "I Helped!" and you will have plenty of dogs kissing you! read more

Absolutely loved working with them! The application process is really careful and well thought out. They show so much care and concern for the animals in their care. read more

I was so excited when I found Georgia Homeless Pets. I grew up in a family full of animal lovers, and I am completely enamored with the idea of non profits that rescue animals and take care of them until a permanent home can be located. Georgia Homeless Pets seemed to fit the bill. They have several cuddly cats available for adoption, and a couple of them appeared to be exactly what I was looking for! Unfortunately, I found the adoption process with GAHP to be extremely discouraging. First of all, there is no clear method for submitting the adoption application. Also, of the three foster moms I contacted, only one of them prompted responded. For the Maine Coon I wanted to adopt, I was simply sent an email saying the cat would not be able to live in our home. When I asked why, the woman responded saying that "small dogs" like to chase him. (A strange generalization, I know. Our dogs were raised around cats and never chase them.) That was NOT mentioned on the petfinder.com listing, and I felt like I had wasted a lot of time pursuing a cat that wouldn't have been suitable for our home anyway. I decided to broaden my search and looked for a Norwegian Forest cat, a Ragdoll or a domestic medium/long hair breed. I found two that fit my criteria. The woman who promptly responded was the foster of the NF cat. Katherine was wonderful and answered all of my questions. She informed me the cat only ate canned food, so I decided against her. The other foster mom was by far the most difficult to reach and the most rude. On petfinder.com, she mentioned she preferred email contact, so I composed an email. When our correspondence lapsed for more than a few days, I resorted to calling her. She sent me an email asking me to be patient, saying she was too busy with adoptions and animal transport to help me right now....with pet adoption...which is what she claimed kept her so busy. She then sent me a response in which she denied my request for the adorable cat I wanted to adopt. She said we have too many animals (3) in our home, though the cat was not listed on petfinder.com as having a problem with other animals. In fact, the foster mom had written that the cat got along very well with her dogs and tolerated her other foster cat. Doesn't that add to at least three other animals? Does that mean her home is also unsuitable for him? Something doesn't add up, and it has nothing to do with the number of pets in either of our homes. I hate it that my experience with GAHP was so negative. I think the GAHP petfinder.com listings need to be refined to convey as much detail as possible about the cat/dog up for adoption. I also think the foster parents of these sweet little animals should be required to contact potential adopters within a certain time frame. Finally, perhaps someone besides the foster mom should review the applications. I truly hope that other loving potential cat/dog owners don't have the same difficulties when attempting to adopt. read more

I have a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in education, worked as a vet tech for 3 yrs while going through college, have a life time of experience with dogs, cats, rats, fish, birds, horses, and even sheep, I've adopted 6 pets in my adult life in Texas, Maine, and Georgia; and I have never seen such a poorly run organization. Having watched them operate for 1 1/2 hours at a Petsmart Adoption Day this Saturday, the volunteers "in charge" talk to everyone in a condescending manor, do not have a clear adoption policy, change their stories within minutes, are not consistent with their information from one potential adopter to another, and are completely disorganized. They pick and choose who can touch or not touch the pets. They offered for some people to touch, and declined other people from touching the SAME animals. The volunteers talk behind your back when they think you won't notice, they claim they have not read your adoption form that was submitted several days earlier, and then tell others that they can adopt the same pet you are interested in. When they do talk to you, they assume you are an idiot. They brought kittens in that have active upper respiratory infections to the Adoption day, moved kittens from one cage to another without disinfecting anything! Dishonest and UNORGANIZED! I ended up adopted another beautiful healthy kitten from another group later in the day. Beware. Avoid this group! And from the looks of other posters....I'm not alone in my experience. Wish I read Yelp first before exposing my daughter to their emotional tug-of-war antics! read more

Avoid this organization at all cost. When I was looking for a kitten to adopt, I found a beautiful kitten that this organization had through pet adoption websites. Of course I decided to research the organization to see what I was getting myself into, and seeing the extremely negative reviews for this organization I just couldn't believe it. Or maybe I chose not to believe it as I was so in love with this kitten. I chose to try and adopt through this organization anyway, not realizing what I was setting myself up for. Like other reviewers said they are rude, especially in person at their petsmart locations, leave you hanging for weeks on their decision and give various non-definitive reasons why you are not the ideal candidate. The heartache this company provides is not worth it. Work with any other organization for your forever friend. read more

