- Browse Businesses
- Guides
- Beauty & Fashion
- Consumer Tips
- Write a Review
- For Business
- Request a Review
- Discussions
- Backed by the National Science Foundation
- Sign up
- Log in
Denkai Sanctuary has a rating of 2 stars from 7 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Denkai Sanctuary ranks 54th among Animal Other sites.
These ppl have so much passion for helping animals that may be for all intents. Unadoptable. I have rescued 2 dogs from here. THEY ARE PERFECT!
Beware. I fostered 11 precious puppies and a sweet mama dog for Denkai and it was a very confusing, frustrating and deeply disturbing experience. Denkai beyond took advantage of me, and I'm very saddened to have to leave this review. They provided and paid for nothing, not even essentials. I was reimbursed for absolutely nothing during the 11 weeks of feeding, formula, pee pads, medications, dewormer, medicated shampoos, teething toys, food bowls, more pee pads, everything. When I asked for any supplies, such as pee pads, they seemed surprised at the request, and said "we will have to do a fundraiser for that." After the fifth try, I stopped asking them to pay for anything. I lived and breathed the well-being of these 11 puppies for 11 weeks and I was given very little direction, no guidance, and Tara constantly and condescendingly played games with me via text …especially regarding when she was going to have the puppies spayed/neutered. Denkai tried aggressively to spay/neuter all of the 11 puppies at 6 1/2 weeks old. No veterinarian in the world recommends spaying/neutering a puppy at 6 1/2 weeks. It's criminal. Not even the vet that did the procedures recommends spaying/neutering prior to 6 months -1 year of age, I know this because I called to ask the front desk, and they were very clear that 6 mos- 1 year is the soonest that they ever recommend it. Yet, Tara refused to allow my adopters to "foster to adopt," so that they could choose to execute this procedure on their own timeline. She allowed one adopter to do the "foster to adopt" option because he paid her an extra $150. She refused to offer any reasoning for denying adopters the option to "foster to adopt." It was obviously money motivated. They promised me that I would have final say and ample input in who adopted the puppies, however, they adopted one puppy right out from under me …to an adopter that no one had ever met and of which no one had ever seen the home, and didn't even live in Colorado. Moreover, I had already adopted this pup to another adopter, who had actually visited the pup and was an excellent fit. They gave the puppy to the former adopter because they took his payment over the phone before notifying me of anything. In the end, that poor puppy had to be transferred in a hot car, on the day of his spay surgery, to Sante Fe. Truly, this experience was filled with one unnecessary drama after another. And I'm a pretty low-key, reasonable person! Some of the decisions and demands that they made were completely unreasonable, not in the best interest of the puppy, and clearly money motivated. This sanctuary never did a single home visit/check and didn't seem to much care where the puppies ended up, as long as the adopter was paid up. No matter how hard I tried to get a phone call back from the "owner" Floss, she would not call me to discuss anything. Instead, she would instruct her employees to text me, in a very snide and/or demanding tone, or just ignore me. Either way, they made it very clear, numerous times, that I was to do what they instructed me to do, or else they would have the puppies removed from my care by authorities immediately. I was not confrontational. I was not difficult. I did notice, however, that their tone towards me grew bitter and dismissive when I told them that I was going into debt paying for everything myself, and that I would need them to pick up the next vet bill for one of the puppies to get their skin problem officially checked (I was failing at trying to troubleshoot it myself, and the poor pup was quickly losing her hair). So, fosters and adopters, beware. I feel deeply taken advantage of and very sad to have to leave this review. If you want to volunteer with a reputable organization, I have learned that A Friend of Jack's really honors their fosters, and adopters, and does a nice job self regulating their systems and procedures https://friendofjackrescue.com/
Beware. I fostered 11 precious puppies and a sweet mama dog for Denkai and it was a very confusing, frustrating and deeply disturbing experience. Denkai beyond took advantage of me, and I'm very saddened to have to leave this review.
