RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Thousands of people use online dating services to meet their perfect marriage match. Now the Richmond SPCA is using a similar tactic to help connect pets with the perfect owner.
The Richmond SPCA is among the first animal shelters across the country to adopt a program called "Meet Your Match."
The program, created by Dr. Emily Weiss with the national ASPCA, is based on a color coded system that matches an animal's personality traits with the lifestyle and personality traits of the potential pet owners. Pets are observed in their rooms and grades on factors like energy level and interaction with people and toys. Potential adopters answers an online survey.
"One of the questions on the adopters' survey is how long is a pet going to be home by themselves during the day," said Richmond SPCA spokeswoman Tabitha Hanes.
The people and pets are then assigned a color. Potential adopters can use the color as a guide to choose the perfect pet.
"And, not only do we do more adoptions, we found that the pets are more likely to stay in their homes because we reduced the return rate at the same time," said Hanes. She added since the program went in to place, adoptions are up by nearly 20%.
