2011 was the Year of the Cat in every way!

Dr. Liz O'Brien,
Feline Advocate

One of the most successful initiatives ever to be conducted in the Canadian companion animal industry was completed in 2011.  

The Year of the Cat by the numbers: 

• Identification of unregistered cats surged beyond the program goal of 10,000 to 16,995; 
• Lost cat recoveries totaled 22,489; 
• The numbers of vaccinated, insured, spay/neutered and medicalized cats grew by as much as 18% in some communities; and,
• The Care for Cats campaign involved over 1,500 industry stakeholders and service providers in 93 primary communities and 118 secondary locales across Canada. 

Industry sponsors included Boehringer Ingleheim, CDMV, Iams Canada, Ontario SPCA, Profender by Bayer, PetLynx Corporation, Petsecure and Petsmart Charities.

The Care for Cats initiative was created to address the issue of cat overpopulation and to bring forward a message that people, not cats, are the real problem. The 2011 Year of the Cat focused awareness on the need for routine veterinary care, identification and spay/neuter procedures. Moreover, the public relations campaign resulted in a better understanding of Canada's most popular pet – the cat.

Organizers say program success stemmed from all sectors of the Canadian pet industry participating in the creation of the campaign, the development of online tools and the delivery of the Care for Cats program to each community. Individuals and organizations recognized their ability to positively influence cats and their well being within the relationships they already owned.

  

Furthermore the cost of the campaign was low as the industry rallied to provide services and push common messages through their communication channels. This approach resulted in a unified message spread across all sectors in many communities.

Congratulations are in order for Dr. Liz O'Brien and those who assisted her on the Advisory Council to  bring to life a vision that arose out of the 2010 Summit for Urban Animal Strategies.  Care for Cats demonstrates how mass collaboration can bring success to the industry and create healthier communities for the pets and people who live in them.

For more information, reach out to Judi Cannon, Program Manager, 705.930.7387 or judi.cannon@petlynxmail.com

Massive Collaboration provides an Industry Win and Shareholder Profits

Every time you solve a 'Captcha' test to enter a website or change a password you're part of a massive collaboration that contributes the ten seconds you invest towards improving the accuracy of web content. 

Watch this video by Captcha inventor Luis von Ahn 

Now that you understand the power and effect of adding millions of very small contributions together to solve problems, you will understand Massive Collaboration and the competitive advantage accrued by those who combine this strategy with modern cloud computing.

Investors need to pay attention to a new economy play like the PetLynx utility, which uses massive collaboration techniques to solve urban animal problems like recovering lost pets, eliminating puppy mills and increasing bylaw compliance. By giving every citizen the ability to participate in solving community problems they have created a huge competitive advantage that translates directly into a win for the community and shareholder profits.