Strategies For Successful Animal Shelters

Strategies for Successful Animal Shelters is the first book to assess the relationship between shelter traits, activities and critical outcome variables, such as live release or save rates. This book provides a data-based evaluation of shelter processes and practices with explicit recommendations for improved shelter activities. Using a survey of licensed animal shelters, case studies, and data on state inspections, complaints, and save rates, this book provides an assessment of the activities, processes, and procedures that are most likely to lead to positive outcomes for a variety of animal shelters. The book also contributes to community debate around animal sheltering and provides best practices, methods and means to assess local shelters to ensure the highest level of animal welfare. It is a valuable resource for animal shelter professionals and rescue groups, as well as students in disciplines such as animal science, animal welfare and shelter medicine. Offers best-practice recommendations and how they are used in animal shelters Analyzes which shelter traits, programs and activities are most strongly associated with optimal outcomes, including live release rates Includes an assessment of future research and activities to optimize animal welfare within shelters

The Best Practice Playbook for Animal Shelters outlines proven best practice strategies to keep pets with their families, engage communities to action on behalf of pets in need, create responsible public policy and place pets who do enter the shelter quickly into homes or back to their original homes. This book is a 'must read' for anyone interested in recreating and supporting a compassionate animal welfare system in every community.

Ethical dilemmas and decision-making are a persistent feature of the everyday operations of animal shelters and animal protection organizations. These organizations frequently face difficult decisions about how to treat the animals in their care, decisions that are made all the more difficult by limited funding, material resources, and human labor. Moreover, animal protection organizations must also determine how to act within and toward the wider social and institutional environment in which non-human animals are routinely exploited. The first section of The Ethics of Animal Shelters contains practical recommendations developed by ethicists in response to the ethical challenges identified by employees of the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. These challenges arise across the organization's activities, including its internal structure; shelter operations; public campaigns and advocacy work; dealing with the public, animal agriculture and governmental agencies; and their work with feral animals. The second section offers philosophical analyses of the ethical challenges unique to animal shelters. Issues explored include the killing of shelter animals; shelter animals' diets; medical decision-making procedures; adoption policies; and the role shelters might play in transforming social attitudes and norms.

Animal Behavior for Shelter Veterinarians and Staff presents and evaluates the available research and programs that address both animal and human behaviors associated with the intake, management and rehoming of dog and cats. Introductions to dog and cat behavior relevant to any animal professional Reviews behavioral reasons for the relinquishment of dogs and cats Describes intake and assessment protocol, shelter design, training and enrichment programs that reduce stress and enhance behavioral well-being Concepts to improve the adoption process and support the human-animal bond post-adoption

Non-profit organization founders Amy Beatty & Stacey Ritz discuss in detail the ins and outs of running a successful non-profit organization. From the early days of animal shelter volunteer work to currently running a sustainable and viable organization within their community, the authors discuss both their successes and failures in forming and running their organization. While non-profit organizations are often characterized as a labor of love, keen business sense, ingenuity and dedication to ones passion are essential ingredients for any business - non-profit or for-profit. Throughout each chapter the authors pinpoint one topic and hone in on specific details to either enhance your current non-profit organization or to provide guidance and assist you in starting your own non-profit organization. A coveted how to guide for starting and operating an animal rescue, Covered in Pet Fur intertwines countless stories from the founders of Advocates 4 Animals, Inc. Firsthand accounts of rescue missions, collaborative efforts with shelters and pitfalls that have been encountered along the way bring hilarity and and clarity to the world of animal rescue. With an estimated 3 to 4 million pets being euthanized annually in United States animal shelters, viable and sustainable rescue organizations are urgently needed. Whether you are a start-up non-profit organization, an existing organization seeking growth and new ideas, or simply an individual who wants to make an impact on your own community, Covered in Pet Fur will certainly inspire, educate and at times bring you to both laughter and tears. A must read for any animal lover and anyone who truly wants to make the world a better place through insight and action.

This book has resulted from collaborative interactions between academic institutions and animal shelters. It contains a collection of eleven papers (one review and ten research articles) on the behavior of dogs and cats in animal shelters, which can be very challenging environments. The papers focus on stress and behaviors associated with stress; the effectiveness of shelter enrichment programs in reducing stress; the usefulness of shelter behavioral evaluations in predicting behavior and assessing adoptability; and interactions between humans and companion animals. The aim of this book is to provide information that will inform shelter programs and policies, and thereby improve the welfare of shelter animals.

This book is the first of its kind to discuss in detail the actual management of local animal control programs as opposed to the care of the animals. It covers financial, personnel, legal, health, and safety issues that animal control directors and management staff need to know in providing direction and oversight of animal control programs. Chapters examine selected topics in which the author assesses strengths and weaknesses and offers new insights and strategies for more effective management. For example, the two chapters on contracting discuss the steps in the process, strategies, and suggested provisions in the written agreement to make the program more effective. The animal law chapters explain the basis for the laws, and highlight those provisions, that if enacted into law, can strengthen enforcement options. In addition, the author discusses and assesses interacting with the public and the media, liability issues, wildlife problems, and the politics of animal control.

Since the publication of the first edition of Infectious Disease Management in Animal Shelters in 2009, research and practice in the field of shelter medicine have advanced significantly. This updated second edition of that seminal work provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive guide to preventing, managing, and treating infectious diseases affecting cats, dogs and exotic small companion mammals in animal shelters. Throughout the book, the authors—noted experts on the topic—bridge the gap between medicine (both individual and group) and management. The book is filled with practical strategies that draw on the latest research and evidence-based medicine as well as the authors’ personal experience in the field. While the text highlights strategies for the prevention of illness and mitigation of disease spread, the book also contains practical information on treatment and considerations for adoption. This important text: Offers the only book dedicated to the topic of infectious disease management in shelters Presents guidelines for general management and disease prevention and control in cats and dogs Includes shelter medicine’s core principles of humane population management in the context of supporting shelters’ goals for preserving welfare, saving lives and protecting human health Contains a new chapter on exotic companion mammals Written for shelter veterinarians, managers, and workers, the revised second edition of Infectious Disease Management in Animal Shelters is the only book to focus exclusively on infectious diseases in the shelter setting, blending individual animal care with a unique herd health perspective.