Attention Cat/Kitten Lovers and Animal Shelter supporters: Introducing iPet

iPet

(Note: some of the attached pictures can be clicked to go to the associative website)

From the designers at…

…comes a very unique and free tool (interactive toy) that many Animal Shelters are installing that allows the public (worldwide) to view and interact with Cats & Kittens as well as an included option to snap a phot and a live chat for people to interact in real-time. The system is set on a queue and your turn comes in order by your placement within the queue.

Here is a screenshot of the iPet in action from my local shelter (Humane Society of Pinellas County, FL, a “No-kill” shelter):


One can pan and zoom the camera, operate 3 interactive toys and snap a photo. The one at my shelter gives a 2 minute play time per queue position (I wish it could be longer but I understand everyone needs a turn). Although, I have never seen more than one person ever in the queue in front of me, popularity with this may change that in the future however.

Some very interesting and heartwarming statistics regarding the iPet system.

After installing iPet Companion, participating shelters have seen the following response:

■67% increase in kitten adoptions
■295% increase in sponsorships
■52% sustained increase in overall web traffic
■172 countries participating in online kitty play
■28 minute average viewer times per site

AND….it’s fun!!

A bittersweet part however, is one can get attached to a kitty and then the next day it’s gone. Which is good because that means it was most likely adopted but you don’t get to play with it anymore.

All in all it’s a really neat system and I wanted to share it with ATS. It is currently located in a handful of Shelters and is usually found on the homepage of the shelter, or you can click the picture (screenshot) below which will take you to the page that this list is on to find an iPet equipped animal shelter to play in:


Enjoy! …and please spread the word!

What a great idea

I find it amazing that whenever a shelter animal gets in the paper or makes news in some way there is always a rush to adopt it. Obviously only 1 family can and when other people make inquiries and find out that particular animal is gone they dont ask about others.

This is a good way of giving each animal its 15 min so to speak, anything that gets a pet into a loving home is a win for all, the shelter as it has more room and resources for other animals, the family as there are many benefits to pet ownership and obviously the kitty/puppy itself.

Im off to cybertickle some kittys.

SnF

What a cool idea.
Since they are having that great of a response, I would hope they would try to find a way to do this with dogs as well, giving them a better chance at being adopted.

I just had a go at this. Fun!!!!!

The cat I was attempting to play with however greeted my toy movements with a

reply to post by chiefsmom


Agreed on the dogs and I would wager that as the sponsership and awareness of this system increases that will be the case.

Would be neat to see an interactive machine designed to play tug 'o' war, or that throws a ball to play fetch!

Sheesh, that would be too cool!

reply to post by davespanners


Yeah, I was clued in on this system when I visited my shelter recently. I periodically go to the "Dollar Tree" and spend $10 - $20 in pet supplies that the shelter always needs and drop it off. While there I like to visit all the guys (dogs, cats, kittens & puppies).

The description you gave of their reactions are spot on lol. I think it has to do with complacency with the equipment. That said however, I have found though that if they are in the right mood, the cats/kittens will interact on their schedule lol.

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


Indeed...the 15 minutes of fame aspect is definitely a good analogy. I think all the animals in the shelters deserve at least that

Well, I can attest, iPet works

My girlfriend and I stopped at the shelter on the way home from work today and added this guy.



I've been watching him and his sister all day...(they named him Ridgey, but we're not fond of that name, so his name is up in the air at the moment we have decided to dub thee Marcel). If any of you watched the Pinellas cam today you may have seen him and the female (sister).

He is now an official member of this crew...



...and the sister is still there, quite sweet, if anyone is looking to adopt I'm sure she won't be there long though.

We'd take all the animals if we had the means to due so.

To ease any minds, this wasn't an impromptu decision as we had already decided to add another member for various reasons, but this little tool did in fact make a difference.

Awesome statisics. Incredible idea. Once you actually see and play with an animal, the attachment grows. Kind of adds to the 'laziness of America' thing, but whatever gets the job done. My brother and I found both of our cats. Would've both been dead had we not found them when we did, and how awesome they turned out to be. One turned out to be an American Bombay, bred to resemble a miniature panther.

reply to post by UberL33t


Also, kudos to you for adopting those two beautiful cats. If I could I'd adopt three more myself

reply to post by UberL33t


Don't you wish abused and abandoned children were loved as much as pets are?

reply to post by Hillarie


Yeah, but I don't think the two are mutually exclusive

reply to post by Hillarie


I understand the point of why you posted that statement (respectfully) however, I agree with the poster above.

reply to post by ThePeopleUnited


Miniature panther...too cool! The cat in the second pic (Sebastian) (with the chee hooah hooah, how I like to say chiuahuah) was adopted from a different shelter (SPCA) almost two years ago. We were sold on his unique looking coat, almost looks like a raccoon or something game-y lol.