Zoometrics suite
Meow Metrics is the Zoometrics suite tool for managing cat colonies with the TNR method, in line with Spanish Law 7/2023. A TNR programme does not exist in isolation: it runs through parks and streets, through people who trap, foster and adopt, through animals that have a family and through other departments of the same local government. This page explains what each of the other tools brings to people who work with colonies, and when it is worth keeping them in mind.
Ark Metrics (opens in a new tab)Ark Metrics is the citizen-facing half of what Meow Metrics manages from the office. When a colony needs someone to trap a cat, a foster home or an adopting family, Ark Metrics puts people, shelters, shops and partner clinics in touch, and keeps a record of every capture, foster placement, adoption and donation. It shares its database and identity with Meow Metrics: the cats that live in colonies are the same animals in both tools, and each collaborator can show their colonies on a public page. Its open site, with no sign-up, showcases animals up for adoption and collects reports from residents.
How it works with Meow Metrics
Meow Metrics handles the technical side of the colony (counts, neutering, veterinary care) and Ark Metrics the journey of an animal that leaves it, or of a person who wants to help. Because they share data and identity, what is recorded in one tool does not have to be typed again in the other, and the local government can even decide whether the colony poster carries the donation QR code.
Census Metrics (opens in a new tab)Census Metrics is the municipal census of companion animals, mainly dogs and cats: owners register their animal from their phone using the microchip number, the veterinary clinic completes the health record and the local government has an up-to-date, georeferenced census. For people who work with colonies it matters for a basic reason: a municipality that keeps a register of owned animals can better separate cats that have a family from those that live on the street, which are the focus of the TNR method. They are two registers with different purposes that a single local government can run from the same department.
How it works with Meow Metrics
Day to day, the question that links the two tools is whether a cat has an owner. Meow Metrics records the ownerless cats that live in colonies and the work done on them; Census Metrics records those that do have an owner and are identified. Each answers a different question and, together, they give the local government a fuller picture of the cats in the municipality.
Wild Metrics (opens in a new tab)Wild Metrics brings to wildlife an idea that Meow Metrics applies to colonies: recording on a map what happens in the street and deciding with data. It gathers on one map what residents report, what sensors, cameras and traps detect and what the municipal service does, and turns it into alerts and forecasts. It does not try to count how many animals there are, but where and at what time they come across people and what happens then. It starts with the wild boar and is designed for wildlife and public health departments, control services, the Local Police and Civil Protection.
How it works with Meow Metrics
Anyone who manages colonies already works with maps, resident reports and continuous recording, and the same way of working runs through Wild Metrics, even if the animals, the teams and the protocols are different. A local government that uses both can approach coexistence with animals in the street with a common method, without mixing cat data with wildlife data.
Silva Metrics (opens in a new tab)Silva Metrics is the inventory of the parks and gardens of a town or city, with everything inside them, both living and non-living: trees, plants, furniture, play areas, irrigation and more. Each green space has its own record, and gardening crews note what they do on their phone, right at the item. For people who work with cat colonies it is the other side of the same place: many colonies live in parks and green areas, and those who maintain them need to know what is there and what is done in each corner.
How it works with Meow Metrics
A colony is often inside a green space run by a different department from the one that runs the TNR programme. Meow Metrics knows where the colony is and whether the land is public or private; Silva Metrics knows what is in the park and what maintenance it gets. Each department keeps its own register and, when they meet in one place, they can coordinate better, for example before pruning or works.
The company and the full suite
Zoometrics (opens in a new tab)
Zoometrics is the platform and the company that brings the suite’s tools together so that municipalities can manage coexistence between people, animals and plants as one, relying on location data and a One Health approach. Meow Metrics is the tool devoted to cat colonies; the rest of the suite covers urban wildlife, companion animals, citizen participation, and parks and gardens. Its website sets out the vision, the science behind the work, the team and the impact of the suite.
How it works with Meow Metrics
Meow Metrics is one part of that vision: the one that deals with cat colonies and the TNR method. People who use Meow Metrics can find out more about the wider framework it belongs to on Zoometrics, with the science and the team behind it.
