Pet Adoption Help from the UK

Since October is American Humane’s Adopt-A-Dog Month, we’re continuing to focus on pet adoption with a review of Pet Adoption Help.

For those who might be a novice in the world of pet adoption, this site (based out of the United Kingdom) offers a bit of basic and informative content as well as recent news related to pet adoptions. Citizens of other countries shouldn’t be deterred by the .uk, as offerings touch on other nations such as Sweden and the United States and pet adoption news happens globally.

As the title proclaims, the site attempts to answer some of the basic questions about pet adoption and gives potential animal parents some solid information. In the 7 posts so far, the information ranges from the current crisis of the sheer number of animals in animal shelters (who are also experiencing budget shortfalls worldwide), to the signs, symptoms, and treatments of heatstrokes in animals.

The most recent article, Is Pet Adoption being shunned for Pet Rental?, deals with the rise of Pet Renetal agencies and the general public response. As a multiple pet owner myself, I’m outraged by the very idea of a pet rental. While the author of the article manages to present the facts on the proposed Flexpets pet rental business, keeping emotional arguments at bay, I found that I’d rather know the position this blog takes on the idea of a Pet Rental business and expected the author to discuss how the pet rental industry (should it become mainstream) might actually be harmful to pet adoption efforts.

The site is not yet a year old, with the first post appearing on July 19th, 2008 (although the “About Us” page notes the site’s beginning on the 22nd of May). With only 1 category (pet adoption of course) and 7 posts, there’s honestly not much there yet, though it could prove to be a useful resource in the future. I love the premise of the blog…

…the plan is to get all the latest news and information and put it here so that people don’t have to look all around the internet for pet adoption news!

However, the obsession with the words pet adoption (every instance of the phrase is linked to the home page of the site) actually makes me stumble at times when reading the articles. Hopefully Sean concentrates on the articles and stops worrying over how many times the words pet adoption can be inserted and linked to the home page. While I understand the desire to be found by the masses via search, I don’t think it’s worth trading the readability and personality of a blog for. I’d rather the site be entertaining and informative for the five people who see it than a waste of time for the five thousand who find it from a search. But that’s just me…

Graphically the site doesn’t offer much to look at. There are no images at all, in fact. And the sidebar devoted to displaying a tid-bit of information about the blog is actually still rendering the theme’s content placement holder text:

This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

And, oddly enough, Sean Revel left his comment asking for a review of the site, but the “About Us” page of PetAdoptionHelp.uk notes Vlad Reznik and a different site (PetAdoptionHelp.com – which is a parked domain):

Hi, I’m Vlad Reznik and I write Petadoptionhelp.com to give people the latest news and information on pet adoption.

The one thing this blog has going for it right from the start is that it actually links to one of my favorite pets blogs. In fact, it’s the only link in the blogroll. One Million Pet Pics has the ultimate goal to feature one million (or more) pets and offer pet owners (and blog owners) a way to note their pet on the Internet. So for pets blog owners this is a great opportunity to have both your pet (and your blog) featured. Oddly enough, the single link in Brenda’s One Million Pets Pics blogroll leads back to Pet Adoption Help, the site I’m currently reviewing.

Perhaps I’ll include Brenda’s One Million Pets Pics blog in the featured blogs here next. But that will have to wait. I’ve got many more blogs on the list to review and hopefully include in our featured pets blogs section. Until then, be sure to check out Sean’s Pet Adoption Help site and my favorite news article there about the 20 kilo cat looking for a home.