Fields supported by the animal import

The following fields are values that are supported by the animal import:

* The externalID value must be unique for each animal.  This field is used to match up the animals in your data file those that have already been imported.  You should always use the same unique value for each unique animal you upload.

Header Row Format

The first row in your data file should be a header row so we can match-up your fields with the fields in our database.  The header row would look something like this:

"externalID", "status", "internalID", "rescueID", "name", "type",  "priBreed", "secBreed", "mix", "sex", "okwithdogs", "okwithcats",  "okwithkids", "declawed", "housebroken", "age", "specialNeeds",  "altered", "size", "uptodate", "color", "pattern", "coatLength",  "courtesy", "dsc", "found", "foundDate", "foundZipcode", "photo1",  "photo2", "photo3", "photo4", "videoUrl"

Deleting an animal record after import

Once an animal record is added through an import file in an Import Account to your RescueGroups.org account, it can be deleted by simply not including that animal row in future data files. The animal will automatically be deleted. This is done by tracking each animal's externalID, which must be unique for each animal. The one exception to this rule is if you are removing all imported animals. Our system has encountered many situations where uploaded files had zero rows of readable data by accident. In these cases, our system does not delete all imported animals as this was often done in error. Instead of uploading a file with zero rows of data, be sure to include at least one animal row with the status of 'deleted'.