Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to the Muddy Paws Insurance podcast. I'm your host, Dawn Cross, and today I'll be chatting by Only Rescues, the new app to match you with a new furry family member with founder Tara Hamdy.
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First off, can I get you to introduce yourself and what your background is?
[00:00:25] Speaker B: So, I'm Tara Hamdi and I'm the founder of Only Rescues in terms of background.
So I live in London with my husband and our two rescue girls and we.
My background is all in charity, actually. I've always worked for charities, never an animal welfare one.
And then we started nursing rescues around two and a half, maybe three years ago.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: My key point would be, you know, how did you.
And off the idea of any rescues, obviously, like, it's such an amazing idea and I'm actually surprised it's not already out there.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Yeah, that's one of the main things we always hear and no one's done it before.
So the way Nuscus came about was actually when our rescue dog max passed away April 2022. And I was so unbelievably heartbroken by it. I always knew I'd be upset by my dog, Diane. Of course everyone would be, but it really. I couldn't believe the extent to which the grief took over my life and really kind of stopped functioning for a long time.
In those weeks months after he died, I actually became just completely unreasonable and I wouldn't talk about anything at all that wasn't how can we help rescue dogs and cats? Literally to the point that my husband would say things like, oh, should we make some dinner? I think we're ridiculous. I was having dinner, not going to help the rescue dogs. I was just a totally unmovable person. And so every conversation we had was, how can we help dogs and cats? What can we do?
How can we get them home? How can we make their lives better? And that's when I think it was my husband actually said, what about kinder hierarchy pets? Like, no being ridiculous again.
But then we talked through the idea and how it would, you know, kind of be a vehicle to find homes for them, and it really just took off from there.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: I love that idea, though, you know, Tinder, but pretend, I think, you know, I don't know about anyone else. I think a lot of people's potential sounds quite short as well. So kind of doing it through the traditional way or the traditional channel. Some people might be turned off by the process, where it almost sounds like you kind of gamified it and made it a bit more fun and relaxing and pull people in better than, you know, traditionally. I mean, go through websites or even like gig. You can use paper tolerance and stuff like that.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And that's where a lot of we did a lot of research into the idea before we launched it. And we spoke to so many people who said the whole process is quite fragmented trying to adopt a rescue pet and it's going to multiple different websites. Scrolling through these websites, filling in different forms here, there and everywhere and then being injected by some and then waiting to hear about them now and wait to collect.
And everyone kind of seemed to have a similar experience.
I'm sure not everyone. I mean, people, you know, Dr. Pets all the time, but we were just hearing the same things again and again. It's a really difficult process. And so that was really a lot of where it came from was let's put it all into one app. And exactly like you said, kind of a more fun way of looking through it. Feeling quite right for yes and left for left and phaking. Apps have been around for over 20 years now.
So it's actually familiar technology that people know now and sort of were familiar with it. Whether you've used one yourself, I'm not asking. Or if you've seen, you know, most of us have seen a friend use it at least. So it's become really familiar and like an easy way to use an app.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: That sounds amazing.
I guess the big question today is obviously something that's talked back time over time again. Obviously, you know, a lot of people say, you know, adopting shops, so what is from your perspective, you know, why should people try use your app to adopt rather than to go to any like, local breeder or something like that.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Yeah. So, I mean, it's really hard when you work in the rescue world and you just see these amazing, amazing dogs and cats who are just full of love and just want a home. And you could see them sat there and you go, oh, that's a brilliant, wonderful, amazing animal. And then you just see someone go off and buy a dog somewhere else or put their name down on a list for pets that don't even exist yet. They put their names down on this for litters and that's, you know, creating new life to bring into the world while these guys are just sat there in the shelves that are and have nowhere to go. And it's so frustrating and I understand it, I'm not judging. It's just the frustration seeing those dogs back there. You see people who Want to give a pet a home. Oh, brilliant.
Those who will match up serve vet and then they don't. Instead they people go off somewhere over here and start a whole new chain.
And that's just the frustration. I mean, at any one time there's around 250,000 dogs in the UK without a home and 150,000 cats in the UK without home. And it's just hard to see those huge numbers know there are people out there that want to put their pets in home and they're going towards match up.
I mean, for me it will always be rescued. That's always.
We would only have a rescue and we've just had the most amazing rescue pets. I think there's still this huge stigma around rescue cats but they're all going to come with a huge amount of problems and they're aggressive and you can't go off leave and come up with the children. And for sure there are animals out there like that. There's also puppies that's also really gentle. I mean we've got two quite big dogs who are the softest things. We have some family around at the weekend and they were just in the middle of everyone, kids and adults and just enjoying the vibes and playing along. It's so nice to see a magginished street dog that would otherwise have, you know, not made it. Humans not intervene. But to see them now having barbecue burgers and having a great life is so lovely.
