Furmiliar

Transforming how shelters track and manage stray cats

Overview

Furmiliar is a concept app that bridges the gap between concerned residents and overwhelmed shelters. By transforming stray cat sightings into organized, actionable data, the app helps shelters reunite cats with owners and find new homes faster.

Team

Solo project

Timeline

Jun 2022

Project type

Concept

Context

Community efforts to help stray cats are scattered and inconsistent

A neighbor posts about a found cat. Someone else leaves food for a friendly stray. Shelters try to follow up with little context. Despite good intentions, efforts remain disconnected.

Problem

Stray reports are scattered across social media, email, and word of mouth.

Posts are duplicated, cats go unclaimed, and shelters cannot keep track. Without organized information, many strays stay on the street and risk becoming feral over time.

What if…

The next person who spots a stray cat could directly help shelters act?

Residents are already on the ground. They just need a tool to submit, structured, actionable reports that shelters can actually use to track and rehome cats efficiently.

Process

Iterations + early wireframes

Through five interviews with shelters, I identified key challenges with stray cat management, including scattered reporting, resource limitations, and cats becoming feral over time without intervention. These insights guided the design to address the urgent need for coordinated community reporting.

Low-fi wireframes

Solution

Community reports become shelter roadmaps

Furmiliar is a community-powered app designed to track and assist stray cats through organized reporting, helping shelters reunite lost pets and rehome strays efficiently

Create and share entries with the community

Users can upload images, map locations, and add identifiable details about stray cats. This encourages community involvement and gives shelters accurate, localized data.

Next steps

Shelter portal

Currently, the solution relies on sending updates and data to shelters. In the next iteration, I plan to build a dedicated portal where shelters can access live community updates.

Onboarding

User testing showed a need for better guidance. I aim to add onboarding screens to familiarize users with app features.