Cat videos for a cause: Centre County PAWS uses TikTok to grow support, raise awareness
For nearly two years, Danae Blasso has been collecting cats videos during her volunteer shift at Centre County PAWS to post on TikTok. But what started out as a fun hobby has developed into another way to help support the local shelter.
After a recent viral video showed a kitten pawing at the door, attention flooded to the Centre County PAWS TikTok page. The video of Skittles received 1.4 million views and more than 200,000 likes on the app, along with hundreds of comments asking for someone, anyone, to pet the eager Skittles, who was later adopted.
Despite the inevitable sadness that can come when working with shelter animals, Blasso tries to keep content lighthearted and focused on the animals’ futures rather than their pasts.
“For me, when I’m looking at things to post and what might make a good story, I always think ‘What is something I want to share with my little sister?’” Blasso said. “She and I love sharing cat videos. So if I’m about to post something, is it something my sister would actually think is cute enough to share?”
Although Blasso runs the cat’s side of the shelter’s account, she relies on other staff and volunteers to help supply videos of the nearly 160 cats the shelter has. PAWS volunteers specialize with either cats or dogs, so Blasso only posts content related to cats on the account while other volunteers post content about shelter dogs.
“Everyone works together whenever I have a request, and so again, I’m just thinking of something that could show the good work that PAWS is doing while making sure I am being respectful of PAWS’ rules and criteria,” Blasso said.
The shelter’s TikTok account also serves a unique purpose for the shelter’s goals. As TikToks often reach a much wider geographic audience, the account can’t reliably be used to find pets homes, like Facebook or Instagram can. Instead, PAWS and Blasso use the account to help spread knowledge about the importance of adopting from shelters and to crowdsource necessary items for shelter pets. The account links to the PAWS Amazon storefront, allowing viewers to support the shelter from anywhere in the world.
Alicia Starr, marketing and events manager for PAWS, said that the TikTok account has a larger goal of advocacy and awareness about animal shelters.
“TikTok has such a huge reach,” Starr said. “If anything, we’re getting the word out about our shelter, what we do, our mission statement. We’re telling people why adopting a shelter pet and adopting from a shelter is so important, showing them the love and the care and the attention these animals get in our shelter.”
But the viral videos can have a direct impact on shelter pets, even if they don’t directly result in adoptions. In an April video, Blasso posted Marley, a 16-year-old cat celebrating his birthday in the shelter. The video received hundreds of comments with people wishing Marley a happy birthday and hoping to help.
“People were very touched by seeing the 16-year-old cat celebrating a birthday in the shelter,” she said. “And so very quickly, I realized it was going viral and people were commenting ‘Happy birthday’ to Marley. So I was able to communicate with the management team and ask if they can set up an Amazon Prime wishlist just for Marley.”
In the future Blasso hopes to further monetize the account or use the platform to get sponsorships with pet brands to help provide resources for the shelter. But for now, she’s content with sharing the stories and cutest cat videos from Centre County PAWS.
“I’m glad that the cats are getting some attention,” Blasso said. “I’m in my 30s now and it’s really nice to live in a world where people are vocally not afraid to be compassionate toward cats and strays.”
