Have you rescued or adopted a cat??

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

   I suspect sadly Miranda, not many people here would find that too surprising!  Of course they always claim higher overheads, but it's all relative when money's in short supply.

[miranda luck]

Thanks Sue for your positive words.  You're absolutely right about some managing on limited fund better than others.  Through Rescue Review I have met an organisation that is costing £5000 a month to run in public donation.  They are rehoming less than 80 animals a year.  I wonder what people think about those figures?!?

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Thanks Miranda, that's reassuring.  It's always a concern when rescues clash with visitors or people who have used their services and maybe found them lacking in certain areas, and the possibility of any potential libel claims is  something that needs careful consideration.  Good to see that it's something you've considered and allowed for. 

I think anything that improves the standards of care for animals (be they cats, dogs or anything else) has to be a welcome move, and my own view is that there is far more good done in that direction these days than was ever the case previously - in many instances, it's small rescues and dedicated volunteers who make the most difference.  All shelters operate on limited funds, but some manage it more efficiently and competently than others.  Where practical suggestions can be made to better the practices of any rescue it sounds like a great idea to me.

[miranda luck]

Good morning Sue 

Re negative reviews: although I know who has made the review, the shelter will not.  This is so that the reviewer may express their thoughts freely. There are also obvioulsy data protection regulations that I must adhere to.

To date,  I feel the majority of the reviews have been fair and are meeting the aim of Rescue Review which is:

To improve standards in animal rehoming shelters and within adoption organisations in the UK in order to increase adoptions.

In order to ensure the reviews are genuine, I sought consultation with a number of review site professionals (TripAdvisor etc) and a website legal specialist and have put in as many safeguards as I can. 

Although review sites are by nature - personal opinion, reviewers must  include an email address that I verify, a declaration tick box stating views are genuine and each review is read before it is published on the site. 

If I have any concerns, I contact either the reviewer or shelter (or both) to gain clarification.  Of the 70 or so reviews I have on the site, I have about 20 which i will not publish as they have not withstood scrutiny or they are of no value to the Rescue Reviews aims i.e sour grapes and the like.  . 

Rather than forward each individual review to the organisation concerned, I am hoping to do a breakdown after a period of time (depending on volume I receive) which would give the organisation a general picture (average) of their customers views/ratings.  I am hoping this will include a number of 'wonderful' points which should be celebrated!!!

What do you think? 

As mentioned, this is work in progress and any suggestions or ideas to make it work more effectively are welcome!   

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Morning Miranda.  Just catching up on this thread.

It's around three years since I visited a rescue, although most of my dogs throughout my life have been rescue dogs and I used to work at the local council run cat and dog shelter back in the 70's.  They were very different "back in the day"  to what I see and hear about now - back then, cats and dogs were only kept for  7 days and were then destroyed.  It was heartbreaking, and one of the reasons I stopped working there eventually, although two of my dogs came from there, and were lifelong companions. 

My question though is what's the position (in your experience) with regard to negative reviews?  I presume these get passed on to the shelters, but what if the shelters don't appreciate the comments made?  Is there any comeback on the person who leaves the negative comments or feedback?  We live in contentious times, and it would be an alarming prospect for any of our members if they gave honest feedback which may be less than complimentary but in the rescue's view is wholly unjustified?

[miranda luck]

 

Thank you very much Tan for participating in my survey.  I hope others will contact me to do the same!

  I've only two reviews about cat adoption/rescue experiences!  I'm sure there are many more! If anyone has adopted or visited a shelter recently, please let me know if you would be willing to fill out a short survey.  I would really like to know if there was anything in particular that stood out?

By providing this information, I will be able to share ideas and 'best practice' with the organisations reviewed.

I hope to hear from you!

[miranda luck]

Thank you very much Tan for participating in my survey.  I hope others will contact me to do the same!  I'm attaching (I hope!) a couple of pictures of two of many Bobtail friends (desperate to find a homes) that I met at a shelter in Kobe, Japan.  I'm sure if they were in a shelter in the UK they would be snapped up very quickly! 

[Tan]

I have spoken to Miranda and she assures me that no monitory gain will be made by the Survey

I will purely be feeding back any relevant information received in the reviews to the individual organisations involved and it will be up to the shelter to act on anything I have highlighted.
I am doing this project because of my passion for animal welfare and my concern of un-regulated rescue organisations and shelters absorbing public donations, spending time and effort only to in effect (unintentionally, as I am sure they mean well) to keep animals in unsuitable holding facilities for unacceptable periods of time.

If you would like to participate in Miranda's survey, please contact her for the link to her site.

Thanks
 

[miranda luck]

No problem!  Actually I checked with Tan first before posting anything and she gave me the go-ahead!

[Teresa Pawcats]

Miranda I feel as if I am being very unwelcoming to you with all the questions, so I hope you dont mind I have sent a note asking mod/admin to look over your website.
 

[miranda luck]

Nope. I'm not making any product or service recommendations.  I'm purely feeding back the information and it will be up to the individual shelters to make their decisions.

Regarding direction signs, if people can't find a shelter - there is no way they can adopt, shop or give a donation.  Footfall is money. And as I'm sure I don't have to say (but I will!) money is neutering, vaccs, chipping, treatment, education etc

You are not being rude or difficult!  You're raising relevant questions!

