Petfinder Reviews 

Was lied to outright and also by omission. The rescue people also operate under tax free 501 (c) 3 which is the same tax code crooked politicians use to launder money. Dog was represented as Chihuahua but actually a mini pinscher.

Tried two or more times to adopt on petfinder, seem to be absolutely worthless.
I wanted a 5-6 year old 65 lb. mix for a companion for my own dog, they do not reply to text or email, I’m done!

I've been trying to adopt a cat on Petfinders many times now, and never get a response...like a yah or nah.
That's the least they could do. I mean some of these adoption forms are like buying a house in length of time it takes to fill them out. I don't think it's respectful not giving some basic feedback. So I've come to believe that it is a scam!

I think Petfinder is a scam! I tried to contact the shelter where the cat I was interested in was but no answer after numerous tries! I then tried to have Petfinder let me know if the cat was still available two times! The first time they wanted me to pay $1 and the second time they wanted $5 for them to inquire if the cat was still available, which I didn't pay either one of the charges. Needless to say, I am going to try to find a legitimate shelter to adopt from!

I sent an inquiry and an application about a sweet little canine that I feel would've been a perfect fit, considering that I have a 3 bedroom house with a fenced back yard, with no children or other pets. Imagine my heartbreak when after waiting with no response, just by looking at her picture I learned she was adopted out the next day.
I was at work and cried.

I have been trying to adopt through Petfinder for 2 YEARS! Every dog I've ever applied for was "already" adopted and unavailable. One rescue was even messaging with me for a week, and then nothing. Then, another rescue texted me about a dog I applied for. They sent me a picture of a dog I never applied for. I asked about the dog I wanted and guess what?! Already adopted! TWO YEARS OF THIS. Unacceptable and giving true rescues a bad name. Petfinder needs to vet these places. Shame on you for being part of the problem instead of the solution.

For years, I tried to adopt instead of purchasing a puppy/dog. I, however, end up buying a puppy from a private source. I have seen the same dogs/puppies from the same shelters for many months, but when I tried to adopt, they all either not responded or made me jumped through many hoops making it almost impossible to adopt one.

### SCAMMED!!

I used Petfinder in the past to see if there were any dogs in my area that I could adopt, but all the pets were usually located thousands of miles away.

In mid-January, I received an email about animals being transferred to my area from the LA fires, and they needed emergency adopters. All the pets listed had an adoption fee of $450 to $500 each, and I had to be screened to ensure I was a good match for the dog. On a fixed income, I found this a bit steep. Since I'm only allowed one pet where I live, I carefully scrolled through each pet suitable to my situation. I applied to a subcontractor through Petfinder (supposedly a neighborhood shelter called PNW Pittie Project) handling the LA fires animals in my area. I filled out the questionnaire application on January 22nd, 2025, with an application fee of $25, which I paid by credit card.

A week passed without any word on the pet I applied for. I contacted them again through email and I received a reply that they didn't receive my application nor payment. I sent copies of all my paperwork on January 29th, 2025. I waited another week for animals desperate for homes, but to no avail. I sent an email to Petfinder themselves, asking if I qualified and if the pet was still available (or if they gave the pet to someone else more worthy). It's now February 8th, and I still haven't received a single word.

All I was looking for was some kind of explanation like, "We're sorry, but you were not a match," or "The pet you were asking for is no longer available due to some emergency." Truthfully, I'm just glad I wasn't asked to pay the adoption fee first. According to the website, I had to meet the pet to ensure I was a good match before paying the adoption fee. Since I received an email from Trustpilot about another website to review, I checked Petfinder's reviews and read all the scams. Hence, I am adding my two cents as well.

Is Purina really their sponsor? It would be shameful if they are, but I'm not investing any more time to find out. I'll just copy my review and use it for Purina.

I find you can't give a real locations of your area. When you try to change what area they gave you you can't change it or specify what region you would like to check.
When you give them a rescue or shelter and find nothing there that your looking for they automatically give you another area that is quite far from where you live ( hundred of miles away). I feel sorry for those that use them to show the pets they are trying to find homes for.

Absolutely terrible scammed me for my information and gave me nothing but ad for pet food

They should rename it PET SCAM.
What's even the point of this site?
Certainly not to help animals get adopted. I'm convinced the majority of posted animals are scams. If you look long enough, you start to see same animals, posted by different rescues and the animals have different name, but after reading, you find that even though ad says 5 miles away, in reality at bottom of ad, they are in Texas or Florida.

Waste of time, don't be a sucker.

After a week, I got absolutely ZERO inquiries about my dog via PetFinder. From my experience, this site must be a ghost town! I consistently got the most responses from CraigsList (I eventually found an adopter via CL). In second place was NextDoor. I understand that it can be nearly impossible to give away a dog, and you want to advertise everywhere you can. But, to start, I would save your $10, and just try NextDoor and CraigsList and renew your ad every 5 days or so. Hopefully, CL doesn't ban you from reposting too often. You might have to replace all of your photos, rewrite the wording of your listing, use a new email, and new phone number (or none) in order to get your listing back on CraigsList if they ban you.

