Animal Welfare Friends

We adopted our Bailey back in September. What a beautiful girl she is. And so much fun. The people at Animal Welfare Friends were so helpful. We live on a farm so all the shelters in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids won’t even consider us because our yard is not fully fenced in. But Animal Welfare Friends gave us the chance. They allowed us to adopt this beautiful girl and she is thriving. Getting ready to start puppy kindergarten and go to Two Sisters in West Branch to play with some friends. Thank You so much for the chance to adopt 🥰🐶

We are so grateful to this shelter for bringing Hades into our lives. Hades, our German Shepherd/Mastiff mix, came from a difficult situation and was very anxious when we first started fostering him. The staff was incredible from the beginning — always checking in, offering advice, and making sure we felt supported every step of the way. It truly felt like they cared about setting both Hades and our family up for success. The transition wasn’t always easy at first, but we quickly fell in love with our gentle giant. With patience and lots of love, Hades slowly began to relax and show us his true personality. Now he loves his toys (especially tennis balls), going on walks, and snuggling up with me, my husband, and our two young sons. Watching him grow into the happy, loving dog he is today h

tl;dr a shelter's process/philosophy is so important when adopting! Adopted a kitten from AWF in April 2025. Facility is beautiful and they take care of the cats very well, but be prepared to adopt on the spot! On our application, we'd stated that we could take her home that Saturday - when we met her the day before to see if it was a good fit, they wouldn't allow us to sign the adoption papers and get her the next day because they considered that "boarding". But we wanted her, so we signed, and THEN we were told that she'd had ringworm and the shelter treated her differently than the other cats. We eventually had to surrender her a few months later because she needed a companion kitten (which our apartment wouldn't allow). When we returned her to AWF, they copied the same description as w

We adopted Neuro, a blind cat, who we immediately fell in love with. He came home to his new house mates, a diabetic cat and 2 very active and curious dogs. Neuro has adapted so well and is navigating his new environment famously. We appreciated the staff we met last Sunday and learning of Neuro's journey to AWF. Thanks to the veterinary clinic that treated Neuro so that he can be part of our family. JOE AND BARB

My boyfriend and I had very unpleasant experiences at the CR animals shelters so we decided to look outside of CR. We ended up finding this place. After looking at their website we immediately fell in love with a dog and ended up adopting him. The staff there were so friendly and the process was very simple. I would recommend this place to anyone looking to add a new family member!