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WP Petfinder icon
Possibly abandoned Tested up to 5.3.26 #2 in petfinder

WP Petfinder

WP Petfinder plugin was designed to integrate Petfinder.com database with your WordPress site via Petfinder API v2. It will be useful for pet shelters and volunteers to help Pets to get adopted.

Active installs20+10+ tier
Downloads · 30d85▼ -10.5% vs prev. 30d
Rating5/51 reviews
Health score31/100At risk
All-time downloads2.9KSince Jan 2020
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 4.0PHP 5.6+
Downloads · 7d11▼ -31.3% week over week
Our verdict

Consider an alternative

WP Petfinder shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 20+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 5 years ago, and scores 31/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (20+ active installs)
  • Very few reviews so far
  • No update in 4 years
  • Only tested up to WordPress 5.3 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Daily downloads

369Jul 17Aug 30Oct 14
Yesterday1
Daily average (1y)3
Peak day14May 2, 2026
Last 12 months1K

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where WP Petfinder stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
petfinder #5 6 Best petfinder plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 0.8100.0%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

  • 5★100.0%
  • 4★0.00%
  • 3★0.00%
  • 2★0.00%
  • 1★0.00%

About WP Petfinder

From the official readme · v0.8

Description

WP Petfinder plugin was designed to integrate Petfinder.com database with your WordPress site via Petfinder API v2. It will be useful for pet shelters and volunteers to help Pets to get adopted.

Shortcodes

[pf_search_form]

Displays Pet search form. Available options:

location: default location. For this option, you can use: city, state; latitude,longitude; or postal code. Example: [pf_search_form location=”33025″].

type: default animal type. Possible values: dog, cat and more (refer to https://www.petfinder.com/developers/v2/docs/#get-animal-types).

gender: default gender. Possible values: male, female.

[pf_search_results]

Displays search results. Available options:

cache: set cache expiration time in seconds. Default value is 86400 seconds (24 hours). To disable caching (not recommended), set cache=1.

location: display animals from specific location. For this option, you can use: city, state; latitude,longitude; or postal code. Example: [pf_search_form location=”33025″]. This option will override value set in URL variable.

type: animal type. Possible values: dog, cat and more (refer to https://www.petfinder.com/developers/v2/docs/#get-animal-types). This option will override value set in URL variable.

gender: display animals of specific gender. Possible values: male, female. This option will override value set in URL variable.

shelter_id: display animals from shelter with specific ID. If shelter_id is set, any location value will be ignored. Example: [pf_search_results shelter_id=”NY606″]

size: display animals of specific size. Possible values: small, medium, large, xlarge. This option will override value set in URL variable.

view: display animals as grid or list. This option will override value set in URL variable.

status: display animals with specific status. Values: adoptable, adopted.

sort: sorting order. Values: recent, -recent, distance, -distance, random. Default is recent.

[pf_details]

Displays animal details. After setting the page, go to plugin options and choose it in Animal details page drop down list. The page with animal details will be automatically created on first plugin activation.

Widgets

WPPF Animals From Shelter

Widget that displays animals. Its output is similar to [pf_search_results] shortcode (you can also use shortcode in a widget). Available options:

Shelter ID: display animals from specific shelter. Optional.

Number of animals: display specified number of animals (1 to 10). Default is 1.

Animal type: display specified animal type. By default, displays all animal types.

IDs: display animals with specified IDs (IDs can be taken from Petfinder.com). Example: 12345, 432546.

Template: display widget using selected template.

WPPF Search Form

Works similar to [pf_search_form] shortcode (you can use shortcode instead of a widget). Available options:

Shelter ID: display animals from specific shelter.

Animal Name: search for animal by name.

Location: search for animals in specified location (see location field from shortcode for options).

Type: search for animals of specific type.

Gender: search for animals of specific gender.

Breed: search for animals of specific breed (list is available when Type is selected).

Size: search for animals of specific size.

Hide fields: hide specific fields from search form. Values can be any combination of the following (comma separated): name, location, type, breed, size.

