Chew On This!

Can animal shelters and veterinarians work together instead of against each other?

Why is there conflict instead of collaboration between veterinarians and animal shelters?

On the veterinary side, there's a perception that too many shelters are developing competing animal hospitals in their communities, and using their non-profit status to get an edge over private practice veterinarians.

On the shelter side, there are two factors driving the phenomonen. One, that there is a segment of the pet-owning population that can't afford full-price veterinary care for their pets, and two, that there's revenue to be made in providing services even to pet owners who are currently able to afford veterinary care elsewhere.

These conflicting perspectives have created a somewhat hostile public discourse, with veterinarians sometimes objecting to spay-neuter clinics even when such clinics provide no other services, and despite the fact spay-neuter is typically not a profitable service for private practices.

Shelters, on their part, frequently lack an understanding of the harsh economic climate for veterinary medicine right now, and don't fully grasp why veterinarians are so sensitive to competition from non-profits.

The Journal of the American Veterinary Medicial Association recently published an article examining how this conflict has played out in South Carolina, where the South Carolina Association of Veterinarians has, at least for now, dropped efforts to regulate non-profit practice of veterinary medicine, and in Utah, where a more collaborative approach has resulted in a better working relationship between the two camps.

Additionally, the article reports, the CATalyst Council is working on pilot projects in Portland, Oregon and Columbus, Ohio, to establish collaborations that work for both sides.

You can read the entire article here.

Also of interest:

Veterinary publication says working with rescue groups is good for business

How veterinarians can evaluate rescue groups before working with them

Everybody Wins: Changing the Way Animal Groups and Veterinarians Work Together

Is it just too hard to adopt a pet?

Have shelters and rescue groups made it too hard to adopt pets -- so hard they're driving good homes away?

When a board member of the Humane Society of the United States, Eric Bernthal, was rejected when he applied to adopt a pit bull he'd fallen in love with at an adoption event, it inspired their Animal Sheltering magazine to take a look at adoption restrictions.

In the article, they wrote:

After a week went by and he still hadn’t heard back, Bernthal followed up. He received a terse email: “Sorry, your application has been rejected.”

“No explanation, no apology, no encouragement,” he notes.

That was a year ago. He still hasn’t adopted another dog.

Bernthal’s story is, unfortunately, far too common among those who try to adopt from rescues and shelters. And while Bernthal knows the animal welfare world, the average would-be adopter doesn’t. They don’t know why they were rejected. They don’t know what they could do better. One thing the average adopter does know? Not to try to get a pet from that group again. Why would they, when they can go online or head for a pet store, where no one will ask them any questions, and where the pet store will be all too happy to take their money?

Rescuers and shelters see what happens to animals who meet with cruel or irresponsible people, and they work to ensure the animals in their care never again suffer abuse or neglect. Rescuers invest in their animals, emotionally and financially, and getting them go into the unknown can feel risky.

But if we can’t trust anyone, how can we find good homes? Are our reasonable fears making it too difficult for good people to adopt?

Read more here.

Also of interest:

Fears, Facts, and Forever Homes: What We Know About Free Pet Adoptions

Study: Impulsive pet adoptions as successful as planned ones

Parenting blog has tough love for pet adoption groups

Playing with shelter dogs -- now on demand!

Did you miss our recent webcast on how playing with shelter dogs makes them happier, healthier and more easily adopted? Don't fret -- it's available on-demand!

The free webcast, The Best Medicine: Playing with Shelter Dogs with Dr. Brenda Griffin, features dozens of videos and a comprehensive overview of how to get the most out of shelter playtime. Topics covered include:

• What constitutes healthy canine play.
• Why it is crucial for good health and well-being.
• Different types of play with an emphasis on dog-human play.
• How to "prescribe" play for enrichment and as a component of therapy for dogs with common behavior problems in the shelter.

Register and watch the presentation here.

What you need to know about Blastocystis in shelter cats and dogs

Could the cats and dogs in your shelter have diarrhea due to an infection with the protozoan parasite Blastocystis?

Probably not, suggests a study funded by Maddie's Fund^® and conducted on both sheltered and owned pets in the Pacific Northwest.

In the study, researchers collected fecal samples from 103 shelter dogs, 105 shelter cats, 51 owned dogs and 52 owned cats.

While the shelter pets were much more likely than the owned pets to have Blastocystis in their stool, there was no correlation between that finding and the presence of diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms.

The entire study is available at the link below.

Ruaux, Craig; Stang, Bernadette. "Prevalence of Blastocystis in Shelter-Resident and Client-Owned Companion Animals in the US Pacific Northwest," Sept. 16, 2014. PLOS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107496

Get the secrets to pet foster program success!

What if your shelter or rescue group had a long list of people wanting to foster pets for you? What if you had a great system in place to recruit, train, reward and manage those foster homes? What if you had a whole army of people to help get those pets ready for adoption?

If you think those things are impossible, or just aren't sure how to make them happen, be sure to join us for our free webcast, Secrets to Pet Foster Program Success, with the wizards of fostering from the San Francisco-based Muttville Senior Dog Rescue.

Make your plans to join Sherri Franklin, Founder and Executive Director of Muttville, Laurie Routhier, Director of Operations, and Marie Macaspac, Director of Marketing and Communications, on November 6, 2014, at 9 PM Eastern.

