Petfinder.com

[13guineapigs]

I sent in all the needed information yesterday. I have not heard from them yet. I know a lot of you have pet finder sites so I wanted to ask you all a few questions. Is it hard to set up? Do most of your adoptions come from there? Thanks in advance.

[Teresa]

No and No. Wish I didn't have to be listed there.

[ChunkyPiggies]

I find it extremely disappointing that they have partnered up with PetCo.

[Charybdis]

We don't get a lot of adoption inquiries from there and I am sorry to say that the majority of people who email us directly from PetFinder are not qualified to adopt, either because they are kids or because they are stupid. Most of them consist of:

hi muffin is sooooooooo cute how much is he?

[Teresa]

I get a ton of the sooo cute messages from all over, just as many if not more from my main site because of all the photos. But, most of the adopters come from local referrals from pet stores (mainly ones that know about me that don't sell animals), shelters and others, and my main site.

You need to spend a lot of time getting the word out about your rescue in a whole lot of ways. Then, over time, it kind of takes on a life of its own--if you stay active.

[13guineapigs]

Well that is very discouraging. I guess I won't expect much from it then. I still have not heard from them. How do you tell an adopter that they are not qualified? I am having a hard time with this. I just lied to a lady to today and told her I had nothing available right now. I need a more professional way of telling them no. Any ideas?

[Charybdis]

Yes. We have a group of form letters that we send out to people depending upon the reason for rejection. The letters typically go something like,

Thank you for your interest in our guinea pigs! It looks like you really want to be a good guinea pig owner. I noticed that you marked down "cage location" as your outside patio. We do not recommend keeping guinea pigs outside because......

And what follows is a short educational talk followed by appropriate links to articles online (usually Cavy Spirit). Then something like:

As you know, there are several options in adopting a guinea pig with us (they learned about this in our first email). Based on your responses to the adoption questionnaire, I am going to forward you to the private adoption counselor and our shelter adoptions coordinator. There are many piggies on our private adoption and shelter lists just waiting for a forever home.

I'm sorry, but our rescued guinea pigs do not live outside.

Again, thank you for your application and good luck with your new guinea pigs. If you should have any care questions, please visit https://www.guinealynx.info

See, I just made them read some educational information before telling them that they were rejected. And we don't use the term 'rejected' or anything like it; we let them know that they qualified for different options. And note that I set off the "I'm sorry" line -- because I want it to stand out for them.

Hope that helps.

[lisam]

Are you sure you have in all your paperwork? I thought I had, but then realized I had forgotten a copy of my adoption contract. Once I got that in, I received a phone call telling me it was activated.

I've actually had good luck with my petfinder site. All three adoptions this month were from there. But then, the only other places I've advertised are www.cavyrescue.com and www.craigslist.com .

[13guineapigs]

Very nice. My problem is that they may have filled out the adoption request satisfactory but when I talk to them I realize that they may not be a good adopter. Do you ever have that happen? You just get a bad vibe or something doesn’t seem right? Then what? No specific reasons but it don’t sit right with you. I have had some of these guinea pigs for a while and care about them just like my own. So there is no way I will let them be adopted by someone that I just don’t feel right with. Does that make me a bad rescuer? I don’t want to be too picky but they are living animals.

[13guineapigs]

Yes, I sent in my adoption contract and my adoption request form and a letter from my vet. Are they in on Saturday? Maybe I sent it in too late on Friday.
I have also used Cavy rescue and craigslist as well. I have two adopters coming this Saturday one from each of those sites.

[ladyveg]

I got on Petfinder several years ago, so I don't remember how long it took. But a friend of mine just signed up, and she had to wait several days and send her contract 3 or 4 times. They didn't have it together. I used to get a lot of great adopters off of Petfinder and I still get some, but it's not like it used to be.

[Erin8607]

Most of my adoptions come from Petfinder, but I do agree that probably more than half are duds.