Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home Apps Released! 🐶🐱🎉

Myself and some colleagues made rehoming apps for The Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home, and they’re now available on both the App Store (iOS) and Google Play Store (Android)!

The Apps

You can use the apps to browse lists of the cats and dogs that are currently waiting to be rehomed. If you see an animal that you connect with, you can tap through to see a larger picture and a description. Then, you can call to arrange a visit and meet them in person, or, donate to support the Home if you’re not ready to adopt.

There are also other peripheral functions, like general information about the Home, getting directions via Apple / Google Maps, and zooming in on the animals’ cute faces!

We settled on making apps after deciding that we’d use our expertise in particular, rather than just our time, to help a charity. Tasks like painting walls are useful but the cost of building apps for both platforms can easily be £10,000+, much to some peoples’ surprise; making something users actually want to engage with is expensive!

Corinna started the whole thing off, designed the apps, and project managed everything. I wrote the iOS app, and Rob wrote the Android app.

It was developed mostly during working hours - our employer, FanDuel, encourages staff to spend 10% of their working time (mostly on Fridays) to learn something or contribute to something personally meaningful, like a charity. If it weren’t for this policy I doubt we’d have gotten this far with the project, so we’re extremely grateful for it.

Motivation

I grew up with an adopted pet - Harvey, a staffie cross. We adopted him when he was around 2 years old, and he had been in the shelter for around 6 months at that point. He was especially noisy and barked a lot when he was nervous, which put many people off. After we noticed him and took the time to get to know him better, it was obvious that he was full of personality and eager to find a more permanent home. He’s getting on for 13 years old now and I don’t think we’ve ever regretted our decision to adopt him.

Conclusion

A year or so ago Corinna, Rob and I decided to do something for a charity. We decided to think about what sort of impact we could have if we applied our considerable combined app-making knowledge to a particular problem. A year later, the results of our work are on the app stores, which is extremely satisfying.

My hope is that making the animals that EDCH have right now more accessible persuades at least one person to give them a second chance at a happy, full life filled with compassion - the same chance we gave Harvey all those years ago.

Download the apps (iOS, Android) and give them a try!