There is this moment that occurs somewhere between two hours and three days when you look down at your newly-adopted and formerly adorable pet and think, “What have I just done?” Slowly, a sense of panic settles in. Is your bundle of furry joy going to forever and profoundly change your life?
Will she ever sleep again or is all-night meowing just part of the package?
Didn’t they tell us he was potty trained?
He doesn’t even know how to walk on a leash! How am I supposed to wear him out so he’ll sleep?
My dogs do not seem to like the new member of the family at all. Maybe she’s just not a good fit?
In these moments, most people figure out how to take a deep breath and muddle through, reaching out to friends for advice, searching the internet for guidance, and seeking out veterinary care or support from a behavior professional. Others succumb to the stress that often accompanies new pet parenthood and either rehome the pet or return it to the shelter. Even in the best scenarios, most new pet parents simply don’t get the support they need to fully enjoy the early days of meeting their adopted cat or dog.
Thanks to Petszel, all that is changing.
I was first connected to Petszel CEO Matt Russell by our mutual colleague and Petszel’s Chief Veterinary Officer Mike Greenberg. What immediately got my attention about Matt was how excited he was about the future of post-adoption pet owner support. Matt is a seasoned and well-respected tech entrepreneur in the veterinary space and was responsible for building both rVetlink and Datapoint, the ‘back-end’ softwares that power several animal health integrations and record transfer between many of the nation’s largest specialty practices.
He sees the problem for animal shelters as similar to the problems that used to exist in the veterinary industry: A lack of connectivity and integration keeps organizations operating in a silo. As he’s proven, integrating shelter and vet software with other platforms can dramatically improve the pet parent experience. For animal shelters, that translates to fewer adoption returns and more satisfied adopters who leave with positive feelings about the support they received from the shelter or rescue where they adopted from.
Petszel is free for shelters and rescues, providing an invaluable resource and support system that most organizations simply cannot afford themselves. From the moment they adopt, Petszel gives new pet parents all the information about their pet and can even transfer the pet’s vet records to the adopter’s current veterinarian or their veterinarian of choice. In addition, adopters receive content specifically created to help them through the first days and weeks of new pet ownership. It’s customizable, which means shelters can use the platform to provide their own resources and information to adopters and Petszel even helps adopters get in touch with the shelter if they have a need or question Petszel cannot help them with.
As a former animal shelter director of large, government animal shelters with limited resources, I struggled to find the time and resources to provide even basic post-adoption follow-up support to adopters. It pained me to see families taking home great pets, knowing they would need help transitioning to life with their new pet and that we did not have the means to help. Back then, we didn’t have Petszel, so we often dealt with unnecessary adoption returns and frustration from adopters who felt that we could do better. Today, shelter leaders can take advantage of this free technology to set up every adopter and new pet for success.
In today’s pet acquisition market, animal shelters have to do more to make adoption fun, easy, and rewarding. Petszel is a simple way for shelters to provide better service and to build trust with the community of animal lovers who choose to adopt, instead of shop, for their new family member.
