Paws

[Wolfus_305]

Hey everybody,

Ok, I know this is not reptile related but I also know that a lot of people on this forum have many furry friends as well, myself included.

My exciting news is that I have recently (the past couple days) been put in charge of social and media relations for the charity we adopted one of our special needs cats from.

It is purely volunteer run (since 1972) and the shelter is a house where the cats are able to roam around free and not in cages. A very strict no-kill policy is also enforced and no animals if brought to our attention are turned down.

Anyways, I just thought that I should share the link for their facebook page and website because people can't help if they don't know.

Since I am new to this any comments on what would be beneficial to the website/facebook page would be appreciated as would "likes" on facebook to show support.

Thanks so much for reading this you guys! :)

PAWS - Peoples Animal Welfare Society (http://www.pawscanada.org/index.html)
PAWS - Peoples Animal Welfare Society | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/PAWS-Peoples-Animal-Welfare-Society/109435275789469)

[alessia55]

That's wonderful that you're helping out :) The sites look great (both of them). What helps tremendously is posting some of the available animals on the website and facebook page for people to look at before they come in. A lot of people like to see photos of what animals are available--it gets them wanting to come in and see them more. That's my only suggestion :)

[Wolfus_305]

Yup, that's exactly what I thought would be a good idea. Unfortunately because it's only run by a small number of volunteers and they were dealing with an emergency yesterday nobody has sent me an up to date list of available critters and bios

I am also planning to have a newsletter set on like clockwork -every other sunday for example - because it was very sporadic before and I know that I would want up to date information if I was considering making a donation/adopting/fostering an animal

[Marica]

That's a great service your doing Wolfus. I adopted a dog several years ago from a local rescue that did not have a website and got that going for them. They did have a Petfinder account and that is how I found my little guy. So when I set up their website I created a link with the list from Petfinder of available animals so that I was able to post the entire list directly on the website (example (http://www.petfinder.com/pet-search?shelterid=ON94&sort=pet.Identifier)). Not sure if this is something that they're interested in or not, but it was quite easy to set up and decreased navigation steps for potential adoptees.

[Wolfus_305]

thanks Marcia, I know that PAWS has a petfinder account but I don't have the information to log onto their account. the information is not current and I have not been sent a current list of animals. I am still waiting for the twitter information so I can link that to facebook. I really like your idea of linking it to petfinder too, the more information out there the better!

We adopted Scrappie, a little kitten born to a ferral mother, all his limbs have multiple deformaties and surgery would not benefit him. He gets around just fine though - he's actually quite the little monster when he wants to be :P

[Strutter769]

Awesome cause! I have some background in Social Media. Please let me know if I can help in any way.

[Wolfus_305]

Hey strutter,
I'm taking over from where somebody (who really didn't want to give up the position) left off. Right now I'm just trying to figure everything out and get information from other volunteers. I think for right now I've done everything I can do without the pictures/profiles of animals.

If you have any helpful hints or any suggestions for what has already been set up I would really appreciate it :)

[Marica]

thanks Marcia, I know that PAWS has a petfinder account but I don't have the information to log onto their account. the information is not current and I have not been sent a current list of animals. I am still waiting for the twitter information so I can link that to facebook. I really like your idea of linking it to petfinder too, the more information out there the better!

We adopted Scrappie, a little kitten born to a ferral mother, all his limbs have multiple deformaties and surgery would not benefit him. He gets around just fine though - he's actually quite the little monster when he wants to be :P

It's not just a link to the Petfinder site, PAWS already has that on their site.

Petfinder has a widget that will give you the code so you can post the list ( or perhaps a better description, the table or chart ) of available animals from Petfinder onto your site that will automatically update whenever changes are made on Petfinder rather than having to update each animal's info, photos, etc. on both the Petfinder and on the PAWS website separately.

Here's a link to all the Fun Widgets and Graphics (http://www.petfinder.com/widgets-graphics/) offered by Petfinder - it's the Customized Pet List Scroller (http://www.petfinder.com/tools/petlist/index.cgi?) that I'm referring to.

And, grats on giving Scrappie a new lease on life.

Cheers, M :)

[Wolfus_305]

Thank you so much! That's great sounding! :) I really appreciate all the support, encouragement and tips from everybody

Here is a link to a video of Scrappie as a tiny baby, he is honestly now the biggest cat I have ever seen. He's almost as tall as my knees and he weighs a TON Scrappie (Simon from PAWS) helping with homework - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF8w2K_Ocb4)

[Wolfus_305]

I was just reading through that link you posted and I'm not very good at all with any computer lingo, I can check my emails, use facebook etc but that's about it. what does it mean when it says to copy and paste into your HTML? :P

[Marica]

Awe! He's soooo adorable! Thanks for sharing that video :)

As for posting the code, it's kind of like posting a link or photo here. You need to have access to edit the page you want to add the list to, place the code there and then save/publish it, then it will appear on the website's viewable page. Here's 2 examples of the list scroller in use: Little Mutts (http://www.littlemuttsrescue.org/available_dogs/index.html) & Pawsitive Match (http://pawsitivematch.org/Dogs_for_Adoption.php). I found it to be such a useful tool to get maximum exposure for the animals. Like Alessia pointed out, being able to see that snapshot and get a quick bio really pulls in potential adopters.

And, because I can't resist sharing, here's some pics of my Petfinder rescue, Connor. He was dropped off at a shelter in Louisiana by his previous owner, suffering from mange due to a long untreated mite infection. A rescue in my area helped with his treatment and then brought him here. Now he shares a home with plenty of other canine and feline buddies.

http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac226/Marica12/Miscellaneous/1-TPACShelterLouisiana.jpg

http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac226/Marica12/Miscellaneous/014000243x4.jpg

[Wolfus_305]

Awwwwwwwwwwwww he's soooooo cute!

I found and adopted my other special needs kitty from petfinder, she was born with 3 legs. She's such a sweetie pie though.

Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it :)