Excluding Values #
Requires Junior license or higher.
The exclude shortcode parameter on [pmp-search] hides a single animal from the results by matching its animal ID. It is most useful inside related-animal layouts (the “similar animals” grid below a detail page) where you want every nearby card except the animal currently being viewed.
How It Works #
Add the exclude parameter with a single animal ID. Any result whose animal ID matches that value is dropped before the cards render.
[pmp-search type="adopt" exclude="60100465"]If your search would have returned the animal with ID 60100465, it is omitted. Every other result still appears.
What It Is Not #
The exclude parameter does not:
- Remove animals by species name (use
species="Dog"for single-species pages, or admin filter customization for site-wide species exclusion) - Remove animals by status (use admin Filter Values customization to hide statuses like “On Hold”)
- Accept comma-separated lists of multiple animal IDs — only the single ID matches
- Match against breed, color, age group, or any other field — only the animal ID
Primary Use: Similar-Animals Grids #
The detail-page templates ending in -similar automatically pass the current animal’s ID through the exclude parameter when they render the related-animal grid below the profile. This prevents the same animal from appearing twice on its own detail page (once at the top, once in the grid). You do not need to set exclude by hand for this case — the templates handle it.
For Species or Status Exclusion #
If you want to hide entire species or statuses from your search pages, use one of these approaches instead:
| Goal | Approach |
|---|---|
| Show only one species (e.g., dogs) | [pmp-search type="adopt" species="Dog"] |
| Show only one species (PP, Builder syntax) | [pmp-search type="adopt" speciesid="1"] |
| Hide a species site-wide from filter dropdowns | PetMatchPro > Filter Values > Customize > exclude entries from the species filter |
| Hide a status site-wide (e.g., “On Hold”) | PetMatchPro > Filter Values > Customize > exclude entries from the status filter |
| Hide a single animal from one specific page | [pmp-search type="adopt" exclude="ANIMAL_ID"] |
PetPoint Multi-Species Note #
PetPoint’s API accepts only a single species ID per query. Passing species="Dog,Cat" (or speciesid="1,2") to a PetPoint site causes PP to ignore the value and return every species. To show two species side by side on a PetPoint page, use two [pmp-search] shortcodes on the same page — one per species — or rely on the speciesid filter widget so visitors can switch between them. AnimalsFirst and RescueGroups both honor multi-species filters.
Next Steps #
- [pmp-search] Reference — Full search parameter reference
- Excluding Values via Filtering — Admin-level value exclusions and label overrides
- Common Shortcode Recipes — More examples
