PetLynx 101: Why should pet families pre-register before adopting?

Bet ya can't pick just one!

Adopting a new animal companion is exciting! But it can also be intimidating and overwhelming .... even for those of us who have been through it before!

There is a lot of emotion involved in that first week and, because of this, new pet families often lose sight of some of the responsibilities that come with their new bundle of joy. This distraction is reason enough to encourage pet families to pre-register with PetLynx  before they get to the shelter.

The Perks of PetLynx for Pet Families

Whether they operate as part of a municipality or are non-profit agencies, animal shelters are busy places! While it can be a challenge, it is important that adoption staff and volunteers using PetLynx take a few minutes to explain the "perks" of registration that is part of the pet adoption package given to each new pet family.

Six Packs/Nine Lives 2012 Calendar Campaign

In 2010 the International Summit for Urban Animal Strategies turns the focus on homing animals in our communities.

We all know that community collaboration, creativity and commitment are all needed to increase adoptions from animal shelters world wide... and this week we applaud the efforts of Found Animals Foundation in California for taking a truly unique approach to creating awareness, boosting animal adoptions and saving lives of shelter cats nationwide.

Found Animals, in cooperation with award winning celebrity/fashion photographer Adam Bouska and Brown Trout Publishers will hold an open casting call on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 to find 12 handsome men and their pet cats for a global companion cat campaign and 2012 calendar entitled “6 Packs/9 Lives.” 

The open auditions will be held on Saturday, June 5th in Downey, California at the South East Area Animal Control Authority, which is home to the Found Animals kitty adoption annex, “The ModPawd.” The auditions are open to all men who have a pet cat as well as what it takes to appear in the calendar.  All contestants must be prepared to prove that their cuddly kitty truly belongs to them. The casting will feature a panel of celebrity judges to choose the winners. Each of the 36 male finalists, who will be selected earlier that day, will walk a catwalk and answer questions for the judges in the afternoon. The judges will rate each contestant, scores will be tallied and winners will be announced after all finalists have appeared.
 
All proceeds from the calendar will be used to improve the lives of shelter animals and support various initiatives including spay and neuter services, microchip programs and adoption of shelter animals and homeless cats and dogs globally.

To learn more about the “6 Packs/9 Lives” Calendar Campaign or Found Animals, please contact Michael Gilman at (310) 574-5792 or e-mail michael@foundanimals.org.
 
Posted by Terri Perrin, Online Communications Editor

Chihuahuas Cause for Concern in Calaifornia

In January 2010, the American SPCA Adoption Centre welcomed 15 Chihuahuas that had been flown in from California to New York with the hope of finding forever homes for them.

Apparently, California shelters have seen a dramatic increase in the number of Chihuahua intakes -- this toy breed now make up 30% of the state's shelter dog population.

These dogs may be tiny... but this is a big problem for state shelters!

Posted by Terri Perrin, Online Communications Editor

Cooperative Efforts Helps Homeless Puppies

A recent story in the Edmonton Journal showed how the spirit of collaboration and cooperation can move mountains.... well maybe not mountains, but most certainly puppies!

A truck loaded with 22 medium and large breed puppies from the Winnipeg Humane Society arrived at the Edmonton Humane Society on February 21. According to society spokeswoman, Shawna Randolph, the pups will be put up for adoption as soon as they have the required medical and behaviour tests.

Apparently, Winnipeg has had fewer adoptions recently and an inexplicable increase in the number of puppies being dropped off at the shelter.

Winnipeg Humane Society's executive director, Bill McDonald, said that he asked the Edmonton Humane Society to help find homes for the pups because of its recent success at adopting out homeless dogs from California. More than 90 per cent of the 112 small breed dogs flown by private jet to Edmonton from Fresco, Calfifornia, last month have already been adopted.

"We are so thankful that the Edmonton Humane Society is helping us give these dogs the proper start," he said. "It was a happy occasion to see these pups hit the road."

Randolph added that the transfer of the puppies was made possible with the generosity of Cochrane's Automotive Repair, a west-end Lexus dealership, as well as volunteers Sandy and Les Raubenheimer. The repair shop serviced the Edmonton Humane Society's truck for the 1,700-kilometre trip at no cost, while the Lexus dealership supplied $2,500 for gas. The Raubenheimers, who drove, covered their own expenses.

Randolph said the Edmonton society will help other humane organizations and animal rescue groups whenever it can. The society plans to help the Humane Rescue Animal Team of northern Alberta by taking 13 homeless dogs off its hands in a couple of weeks and will continue to help with the California Canine Cuties program.

