How do a shelter's animals end up in this app?
In short: automatically, from your own public website. PetFellows costs nothing, shows no ads and takes no commission. This page explains what gets collected, what happens to it and how to opt out.
Opting out needs no reason and is done within 48 hours.
PetFellows is an automated portal.
Animals are collected automatically from the public websites of shelters across the German-speaking region, with no work required from the organization.
If you don't want that, your organization is taken out within 48 hours, no questions asked. There is nothing to sign, nothing to set up and nothing to pay.
Nothing made up
Species, breed, age, location, status and description come straight from the organization's website, exactly as written. PetFellows adds nothing. If a detail is missing, the app says “Not specified”.
Photos are embedded, never copied
Images stay on the organization's server and load from there. Delete a photo there and it's gone from the app too. No copy is left behind.
Every listing links back
The main action on every profile is “View at the shelter”. PetFellows never comes between interested people and the organization. Inquiries go where the animal is.
The crawler keeps a low profile
It visits once a day, respects robots.txt and identifies itself as PetFellowsBot. So if you look for it in your server stats, you'll find it by name.
What this application form is
The application was prepared in the app, but sent by the applicants themselves, by post, by email or pasted into your own web form.
All details stay on the applicant's phone. PetFellows never sees them and sends nothing on anyone's behalf.
Fill it in once
Living situation, experience, working hours, household: the details every questionnaire asks for anyway.
Easy to read for every organization
The same details, neatly laid out, so nobody has to fill in twenty questionnaires by hand.
Review and send it yourself
What arrives comes straight from the applicant, not through a middleman.
Frequently asked questions
Missing a question? hello@pet-fellows.com
No. The listing is free and will stay free. There is no paid plan you could slip into later.
Only good karma :) There are no ads, no commission, no paid placement, and currently no plans for any. If that ever changes, no organization will be included automatically. Anyone who wants to take part would have to actively opt in.
No. Your website stays as it is. There is no interface to build, no plugin to install and nothing to add to your site.
Normally an animal disappears from the app after three crawl runs, so within about three days of being taken off the website. That goes wrong when a website is rebuilt and the crawler can no longer read it properly, or when an animal is marked “reserved” there instead of being removed. A short email is enough, and the entry is removed by hand.
No, it's an additional channel. Every listing links back to the original page, and interested people end up with your organization anyway. PetFellows never stands between the two.
Only the organization's general contact details are used: address, main phone number, general email address. No names of individual people, no direct lines, no personal email addresses.
Lianto Engineering GmbH, and that's me, André Berzun. Full details are in the legal notice. Messages from organizations come straight to me.
Only organizations with a permit under § 11 Tierschutzgesetz in Germany, or with membership in a recognized umbrella association such as the Deutscher Tierschutzbund or Schweizer Tierschutz STS, are listed. This is checked against public information, not verified by us directly. A more thorough check is planned.
Yes, in exactly the same way. As soon as there is a public website showing the animals, it is read just like a shelter's.
Not at the moment. The app shows only what is on the organization's website. If something there is shown incorrectly or isn't picked up properly, a short email helps, and the fix is made by hand.
Opt out, no discussion
No reason needed, no follow-up questions, no attempt to win you back. A short email from an address on your organization's domain is enough.
Or with no contact at all
These two lines in your website's robots.txt are all it takes. They are respected whether or not you ever sent us a message:
User-agent: PetFellowsBot
Disallow: /The next crawl run reads the file and skips the site. Animals already listed disappear within a week. If you want it faster, send an email.