Working with MARS has been a great experience for us! My husband and I searched online for adoptable puppies, and that's when we found MARS. We found the most adorable puppy, Hannah (now Bailey!), and filled out an application, which was reviewed and approved in a very timely fashion. We were even able to reserve Bailey in advance, which meant we didn't have to worry about missing out on her or something going wrong. Shortly after we were approved, Alex got into contact with me via email (which is great for me!). I asked TONS of questions and wrote a few lengthy emails- All of which Alex responded to usually within a few hours and took the time to go over everything I wanted to know in detail. We weren't getting this kind of attention with other rescues, so it was a great feeling to see how much they care about their animals and finding them good homes! When we went to our adoption event, they offered to stay a day late since we couldn't make it for their original time due to a family wedding. They gave us all of Bailey's medical records and explained everything on there. They made some great recommendations for food, treats, toys, and keeping her healthy. We took Bailey home that day, and couldn't be happier! She's a wonderful pup, and has been a wonderful addition to our family! read more

Midwest Animal Rescue Service - Our wonderful puppy Bailey that we adopted from MARS on March 23rd, 2014! She's great- healthy, happy, and smart as can be! - Animal Shelters Near Me

We adopted Mulder (FKA "Cider") shortly before Christmas. Even though we were running late to the adoption event, MARS representatives stayed late and made sure we had a connection with the dog that we only originally knew from pictures. Their care and concern for the puppies was evident. They also helped us select the right dog food and essential accessories, which helped us immensely. They were honest about his lack of housebreaking and leash training, and directed us to sources for assistance in those areas. Since we got Mulder just before he was scheduled to be neutered, MARS provided a $75 rebate with proof that the dog was fixed (required with the adoption contract), which was sent to my PayPal account. He was also up-to-date on his puppy series shots and very healthy. Although we never needed it (yea!) also knowing that I had a month of free health insurance for Mulder was also very comforting, as was his microchipping. Throughout the process MARS representatives have been very responsive and communicative, answering even the "tough questions" and concerns. I'm sorry for the experiences that people had 2 years ago, a sick puppy is no fun. Thankfully, our experience with MARS has been excellent in every way, and I would definitely adopt from this no-kill rescue again. read more

I am very grateful for MARS Rescue, and had a pleasant experience adopting our pup 5 months ago (in April 2015). Our puppy came to us healthy, clean, and with the proper medical paperwork, etc. Also, the rescue definitely went above and beyond to meet us to provide this baby girl a home, making it very obvious how much they care about these pets. read more

Midwest Animal Rescue Service - Lucy (about 5 months after adoption) - Animal Shelters Near Me

What an amazing group of dedicated professional people. The animals that are lucky enough to make it to this rescue are blessed beyond measure. read more

I continue to thank MARS everyday for giving us Hogan. I feel for the previous reviewer whose puppy had parvo and I am so happy that their Murphy is ok. The incubation period, or period between contact with the virus and the appearance of symptoms for parvo can range from 4-14 days and it is possible to have a false negative test because it is in the extremely early stage. This seems to be something that could occur with any dogs adopted from any shelter. This is a wonderful group of people (and animals) to adopt from. I don't have any affiliation, just a happy pet adopter, and I hope that people continue to support midwest animal rescue services. There are a lot of other Hogan's and Murphy's out there looking for love. read more

Same experience as Ryan had. We adopted a puppy from the MARS adoption event, brought him home, within 4 days learned he had parasites (giardia and coccila), fungus and parvo. He was hospitalized for 5 days! It was touch and go, but he pulled through and is doing well. It is possible MARS was unaware of the parvo when they brought him for adoption, but I do not think it is possible for them to be unaware of the parasites. He certainly had them at the time of adoption, as well as the fungus on his ears. They told us his ears were infected from flea bites he had when MARS got him from animal control. However, since their website says they keep the dogs for 21 days min, this seems unlikely since if the skin problems were due to a condition he got at animal control, you'd think good care would resolve those issues over 21 days. Perhaps they don't actually keep them 21 days? I don't know. I also notice now that the ears looked fine on the photo they posted on their website. So either he got the skin condition after he came to MARS, or they photoshop their website pics. I don't know but in any event it's bad. The pup has cost us several thousand dollars, but we really fell in love with this dog instantly so we are glad we were able to truly 'rescue' him. But I am extremely skeptical of the MARS organization, the representations they make about their animals, and the kind of care they give the animals they bring into their shelter. read more

