Looking for Love Campaign

Deserving pets get an opportunity to shine!

The 1st of March 2022 marked the beginning of National Pet Adoption Month and the launch of PetRescue’s Looking for Love digital campaign. 

This special campaign to boost pet adoptions showcased cats, big dogs and bonded pets; and kicked off a long-term campaign to popularise multi-pet families.

A spotlight on cats, big dogs and multi-pet households.

PetRescue leveraged 18 years of data and insights to help drive the focus for this multi-channel digital campaign. 

“Pet adoption is now very popular in Australia, yet some pets struggle more than others to find a home. We need to lean on the data to inform and guide us to make a difference on a large scale. The insights have highlighted the key areas of highest impact for pets that are looking for love on the website; helping to get them seen will be our priority.” says PetRescue Managing Director, Patima Tantiprasut. 

“Cats are the front runner for pets listed for adoption on PetRescue.com.au (currently 3,831 of 5,764 animals listed, or 66%)*, but on average receive only 25% of the number of enquiries that dogs receive.

“While ‘dogs’ are the most popular pet search on PetRescue, big dogs take 58% longer to find a home when compared to small dogs. 

“The majority of households have a pet today (almost two-thirds of Australian households). Many have more than one pet, and 22% have more than one type of pet, according to The Animal Medicines Australia Pets in Australia national report, presenting a great opportunity to further encourage multi-pet households.

“This national campaign gave us the opportunity to fast-track initiatives to promote the pets that need the biggest boost. We’re particularly excited about encouraging pet owners to consider growing their families by adopting more than one pet, especially cats, as we’re seeing that most cats (90%) are listed as being social and friendly with dogs and also other cats,” adds Tantiprasut.

View the Looking For Love Campaign 2022

Adopters were able to see their impact in real-time with PetRescue's “love-o-meter”, which recorded every pet that was adopted during March 2022. 

Thanks to the support of pet lovers across the nation, the target to see 4,000 pets adopted was smashed five days before the end of the campaign! 

Lucky number 4,000 (and 4,001) to find homes were bonded besties Ollie and Elliot, thanks to DRU Animal Rescue.

The biggest win was for our feline friends, as cat adoptions increased by 9.7% during this campaign, followed by big dog adoptions, which saw a 6.6% increase! Bonded pets also had a reason to celebrate with a 5.8% increase in bonded pair adoptions! Amazing!

1,700+ pet lovers also took the plunge to find their surprise soulmate by taking the Pet Match Quiz specially created for National Pet Adoption Month! 

Are you looking sniffin’ out your soulmate? Take the quiz

Pet lovers joined in to help promote adoption!

The pet-loving community got involved by adding some sparkle to their Instagram stories with PetRescue stickers. 

A massive 138% more people engaged with these stickers, helping to spread the word far and wide. Increasing the reach across social media (by up to 50% during the campaign) means that more pets find loving homes!

Want to get involved?

Search “PetRescue” on Instagram stories to get your paws on these stickers, and make your Insta stories extra special! And use these hashtags to show your support for pet adoption: #FindLoveOnPetRescue #BondedBesties #TwicetheLove.

Today, pet adoption is mainstream, with approximately 7,458 pets already finding homes in 2022 via PetRescue.com.au. But there are still 5,764 pets listed on PetRescue waiting for their new family.

PetRescue’s work 

PetRescue’s Impact 

State of pet adoption report 2021

Pets In Australia Report - Animal Medicines Australia

Banner Image: Fred, looking for love via Amazing Greys