Put in multiple applications for a puppy. My children wanted a dog for Xmas. To all of them being denied. For reasons of us not being homeowners, which is A LIE. WE DO OWN OUR HOME!! Trying to teach my children about doing the right thing by adopting. Only to be treated like garage when asked why you are being denied. I’ll go BUY A DOG!!!

Never any response at all. I've sent multiple requests on dogs & all I get are "crickets"

Since Purina took over Petfinder, you have to agree to receive their advertising. Then the software doesn't work properly. It takes multiple attempts to logon. They erased all my saved searches from before.

I adopted 2 kittens from Cat Tales Rescue in Seabrook, NH eight weeks ago. The day we went there; the address was incorrect online & it took us 30 min to find the office space they occupy. There are no signs or numbers on the building indicating it's a rescue & the windows have white paint smeared on the inside so you cannot see in or out. We were brought into a room our kittens were in & left alone. It was such an awful site in that room. I have pictures of my kittens & 4 other cats squished under the sink in that room hiding in the cupboard. The urine smell was so intense that we couldn't stay long. We were told to come back in 5 days because the vet needed to clear them. My mission now became to rescue these babies from this "rescue". We did pick them up which was also awful. Six families waited 45 min for the owner to show up & the first couple left without their kittens due to an eye infection. I was told my kittens were healthy & Kelly the owner said she wasn’t sure why bloodwork was done on the female but it was all normal. Well within 24 hrs of having my kittens home, they were in the ER with 104 fevers and pneumonia. They were filthy, smelled like urine & the vet had to cut stuff out of the boys tail because it was so matted. We've now had two ER visits, five vet visits & six different prescriptions. They had viral and bacterial infections, multiple parasites & the vet said they would not have made it much longer if they were not seen that day. He showed us that the blood work results done at the shelter were all elevated including infection/ inflammatory markers. They also were not micro chipped as promised . I reached out to the rescue multiple times with no response. In the females records I was given by the shelter, we also discovered that the rescue vet had prescribed an antibiotic for an eye infection for 10 days. I picked the kittens up on day 5 of it with no mention of any medication being prescribed. The application that they have you fill out states that all cats are have feline herpes. This is not true at all! They know they are selling sick kittens. I wish I had read it more thoroughly, but was just so excited to adopt new kittens and would've never expected them to be in this condition. There is no way that the vet saw these kittens and cleared them as being in good health. The ER vet & my vet of 17 years said they haven't seen such a sad, horrible case of neglect in years. This “ non profit organization “ also had its 501c revoked 3 years ago - its on IRS site. NONE of their information such as their EIN a number; financial IRS documents such as Form 990, 501c- is available to view on their website. it all should be available as they clearly receive donation

Sent multiple emails and filled out a form a couple of weeks ago. No reply, no acknowledgement. No one answers when you send in application.

I've emailed several places wanting to adopt a cat. Zero replies back. Why have animals posted for adoption and ignore potential adopters. Disappointing.

Unreliable and disingenuous.
I sent a request for information for a kitten in Killeen, TX just over ago. The information on Petfinder stated the kitten was at Killeen Animal Services. After no response through Petfinder, I emailed the shelter. They stated they had no kitten named Fraulein nor any kitten that matched the description. I stopped by the shelter and I was told the kitten was adopted out over 3 months ago.
I emailed Petfinder last Wednesday and the kitten is still listed as available on the app.
The shelter stated they have has many issues and complaints about Petfinder listing animals that are unavailable and not updating the listings.

My name is Arianna
If I could give them 0 stars I would have. I filled out so many applications with Petfinder, IDR, and Recently Crisis Dogs NC and my application was submitted and denied. I believe it’s because my Neighbor asked a question about breeding her dog which has nothing to do with me. My dog passed away last year and my life became lonely and I wanted to adopt a puppy to feel alive again but here is what IDR message says and my response to IDR.
Island Dog Rescue Responds:
Thank you for your interest in Jax. I noticed that size was a concern with a previous pup, and Jax is actually quite a bit larger. Scotch is adopted.

After discussing with the IDR team, we feel that based on your needs, including the recent conversations about breeding and your upcoming surgery, our rescue may not be the best fit for what you’re looking for at this time. For these reasons, we’ve decided to cancel your application and will not be moving forward with any adoptions.
We truly appreciate your understanding, and we wish you all the best in finding the right companion.
Thank you for considering us.

My Response to Them:
First off I was not the one asking about breeding a dog that was my Neighbor and because I was going to get surgery should not been an issue with adopting a dog. I feel like I was being Judged about a conversation that had nothing to do with me. I will find the right companion.

Thank you