Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello,

I am loving these ideas for post-adoption support and outsourcing the work. Does anyone have any experience with either of these programs and are they worth the money? Have they impacted adoption return rates? Are customers satisfied?

Thank you!

#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment
#EducationandTraining
#PetSupportServices*

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Erin Wyse
Denver Animal Protection
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We just started using Petszel and are really liking it.  We previously used Maddies Pet Assistant.   We are looking in to Petcademy.   Our problem is just getting people to take advantage of these programs...we currently have GoodPup and very few people use it :( 

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Tracy Arvidson
Sand Springs Animal Welfare
Sand Springs OK
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

We are having the same problem. Since we are a county ran shelter, we are limited in what we can offer. Our volunteer organization offered GoodPup to adopters but have not seen as many people use it as expected to. We are hoping to try out Petacademy and have more success. Our goal is to help new adopters, but also to show our community that we still strive to help as much as we can vs the monsters many people portray shelters to be on social media. 

Original Message:
Sent: 10-03-2024 05:11 AM
From: Tracy Arvidson
Subject: Petcadaemy? Petszel? Has anyone used these for post adoption support?

We just started using Petszel and are really liking it.  We previously used Maddies Pet Assistant.   We are looking in to Petcademy.   Our problem is just getting people to take advantage of these programs...we currently have GoodPup and very few people use it :( 

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Tracy Arvidson
Sand Springs Animal Welfare
Sand Springs OK
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I am using Petcademy and those that take advantage of it like the service.  Encouraging adopters or those thinking about surrendering to reach out is

the biggest hurdle. 

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Kate Marshall
City of Southport APS Officer
Southport, NC
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We are signing up with Petszel. It doesn't cost anything and we are hoping to encourage people to use it. 

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Tereza Marks
Executive Director
Pet Allies
AZ
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

We are in the process of signing up with Petszel.  It is free to use.  We were impressed with the demo at the Best Friends Conference and the virtual demo they provided.  Another local shelter has been using it, and they really like the program.  

We started using Petszel and have been quite happy with it so far. There is no cost and it has options to customize for you organization. We have really liked the post adoption survey and so far have a 63% sign up rate for adopters.

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Jennifer Rylander
VP of Operations
Humane Society for Southwest Washington
WA
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We use petzel and for those that use it its helpful. Our problem is that only 30% of adopters will actually answer the surveys and follow up they send. Petzel is free for you to use as a rescue, and only makes money through ads, as well as links for adopters to buy things through. 

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roy forster
Director
Happy Life Animal Rescue
NY
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I just heard about Petszel and am hoping we can use it in the future.

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Stefanie Schmidt
Animal Welfare Specialist
Hearts Alive Village
NV
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This is a resource I will definitely be following up on. Free to rescues and support for new adopters- it's a no brainer!

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Joanna [Tedder]
[CEO]
[Dysfunction Junction Rescue, Inc. ]
[Jeffersonville] [GA]
[www.dysfunctionjunctionranchga.com]
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-14-2024 06:52 PM
From: Stefanie Schmidt
Subject: Petcadaemy? Petszel? Has anyone used these for post adoption support?

I just heard about Petszel and am hoping we can use it in the future.

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Stefanie Schmidt
Animal Welfare Specialist
Hearts Alive Village
NV
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I work for AnimalsFirst shelter and rescue software and a few of our clients use Petcademy and love it! It takes the pressure off of them for handling behavior and training questions. The first client we had sign up with them was actually a cat rescue, which surprised me, but they said it was a big help. 

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Marilyn Wheaton
Client Services
AnimalsFirst
Leesburg VA
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We use Petszel, Petcademy for cat adoptions, and GoodPup for dog adoptions. All of them are great. Petszel is free to use and the adopter's dashboard has our entire adoption packet and local services (vet clinics, training, boarding, grooming, etc). We can notate which services are at locations that we recommend. The dashboard also offers a variety of informative articles to help with transition or behavior. We are definitely getting more feedback from our adopters and able to provide support quicker when they are completing the post adoption surveys. The surveys also provide insight on how likely the adopter would be to recommend your organization, how the pet is adjust, and any issues they may be experiencing. The early surveys also remind adopters to ensure microchip information is up to date and schedule a vet appointment if needed to establish the newly adopted pet with their vet. 

Petcademy and GoodPup do not provide our adoption packet to adopters, but when used, they provide great adoption support. Cat adopters automatically receive a text to start Petcademy, and we are able to see any questions they may ask the Petcademy team. We typically provide the free week and discount code for GoodPup, but if an adoption requests additional behavior support, we will pay for a scholarship for them. 

