Animal shelters can be a stressful environment for companion animals. Stress compromises immunity and normal behavior, so learn how to combat and reduce stress to increase the welfare of your shelter.
Resources and Articles
From the Magazine
Done properly, group housing can produce happier cats, delighted visitors, and more adoptions. Learn what you need to know before you start your own colony room.
Making a shelter dog's life richer can be as simple as smearing some peanut butter on a rubber toy. Even if you're pressed for time, there are easy ways to spice up your dogs' daily routines through environmental enrichment.
Dr. Chris Duke of the Bienville Medical Center in Mississippi talks about his community's emotional aftershocks from Katrina, and how residual pet and owner stresses flow into one another.
Corinne Dowling, a volunteer with San Francisco Animal Care and Control, started Give a Dog a Bone with the goal of improving the quality of life for the 300-400 dogs who end up in municipal protective custody each year.
The questions seem simple enough: How much space do you have in your shelter, and how much do you need? But Dr. Kate Hurley explores how the equation gets complicated by various factors.
Conflicts can crop up in multicat homes, causing the animals undue stress and health problems. But dissension can be minimized without calling the kitty shrink.
Policies & Programs
The shelter facility and the housing there-in has implications far beyond the shelter walls. The design of the facility will impact disease levels, behavioral health, staffing needs and the daily cost of care (and therefore how much time and money is left over for other important programs).