In the summer of 2005, Gary and Isabel Wilson had an idea for a rescue website that would help bring together animals in need of homes and potential new owners. They looked at the existing websites and decided to build a site that would be different in several ways:

1. It would include a wide range of companion pets rather than being specific to just cats or dogs.

2. It would allow rescue organisations and private individuals to register details of rescue pets themselves, including photographs. In fact, most of the site is self-administering.

3. The site would offer a searchable database and automatic email notification if the profile of a registered pet matches the profile of someone looking for a rescue animal. This saves potential owners from having to do an online search everyday and this in turn means that new homes are more successfully found for the animals who so desperately need them.

In Dec 2005, petsneedyou.com was born. The site is described as “the UK’s animal rescue web site” and attracts around 5,000 visitors a month, with that figure continuing to rise.

The searchable online database includes postings by animal rescue centres and private individuals, both of who can register pets that are looking for homes.

Gary Wilson says “We are not anti-breeder but think that the cause of the rescue animal deserves more attention having owned several rescue cases in the past and currently. We own a wonderful Alsatian / Rottie cross called Joshua, a rescue tortoise called Ebeneezer, a rescue rabbit called Twinkle B and sadly we recently lost a rescue Labrador, Tessa, who we loved dearly.”

The main contributors to PetsNeedYou.com are rescue centres although some private postings have also been made. All registrations are free for the rescue centres and there is a small fee if a private individual wants to register a pet. This fee is designed to stop abuse and ensure serious use of the service. The Mayhew Animal Home in London is one of the site’s large contributors as they are a large charity with a high turnover of animals.

PetsNeedYou.com supports the rescue of many types of companion pets including dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents, birds and ferrets. The online Pet Search facility is free to use if you are looking for an animal to re-home. Just select the type of animal you are looking for and then select your area. The MailBack Search facility allows you to enter your search requirements so that you can be automatically notified by e-mail each time a potential match is registered. This more convenient search facility requires that you become a member and is subject to a small admin fee.

“We look forward to the site further growing in popularity and content so that petsneedyou.com helps to rescue as many pets as possible. It is something we believe in strongly particularly as we ourselves have enjoyed owning and caring for numerous rescue pets in recent years.” says Gary.

This article was written by D for Dog and published with the kind permission of Gary and Isabel Wilson of www.petsneedyou.com. All images are copyright and cannot be used or replicated.