The first pups should be up for adoption in a few days, and the public is advised to check www.edmontonhumanesociety.com for updates.

Posted by Terri Perrin, Online Communications Editor

The Perks of PetLynx (For Pet Families)

Whether they operate as part of a municipality or are non-profit agencies, animal shelters are busy places! While it can be a challenge, it is important that adoption staff and volunteers using PetLynx take a few minutes to explain the "perks" of registration that is part of the pet adoption package given to each new pet family. What's in for me, you might ask? When pet guardians regularly update their PetLynx profile they help animal service providers (that's you!) get lost pets HomeSafe faster! With the PetLynx DataSketch system, lost and found matches can be made using only a physical description. With the quick and easy AutoMatch recovery system, fewer animals are brought to animal shelters... saving valuable time, resources and, ultimately, lives. Benefits of PetLynx for pet families:

• Instant access to pet's ID and medical records 24/7.

• In an emergency, veterinarians, shelter workers and animal control personnel have access to information 24/7.

• Lifetime access to National Automated Pet Recovery Service, should the animal become lost. Includes ability to quickly and easily create and print "Lost Pet" posters.

• DataSketchTM and AutoMatchTM combine to enable real time automated matching of lost and found pets, with or without ID, to help get pets HomeSafeTM!

Pet families should be advised to:

• Upload a new photo of the pet immediately. Update at least annually.

• Update contact info immediately, whenever anything changes. No fee for updating or changing information.

• Double-check pet(s) listing(s) at least once a year, ideally when dog/cat licenses are renewed or when the pet has an annual physical.

• Update medical information. This is especially important as your pet ages or if there has been a change in medication or treatment protocols.

• Update the profile if there has been radical change in your pet's description. (Such as shaving, spaying or neutering.)

Want to know more? Check out our Q & A section. Not a service provider? Want to register your pet with PetLynx? Pre-register your pet for one low lifetime fee

A heart-warming tale for a cold winter night

'Buckley's Story: Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher In the spring of 2005, author Ingrid King met Buckley. All it took for King, a long-time veterinary hospital manager, was one look at the small homeless cat, and she fell in love. Hard. And fast. Soon, her life was transformed. In King's warmhearted memoir, Buckley's Story: Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher, she shares the story of how -- rather unexpectedly -- one tortoiseshell cat touched her life forever. Buckley's presence in King's life leads the author to make major changes in her own life, inspired by the lessons this little cat taught through her joyful spirit and huge heart -- universal lessons that readers can apply to their own lives. But after only a few years, Buckley is diagnosed with advanced cardiac disease. In the following chapters of Buckley's Story, King tells of the sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes joyous, final months of Buckley's life. The human-feline bond is an unbreakable one, and King retells the story with poetic grace. This book is a celebration of life and a reflection of the never-ending love that anyone who has ever loved and lost a pet can surely relate to.

Rally to Rescue Across America

Purina Pro Plan is taking its message of pet adoption across America in a customized motor home. And they are also asking animal ambassadors to participate by hosting their own events.

Since the inception of Rally to Rescue® in 2005, more than 227,000 pets in the United States have found loving, forever homes. But there is still more work to do! Rally To Rescue® encourages everyone to help their Ambassadors reach the grand total goal of 300,000 adoptions by the end of 2009. Rally To Rescue® is traveling to eight areas across the country with the Rally Across America 2009 tour.

Follow the Rally To Rescue® team and get ideas for adoption events in your community as they host hundreds of events nationwide.

Twitter-A-Critter

Celebrities use Twitter to help save the lives of shelter pets.

Adopt-a-Pet.com, North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption web service, announces the official launch of TwitterACritter, a new social media campaign that uses Twitter to spread the word about adoptable pets in shelters.

On the campaign web site, www.TwitterACritter.com, pet lovers can select one of the 130,000 homeless dogs, cats, and other pets listed on Adopt-a-Pet.com and tweet a link to that pet's information.

"TwitterACritter is a fun, easy way for people to actively save the life of a shelter pet, even if they can't adopt one themselves or afford to donate," says Abbie Moore, executive director of Adopt-a-Pet.com. "Homeless pets are powerless to promote themselves to potential adopters, so it's up to those of us who love animals to lend a hand, and a set of thumbs, and tweet about them. In these difficult economic times, when so many pets are being relinquished to shelters, they need our help more than ever."

Already the campaign has gotten a boost from several celebrities who have participated and encouraged their Twitter followers to do the same. Since the TwitterACritter feature became available in mid-August, Kevin Nealon, Alyssa Milano, Denise Richards, Kristin Chenoweth, and several other celebrities have taken up the cause and tweeted links to shelter pets listed on Adopt-a-Pet.com. According to Moore, "In each case, immediately after the celebrity's tweet, hundreds of their followers tweeted homeless pets as well… and their followers tweet, and so on and so on. The celebrities create an avalanche of compassion."