Thanks to MARS, we have our lab mix Bella, who just turned one year this month, and has been the best addition to our family ever! Last year I spent several months researching animal rescue places and going to adoption events. Before finding Bella, I visited MARS 2-3 times and chatted with Amy & julie extensively about the adoption process, various breeds, etc. They were extremely helpful, and I honestly felt they were more helpful and friendly than several of the other adoptions i went to . They always recognized me when i'd return, which was nice too. We finally discovered our Bella, and even though we could not bring her home that weekend (due to house renovations), we picked her up 2 weeks later. She has been amazing and we love her so much! Our 2 cats had passed away earlier last year, so this it was such a blessing to find another furbaby so quickly, who we fell in love with from day one. She is truly our "child" and we couldn't be happier. I would highly recommend MARS to anyone looking for a furry family member! read more

We rescued our dog, Zena (now Lucy) from MARS last October. The adoption process was very easy and I felt they did a great check on us. We did have the same issue with the rescheduled event but we understand people that work for the rescue have personal lives and things happen. I know I have rescheduled appointments many times in my life and we were not offended or upset. The only complaint I had was our dog was not spayed when we got her which she was of the age that she should have been, but we were offered that they will do it if we wanted to wait. I'm impatient and there was no way I was leaving my new dog, so they did offer a solution that I was too impatient for. Either way we did receive a great discount on the service and recommendations of where to go. We love our dog and had a great experience with MARS. read more

I adopted a Chihuahua mix this month, and she is the love of my life. Thank you so much! I have a very busy schedule, and the fact that I could always email (thank you Amy) and get a quick response (even late evening) was very helpful. The application was quick, and I was sent a follow up response within 1 business day. This place does a lot for the animals, and I am thrilled. I did try to call the office twice, but was unable to reach anyone by phone (not a huge deal to me, because I hardly ever answer my own phone), and I hope they are busy spending time with the animals anyway. They also rescue horses, if anyone is looking for a horse, but I think that is farther south. Anyway, overall good experience, and I would provide a good recommendation to anyone looking to save a pet. read more

This organization is wonderful. The staff seems to take time and care with the animals, and took time to answer questions. They were really, really fast to respond to emails which was very nice, because I have still not heard back from two other groups I had contacted with questions. One group just now approved my adoption application from three weeks ago for a different pet I was interested in, and told me that the pet I was interested in (three weeks ago) has already been adopted. I adopted my puppy two weeks ago on the 28th in Champaign at the Pet supplies plus store. Dayton did have roundworms, but I will still give them 5 stars because they are a no kill rescue, and my vet said that roundworms are a common problem. I was hoping not to have to do this again right away, but I know sometimes they need more medications if they come from rescue. My vet gave Dayton a dose of medication, and now he's fine. I got pet insurance for my puppy and wanted to use it for the roundworms, but it took emailing MARS to get my code to activate and I had to call the insurance company because I never got the email to set up the insurance. I did get it set up, and they do cover the worms. I know this is not the rescue's fault, but maybe they could get a better insurance company. And again, I'm giving 5 stars because I did have a great experience with the rescue, and I love Dayton very much. I will send photos soon! Thank you so much! read more

Terrible experience with this shelter. We went through the adoption process with MARS, which wasn't particularly difficult, but they were'nt very good about following up with us on some questions we had. Regardless, we still adopted through them and 3 days after we took our new puppy Murphy home, he was in the hospital! He had parvo-virus and giardia and was given a 70/30 chance to live. Parvo is extremely contagious and has a high fatality rate in puppies, so we consider ourselves lucky that Murphy survived and is 100% healthy. Needless to say, after being told he had tested negative for parvo by the shelter, we weren't really happy that they adopted a sick dog to us. We thought he was just a very relaxed puppy when we got him, but we found out very quickly that he was very ill. I wouldn't deal with this shelter again, but I almost want people to adopt from here so they can get the animals away from them. read more

Love this rescue group! They provide excellent medical care and really care about the animals. They help so many animals, even mama dogs with puppies! They work with each individual animal to find the best possible home. read more

My husband and I just adopted our dog from MARS and we are so pleased. They were incredibly quick to respond to our emails and inquiries. They were extremely helpful and accommodating with our pick up time and made sure that he found a good family. Miles (Davey then) is so happy and playful-and so are his new parents. We could not be happier and we thank MARS for making sure Miles had another chance. read more

I adopted a happy, healthy dog from MARS. However, they never provided me with his medical records. They were going to email them, then never did, then didn't return any calls or emails. I ended up having to pay for him to get re-vaccinated with everything just so I had the papers and could get him into doggy daycare. read more

Omg! This is the place where we tried to adopt a dog last year. The dog was absolutely nothing like they said in the description. They said he was potty trained...he would not stop peeing literally like every 10 minutes in the house. They said he was good with other dogs...he took a good bite out of our dog's (a very calm/gentle dog) neck. He was nothing like their description. This dog was UNTRAINABLE...I'm a huge animal lover, but I had to return him because he was so untrainable. read more

