What is Petfinder.com?

Joey is a 5-year-old Collie listed on Petfinder.com.

Petfinder.com is the national “yellow pages” for animal shelters and rescue groups. They refer to themselves as a “directory of homeless pets and pet adoption organizations”, but they are a godsend for the groups they serve.

 

The online database has more than 300,000 homeless pets listed and almost 12,000 non-profit animal welfare groups.  It is one of the busiest websites on the Internet; and it is free and very easy to use.

 

Scientists Jared and Betsy Saul started Petfinder.com with two goals in mind: “Increase public awareness of the availability of adoptable pets and increase the effectiveness of pet adoption programs to the extent that the euthanasia of adoptable pets is eliminated.”

 

People hoping to adopt a pet simply enter information about the type of animal they want; including breed, gender, age and size. The website brings up those pets based on the person’s Zip code. Petfinder.com shows each of their pictures, a description about their personality and how to reach the organization that has the pet. Information on the site is continuously updated.

 

Petfinder.com refers to itself as a “virtual shelter” where “your family can visit hundreds of shelters, get to know the pets, and not have to drive all around town to do it.” Many animal rescue groups credit 50% of their adoptions to the website. And the people who come to meet a cat or dog they saw on Petfinder.com are generally more prepared to take home a pet that day.

 

In 2006, the website was purchased by Discovery Communications. Since that time they have added educational articles, health information, grooming tips and more. They have also set up a charitable foundation.

 

If you are interested in adopting cat, dog, bird, horse or barnyard animal, I highly recommend that your search begin with Petfinder.com.