Best Friends Animal Society

This place is great. they help re-home a lot of pets! we saw them out walking the dogs while we were in the area.

i got my sweet cat here. everyone is very helpful

A fabulous charity, helping rescue animals from being euthanized. Highly recommend volunteering here & donating to help continue their life-saving work!

Best Friends Salt Lake was negligent with my cat's medical care. They have not acted in good faith since I raised it. The environment for cats is terrible. There's no private room where you can take a cat to get acquainted before adopting. The cats are housed in the same space as the dogs, which barked and howled nonstop the entire time I was there. It was loud enough to give me a headache. I can only imagine what it does to the cats who live in it every day. On my first day fostering my cat, he passed bloody stool with a worm in it. Their vet diagnosed roundworm without a fecal exam. They prescribed a coccidia drug, then never tested for coccidia. According to the medical record they gave me, no fecal exam or bloodwork was done at any point. Diagnosing and medicating a parasitic infection without running the basic test to confirm it is negligent care. They still cleared him for adoption. On the day I signed, roundworm was listed as an active diagnosis and his medications were marked overdue and in progress. They knew he was sick and untreated, and they transferred him and the bills to me anyway. Three weeks later, my vet ran his first fecal test ever and found coccidia. That was the infection their own prescription suggests they suspected and never confirmed. I paid for the diagnosis and treatment myself. They also put him through neuter surgery even though their own notes recorded a possible scar and said they suspected he was already neutered. They operated anyway and have never explained why. Picking him up after that surgery was its own disaster. I waited over an hour to get him back. I asked multiple staff members about him and was simply forgotten. Volunteers tried to help, then left without telling anyone anything, and I was back to waiting with no answers. I sent the Center Director and Medical Director a detailed written complaint with invoices, records, and a reasonable request: cover $209.82 for treating a condition they diagnosed and left unfinished. I got no reply and no acknowledgment. An organization acting in good faith answers when a documented medical failure is put in front of it. They chose silence.

I adopted my working cat from BFAS and it was such a wonderful experience! Highly recommend visiting the center. Thank you Best Friends!

I can say, these guys seem to have some good intentions, but..........their resources seem....very generalized. They dont have a whole lot on puppy specific training. It seems pretty general and there wasn't a whole lot on puppy crying and whining when crate training. I had to go look that up elsewhere. He'll, the humane society of Utah seems to have more resources and stories than best friends. I tried to adopt a older puppy that seem to he herding dog mix. We thought we could work with her, but due to her high anxiety, inability to relax enough to pee outside, despite knowing how to, she pooped outside which is how I know she knew how to use the toilet outside for 6+ hours, her high energy, deep fear of trains, and us having no where to let her be herself in our neighborhood, we were not able to keep her. Her anxiety and high alertness wouldn't even let us work on basic commands. She was also.dog reactive. When we tried to communicate this to the shelter, they insisted we do training with her, talk to their behaviorist, and sending us resources, most of we already knew how to do, had, or were unable to utilize. They still insisted we give her a try for the decompression 3-3-3 period. We were not able to. We tried to do an emergency return appointment, but they wanted us to wait. I had to badger them to let me bring her back. They blamed the puppy's behavior on her being a puppy, which I do not think is the 100 percent is the case. I don't know. I could have been reading g the dog wrong. Regardless, I think these guys have good intentions, but I think that they need help, at least in fostering puppies. They also tend to change their minds on how to approach adoptions and fostering. Or at least appointments to meet dogs, and fostering to adopt. I tried again to adopt a puppy 2 days ago from them again, almost didn't adopt because they didn't want a repeat of us returning the puppy. The puppy was listed as fostering to adopt while they finished up its basic medical care of vaccines and spaying. They decided to change their minds and told us straight up since she had just spayed the day before, she was good for adoption, despite not having all of her vaccines. I get it. Puppies are hard. High return rate. This puppy is calm, and is regularly peeing. She is getting upset, but considering she has just been separated from her littermates and mother, I get it. She is more even keel as far as I can tell. We will see in a couple of weeks

Never answers the phone

Have a friend in somewhat of a desperate situation with their cat. Really need to talk to someone about options. Cannot get a live person on the phone no matter how many options you try. Ridiculous. Your response was not helpful. All we wanted was some advice.

Im leaving 3 stars for the incredible work they do - would rather leave 5 - but taking off 2 for the horrendously nauseating smell we experienced this afternoon! We couldn't stay in the building for more than a few minutes. I'm not sure how to describe it. My son said it smelled like all the animals took a dump simultaneously. It smelled worse than that to me. I'd never smelled anything like it. A very odd, overpowering odor. I'll still support them with donations, but won't go inside again.

Visiting this Best Friends location was a surprisingly chaotic and disappointing experience. The parking lot is extremely small, with no clear alternative when it is full. Donations had been left outside near the entrance, and there were pallets of opened pet food sitting alongside the building, all of which contributed to a neglected and disorganized first impression. Inside was even more chaotic. The small lobby was crowded with groups of people standing and talking, others trying to move through the space, and someone maneuvering a cart through it all. Supplies, bags of food, and other items were stacked on shelves and left on the floor, making the space feel cluttered and the walkways difficult to navigate. It was loud, overstimulating, and uncomfortable to even figure out where to stand or walk without being in someone’s way. There was no front desk or obvious place to check in, no one greeted me, and no one explained where to go or who to speak with. Staff appeared busy, so the only apparent way to get assistance was to interrupt someone. The entire setup felt confusing and unwelcoming. I was also concerned about the environment for the animals. Dogs and cats are housed close together, the dog kennels appeared quite small, and the constant noise, crowding, and activity made the space seem stressful rather than calm or comfortable. I left genuinely disappointed. I would have expected so much better from Best Friends, and the condition and overall experience made me question whether I would feel comfortable donating to this location. I hope what I saw is not a reflection of how the organization operates overall.