Hi there.

We recently got a vet on staff and although we were told he wouldn’t be doing anything but surgeries he is extending his influence.

The most recent target is our ringworm protocols.

We have been treating with oral anti fungals if it arises. We don’t woods lamp every cat, but anyone with suspicious lesions.

He wants us to:

• woods lamp every intake (great in theory, but means transporting cats to the staff bathroom to woods lamp because it’s the only room we can get dark enough)

• anyone suspicious needs to not be handled until evaluated by him (he works one day a week)

• any confirmed cases of ringworm get lime dips, including ferals.

Is this normal? I know lime dips can be effective but thought they had fallen out of favor due to the stress on the cat and overall toxicity.

Thoughts?

Hi, quick tl;dr: I'm a software dev that wants to create a free app to help animal shelters. I'm not selling anything, and I don't intend to do so, I just want to make sure I'm not wasting my time building something that no one needs. Mods: I don't see any rules this would be breaking, but just let me know if this is bad. I'm not sure where else to post this, but open to suggestions.

I'll give a bit of background:

I've always been a big animal lover, and while my skillset is generally useful, I've had a tough time figuring out how to really make a difference in this space. I've done some hands-on fundraising and volunteering locally, but I keep getting stonewalled. It's weirdly gatekeep-y, at least with the orgs I've interacted with (3 so far).

I figured that I can probably make an impact by creating useful software (much more in my wheelhouse) and giving it away for free. About 5 years ago, I reached out to a few hundred rescues about their biggest pain points, and the resounding problem was with grant proposal writing, with a few mentioning accounting/bookkeeping. Generative AI was not what it is today, and I also feared that disrupting the grant ecosystem would just cause bigger problems for the little guys, so I was hesitant to take that problem on at the time. Now that ChatGPT and other LLMs are ubiquitous and cheap, these apps are everywhere anyway.

I figure it makes more sense to focus on the bookkeeping problems, and I was hoping to get some more insight into the specific painpoints around it. After bouncing some ideas around, I was considering building out a very lightweight donation and expenses categorization app. It looks like plenty of the bigger software solutions are trying to be everything: payment processor, donor management, accounting software, adoption tracking, etc. If I've learned anything in my years of software work, it's that people don't want or need 90% of most applications they use, and they're heavily entrenched in that 10% they DO use. So rather than trying to change workflows, I'm hoping to supplement existing workflows with very simple visibility into stuff that's actually important.

In a nutshell, I'm considering creating an app that will ingest transactions via manual user input, CSV upload, or possibly direct integrations with any large donation processing platforms. You will have the option to flag the transaction as a donation/income or an expense, tag it with a category (medical, transport, general, etc.), upload a file if needed (receipt or whatever), and then easily view the balances on a dashboard or export transactions in an accountant-friendly format. Ideally, you'd be able to just export income from Venmo/Paypal/whatever, export expenses from your bank/credit card, then import the files into the app and go.

I want this to be free. I've actually engineered the architecture to be completely free to host and run, so it should be exceedingly possible. The whole point of this post is to determine if this would be actually useful whatsoever to anyone, or if it's a complete waste of time.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read. If you're aware of any better place to post this, I'm all ears. Any feedback is tremendously appreciated as well!

Hey guys! I am a 17 year old volunteer at an animal shelter at my city. My shelter posts on Instagram any animals that are in need of donations. I really want to spread the word of people to donate or just share, however, I am not quite sure what to do other than repost. Do you have any social media platforms with mind where I can have a lot of reach with more potential donors? Thank you!

We recently hired a second vet assistant and have come to the realization that the way we hand out meds is disorganized and we feel we could improve that process.

We currently just pull up morning meds in the AM and afternoon meds in the PM, labeling little paper food boats with the animals name and placing the meds in their boat with wet food or pill pockets. Sometimes we have A LOT of animals on meds though, so the techs are bouncing around a lot as they can only fit 8 boats on the med tray.

I know some places will draw all their meds for that day in the morning, and have small labeled baskets for each room. Or some places label muffin trays by room and kennel number.

Open to any suggestions!