Our experience with GA Homeless Pets has been nothing but wonderful. The day that we adopted our kitty and dog we were showered with information, affection, pet supplies, and coupons. We found the VOLUNTEERS to be extremely caring people who commit many, many hours of their lives to the rescue of animals that often make terrific pets. A few points need to be made regarding the negative experiences reported in these reviews. The required application forms were not burdensome and we certainly understood the need to assure that these animals are matched with the best circumstances for their needs. These animals are rescues, and as such everyone takes a gamble that they haven't been mistreated, starved, or neglected to the point of no return. No one can be blamed for the occasional animal that does not work out or is simply too sick to recover from their previous life. Everyone who takes on a rescue should know they may incur unexpected vet bills in helping these animals get to health and happiness. I adopted a dog with heart worms and it took many months and a significant amount of money to nurse her back to health. No amount of money or time can compare to the joy she has brought to my family. If she had not survived, I would have been grateful for the time we had with her and I would have felt good that I had tried to save her. The vets who take care of them VOLUNTEER their time and services and do the best they can to either treat the animals or disclose their medical issues. Regarding the communications issues with GA Homeless Pets, the wonderful folks who VOLUNTEER their time have busy lives, jobs, and families. I am sure they respond as quickly as they can, especially to prospective pet owners and/or foster parents. Their goal is not to keep these animals indefinitely, but to get them adopted into a good situation and rescue some more animals. They also develop a good sense of which people will be committed to their new pets and an intolerance of people who want pets but don't want the responsibilities of being pet owners. For those of you with complaints I suggest you give up one Saturday and volunteered to help out with the animals. From this experience you will find out it is a daunting task to care for and manage the animals and the people who want to adopt them. Consider that these VOLUNTEERS don't give up one Saturday; they give up all their Saturdays. Instead of complaining, drop by and say hello to the volunteers. Bring a few bottles of water for them because they spend many hours in the heat. And walk a few dogs while you are there. It's good for your soul! read more

Georgia Homeless Pets is a wonderful organization and deals with the same issues that all other rescues deal with -- lack of volunteers and unrealistic expectations from the public. When adopting a pet, you have to be aware that many of them will have undiagnosed health issues that do not become symptomatic until the animal has been moved to a new environment, which stresses their immune system, i.e. your home. This is true of any new pet, whether it comes from a breeder, pet store, animal control or rescue. That is part of being a pet owner. Granted, it's not fun to get a new pet and immediately have to spend money on vet care. But that is a routine part of owning a pet and if you're not prepared for this, you probably shouldn't adopt a new pet. And all new pets should have a routine examination from a vet as soon as possible after adopting them. Adopting a new family member is a process and should not be a spur of the moment decision. You have to be patient and work with the organization you are adopting from. Most volunteers have full-time jobs and families to care for, in addition to their fostering duties. Most only deal with potential adoptions on the weekends when they have free time. If an adoption is right and is meant to happen, it will. There is no need to rush things or try to speed up the process. The excuses for being declined are not always the real reason for you being declined. Many groups will not tell you the real reason, so that you can't simply alter your application information when you apply with another group. And in all honesty, they don't have to have a good reason for declining you. It may simply be that their gut or intuition was telling him that it wasn't the right fit for the animal, so you were declined. Many fosters have trouble letting go of their animals and will look for reasons to decline an adopter. Don't take it personally and don't let is discourage you. The most important thing when adopting a new pet is the animal's personality and whether that personality is a good fit for your household. Fosters know their animals better than anyone and a lot of times, the adopter will simply not be a good fit. It's hard to explain this to someone without offending them in some way, so they will usually use another excuse for the decline. If you don't like this process, you are more than welcome to start your own rescue and do things differently. The bottom line is this: Rescue work is terribly hard, unrewarding work and the public is only exposed to one small aspect of it. You need to be patient and flexible and think about the animals involved, not just your feelings and what you want. Rescuers do not do what they do as a service to the public. They do it as a service to the animals they are saving and those animals will always come first, no matter how good an adopter you think you would be. read more

