Midwest Animal Rescue Service

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.

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.

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.

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!

I’m going to preface my review with two things. 1) I should have done my research before adopting from them. If I had seen all of the reviews and lack of accreditation beforehand I probably would have been more prepared. 2) That being said, I’m in love with my puppy and I wouldn’t trade her in for the world. I don’t regret adopting her, but now I feel like I have rescued her in a different way than I intended.
Shame on you, M.A.R.S. I adopted Butter (shelter name Caitlyn) on ⁸⁄₃₁ at their adoption event. I was supposed to get her the weekend before but they cancelled the event (without telling me) for unknown reasons. There were so many red flags throughout this entire process but I was blinded by ‘puppy fever’ and didn’t take any of them seriously. Well now I have a very sick puppy and lots of vet bills on my hands.
Red flags:
–They don’t have 501©(3) status. Uh, what? That is fairly easy to obtain if you are able to prove that you’re actually a non-​profit. I guess that would be an issue for a group that doesn’t have proof.
–Lots of negative reviews online. People are generally more forgiving than not for rescues. The fact that so many people are upset enough to write about it is a major red flag.
–My adoption application was not fact checked. They never called my landlord or even me to interview me and look into what I claimed. As far as they know I could be a homeless dog fighter.
–They cancelled an adoption event last minute.
–My puppy was severely emaciated when I got her. They told me she was the runt, but you can’t see the outline of the intestines or detail of hip bones on your average runt. This is due to improper care/​neglect.
–Her nails were really long. They cut them before giving her to me, but shouldn’t they have been cut as soon as they got too long? Basic care 101, any good rescue would do that.
–Where is her mom? Did you take them from her and leave her to die? You must have taken them from her pretty early if you didn’t bring Mom with.
Butter came to me emaciated with a serious case of diarrhea. I chalked it up to stress and a slight change in diet and gave her a bland diet for half of her meals. Still no improvement. Her diarrhea got worse and last night she pooped in her crate every 30 – 60 minutes and started to refuse food and water. Turns out she has a severe infestation of Giardia and Coccidia. What a coincidence, same goes for the puppies of other Unilocalers who adopted just before I did. Obviously this had been brought to the attention of MARS before but they failed to do anything about it. Oh, jury is still out on whether or not Butter has Parvo. Her test came back negative but the vet isn’t entirely convinced that that’s the case.
So even with Unilocal reviews (which the shelter has acknowleged) and contact from recent adopters stating their pups had parvo, giardia and coccidia, according to the (suspect) medical records they gave me Butter had never been tested/​treated for parasites (something ALL shelters/​rescues should do, especially for puppies) but she also hadn’t been tested for parvo since 7÷17… a whole month before they were made aware that other puppies from the shelter were sick, a whole 2 weeks before I adopted her (also conveniently right around the time when they cancelled their adoption event)
WHY DID YOU NEGLECT TO TEST THIS PUPPY FOR ISSUES THAT YOU KNEW WERE PRESENT IN YOUR SHELTER? Huh? Was it a simple lack of care or not wanting to waste your resources? I gave you $ 250, why not do the responsible thing and use it towards the care of your animals? Were you hoping to pass her off to me before having to incur the expenses? Don’t worry guys, I’ve got it covered, but I hope you are losing some sleep (just like I am) knowing that this poor puppy is in extreme amounts of pain and discomfort because of your neglect.
My dog is now a liability, being a possible source of infection for other dogs/​animals/​people who come in contact with her and/​or her feces. So not only did your neglect affect my puppy, but who knows how many others are going to be affected.
This morning I had to watch my puppy scream and howl in pain while she went through treatment for her now severe case of parasites. She is not your average bubbly, energetic puppy, but she lays in her bed and sleeps and moans most of the day. This is her introduction into the world because of MARS. This is not how it had to be. Sure, it could have been worse & she could have been euthanized at the (alleged) shelter she initially came from (something that there lack of a 501©(3) makes me suspicious of. Perhaps she actually came from a puppy mill or backyard breeder instead)
If you’re in the Chicago area like I am I highly recommend you adopt from another rescue. From personal experience I would absolutely recommend Be Fido’s Friend or other small, personal rescues. They truly care for their animals.

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.

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 Unilocal 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!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.