And it is that you can see they're so grateful, they're so happy and I don't know, maybe you do get out with a pet leaf or from a breeder. I don't have that experience. But you see, they're just so relieved to not be in the situation that they were and has just got this new life. They're so grateful. Our dogs are so happy to be on the sofa because they never had anything soft before. And they just see them look at you like, are you sure this is okay? And you're like, yeah, you can learn that. That's fine. Oh my God. And it's just those little things. I think it's just you get that, you get that love and that affection that is on a different level because they're so grateful and they're so.
Let us have this forever. It's just, it's really amazing to see.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: It's definitely such a heartwarming thing. I think as well that you can relate back to the, you know, the stigma of like, oh, if they're in the shelter, maybe they're problematic or they can't work. Well, obviously, no matter what you do, whether you, you know, fly from a breeder or you adopt, you know, there
[00:07:37] Speaker B: is some training involved with or like,
[00:07:40] Speaker A: you know, there's going to be some learning stuff that even with cats as well. So you don't necessarily train cats as adults, but, you know, the cats are still going to have to get used to the environment and figure out how it all works, where things are supposed to be, where you're going to keep the litter tray and everything else. I think. Although. Okay, yeah, there are more problematic dogs, but they're not all problematic. Not all pets are going to be that way that are looking for home. Sometimes people re home them unfortunately because they can't afford the upkeep or, you know, wherever they're moving to, doesn't accept pets, which really breaks my heart. You might properties now that just like no pets and it's like, well, but like, you know, pets are such an amazing part of people's lives and they are like family as well.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean, some new law did come in into effect recently for renting, but you.
I think landlords have to have a good reason not to.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Acceptable reason, not just.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. Which is a great step forward. Whether or not we see landlords following that and we see that being enforced, I don't know, remains to be seen. But it's a great step forward, definitely. Because I can't imagine that decision of having to give up your pet because you're just really struggling to find somewhere to live with your pet. And that's absolutely heartbreaking.
Really, really unfair.
As you say, they're a member of your family. To not be able to bring them with you is awful.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: I think, you know, at the end of the day, it's like, no matter what, where the pets have come from, you know, what's their background? I think, you know, just being able to be that place you've got that enough love to give for another family member or furry family member.
I think people just should hold that in mind no matter what decision they make. You know, just holding onto the stigmas is always like a really terrible thing to do unless you do the research. There might just be ones where it's like, yeah, there are puppies in the shelter as well who maybe got rescued from the streets or like a bad breeder situation. You can still have a younger dog if you want. But also the older dogs should get most love because they're coming to the end of their lifespan and they should get as much Love as possible.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. I mean there is a special place in my heart for anyone that adopts a senior dog. They are real angels on earth. It's so beautiful. You know you're taking on a heartbreak and you know that heartbreak's coming soon and yet to do it anyway, it is really, really, really. Those are really amazing and I have a lot of love for them.
So. Yeah, I mean exactly when we kind of, you know, when we set up bone rescue again, we did a lot of research into it and stuff and we did hear the same kind of things again and again, which is a lot of people said, oh, I did try and adopt but actually it really difficult to adopt or for different reasons or we went to a shelter to try to adopt and they said no, Covid bought a dog. We had that quite often.
And so kind of what OWN Rescues aims to do is give a platform to a lot of the smaller shelters you might not have heard of, that you might not have gone to.
And they do fantastic work, really, really amazing work. Shelter staff are usually overloaded with everything.
A lot of them are volunteers, they work full time jobs and then they're rescuing, you know, in the evening, at weekends or they are getting paid, which is great.
But they are every day seeing the heartbreak, the neglect, the cruelty. And when you're an animal lover, to see that every day and then to get up the next day and do it all over again really is. They really are the most incredible people.
The shelter staff that we were talking to, a lot of them don't have a marketing team or even a snazzy website, that kind of thing.
So it was sort of then any kind of platform that you can provide that gives people a user friendly experience like only rescue is great, we're totally free to shelter. That's one of the big reasons for doing this, to give shelters an extra option of way to kind of promote their pets. So the idea is, you know, if you do apply for a pet and you are rejected, don't do the casting because there's so many other shelters out there you might never have heard of who just might have the right pet for you. So I think that's something we hear a lot people just saying, oh, we tried to adopt and we were rejected. And I think it's also not taking that rejection too personally. And it's really hard when someone sees all your circumstances written out in a form they go, oh no, not for you. And it's easy to go, oh well forget you then I'm going to go and buy one somewhere else.
But there's other shelters that will have different criteria and different pets and things. And that's one of the great things about rescue. We're partners of over 200 rescue organisations and growing.