They provided and paid for nothing, not even essentials. I was reimbursed for absolutely nothing during the 11 weeks of feeding, formula, pee pads, medications, dewormer, medicated shampoos, teething toys, food bowls, more pee pads, everything. When I asked for any supplies, such as pee pads, they seemed surprised at the request, and said "we will have to do a fundraiser for that." After the fifth try, I stopped asking them to pay for anything.
I lived and breathed the well-being of these 11 puppies for 11 weeks and I was given very little direction, no guidance, and Tara constantly and condescendingly played games with me via text …especially regarding when she was going to have the puppies spayed/neutered. Denkai tried aggressively to spay/neuter all of the 11 puppies at 6 1/2 weeks old.
No veterinarian in the world recommends spaying/neutering a puppy at 6 1/2 weeks. It's criminal. Not even the vet that did the procedures recommends spaying/neutering prior to 6 months -1 year of age, I know this because I called to ask the front desk, and they were very clear that 6 mos- 1 year is the soonest that they ever recommend it. Yet, Tara refused to allow my adopters to "foster to adopt," so that they could choose to execute this procedure on their own timeline. She allowed one adopter to do the "foster to adopt" option because he paid her an extra $150. She refused to offer any reasoning for denying adopters the option to "foster to adopt." It was obviously money motivated.
They promised me that I would have final say and ample input in who adopted the puppies, however, they adopted one puppy right out from under me …to an adopter that no one had ever met and of which no one had ever seen the home, and didn't even live in Colorado. Moreover, I had already adopted this pup to another adopter, who had actually visited the pup and was an excellent fit. They gave the puppy to the former adopter because they took his payment over the phone before notifying me of anything. In the end, that poor puppy had to be transferred in a hot car, on the day of his spay surgery, to Sante Fe.
Truly, this experience was filled with one unnecessary drama after another. And I'm a pretty low-key, reasonable person!
Some of the decisions and demands that they made were completely unreasonable, not in the best interest of the puppy, and clearly money motivated.
This sanctuary never did a single home visit/check and didn't seem to much care where the puppies ended up, as long as the adopter was paid up.
No matter how hard I tried to get a phone call back from the "owner" Floss, she would not call me to discuss anything. Instead, she would instruct her employees to text me, in a very snide and/or demanding tone, or just ignore me. Either way, they made it very clear, numerous times, that I was to do what they instructed me to do, or else they would have the puppies removed from my care by authorities immediately.
I was not confrontational. I was not difficult. I did notice, however, that their tone towards me grew bitter and dismissive when I told them that I was going into debt paying for everything myself, and that I would need them to pick up the next vet bill for one of the puppies to get their skin problem officially checked (I was failing at trying to troubleshoot it myself, and the poor pup was quickly losing her hair).
So, fosters and adopters, beware. I feel deeply taken advantage of and very sad to have to leave this review.
If you want to volunteer with a reputable organization, I have learned that A Friend of Jack's really honors their fosters, and adopters, and does a nice job self regulating their systems and procedures
https://friendofjackrescue.com/
This place is a major scam and Floss Blackburn is not a good leader. I don't know where the money is going but I have high suspicions it's not going directly to the animals. Adopt somewhere that shows you where the money goes, this place is not it!
Tip for consumers:
If you are thinking about doing any volunteer work, or getting a job here, think twice and do your research.
THey shipped a german shepherd from Cortez to Thornton CO. The dog has a broken leg. Said they would have surgery for the dog. They won't call the foster back and the dog is in pain. They gave no food or a crate. This place is the worst.
This is incorrect. Denkai works with transfer partners from high kill shelters in Texas. This puppy that you are referring to was transported directly from Texas to the foster who was informed a To policies and procedures in regards to our processes.
This guy was like to sit in that Texas shelter with no veterinary care but that shelter and was going to be euthanized by that shelter.
