According to the national database Shelter Animals Count, over 1.5 million animals were taken into animal shelters between January-October 2022. Of that number, approximately 72% of the animals were:
- adopted
- returned to the owner
- transferred
- returned to the field
- euthanized (shelter or owner request)
- other
With such a high influx of animals entering shelter doors, managing the workload has become increasingly difficult for rescue and shelter owners. With limited resources, many are feeling the strain, and adopters are paying a heavy price for the inefficiency with the long, antiquated adoption process rubbing many the wrong way. A simple browser search for “animal adoption frustrations” gets results like these:
“I see why people purchase animals from breeders. Every time I find a great dog, the vetting process takes so long at the rescue that by the time everything is finished, the animal is gone.”
“It’s unfortunate that the screening process varies from town to town, state to state, rescue and shelter, etc… I’ve seen this issue come up MANY times.”
I’m currently applying to several shelters and rescues to adopt a pet. Initially, I was very excited, but the process has been grueling.”
Nicole Patrick, the founder of Rescue Spot, understands firsthand the pressure that shelters and adopters face and set out to do something about it.
As a little girl, Nicole loved animals and knew from an early age that she wanted to be an advocate for them.
She recalls going to the pet store as a teenager and seeing a sick Pomeranian puppy for sale. She said she called the ASPCA and other rescues to report the pet store, but they said they could not intervene. Not deterred, she raised money and bought the expensive designer puppy, then took it to the vet immediately, confirming her suspicions. The puppy was sick and had to stay in the vet’s ICU for over a month. While it was a long road to recovery, 15 years later, the Pomeranian is healthy and eventually outgrew her ailments.
This experience taught Nicole that she could positively impact the lives of animals that needed to be adopted, so she started a free matchmaking service for designer dogs. In running the business, she saw the inefficiency in current adoption practices firsthand and how it negatively affected employees and adopters. She felt so moved by the experience that she started a 501c3 foster-based dog rescue.
After starting her rescue, she felt the enormous weight of trying to keep up with adopter applications and requests. When she spoke to adopters, the common complaint was that they felt emotionally drained after going through the tedious application process.
“Most shelters and rescues are understaffed or run by volunteers. They are expected to sort through hundreds of applications a week and do not have the proper tools or resources to do so.
This creates a snowball effect. Emails and phone calls build up. References need to be checked resulting in more phone-tag. Potential adopters get angry, and ultimately everyone
gets burned out.”
– Nicole Patrick, Rescue Spot Founder
Nicole created Rescue Spot to streamline the adoption process on all sides. With its centralized platform, adopters can fill out an application one time for a pet and be connected directly to individual shelters across the United States. Rescue Spot also reduces shelter calls by giving adopters direct access to animal updates in real time, so they know the status of their application and whether an animal is still available.
Other benefits include:
- simplifying the applicant verification process through automation
- using instant messaging to connect adopters with rescues and shelters
- providing 3-5 verification reference statements for each applicant.
- easily searching for available pets through a personal dashboard
Currently, shelters receive huge numbers of applications for popular pets. Rescue Spot helps them sort through applications using trigger questions to find the perfect matches for their pets. A typical rescue can spend 5 to 20 hours a week calling and tracking down references (most rescues require 3 references per application). Rescue Spot automated this process and instantly collects reference statements which are included in every application a shelter receives.
Most rescues are foster-based, and in order to take more pets, they need to have enough fosters. Rescue Spot allows rescues to display fosterable pets on the platform, so users can apply to foster them directly. By simplifying the adoption process, more pets can be adopted, which saves many from being euthanized in shelters because of overcrowding.
“Think of us as the common app for pets. We are revolutionizing the pet adoption process for both adopters and rescue organizations by connecting the two.”
– Nicole Patrick, Rescue Spot Founder
With the Rescue Spot platform, the process for getting animals out of shelters and into the homes of fosters and adopters has never been easier. To learn more about the Rescue Spot platform, visit their website or on social media.