[Teresa Pawcats]

Do you recommend specific cleaning products ?
Will you be recommending specific food ie J.W. think you can see where I`m coming from.
Direction signs wonder how many lives could have been saved for the amount that will cost.

As said before not trying to be rude or difficult.

[miranda luck]

Hi there - no problems questioning me! I'm sure you are stating thoughts that other people are thinking so it's all useful to me!

The individual shelters will be responsible for implementing any improvements (or rewards) identified.  There may be a financial implication ie resolving a sign issue if people are unable to find the shelter OR there may be no cost - but a policy or SOP may need changing ie cleaning procedure.

My (small) business has been going for 3 years and I can assure you I have sadly (to date) not received any work via my website, only through personal recommendation.  My business is not about making money.  As already mentioned, charities don't tend to have the finance to pay for anything but running costs.

Regarding the petfood, this has kindly been sponsored by James Wellbeloved.  Does that mean my project is no-longer independent?  I thought it was jolly nice of them and a great incentive to get people to participate?!?
 

[LesleyW]

If it is totally independent, can I ask who is providing the prize of a year's cat food?

[Teresa Pawcats]

Sorry Miranda I still need to know who is paying for the improvements after your breakdown of reviews and when is the closing date.
Also it seems to me that you will gain a lot of business for your courses?

Sorry I am not trying to be rude or difficult, I just have a bee in my bonnet where hard earned funds are concerned, they should be spend on care of the animal, not providing nice social courses with lunch thrown in for rescue workers who obviously shouldnt be doing rescue if their practises are so bad.

Aim to improve  quality of Adoptions, I`ll bet RSPCA Coventry have a big decrease in visitors and adoptions after their review.
I firmly believe all bad reviews should be followed up immediately.

[miranda luck]

Quote: Modified to ask: Which shelters will be improved and at a cost to whom?
Who is paying you/ your organisation to conduct this survey ?End quote.

Depending on how many reviews I get, I will do a break-down on the relevant points for the individual shelters reviewed.

This is a totally independent project I have personally developed. I'm carrying it out in my spare time and am not getting paid!  My aim is to improve the volume and quality of animal adoptions.

[Angiew]

my rescue would probably be Black, Black and more Black 

what  no black and white?

Re the survey.
For the larger rescues that deal with different types of animal I think the responder should state what they were going in for. Don't want to start an elitist war but surely the experience is somewhat different if you go in to adopt a hamster rather than a dog? or perhaps it shouldn't be......I'll go back to bed now.

For the smaller rescues some of the questions are not relevant as there are no shelters to speak of, so the survey is not very inclusive for the vast majority of rescues or branches of the bigger organisations.
Perhaps a n/a tick box would address this, however I get the feeling that the aim of the game is not to attract us smaller guys as we would not be interested in consultancy services when a lot of us are constantly finding money for vets. Which is a shame as I truly believe that we have 'best practice' in quite a lot of areas.

[miranda luck]

Hi there!  Thank you for your feedback. Rescue Review is part of a long-term project to provide help and assistance to individual animal shelters, rescues and organisations. So yes - absolutely, the organisations will be informed of the reviews.  Obviously, every organisation has the occasional hiccup - admin error/rehoming problem ... so some reviews may be negative.  Through my analysis however, I will identify these sort of problems (they happen to us all at some stage!) but will be able to pin-point repeat problem areas and then feed this information back to the animal shelter or rescue organisation so that they may make improvements or in the case of reports of excellence - reward those responsible.  I will also be able to further research ratings of excellence and share this 'best practice' with others.

I absolutely appreciate your thoughts on 'choice of animal'.  I'm know the choice in many kennels at the moment is Staffie, Staffie  or Staffie.

The site has only been 'live' for a short while and thanks to feedback like yours,  I can see that I need to make some changes!!

[Teresa Pawcats]

Hi Miranda welcome to Purrs.

I have had a very brief look at your site and at this time only read 1 review, that of RSPCA Coventry. May I ask if these rescue organisations have been contacted to inform them of the publication of these reviews ?
I run my own rescue and anyone visiting Paws Inn is welcome to post a review whether good or bad, but if something is bad how can it be put to right without feedback.
One of the questions choice of Animals, afraid we dont cherry pick what needs rescuing and so my rescue would probably be poor Black, Black and more Black 

Modified to ask: Which shelters will be improved and at a cost to whom?
Who is paying you/ your organisation to conduct this survey ?

[miranda luck]

Then please write a review to share your experience - good or bad!  The information is being used as a survey to develop improvements at shelters, thereby increasing animal adoptions.

And every participant goes into a draw to WIN a year's supply of cat food!

Please go to 'submit review' on my website (Link removed) to fill out the quick and easy tick box form.

Very very many thanks!
Miranda

PS: No reviewing of your own shelter if you work there please!! The survey is about visitor experience!

[gmod]Hi Miranda, We do sometimes get asked if a member can ask about other members experiences with cat related issues to aid a personal /training study which we allow but as part of our forum guide we don't allow links to commercial sites for advertising where the poster can be making a personal monitory gain. We used to allow it but a few years ago had so many adverts on the boards, we stopped it. As the link on your post does go to a business site we have to be fair to all our other posters and not allow the link. Really sorry about that, I hope you understand. [/gmod]