How To List Different Types Of Pets

Listing Pets Needing A Home Together

Need help with promoting your bonded pairs to potential adopters? Make sure you’re giving your bonded pets the spotlight by ticking the ‘Pets looking for a home together’ box when creating their listings - this will help make it clear to potential adopters. It’s important to note that they’ll still appear in normal search results, while also appearing when a potential adopter searches specifically for bonded pets. Including information about each pet and their unique personality, and photos of both of them hanging out together also will help attract potential adopters to your adorable bonded duos. Don’t be afraid to highlight the fact that the furry friends need to be rehomed together, to help prevent potential adopters from trying to adopt only one.

Adopters can search for pets looking for a home together.

 

Image: Otis via Doggie Rescue

Listing Pets Needing A Foster Carer

Having trouble finding foster carers? We've got you covered! It’s now easier than ever to list pets that need a foster carer. Simply select ‘needs a Foster carer’, and the foster badge will appear on your pet’s listing, making it easy to see that the pet needs a foster carer. 

The badge on pet’s profiles who need a foster carer.

 

Image: Mushka via Southern Downs ARK

Listing Senior Pets

Looking to find a home for the golden oldies in your care? There are plenty of people searching for a sweet senior pet, who they can provide a retirement home for. So, don’t forget to tick the ‘senior pet’ box when listing any of your older pets for adoption. Choosing this option doesn’t remove the pet from the general search (they will still appear under ‘adult’ searches), but gives people looking specifically for a senior pet the chance to find them. 

Adopters can search for pets by age.

 

While you’re at it, here are our simple do’s and don’ts to keep in mind when writing pet listings:

Do:

• Keep the tone positive! Focus on the pet and their individual personality while staying honest - make them sound appealing and present the adoption process as a rewarding and fun experience. If you must mention something negative, choose your words carefully, for example, ‘’Lucy bonds incredibly strongly with her ‘special person, so becomes worried when she is left alone for too long. She needs an understanding owner who can work with her to become more independent and who has time to be home with her for part of the day.’’

• Take a moment to picture the ideal owner for the pet and tailor your ad to their personal interests - such as an outdoorsy family looking for an energetic pet, or a homebody searching for a pet they can snuggle with on the couch.

• Focus on what the adopter’s needs and wants are as well as the rescue pet’s - for example, ‘Bill loves a run, and would make the perfect jogging buddy!’

• Grab attention with a great sentence highlighting the pet’s endearing traits. Engage your more nurturing adopters by listing the pet’s best traits before explaining that you are looking for a special person.

• Include a clear call to action at the end of the listing - explain exactly what you would like the potential adopter to do next, with flair!

• Read your ad aloud to check that it flows, and to see whether there is room for improvement. Make sure you’re performing a spell check and adding in paragraph breaks.

• Remember to have fun! The more profiles you create, the more confident you’ll become and the more engaging they’ll be for potential adopters!

Don’t: 

• Use a negative tone, or launch into attacks on pet owners or shelter practices.

• Highlight frightening or depressing details - try to soften them as we don't want people feeling sad by the process or adopting a pet out of pity.

• Just write ‘contact us for more information' - this won’t encourage potential adopters to act.

• Use abbreviations or industry terms - this may confuse people, so make sure you communicate clearly and simply.

• Overuse capital letters - we don’t want people to think you’re shouting at them.

 

For more information on how to write a great pet profile, as well as some great profile examples, click here.

 

Happy Listing!

Banner image: Dobby & Luna via The Rabbit Sanctuary