Find Your Furry Valentine with the ASPCA's Meet Your Match!

Looking for the perfect match this Valentine’s Day? Forget about Match.com or eHarmony and find the perfect furry Valentine with Meet Your Match!

Designed by vice president of shelter research and development for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Emily Weiss, Meet Your Match is a color-coded program that evaluates shelter pets and potential owners based on personality, energy levels and needs.

Potential owners answer 19 questions regarding what they are seeking in their pet, such as whether they want an energetic or laid pack pet and how much time the animal will be left by himself or will be interacting with the owner.

How Does it Work?

In order to find out the personality of a shelter pet, pet shelters observe the cats and dogs for 15 minutes using a camera to record the animal’s mannerisms in an environment by himself. This allows pet shelters to color code the pet to correspond with the ASPCA's Meet Your Match criteria, enabling pet and owner to be aptly matched.

Dogs and cats are observed for different characteristics, however, although the colors used to code the animals are the same. Dogs that are classified as green are likely to be physically and mentally engaged, while dogs in the orange group are moderate animals who enjoy regular activity and interaction. Purple dogs are laid back and easy going. 

In the same regard, cats that test green are adventurous. Cats classified in the orange group are laid back with a go-with-the-flow personality and purple pets enjoy a mellow and less thrilling environment. 

Find Your Furry Valentine and Help Shelter Pets

The Richmond SPCA was one of the first animal shelters to integrate the Meet Your Match program and told Fox News that the program has caused an increase in adoptions by 20 percent since they launched the program in 2008. That year, the shelter placed 2,891 dogs and cats and last year the number increased to 3,452!

Similarly, the percentage of pets returned during that time period had dropped from 13 percent to 10 percent—due presumably to the better matches between pet and owner. 

ASPCA's Meet Your Match program encourages potential pet adopters to focus on pet personality rather than appearance in order to find the pet that will most likely fit with the owners’ unique lifestyle. This innovative program not only creates successful matches for pet and owner, but also ensures that any pet lover will have a compatible companion to snuggle with this Valentine’s Day!

What do you think of the ASPCA Meet Your Match program? Will you find a furry Valentine's Day friend? Share your thoughts in a comment below.