Plugin options

Options are available under WP Petfinder menu.

General Options

Petfinder API key, Petfinder API secret: you can find these values under your account at Petfinder.com. Please set these keys first, otherwise plugin won’t work.

WP Petfinder Cache: will significantly speed up API calls by caching results using local database. If you are using third party caching plugins such as WP Total Cache, Redis Object Catche, etc – you can turn this option Off. Otherwise keep it On.

Turn Off permalinks: enable it, if you are getting empty page instead of animal details page.

Search Results page: users will be redirected to this page when they click Submit in search form (both shortcode and widget). If page is not set, it will use current page for search results.

Animal details page: users will be redirected to this page when they click animal profile in search results.

Cat adoption page: redirect to this page if user clicks Adopt me button on cat’s page. Can be the same as below.

Dog adoption page: redirect to this page if user clicks Adopt me button on dog’s page. Can be the same as above.

Detail page title: rewrite page title (for seo). Default: [name] – [gender] [age] [type]

Look & Feel

WP Petfinder Icon: you can choose between cat and dog icons that will be displayed in Admin menu.

Custom CSS: you can put your CSS here to override plugin’s styles. Plugin’s styles are located in css/wp-petfinder.css.

Actions

wppf_before_search_form, wppf_after_search_form, wppf_before_search_results, wppf_after_search_results, wppf_animal_gallery

Donate

My name is Alex and I am a volunteer that helps stray cats. This plugin will always be free for everyone. If you want to support plugin’s development and help animals, you can donate some amount via PayPal by clicking Donation link.

Installation

Like any other plugins, just unpack plugin to your WordPress ‘plugins’ directory and activate it.

Frequently asked questions

Question

Answer.

Changelog

No upgrade issues are known.

0.7

  • Improved error reporting.

0.6

  • Improved theme compatibility.

0.5

  • Bugfix: Search Results page creation on plugin activation.

0.4

  • Improved compatibility with other plugins and themes, especially jQuery v1.9 and newer.
  • Added cache parameter to pf_search_results shortcode.
  • Added forced Disable permalinks to plugin options. Turn it on if clicking on search results redirects to an empty page.

0.3

  • Varous bugfixes

0.2

  • Support of different pages for Cat & Dog adoption. You can still use the same page for all animal types.
  • Added new Options page: Look & Feel.
  • Widgets now supports templates.

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

For developers

Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.

Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.

Active installs badge Rating badge Health score badge

Best WP Petfinder alternatives

All petfinder plugins →
Alternatives
Rank Plugin Active installs Rating Updated Health
1 List Petfinder Pets List Petfinder Pets The List Petfinder Pets plugin takes advantage of the Petfinder API to list your available… by bridgetwes 400+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 (11) 2 years ago 41
3 PF404 for PetFinder PF404 for PetFinder Overrides your 404 page template and shows dogs, cats, and other animals in need of new… by brohar <10 ★★★★★★★★★★ No reviews 9 years ago 21

FAQ

WP Petfinder: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 15, 2026

Is WP Petfinder free?

Yes. WP Petfinder is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is WP Petfinder safe to use in 2026?

WP Petfinder shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 20+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 5 years ago, and scores 31/100 on our health check.

How many websites use WP Petfinder?

WP Petfinder is active on 20+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,852 times since it launched in January 2020. It was downloaded 85 times in the last 30 days.

Does WP Petfinder work with WordPress 7.1?

WP Petfinder is officially tested up to WordPress 5.3.26, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

What PHP version does WP Petfinder need?

WP Petfinder requires PHP 5.6 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.

When was WP Petfinder last updated?

The latest version, 0.8, was released on January 29, 2022 (5 years ago).

Who makes WP Petfinder?

WP Petfinder is developed and maintained by Alex Raven.

What are the best alternatives to WP Petfinder?

The most popular alternatives to WP Petfinder are List Petfinder Pets (400+ installs) and PF404 for PetFinder (<10 installs).

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