Chew On This!

Getting big dogs out of the shelter via Canine Good Citizen training

Do large shelter dogs who've had some training have an advantage over dogs who haven't when it comes to getting adopted? The big ones sure do!

Through a partnership with Best Friends Animal Society, Austin Pets Alive! embarked on a six-month pilot program to test the effectiveness of Canine Good Citizen (CGC) training on adoption rates of large dogs.

Dogs who went through the pilot program were adopted more readily than those who didn't.

Learn more by viewing a recent presentation on the pilot program here.

How a 'litter box blues' intake form can help cats get adopted

The next time someone surrenders a cat with litter box problems to your shelter, consider using a 'litter box blues' intake form to give that cat the best chance at being successfully adopted. Here are some suggestions for what that form should include from Maddie's Fund consultant Susan Krebsbach, DVM, of Creature Counseling.

Urinating and defecating outside of the litter box is a common behavioral problem seen in cats – perhaps the most common. Most people who answer the phones or staff the desk at a shelter will have had some experience trying to counsel these owners, but it's not always successful or even welcome.

When that’s the case, having the person surrendering the cat complete a separate form with a history of the inappropriate elimination can be very helpful. This form should include questions about medical/physiological issues, the home setting and the litter box environment, allowing you to be better prepared for the role of elimination detective.

Medical/physiological issues

It is essential that medical issues be ruled out as a cause of, or a contributing factor to, the inappropriate elimination prior to implementing any behavioral therapy. All the behavior modification in the world isn’t going to help a kitty with a medical problem!

For example, inappropriate urination can be related to kidney disease, bladder stones or lower urinary tract disease, while inappropriate defecation can be associated with colitis, parasites and intestinal disease. Ask if the cat has ever been diagnosed with a medical condition, in particular a urinary tract infection. Then schedule the cat being surrendered to be evaluated by the shelter veterinarian.

Be aware that even when a physical diagnosis is made, behavioral therapy may be needed in addition to medical treatment since behavioral problems can arise as a result of negative conditioning by pain, fear and discomfort associated with the underlying medical condition.

Another physiological factor to consider: What is the neuter status of the cat? C

ats communicate indirectly by leaving messages in their territory, which can be in the form of urine marking. The urine serves as an environmental tag, providing information not only about the presence of the individual cat, but also his or her reproductive status. Consequently, the incidence of urine spraying is higher in intact animals as a way of advertising their reproductive availability. Thankfully, spaying/neutering is very successful in curbing spraying behavior at any age.

Home setting

What other pets share the cats home? Was the cat allowed to go outdoors and if so, how often, and was he or she supervised?

How long was the cat typically left alone during the day? How often did episodes of urinating and defecating outside of the litter box happen? Were the episodes related to any particular event or stimulus?

Answers to the above questions may be integral in understanding the problem better. You might find out the newly obtained puppy was chasing the cat being surrendered whenever he would go by the litter box, or the episodes of urinating outside of the litter box took place only after the cat returned from outdoor adventures, or the cat would soil in the hallway right outside of the laundry room where the litter box was kept (could the soiling be related to the cat being scared by the sound of the washer and dryer?).

This information can guide you to finding an appropriate new home, but can also reassure the adopter that the problem is not likely to happen in their home.

Litter box environment

Start with the litter. What type and brand of litter was used? How long was it used? Was it scented? Where there any types of additives used, such as baking soda?

Then expand your questioning to the litter boxes. How many litter boxes were in the house? Where were they located? What was the style of the litter boxes? Were any of the boxes covered? Were liners used?

Once you get the answers to the litter and litter box questions, inquire about litter box hygiene. How often were the litter boxes scooped out? How often were they changed completely and cleaned? What was used to clean the litter boxes?

Finally, query about the soiled areas. What areas of the house did the cat soil? Were the sites vertical or horizontal? What type of surfaces did the inappropriate elimination occur on (carpet, wood, tile, etc.)?  Were particular objects sought out? What was used to clean the soiled areas?

All this information will help your shelter team beat the litter box blues and get that cat adopted. Start creating your litter box blues intake form today!

Resources

Curing the Litter Box Blues: Feline Elimination Disorders

I Got 99 Problems and a Box Ain’t One

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 

Study: Owners surrendering their dogs to shelters are truthful, accurate about behavior issues

Can your shelter or rescue group rely on the information about a dog's behavior when they're surrendering him to you? Yes, suggests a recent study.

The study, published in the December 2014 issue of the journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine, used a shortened version of the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) to compare the reports given by relinquishing owners to subsequent evaluations conducted by shelter staff.

The results of both also correlated with the behavior of the dogs in their future adoptive homes, in terms of stranger-directed aggression, chewing, and inappropriate urination.

