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Pet Inquiry Form now turned “on” for you

In last month’s What’s New email we let you know that if you’d chosen to display a public email address, your pet inquiry form would be switched “on” this month. It’s on now! We always do our best to give you options to opt in and out of features, so if you don’t like the advantages, like handy-dandy way it automatically includes a link to your pets and their ID# (if they have one) in the email you get from adopters, you can instantly turn it “off” here:

http://www.adoptapet.com/shelter/adoption-inquiry-form/edit

We do invite you to try it out first. We’ve heard nothing but positive feedback!

Here’s how the form works: With your form set to “on” and if you’ve chosen to “show public” an email address (that email option is here: http://www.adoptapet.com/cgi-bin/shelter/shelter.cgi/shelter_edit_form ), when a potential adopter clicks your email address on any of your pet’s pages, a small form appears. For now, the form has just a few fields: name, email address, and a space where adopters can type then send you their message. You’ll get the message just like a regular email from the email address they’ve typed, so you – or your autoreply – can reply directly back to them.

There are some neat advantages to using this form! One is a special spam blocker (called captcha) to help protect you from spambots. Another is each message automatically includes the pet’s name, ID# if they have one, and a link to their page on Adopt-a-Pet.com — and that information is emailed to the potential adopter too. We’ve heard that’s super helpful for you know exactly which pet they’re interested in adopting, and for them to keep track too.

Adopters can still see your email address and phone number displayed on all your pet pages. The form just improves what happens when a potential adopter clicks your email address.

Please let us know if you have any feedback! We love to hear from you as you help us make the features the best they can be.

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Meet us in Jacksonville, FL October 10th – 12th
If you’ll be at the No More Homeless Pets Conference in Jacksonville, we’d like very much to meet you! Myself (Jennifer), Dana our Director of Marketing, and our volunteer spokesdog Milo will be at our Adopt-a-Pet.com Booth (#3) in the exhibit hall Thursday, October 10th from 4:30 – 7:30 pm, Friday, October 11th from 12:00 – 2:00 pm, and Saturday, October 13th from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm. You do need to be registered for the conference http://conference.bestfriends.org to access the exhibit hall. If you aren’t registering but are nearby and would like to meet in person, let me know! I’m happy to set up appointments outside the exhibit hall hours. We look forward to meeting you!

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Purina continues to help feed homeless dogs and cats

Our friends at Purina® Pets for People continue to help shelters and rescue groups with donations feeding 58,845 dogs and cats so far in 2013!

Purina’s support of animal welfare takes the form of Animal Welfare Support programs for non-profit organizations, described in detail on www.PetsforPeople.com. Their programs such as Purina® Pets for 55+, Pro Plan® Rally to Rescue® and the Purina ONE® Pet Welfare Program are dedicated to providing support for local animal welfare organizations in their efforts to find homes for adoptable animals.

Occasionally the Nestlé Purina PetCare Company may have food donations available in your area. When you register your organization on www.PetsforPeople.com you will be automatically considered for any food donations that become available near you. During 2012, Purina donated more than $13 million in pet food and litter. In addition, should your organization be affected by a natural disaster, Purina may be able to provide food to help feed your organization’s animals during your time of need.

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And, of course… As always, we thank the wonderful, pet-loving people at Purina and Bayer Animal Health for supporting all of us in our mission and making Adopt-a-Pet.com a free service!