We adopted a puppy on a Saturday, by Sunday she had diarrhea and had been up all night coughing. On Monday she was diagnosed with Coccidia and Kennel Cough. When she started throwing up on Wednesday, we took her back to the vet. Then she was diagnosed with parvo. At this moment, our puppy has been in the vet hospital for 10 days, and we are still not sure she is going to make it. Our vet bill is up to $5000, and she is so sick. The vet says that while MARS may not have "given" her the parvo, clearly they have had other dogs with parvo in their facility and do not know how to keep sick dogs away from healthy dogs, nor do they know how to thoroughly clean their facility. MARS refuses to help with any of our vet bill, saying that it is not their fault. Yet when I read other YELP reviews, I note the date of one of the other dissatisfied customers, who's pup was diagnosed with parvo and was at MARS the same time as our pup. On top of all of this, all 7 vets that my puppy has seen, every single one of them states that based on the hokey looking "medical records" I was given, my puppy was given far too many vaccinations based on her young age. I will be contacting the Department of Agriculture and Animal Control of Chicago to investigate this rescue. DO NOT RESCUE FROM HERE!!! read more

extremely sick dogs! This shelter is a scam! If you look at their website they do not give you a location address, which probably means the pets are kept in extremely bad conditions. they host was they call "events" at a pet supply store to offset the fact that these puppies are not kept in healthy living conditions. I bought my puppy and she had kennel cough, bad yeast in her ears, she was NEVER dewormed, and my vet questioned if she was ever given any rounds of shots. At the "event" where I adopted my puppy I asked for her medical/vaccination records, but the woman said " oh, we forgot to bring them this morning". Really?, a reputable shelter does not forget to give you any record. It was not until I asked them twice for the records that they sent them over. The first time their excuse was that their email did not get through.I also asked for a form indicating that my "donation" (the fee they charge to adopt the puppy) would be tax deductible. Their response was simply that they do not have a tax exempt status. at that point I realized that this shelter is for profit and they do not have these little animals best interest at heart. A real not for profit is generally tax exempt, and will let you visit the shelter. overall terrible experience. I am just hoping that my puppy survives. read more

This rescue service picked up an animal I had been getting ready to adopt from a humane shelter. I asked this "business" about the particular animal - who I had been visiting every day for a week and spending an hour with this pet. I was given the answer that the cat would be put up for adoption, but would not be available to me since there was a waiting list. I explained that I had intended to adopt this animal, but the rescue service got there right before I did. MARS told I was the first on the "new adoption" list, after the preceding adoption waiting list. After I inquired further, stating that I would really like them to reconsider my position on the waiting list since the cat was from my home town and had already bonded with me. At that point, I was told I was no longer eligible to adopt based on my application. It was a retaliatory response since I have had no problem ever adopting rescue animals. Obviously, there is question as to the nature of the business since the desires of a person asking for a pet that had been picked up two hours before could not be considered. Additionally, I was told the animals are not sent to foster care. read more

MARS, I am hoping to help you out by countering some of these negative reviews! We adopted from MARS in August 2011. We adopted a dog named Winnie who we renamed to Daisy. We were told her and her sister had been pulled from a shelter in MO. She was thin and had a little kennel cough but we were given meds. Took her to vet the next day. His only recommendation was to let her eat as much as she wanted to fatten up. Otherwise she was in perfect health. So she was a little thin and had kennel cough. She was from a HIGH KILL SHELTER! These people are taking animals from severe situations and getting them adopted as quickly as they can. I understand a severe illness in an animal is one thing but to complain about worms, parasites and untrimmed nails is just being ignorant. Stray animals often have issues. I took in two cats as kittens. They had worms, ear mites, you name it. I paid the vet bills and got them well because I wanted to save two cats. I would rather take a chance on an animal in a dire situation and give them a good life over adopting from someplace that makes their applicants go thru extreme adoption procedures any day. There is a reason MARS gives you the month of pet insurance. I chose to use my own vet and didn't use it but if there had been serious issues I would have. I wish you the best MARS. I could see the toll of seeing animals in heartbreaking conditions on the adoption volunteers faces. One was telling me how animals are dumped on the road like garbage in the southern areas. I was glad to help MARS out by rescuing a puppy that probably had only a few days before euthanization. Daisy is nearly three now and is the absolute best dog ever. She makes an incredible companion to us, our two and five year old daughters, two cats and our aging dachshund. When the time comes for another dog I would not hesitate to look to MARS so I can take another animal from a dire situation and give it a good life. read more