Animal Registration Service

People really love their pets, these days it seems that is where they spend a lot of their money - on veterinarians, animal-grooming services, and pet supply stores are doing a booming business. Nevertheless, one crucial area that pet owners often neglect to invest their time or money in, is animal safety. Dogs, cats, and other animals often get lost, and unless they have tags and other clearly identifiable information on file, it is nearly impossible to find them again. That is where you come in! An animal registry provides a much-needed service for pet owners, as well as a decent source of income.

The simplest way to begin this type of business is by selling pet licenses. Depending on your municipality's laws, you may have to apply for a business license to sell dog licenses to the public, so check before you begin. Your license tags will provide information helpful in locating a lost pet's owner: the animal's name, the date of last vaccination, and the owner's contact information. Such licenses usually cost between $6 and $10.

If you have a home computer and a simple database program, you could provide a comprehensive identification service for an additional annual fee. This program could include the license as well as a database registry containing identifying information about the animal (photographs, breed, identifying marks, identifiable behaviors), updated yearly. If the animal is ever lost or stolen, you would run a search with the local Humane Society, pounds, animal shelters, police departments, and the classified ads to help the owner find the missing pet.

Another way to add value to your service is to stay in regular contact with your customers. You might send out a monthly newsletter, through regular mail or e-mail, with information on local pet shows, auctions, local breeders, news from the animal shelter, any other information of interest to animal lovers, and space for classified advertisements.

One of the best places to advertise your service is with local veterinary hospitals. Ask to see if you can place your flyers in their office. If you want to step up to selling the new electronic ID products, which must be inserted by a veterinarian, you might be able to make a deal with them - your advertising in exchange for more client referrals. Pet shows also provide an excellent venue for networking. From there, look to other standard advertising venues - local notice boards at pet supply stores, the classified ads, the Yellow Pages, etc. If you are good at what you do, customer word of mouth will really help your business grow.

This is a great one-person service. Startup costs are minimal - as little as $500 to cover tags and equipment, and you could make anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 at this business, particularly if it is clear that you love and care about animals. Make sure you are insured - after all, even the most friendly-looking dog will sometimes bite.

Online Resources:

http://www.awolpet.com

http://www.eburg.com/~dalmatia/stolenpets.html

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/finding_a_lost_pet.html

http://www.petrescue.com/library/find-pet.htm

http://www.flealess.org/lostpets/

http://www.1888pets911.org/index.php

http://www.lostpetsos.org/