Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  Feline/Canine Matchmaking

    Posted 05-05-2023 12:24 PM

    Hello!
    Our shelter would like to start a matchmaking program for our adopters. Are there any free websites/apps you would recommend? I found one, howimetmydog.com, but it seems as though it is specific to dogs. Our shelter has a lot more cats than dogs so it would be ideal if we used a program that includes cats or is cat-specific.
    Thank you!


    #AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms

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    Anna Esala
    Shelter Attendant
    Story County Animal Shelter
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  • 2.  RE: Feline/Canine Matchmaking

    Posted 05-07-2023 06:46 AM

    Well I  had created an extensive matchmaking site that had all the parts necessary to accomplish what I believe you desire to do. First ,you have the personal profile which has an extensive list of free form fields to input information.
    Second, you setup a series of questions that does the majority of the matchmaking. Any question is valid, and response should be from a selected series of checkbox choices. 
    Third, each question can be assigned a weight to say matches on this item can count for 10%, 20% of the overall match percentage. This allows you to set importance on the item/subject. 
    Fourth, attached to the owner profile are sub-profiles for each of their pets. This starts off by determining what type of pet (dog/cat/horse/reptile/anything), then selecting the breed of the associated animal).  That includes pics, video, full bio, medications, vet, microchip info and health conditions. This was to be able to match/search for people with the same breed/animal and socialize. Pulling up a profile indicates a percentage match to yours. 
    Fifth, it allowed an owner to be matched automatically with people who match within 'x' miles from your location. 
    Finally, the information on each pet cam be triggered when a pet gets lost. The owner can click on a lost notice, insert the information on where the pet was last seen, and a notice goes out to every member in the region as well as suto-generate a lost poster that is shared by social media. 

    This is what we designed, and used for human matchmaking, and I think that what you desire is to matchmake between 2 pets....not impossible,  but different. 

    We took down the site a few years ago, but there is nothing that exists like it anywhere. The programming is now used for our microchip registry and smart tags we developed to return lost pets to the owners. 



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    Richard Meyers
    President
    SchnauzerLife
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Feline/Canine Matchmaking

    Posted 05-08-2023 04:01 AM

    Hi Anna,

    We don't specifically have a matchmaking program, but we do ask general questions during meet/greet or on inquiry. For cats, things like: do you prefer: (M/F, what color/pattern, short/medium/long hair, pet or mouser, lap cat, active/calm), etc. We use ShelterLuv software and, although we haven't at this point, we could easily input those questions into our adoption application. Whatever software you are using should be able to handle adding some questions like that. Hope that helps.



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    Renee Milner
    Facebook page volunteer
    Animal shelter alliance of Rhea
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Feline/Canine Matchmaking

    Posted 05-08-2023 05:27 AM

    I'm not sure about all the details of how Anna would like to match people, but the ability to go online, to a website and fill out a profile asking all the pertinent questions that are set by committee of volunteers, then see all the cats/dogs and having a match percentage right next to pictures/bio of the animals would be a great idea.  Click one button, and apply for interest in the pet. 

    Less work, no expensive software, can service multiple shelters, and expose every animal up for adoption within a certain geographic radius. That would benefit smaller shelters who would have equal exposure to the well financed ones.



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    Richard Meyers
    President
    SchnauzerLife
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    Original Message


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