So you know, even if you apply for one pet of whatever reason, it doesn't work out. Actually when you use Nuscubers you set up an account, you save all of your answers in an application to your profile. So if you apply for a pet it doesn't work out, you don't have to fill in the form again, it all stays there. And so you can just apply for another pair within perhaps a different shelter and perhaps have a different outcome.
I've gone off on a ramble and I don't think you asked me that question at all, but that's something that
[00:13:02] Speaker A: comes up on the tip of my tongue anyway.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I was gonna say like, you
[00:13:08] Speaker A: know, it's very streamlined process and I think another thing about, you know, if you get rejected is from, from my experience and from talking with others is sometimes it's just because like although you may have the loving environment, you may stuff but depending on what the pet is or the breed and stuff like that, like, you know, especially hyperactivity, you know, they need to walk maybe through times a day, you know, they're just trying to make sure the circumstances will fit with you. Then you're also like, it can work with you because at the end of the day if you can't match the pet's needs as well, then that'd be detrimental. Not very happy. You end up me unfortunately bringing to the pet bats like, you know, I can't cope, you know, especially with really high proactive breeds that need to run probably at least 10 miles per day. If you haven't got the outdoor space or the time to go literally run with them, you know, they just want to make sure that everyone's okay. It's a bit. Yeah like the dating profile.
If you're a vegetarian and you're going to go out as a meat lover, it could work. Very slim chance but obviously the likelihood of it actually working out would probably be really hard for its asteroids.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know, it's funny you say that because I'm a vegetarian, my husband's a meat lover, but we've made it
[00:14:15] Speaker A: work so it's sorted, it can be doable. But obviously for those present situation the why the application forms are important, aren't they?
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly.
And actually with only rescue what you do when you first download the app, you have a lifestyle quiz to complete, which is just seven or eight questions depending on your answers and it will then only match you with tasks that actually match your criteria. So for example, if you don't have a garden, you'll only see pets that could live in a home without a garden. If you have young children that can live with young children, all those sorts of things have been key questions that we're matching on initially. So the idea being that hopefully you'll only fall in love with a profile of one of the pets that you're already kind of matched with on the key, the key criteria.
So when you apply for a pet, you only see ones that you're already suitable for and when that application goes off to the shelter, they know that you already pre matched on the key things anyway. So we're more likely to see a successful adoption go through because you've already got those.
So that's absolutely one of the things we do. It's a bit like having, it's a bit like completing your own dating profile before you start matching with the pet so that you know your chances are high of getting a yes because you've got the key things in place. Because that was another thing on week when we started any recipe the we respected our shelters. We expected them all to say, oh, we don't get many applications for our pets, please help us generate more applications. But actually when we spoke to them, most shelters said, oh, we do get applications, but they're often the wrong people for the wrong pets or the right people from the wrong pet.
So I'm saying actually to pre match them, we're really up on both sides because on one side the shelters aren't spending time going through lots of different applications which were never suitable for that pet in the first place. And from the doctor's side you're not flying and waiting to hear back and you know, crossing your fingers for a pet that actually was probably never suitable for in the first place. This way we're kind of eliminating some of that because I know what it's like. You see one picture of a dog, it can be a blurry picture and you're like, I love that dog, that dog's lying. That's what it's happening.
Just fall in love. So we're trying to not even show you the ones that you, that you're not, that you're not suitable for so that we can eliminate that falling in love at first glance thing, which we're all guilty of. So yeah, we do firepower, some of that.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: It was really amazing.
Is there anything else you'd like to add on the end of. We're at the end of the episode now. Is there anything else you're not asked about any rescues and of what you get up to? If anyone's interested in possibly downloading the app, that sort of thing, I mean,
[00:17:02] Speaker B: absolutely, Please download Onorestries app. It's in the place you're on the app Store and just search only rescues or it's on Only Rescues.com. there's the link through to the app there.
Tell your friends and family about it. Anyone that's looking. Some of us, we're thinking of buying a dog, so please just check out OnlyRescue site and have a look.
Or if you know of a shelter near you that might not know about us, please, please get in touch. Also this year we're delivering our first ever Rescue Pet Awards. So we're doing a big awards, a national awards ceremony this November which is going to celebrate the pets people, the shelters, the brand, they're all champion rescue. It's going to be a huge celebration of all things rescue pets.
And so if anyone wants to nominate their rescue dog or cat for rescue dog or cat of the year, you can check that out as well.
It'd be lovely to see some nominations coming in.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: That's fantastic. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming on today and discussing this amazing app with me.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Yeah, no worries. Thank you for having me. Very grateful.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: Thank you to my guest today, Sara, for chatting about the amazing work that only rescues do to match you through an amazing database of rescue pets.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: If you'd like to sign up for
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Only Rescues or enter the Pet Awards, please click the link in the description.
We've been your host, Dawn Cross. Make sure to click follow for more episodes.
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