She arrived on transport to her foster with medication. We sent her X-rays to the vet in Colorado Springs in regards to surgery and are waiting on a response from that veterinarian. The foster who stepped up to save her life is aware of all of this and has been informed.
We do not know who you are, you continue to leave complaints and bad reviews without knowing the facts.
Denkai is following procedure. Denkai is in direct communication with this foster who again, is not you.
I put in an application to adopt precious the beginning of September. I then received a call on the 13th and the gal stated that I was approved for the adoption! YAY… or not. I was contacted the next day from a lady named Tracy. She told me that unfortunately she had an adopter that she was unaware of. Ok… I let it go at that point. I was then contacted on the evening of the 20th by a gal named Dallas who at the time had precious in her home. Dallas asked if I was still interested in adopting precious. I was so very excited for this news. Come Thursday and I didn't hear from Dallas with the adoption contract. I contacted her and she informed me that unfortunately she no longer worked for Denkai any more and then gave me the information for a gal named Alaina. I contacted her and she was so sweet. I got the contact on Friday. Filled it all out and submitted it back. She said she would get back to me once she spoke to her boss (who was on vacation at the time) to get permission to use a vehicle to meet me somewhere so I could pickup precious. Later Friday evening I was contacted yet again by Tracy stating that she "told me" there were a FEW adopters ahead of me! WHAT?!?! I have now been contacted TWICE stating that I was approved and for whatever reason Tracy stopped everything and LIED to me. There were never any other adopters before me. If there were, she would be with them at this point. They wouldn't now be looking for fosters! I begged Tracy not to do this. That precious would be going to a great and loving home. I told Tracy that precious was going to be paired with my autistic daughter. Once precious got settled we were going to get both precious and my daughter special training so precious could be a service animal and be with her forever human. I had vet care already set up for her… everything. Tracy still didn't budge. So, I then contacted Floss! Unfortunately, Floss was on vacation. I texted her on Friday evening letting her know what was going on. I didn't get a response. Yes, I knew she was on vacation (last 2 days). However, you would think that being the owner and there was an issue you would do something about it. Especially, when Floss was the one that gave Dallas the go ahead to approve me to adopt her. Seems pretty cut and dry to me. Only would have taken 10 min out of her vacation. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I messaged her again on Saturday. At which point she contacted me and stated that she would look in to things first thing Monday morning. Monday comes around and it's now 3PM and nothing from Floss. I totally understand she just got back. They are getting ready for the clinic they are running for their community (awesome they do this). Again, just shoot me a text, give me a quick call, something. This time she tells me she's trying to get through all of this information and she will get back to me "maybe tomorrow". Well, it's now tomorrow (27th) and I'm starting to loose my patients at this point. I sent Floss another text at around 11:30am. 4pm rolls around and still no response. So, I texted her and told her that I feel that I have been super patient at this point and that I will be writing reviews and calling the news letting everyone know that I feel they (especially Tracy) are discriminating against the fact that I have 5 special needs people in my home and 3 dogs (2 of which service 2 out of my 3 autistic children). Surprise! I sure got a response from that text with in 30 min. This time she's now stating that she takes this text as though I am no longer interested in adopting Precious (this wasn't a priority to her anyway) and that if I proceed with my THREAT that she will be "forced to take legal action for defamation of character". There are no threats from me…. Only honesty and KINDNESS. Precious and our family could have all been together by now. Precious would be getting so spoiled and loved on like crazy right now. Unfortunately, for whatever reason Tracy filled me with nothing but lies about other adopters and Floss brushed me off and then used Precious as a pawn.
It's my belief that Denkai trys its very best to save as many dogs, cats, horses an many other animals.
If you are donating money to this rescue, you need to read this. Do you know what your money is being used for? As a foster, I had to come up with over $300 for a vet bill that this rescue should have paid. So what's happening to the money you are all donating?
I decided to help foster a cat that Floss had found because all the reviews online said this was a great rescue and they were doing such good work but that's not the experience I had with them. I ended up having to come up with over $300 to pay a vet bill for this foster cat even though Floss had okayed the procedures and said the rescue would pay for them.