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Sarah McGoldrick
Dallas Pets Alive
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

For those of you using Petszel, do any of you use Chameleon?  

Original Message:
Sent: 11-06-2024 05:10 PM
From: Sarah McGoldrick
Subject: Petcadaemy? Petszel? Has anyone used these for post adoption support?

We use Petszel, Petcademy for cat adoptions, and GoodPup for dog adoptions. All of them are great. Petszel is free to use and the adopter's dashboard has our entire adoption packet and local services (vet clinics, training, boarding, grooming, etc). We can notate which services are at locations that we recommend. The dashboard also offers a variety of informative articles to help with transition or behavior. We are definitely getting more feedback from our adopters and able to provide support quicker when they are completing the post adoption surveys. The surveys also provide insight on how likely the adopter would be to recommend your organization, how the pet is adjust, and any issues they may be experiencing. The early surveys also remind adopters to ensure microchip information is up to date and schedule a vet appointment if needed to establish the newly adopted pet with their vet. 

Petcademy and GoodPup do not provide our adoption packet to adopters, but when used, they provide great adoption support. Cat adopters automatically receive a text to start Petcademy, and we are able to see any questions they may ask the Petcademy team. We typically provide the free week and discount code for GoodPup, but if an adoption requests additional behavior support, we will pay for a scholarship for them. 

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Sarah McGoldrick
Dallas Pets Alive
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

For those of you that have utilized Petzel, does anyone use PetPoint? I saw on their site that they integrate with PetPoint, participated in the demo and loved it then ran into a roadblock. When I spoke with PetPoint they stated they do not have a formal contract with Petzel and do not integrate with them.

I'm not sure where to go from here since their website says one thing and  the representative from Petzel was not aware that there was no formal contract and she confirmed there was no contract. Supposedly they were in a "trial." 

We launched Petszel in January and use PetPoint. The process was seamless, and we haven't encountered any issues. Petszel handled the entire setup. The only thing we needed to do was create a user in PetPoint. 

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Jennifer Gurz
SPCA Serving Erie County
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2025 09:15 AM
From: Anonymous Member
Subject: Petcadaemy? Petszel? Has anyone used these for post adoption support?

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

For those of you that have utilized Petzel, does anyone use PetPoint? I saw on their site that they integrate with PetPoint, participated in the demo and loved it then ran into a roadblock. When I spoke with PetPoint they stated they do not have a formal contract with Petzel and do not integrate with them.

I'm not sure where to go from here since their website says one thing and  the representative from Petzel was not aware that there was no formal contract and she confirmed there was no contract. Supposedly they were in a "trial." 

We just started using Petszel about a month ago and love it. It is a great way to follow up with adopters and sends great information.

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Stefanie Schmidt
Animal Welfare Specialist
Hearts Alive Village
NV
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We use Petzel with Petpoint and it's been going really well for us! We do around 6500 adoptions a year and honestly, a 35% response rate isn't bad! Previously we had adoption counselors perform the post adoption check ins and we are hoping to fully convert to just using Petszel for follow up here soon. I like that the surveys with key words are flagged and forwarded to staff to reach out for assistance and having the adoption folders, including medical history, all be available digitally is a great perk! 

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Jamie Gibson
Animal Defense League of Texas
San Antonio TX
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I'm just hearing about Petszel so going to look into it. However, we've been using Petcademy for months and really like it. We receive great feedback from fosters and adopters too. They like being able to text for training support and advice. For us, it's been nice to see the survey's from fosters and adopters. 

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Kristina Calvanico
Director of Operations
PupStarz Rescue
NJ
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Hi there -- My name's Mike.  I'm a shelter veterinarian and one of the co-founders of Petszel.  I just wanted to chime in to hopefully help clarify something that's come up here. 

We're not sure where the confusion came from, but we're happy to confirm there is indeed an integration agreement between PetPoint and Petszel. In fact, PetPoint recently highlighted our expanded partnership in their press release: "Expanded partnerships: Collaboration across the industry with platforms such as Petco Love Lost, Petszel, and Petcademy to ensure pet parents have access to the services, support, and information they need to keep and care for their adopted pets."

If you have any other questions about Petszel, please feel free to reach out to me or anyone else on the Petszel team.  
Thank you so much for your interest!

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Mike Greenberg
Shelter Veterinarian
Nashville TN
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