Please note that Katie and Cory are "VOLUNTEERs" and Cory doesn't even pretend to have adopted from here ("Katie" actually used to be on the board but was kicked off - there's a lot of drama in this group). As another former volunteer I have to agree with Timber W and Lily H - and for the record, I don't know either of them. I left the organization and began volunteering elsewhere 6 weeks ago for the following reasons. First, I wasn't comfortable with the way the animals were treated. Animals are in shelters or day care centers or in volunteers' homes where some of them have tons of animals in small homes between adoption days. Volunteers get some pressure to take in more animals than they can handle. A couple of more senior volunteers told me they took in sick animals and housed them with their healthy ones and didn't have any problems. Okay...but not what I was after. Also we are talking about people with smallish houses keeping 10 or more animals which just isn't good and honestly, I've seen some of those houses and they are pretty much destroyed by the animals. It's like a hoarding situation. I get that animals shouldn't be in cages (the group used to be associated with Dr Michael Good who has a lot of complaints about the way he houses animals) but being stuffed together with any sick or aggressive animal in a little house isn't a good idea either I think. Second, another former volunteer told me they had pneumonia in the cat room at Austell because of their sloppy vet practices and that she had seen dogs attack people and each other. I walked the dogs one Sunday and felt really threatened by a pit bull...luckily another volunteer intervened before it could attack me but it was staring and growling and nobody had warned me. They were more like Goodwill - just shuffling things in and out - than making sure animals were healthy and socialized. Third not everyone is a real volunteer exactly, a few people have their own thing going and just come there to adopt out animals they have rescued themselves so I don't know how much scrutiny the group puts into the animals they adopt out. Again it was more like a bulk sales organization and not an individual care thing. It goes along with the hoarding problem - it's like they take in more than they can deal with and try to shuffle them out as fast as possible. They're careful that the families are good but not so careful about whether the animals are ready to go or good for that family. For instance they adopted what I thought were some pretty aggressive pit mixes to families with small children. I just have to say there are 4 other reviews and the only positive ones are from volunteers. Before leaving I had tried over and over to talk about how we could do things better but even when I brought up specifics and explained I wasn't the only one with the same concerns the response was really not caring. One person told me that any volunteers who weren't happy "should just leave." You can't really volunteer where people don't want to even talk about whether there's a better way to do things and if you don't think they're really helping animals. It's like just taking money from organizations that really doing good. I know I feel a lot better volunteering for the Georgia Humane Society. It's more of a drive but I feel like we're really helping animals. read more

When we decided to adopt a pet, we went Georgia Homeless Pets. The paperwork scared us a bit, but we understood that the place does not want to take chances with animals that have been abandoned before. Robyn, who fostered our adopted cat, was very serious about the wellbeing of the pets under her care. She is very loving, knows the characters of each cat and it was obvious that they all got their share of tender loving! When I saw "Lionel" I just felt that he was a very sweet pet. He has a lovely demeanor, is still a bit shy sometimes, even after 6 months, but behaves very well around the house. We renamed him Thomas. He is a big nine pounder but behaves like a kitten. He needed some medical care when we took him in. Robyn suggested to keep him until he was 100% well, but as his new owner I felt responsible for taking care of him. I felt it would be an extra burden on the organization to make them take care of possible medical costs. It took us a few weeks with several vet visits, but he has turned into a very healthy happy baby! We are so thankful for services like GA Homeless Pets. They make all the difference in an animal's life, and in a human's (definitely ours!) too! Our Thomas deserved a second chance and we are giving that to him. Thank you GAHP - thank you Robyn - for caring! read more

"Georgia" has written an extensive, defensive but ultimately inaccurate response to my review. To address only the three most egregious points, the herpes-infected kitten was sneezing when brought to my home; two highly reputable vets confirmed herpes and coccidia vs. panleukopenia, which would not have caused a kitten to have the "microophthalmia, corneal scarring, extremely poor muscle mass and unthrifty coat" noted in the vet's reports; and my adult presented with the distinctive sneezing fits and eye involvement of herpes, which is quite distinct from the symptoms of a cold. The responder says the group's members are not vets, but presumes to contradict the diagnosis of two reputable vets who tested the kittens; the group's own vet did not perform tests but simply said one kitten "might" have panleukopenia. Their inability to acknowledge and learn from the error is exactly the sort of attitude I started to see from the moment problems arose. Again, be very cautious when dealing with this group, and please be aware that a number of other volunteers have also left over similar concerns. read more

I have been volunteering with GHP for a year now. I have been a foster parent for many dogs that would have otherwise been euthanized had GHP not steeped in and rescued them. The group is made up of many wonderful volunteers that spend so much time and money to save helpless animals. Nobody loves animals more than the GHP volunteers. I have to say that the adoption process is a very necessary process. Unfortunately, everyone isn't willing to give an animal a home forever. While there are many people out there willing to give a dog or a cat a loving home until death do them part, there are just as many people that are want a dog or a cat as long as it fits their lifestyle. GHP puts a great deal of importance in making sure that the animals find quality forever homes. The leaders of GHP believe in quality over quantity and I find that refreshing, as do the families that have adopted the dogs i have fostered. The organization is fantastic, and I am so thankful to be apart of such a wonderful rescue group committed to saving the lives of helpless animals and placing them in homes where they will be loved and cared for the rest of their days. read more