This will be a 60 minute webcast including an opportunity for audience Q&A at the conclusion.

Get more information and sign up here.

Veterinarians eager for TNR information

An article on the effectiveness of TNR programs at reducing community cat populations is one of the most frequently-downloaded articles on The Veterinary Journal website, ranking third in popularity as of August of 2014.

The article, which we wrote about earlier this year, found that "High-impact TNR combined with the adoption of socialized cats and nuisance resolution counseling for residents is an effective tool for reducing shelter cat intake." Intake to the county shelter from the zip code with the TNR program decreased by 66 percent, but only 12 percent in other zip codes.

The complete study is available at the link below.

J.K. Levy, N.M. Isaza, K.C. Scott, Effect of high-impact targeted trap-neuter-return and adoption of community cats on cat intake to a shelter, The Veterinary Journal, Available online 5 May 2014, ISSN 1090-0233, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2014.05.001.

Good news and bad news for adoption groups on Facebook

What if Facebook showed your posts to fewer people, but it didn't matter?

That's not exactly the case, but the news isn't all bad despite Facebook's draconian 'reach squeeze,' which started impacting how many people saw posts made by organizations and businesses on the service last February.

An August study by marketing agency Komfo found that while reach dropped by 55 percent since last year, the click-through rate -- the frequency that people click through to your links -- has increased 48 percent.

"The reason engagement is up while reach is down is that Facebook isn't reducing your reach randomly," explained social media consultant Christie Keith.

"Instead, they've implemented algorithms that show your posts to people who have commented on your page, or recently liked it, or been engaged with it in some other way, such as sharing. That means they're the people most likely to continue engaging with your page, or to click on your links."

What does this mean for shelters and rescue groups?

"On the one hand, it's good," said Keith. "Your posts will be seen by your strongest supporters, and they're the most likely to share your posts, donate to your organization or volunteer."

On the other hand, she said, "Adoption organizations need to constantly reach new people to find homes for their pets. Most of your staunchest supporters have already adopted, and continuing to market to them is going to be less effective than reaching new audiences."

Her recommendations:

• Continue to aim your posts at your best supporters, and encourage engagement by interacting with them in the comments.
• If you have a budget for paid promotion of adoption posts, make sure you target them specifically by interests, and not to your page's existing fans.
• Ask your existing followers to share your posts with their friends and family members who don't already follow your page.

Also of interest:

Social media: 6 new things animal organizations need to know

Helping animal organizations deal with Facebook's 'reach squeeze'

$500,000 in grants available from Petco Foundation

Holiday wishes can come true for shelters and rescue groups that win big in Petco Foundation's Holiday Wishes grant campaign!

From their announcement:

At the Petco Foundation, we're on a mission to create a lifesaving nation, where every animal has the chance to find a loving home. That's why, in partnership with our friends at Halo Purely for Pets, we're thrilled to bring back our popular Holiday Wishes grant campaign in support of the thousands of animal welfare organizations across the country that are busy at work, ensuring the pets in their communities have homes for the holidays.

From October 1 – October 31, animal welfare organizations can compete for the opportunity to receive one of the following Holiday Wishes grants: 

• Grand Prize winner – $100,000
  
  
• 2 Second Place award winners – $50,000 each;
  
  
• 5 Third Place award winners – $25,000 each;
  
  
• 10 award winners – $10,000 each; and
  
  
• 15 award winners – $5,000 each

Find out more, and apply, right here!

Let's get those kittens socialized!

The entire animal world was shocked at the recent death of behavior expert Dr. Sophia Yin. Her message of gentle, low-stress handling and challenging conventional wisdom has changed the world for shelter pets and those in homes.

We at Maddie's Institute^SM want to keep her legacy alive, and will be featuring some of her valuable teachings in the weeks to come -- starting with this great set of tips on socializing kittens while they're in foster homes!

From a 2010 blog post by Dr. Yin:

It's critical that kittens have good experiences in many new environments with many new people and animals so that, later in life, they don't consider the new environments, people, and animals to be stressors. Their prime time for socialization is between 3 weeks to 3 months of age. As soon as you get a kitten, the clock is ticking and it's a race to get enough socialization in so that you will have a well-adapted cat. Those who lack good socialization may hide from visitors, fear other pets, and adapt very slowly to new environments. And they can be fearful and aggressive at the veterinary hospital. They also become easily stressed by little changes in the environment. BTY: when cats get stressed they spray or urinate outside the box–which is a major cause of relinquishment and euthanasia.

Kittens should be taken in carriers to various kitten-safe locations such as just for a car ride, to a friend's house, or on errands to locations that are cat free (or with cats that have been vaccinated). For more information on kitten socialization and its importance read chapters 1, 18, 20 and watch the accompanying DVD of the online version of "Low Stress Handling, Restraint, and Behavior Modification of Dogs and Cats."

Read the rest here!

Feline experts want to help you understand cats

No matter how much you love cats, no matter how many you've lived with, or the many that your shelter or rescue group has cared for, you can never have enough help when it comes to figuring out what makes them tick. Good thing those cat fanatics at the American Association of Feline Practitioners have that covered!

They have a complete set of downloadable, printable care documents and brochures available free to organizations and individuals who want to improve their cat-savviness. (And who doesn't?)

You can find them here!

Also of interest:

Behavior Modification for Cats in Shelters and Foster Homes