The study authors concluded the C-BARQ is a valid tool for assessing canine behavior, saying, "Overall, the findings confirmed the value of this type of shelter intake survey instrument for screening owner-surrendered dogs for the presence of behavior problems."

Additionally, as shelters move increasingly toward a non-judgmental, open-ended, conversational approach to both relinquishment deterrence and adoption, these findings reinforce the idea that owners don't lie or seek to hide information about their dog's behavior when talking to shelter staff.

Deborah L. Duffy, Katherine A. Kruger, James A. Serpell; Evaluation of a behavioral assessment tool for dogs relinquished to shelters. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Volume 117, Issues 3–4, 1 December 2014, Pages 601–609. doi doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2014.10.003.

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

Get these new tools to change feline behavior

If you're an animal shelter, rescue group, foster home or adopter, do you need new tools to help cats become happier and well-adjusted companions?

In a free Maddie's Institute^SM webcast, Dr. Sara L. Bennett, a board certified veterinary behavior specialist who enjoys working with problem behaviors in shelter animals, will present a review of the behavior modification techniques that have been demonstrated to change feline behavior, with specific examples and recommendations for appropriate situations for the use of each approach.

Join us for Behavior Modification for Cats in Shelters and Foster Homes on Thursday, October 23, 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 register here.

Study: The case against electronic collars

Is an electronic collar a good choice to train a dog who is demonstrating behavior that might lead to his owner surrendering him to a shelter? Not according to a recent UK study, which found dogs trained with e-collars demonstrated signs of stress not seen in dogs trained with positive methods:

The new study involved 63 pet dogs referred for poor recall and related problems, including livestock worrying, which are the main reasons for collar use in the UK. The dogs were split into three groups – one using e-collars and two as control groups.

Trainers used lower settings with a pre-warning function and behavioural responses were less marked than during the preliminary study. Despite this, dogs trained with e-collars showed behavioural changes that were consistent with a negative response. These included showing more signs of tension, more yawning and less time engaged in environmental interaction than the control dogs.

Following training, most owners reported improvements in their dog’s problem behaviour. Owners of dogs trained using e-collars were, however, less confident of applying the training approach demonstrated.

These findings indicate that there is no consistent benefit to be gained from e-collar training, but greater welfare concerns compared with positive reward-based training.

Jonathan J. Cooper, Nina Cracknell, Jessica Hardiman, Hannah Wright, Daniel Mills. The Welfare Consequences and Efficacy of Training Pet Dogs with Remote Electronic Training Collars in Comparison to Reward Based Training. PLoS ONE, 2014; 9 (9): e102722 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102722

The best medicine: Playing with shelter dogs

Dogs and games go together - never more than when they're shelter dogs!

Play, particularly play with humans, can reduce stress and improve behavioral and physical wellness for dogs in animal shelters. Games like tag and hide and seek can help dogs with poor impulse control, jumpy/mouthy dogs, shy or anxious dogs and dogs with kennel stress.

These dogs then make a better impression on adopters, and transition to their adoptive home more easily.

But play isn't all fun and games! It's important for the shelter staff to design and implement such programs appropriately to get the most benefit from them.

Please join us for the free webcast, The Best Medicine: Playing with Shelter Dogs with Dr. Brenda Griffin, on Thursday, October 2, 2014, at 9 PM Eastern.

Register for the free webcast here.

Everything you need to help cats who aren't using the litterbox - and their humans

Few things challenge the human-cat bond than a feline who isn't using the litterbox, instead urinating or defecating on beds, rugs, laundry, or other places their human housemates don't consider appropriate kitty toilets.

Some of these cats get moved permanently outdoors, while others are surrendered to animal shelters or rescue groups. Fortunately, the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) and the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) can help!

In an overview of their new, extensive complication of resources for cat owners, veterinarians, and anyone else looking for answers to this tough health and behavior problem, the authors say:

The AAFP/ISFM Guidelines for Diagnosing and Solving House-Soiling Behavior in Cats contain scientifically documented information when available and provide practical insight that reflects the accumulated clinical experiences of the authors. The document emphasizes that this unwanted behavior is not due to spite or anger toward the owner, but because the cat’s physical, social, or medical needs are not being met. The guidelines replace the term “inappropriate urination” with the term “house soiling” because “house soiling” implies no misconduct by the cat and thus, may encourage owners to better follow veterinary recommendations.

These guidelines help clinicians identify the causative factors of house soiling and include a cat owner questionnaire which is customizable for clinic use. Within the document is an algorithm for the diagnosis and treatment of the four basic categories of house soiling. The guidelines propose and explain two universal suggestions for the management of all cases of house soiling: (1) optimizing the litter box/tray and (2) meeting the “five pillars” of feline environmental needs. They also include specific treatment suggestions for each diagnostic category, take-home instructions for cat owners, and what steps practitioners can take if the frustrated client is considering euthanasia.

Get the complete resource list here.