"The bottom line is that if enough people see a shelter pet, that pet gets adopted. There is no better way to expose shelter pets to as many potential adopters as possible than through Twitter," continues Moore. "It's no exaggeration to say that a single tweet can save a life. Imagine the impact it would have if everyone tweeted just one critter a day!"

Check out TwitterACritter to see photos of celebrity participants.

Bones of the Business

Tips for Working Smarter Challenge: Your agency receives animals who might do better in a different environment or with different resources: more time, more space, some rehabilitation options (medical or behavioral) or different exposure for adoption. Solution: Instead of competing with other animal welfare agencies, recognize the strengths of each organization and work together for the homeless animals in your community by creating transfer relationships. Recognize program priorities In a transfer relationship, you must recognize that neither agency is the "villain" and neither is the "hero." The releasing agency and the receiving agency are equal partners. Considerations before entering a transfer partnership

• Can you commit consistent people-time for the program?
• Have you visited your partner agency to get a first-hand knowledge of conditions, philosophies and expectations?
• Are there seasonal considerations?

Build sound procedures to address logistics Write transparent procedures and requirements to clarify roles and responsibilities with WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND HOW. View the Spring 2009 issue of PetSmart Charities Quarterly newsletter for the complete story. Used by permission from PetSmart Charities, Inc. Learn more with free webinars at: www.petsmartcharities.org

Calgary Animal Shelters at Full Capacity

Vacationing owners and the recession result in kennels being filled to capacity CALGARY, August 12, 2009 ~ A story published in today's Calgary Herald revealed that Calgary's two largest animal shelters are in crisis. The City's shelter is getting close to capacity, with 70 cats and 44 dogs waiting to be claimed by their owners or be adopted into new homes. Similarly, the Calgary Humane Society is overrun with 484 cats and 95 dogs.

"We always get a bit of a spike in our numbers in August," said Bill Bruce, The City's director of Animal & Bylaw Services. "But it's our return-to-owner statistics that really slump out on us because of [the fact that people are on] vacations. We have trouble reaching the owners to let them know their pet is here. At some point--after 10 to 14 days of trying to reach them and getting no response to our calls -- we have to act in the animal's best interests, which is not to keep it languishing in a shelter forever and it gets adopted."

"[Capacity] is usually high this time of year," said Calgary Humane Society spokeswoman Pamela Amos, noting it is kitten season so some owners are surrendering the mother cat and her entire litter. The shelter has also noticed an increasing number of owners turning over their pets due to the recession.

Local Service Providers: City of Calgary Animal & Bylaw Services, Calgary Humane Society

Pre-Registration for Adoption

Adopting a new pet is overwhelming even for those of us who have been through it before. There's a lot of emotion involved in that first week and because of this, new pet families often lose sight of some of the responsibilities that come with their new bundle of joy. This distraction is reason enough to encourage pet families to pre-register before they get to the shelter. By creating an account for themselves before they walk in your door, adopters not only save you time and money but they prove that they are serious about taking on the responsibility associated with having a new pet. It encourages the pet family's understanding that they are accountable for keeping their information current and that PetLynx is the place to do it. By the time Fluffy wanders out the door for the first time, your pet families will already know that the first step includes PetLynx--it will be old hat. Nose kisses, 'potty' training successes, and a multitude of firsts will only hold an allure for so long and encouraging your pet families to be responsible pet owners is what really leads to increased recoveries, shorter shelter stays, and great HomeSafe stories.

AnimalTRACS™ reduces your workload

More often than not, when you hear someone refer to AnimalTRACS™, he or she is talking about the automated Lost and Found features it contains. Although these features are truly one-of-a-kind and certainly worth recognizing, the real treasure of AnimalTRACS™ is the amount of time it can save your staff. With most registration systems, the process involves paper forms that must be hand written, mailed or faxed in, and then finally entered into a stand-alone database by staff at a microchip company. Not only is this process time consuming but it facilitates mix-ups or misplaced data. By allowing pet families to register themselves before entering your facility and update their own records after they’ve left, AnimalTRACS™ reduces the industry workload by over 90 percent. It also encourages pet families to keep their information current and thereby supports a culture of responsible pet ownership in your community. The next time you mention AnimalTRACS™ to someone, tout the Lost and Found capabilities—they’re second to none—but don’t neglect to mention the other benefits it has for your organization and for the whole industry.