Chew On This!

Free tip to beat the latest changes to Facebook's algorithm

Yes, animal shelters and rescue groups can fight back against Facebook's latest squeeze on how many of your followers can see your posts -- and it won't cost a penny.

"Most of the advice I see on this tells you to 'post great content,' which is good generic advice but not enough to combat the tightening grip of the Facebook algorithm," says social media consultant Christie Keith.

Her advice? "The next time you put up a post on Facebok, set aside 15 minutes or half an hour to comment on the post yourself, either as the page or using your personal profile," she suggests. "Keep refreshing during that time, and respond to every single comment anyone posts."

No activity to respond to? "Get your volunteers and staff members on board to create some activity on your posts in that crucial half-hour," she says.

This tactic can signal to the Facebook algorithm that the post is interesting to your followers, which means it will show it to more people. If the post goes 15 minutes or more without any activity, Facebook will dramatically slow down its reach, and it can be hard or impossible to speed it up again, no matter what you do. For that reason, you may want to post only when you or your volunteers are able to be online and active on Facebook.

This tip applies even to posts you're paying to promote. "While it will boost your post's reach, rarely will you see engagement go up on a promoted post that's already dead in the water," Keith says. "With busy posts, you can leverage your early engagement to get more return on your investment than if you're trying to jump-start a conversation that never happened in the first place."

Also of interest:

Social Media: 6 New Things Animal Organizations Need to Know

Put your PR hat on to find homes for shelter pets

Is everyone at your shelter equally involved in getting pets adopted? They should be!

Innovations in the way we consider marketing pet adoptions in shelters can mean that everyone has the opportunity to put on their PR hat – including medical team members!

Learn about proven strategies that decrease barriers to adoption and increase live outcomes from Dr. Julie Levy and Caitlin Quinn in this presentation given at the University of Florida's 7th Annual Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Conference!

In this presentation, viewers will:

• Learn to remove barriers to adoption through innovative marketing techniques, specifically designed for easy implementation in the shelter environment.
• Understand how programs designed for enrichment and increased quality of life can double as marketing initiatives.
• Review policies and best practices that will help to increase lifesaving and impact community perceptions about adoption.

After viewing the presentation below, click here to take the quiz and receive a Certificate of Attendance!

 

Can shelters use a toy dog in canine behavior evaluations for dog-friendliness?

The use of plush toy dogs to help evaluate dog-friendliness would make animal shelter canine behavior evaluations much safer and easier. But does a dog's behavior with a plush toy accurately predict his behavior with the real thing?

A recent study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science found dogs who are friendly to plush dogs tend to react with friendliness to real dogs. However, the authors reported:

These results suggest that, while it may be possible to use a fake dog for the dog-to-dog subtest to assess friendly behavior toward other dogs, fearful and aggressive behaviors may not be consistent between the fake and real dogs, thus limiting the usefulness of the fake dog during behavior evaluations. In addition, the results of this study suggest more research is needed into the predictive validity of both fake and real dogs, since it appears the stimulus dog, whether fake or real, can influence the subtest's results.

Anastasia Shabelansky, Seana Dowling-Guyer, Hilary Quist, Sheila Segurson D’Arpino, Emily McCobb, Consistency of shelter dogs’ behavior toward a fake versus real stimulus dog during a behavior evaluation, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Volume 163, February 2015, Pages 158-166, ISSN 0168-1591, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2014.12.001 

Caring for exotic birds in the shelter environment

Is your animal shelter ready to handle pet birds in need?

The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) reports that parrots and other captive birds are among the fastest growing group of displaced animals in the U.S. As a result, existing bird rescues are filled to capacity – making the local animal shelter the only option for an unwanted, abused or abandoned bird.

Providing for the specialized care and placement needs of parrots and other exotic birds creates unique challenges for traditional dog-and-cat oriented shelters and humane societies.

That's why GFAS is presenting a free online training series, beginning with the “Basics of Caring for Exotic Birds in the Shelter," with Anthony Pilny, DVM, DABVP (Avian) on Tuesday, January 27, 2015.

You can get more information and register here.

Focusing on breed doesn't help get pets adopted

Does focusing on breed help pets get adopted? Not according to recent research!

Shelter medicine teams have the opportunity to focus their efforts on breed-neutral best practices with proven effectiveness to make policy and adoption decisions, rather than relying on breed.

In this presentation from the University of Florida's 7th Annual Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Conference, Dr. Julie Levy and Caitlin Quinn discuss how to utilize this new information to revitalize adoption programs, decrease length of stay and increase live outcomes.

You can view it here, then click here to take the quiz and receive a Certificate of Attendance!

Early-age spay/neuter doesn't increase risk of behavior problems in shelter cats

Does the age when you neuter a kitten affect the development of behavior problems? No, suggests a study published in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research.