Really, I should have seen the signs that this may not be a legitimate rescue. Let me tell you why so you don't make the same mistake
There was a call out for anyone that could act as a foster for some animals in Towaoc. Since I already fostered for LPCHS and had space, I checked the rescue out online and after reading the reviews said I'd help out. I contacted Floss and we agreed to meet in Cortez (2 hours away from my house). I didn't mind driving that far because it was to help an animal.
I met Floss and she handed me a cat in a carrier and said thanks for helping. FIRST RED FLAG: She never checked my background. For all she knew I could have been someone looking for free bait animals.
She said "You can find a vet near you that will give us a discount to help get the cat vaccinations and get his health checked out." She also told me the cat was a female and to just let her know if I needed anything. SECOND RED FLAG: The cat was very obviously a male. His testicles were huge. There was no way someone with animal knowledge could mistake him for a female.
I brought him home with just the kennel. THIRD RED FLAG: No supplies given to the foster. LPCHS usually gives food, litter, toys, etc. out to the fosters so they are not spending a lot of their own money on feeding and providing for the cats, but I figured I could probably swing some extra cat food and litter for a while. I checked out some local vets and found one that would give a discount to the rescue. I got permission from Floss to bring him there. He was neutered, got his vaccinations (first set) and had his ears cleaned because he had a severe case of ear mites (so bad he was trying to scratch his ears off). They gave me meds to give him for 3 weeks (which actually took 5 weeks because his ear mites were so bad). The vet sent the bill to Floss.
When it was time for the cat's booster vaccinations, I again contacted the rescue and they asked if I could go to Tractor Supply and get them from there so they didn't have to pay the vet again. No problem I have experience giving cats and dogs vaccinations. She said I'd be reimbursed for the cost. FOURTH RED FLAG: The vet called and said the bill still hadn't been paid. Now I was beginning to wonder if I would be reimbursed too.
FIFTH RED FLAG: When the cat was healthy and ready to be adopted out, I asked Ramona to put his information up on their webpage so people knew he was available. I even wrote up a description and sent them pictures. I asked them to put his information up 3 times and they NEVER did.
I brought the cat back into the vet several months later for a visit (no cost) just so they could see how he was doing. They were all impressed how healthy he was and how great he looked compared to the first time they saw him. SIXTH RED FLAG: They again told me they had been trying to get a hold of the rescue to pay the bill but they were being ignored and the bill was still outstanding.
I tried contacting Floss and Ramona again. They cut off all communication. I haven't been able to get in touch with them for months now.
Therefore, I had to do a fund-raising campaign to come up with the funds to pay the vet. The vet did the work in good faith and she should get paid for what she did. It took me several weeks but I was able to find enough people to donate to cover the cost. I also put in the work to find the cat a great forever home.
My questions for you are: If the foster people are paying for food, supplies and vet bills and for each animal adopted there is almost a $100 fee, where is the money going that you are donating? It's obviously not going to help the animals. So, is Denkai Animal Sanctuary a fraud? Did I just get unlucky enough that I'm the only one that has been through this with this rescue? (I doubt it is only me).
If you are fortunate enough to be able to donate to an animal rescue, I recommend skipping this one and finding one that is actually using your money for the animals. A few I've worked for that are definitely legitimate are La Plata County Humane Society and Paw Placement they both do excellent work! Put your money where it is actually helping animals instead of going to who know where (maybe Floss and Ramona are taking a nice vacation in Jamaica with your moneywho knows?)
BEWARE THIS RESCUE. Donate elsewhere.
These ppl have so much passion for helping animals that may be for all intents. Unadoptable. I have rescued 2 dogs from here. THEY ARE PERFECT!
Gain trust and grow your business with customer reviews.
Neco was a staff member with our organization who was fired and as such became disgruntled. Not uncommon unfortunately in this type of situation.