The Winn Feline Foundation recently published a report on the study, finding no evidence that spay/neuter age in shelter cats increases the occurrence of undesirable behaviors including "inappropriate elimination, non-play-related aggression, fearful behavior, or destruction" during the 24 months after being adopted.

What did affect those behaviors, positively or otherwise, were owner and environmental factors such as "use of punishment by the owner, single cats, positive interaction with owner or family members, and so forth."

You can read the Winn report here; the article abstract can be read at the link below, where the full study can also be read by journal subscribers or it can be purchased.

Nathalie Porters, Hilde de Rooster, Katrien Verschueren, Ingeborgh Polis, Christel P.H. Moons, Development of behavior in adopted shelter kittens after gonadectomy performed at an early age or at a traditional age, Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, Volume 9, Issue 5, September–October 2014, Pages 196-206, ISSN 1558-7878, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2014.05.003.

How to get pets adopted using Twitter

Can posting on Twitter help get pets adopted, raise money for shelters and rescue groups, and recruit volunteers and foster homes? Yes, says social media consultant Christie Keith, but there's a catch.

Twitter can be a great place to connect with your shelter or rescue group's supporters, but it's even better at reaching people who don't know about you yet. The trick is getting your existing followers to retweet that message to their followers.

Not only are the friends and family members of your followers a brand new audience for your pets and your message, that message will be delivered to them by someone they already know and trust.

So how do you get your followers to retweet?

1. Just ask. "Tweets that include a request for retweeting get shared as many as four times more frequently than those that don't," says Keith.

And while some data suggests using the full phrase "Please retweet" will be the most effective, your experience may vary. "I usually use 'Please RT' or even 'Plz RT,' depending on how much space I have, and I can't tell the difference in terms of results," Keith says.

2. Keep it short. Speaking of space, shorter Tweets tend to get retweeted more often; try to keep your total message to 100 characters or less.

3. Use a photo. This statistic may surprise you: Buffer Social found that Tweets with an attached image get 150 percent more retweets than those without.

4. Do unto others. "If you want other people and organizations to retweet your messages," Keith says, "you have to retweet theirs. Don't treat Twitter like a one-way lecture; it's supposed to be social. Follow others, read your feed and retweet!"

Also of interest:

6 new social things animal organizations need to know

When posting to Twitter becomes a disaster for pet adoption groups

How social media hashtags can get pets adopted

How animal organizations can do better at social media

Babesia in dogs in animal shelters: What should you do about it?

Do you know what to do if you discover babesia in your shelter's canine population?

Babesia gibsoni is an intracellular parasite of red blood cells. This presentation, given by Dr. Sarah Kirk at the University of Florida's 7th Annual Maddie’s^® Shelter Medicine Conference, provides a case study in the diagnosis and management of B. gibsoni in pit bulls rescued from large-scale fighting rings.

After viewing the presentation here, you can take the quiz and receive a Certificate of Attendance!

Cat Cafe adoption centers begin to sweep the nation

Wouldn't most adoption groups love to have a new angle on cat adoption to pitch to the media? Well, here's an idea that's pitching itself!

No less an impressive publication than the New York Times took note of the trend last month, writing about Cat Town Cafe, the nation's first cat cafe adoption center operated by the Oakland, CA, Cat Town Rescue.

The cafe gets around health laws about having pets in the same place food is sold by running the cafe out of one space, and then letting patrons have access to the cat lounging area in a space next-door.

Now, similar adoption centers have opened in a number of locations around the country, including New York City, Denver, CO, and Naples, FL.

In addition to media buzz, cat cafes have overcome perceptions that shelters are "depressing" -- a view so widespread among some potential adopters it deters them from finding out if it's even true. They also serve as an alternate revenue source for the adoption organization, and give friendly cats cageless and highly enriching environments in which to meet people.

The Oakland cafe adopted 52 cats in the first few weeks it was open, so it's a successful model, too.

Think this might be something your shelter or rescue group could get behind? Follow the links in the story to find out more, and read the New York Times article here!

Study: How to protect wildlife and cats through effective neuter-return practices

Animal lovers who care about both cats and wildlife don't have to choose between them, suggests a new study published in the peer-reviewed open-access journal PLOS ONE.

Experts in population modeling, wildlife conservation and cat protection collaborated on the research, which has led to the development of guidelines to humanely reduce the numbers of free-roaming cats, thus reducing pressure on bird and other wildlife populations without euthanizing cats.

Accompanying resources include a guide to practical applications of study findings in managing free-roaming cat populations, as well as guidelines for determining and monitoring cat population numbers to assess the impact of various interventions. 

Read the complete study, available in full for free here.

Also of interest:

Study: How a neuter-return program reduced intake and euthanasia at a municipal shelter