I am the Volunteer Coordinator for my shelter. A recent situation with a person wanting to volunteer has lead me to take a look at our Criminal Record Screening Policy. Currently, we screen out any potential volunteer with charges for any charges relating to violent crime, illicit substances, DV, child abuse, etc.

For obvious reasons some of these would always be an automatic no.

But, for example, with the way our policy currently is we would screen out someone with a substance abuse charge from 10-20 years ago and this just doesn’t sit right with me. People make mistakes and people change.

So, what is your screening policy? Do you take things like the nature of the charge and length of time into consideration in these instances?

I have worked at my shelter/humane society for almost a year now. I am hoping some of you can chime in and tell me if this is normal or if anyone has felt this way.

It is the most gratifying job and I love what I do and can't imagine anything else. It's also the most emotionally taxing and depressing job I've ever had sometimes. It's 100% worth it for me though.

The way I cope is by smoking weed every night to decompress and relax. I am not very concerned about my long term health right now but I know I should be. To me it feels like just the cost of being able to recover from the day and it's worth it right now.

Anyone else do this? If not, how do you recover and unwind from a stressful, busy, long day at the shelter?

So I am in need of a recommendation for a pair of boots / shoes. I am starting a new job soon in a dog rescue. I've worked in a kennel before and I couldn't find a piar of shoes that would work for the job. The last pair I had that claimed to be waterproof lasted a week before water started to get into them. Anyone who's worked in an animal job like a kennel etc will know how fast shoes get destroyed.

I'm looking for some that are waterproof and comfortable enough to be running around all day in.

Broncho (front) has found his forever home and I am thrilled! He’s one of the best cats ever, super sweet and chill. He just wanted cuddles and snuggles all the time. I wish him the very best!

hi yall! ive been working in animal care for almost 4 yrs & ive been wanting to work on education for myself. im currently saving to get an actual degree but in the meantime, i'd love to complete any free/low-cost certs on basically anything i can. im already fear-free certified & have a few veterinary courses under me. i have a special niche for shelter animal behavior, specifically with turnarounds for highly aggro animals, & enrichment/mental health practices so maybe anything that can cater to those interests? i also would love if anyone knows anything on nutrition courses or grooming for complete beginners lol

I’m a volunteer. Like many shelters, they let us take a dog off site for the day. I always take them to a nearby park for a long walk.

Last week, the dog and I walked a total of about 5 1/2 miles over the course of 2 1/2 - 3 hours, so pretty slow pace. I let him stop and sniff any time he wanted. We stopped a few times at picnic tables, but the dog was energetic and never even sat down during those stops.

My husband says this is way too far for the dog to walk. Of course, google is mixed feedback, so now I’m concerned.

I wouldn’t do this with a small dog like a chihuahua, but these have all been shepherds or med/large mixed breeds.

Should I be doing shorter walks?

Thank you! 🦮

One of our ACOs got a job as a vet tech. We are so happy for her! I have been volunteering for a few weeks now as a volunteer photographer. I also walk the dogs and spend time with the cats. I have tried to become our social media manager but that position is taken (although the current one definitely shouldn’t have the job). Can someone give me advice on if you think I should ask about taking over for this ACO? I ripped my rotator cuff and a pec muscle 2 years ago and am still not as strong on my right side as I wish I was. I have a 90 pound GSD and can handle him pulling, but sometimes these 50 pound young dogs are a bit more than I can handle. Would you recommend I not even consider applying? I know an ACO’s job is not selective - you can’t just say “oops, can’t come get that one” - but we do have several other wonderful ACOs who bring in really large, strong babies. I guess I’m just asking for the ACOs here to weigh in on if you think I should apply even though I’m not the best with larger dogs.

I didn’t get the job. They said they would’ve moved forward with me if a previous employee didn’t come back and ask for their old job back.

So disappointed, but yall that work in shelter med are amazing!

I volunteer at a shelter in rural Ontario that I’ve always been concerned about. The animals are taken care of as well as we can do, but with only one full time staff member and about 30-40 volunteers the animals really just get fed, clean water, litter boxes and maybe 1 hour per day with humans. I accepted this since they are mostly healthy and I don’t think we should put down healthy animals.

But seeing more come in than going out and the cats becoming less and less socialized as time goes on did make me sad. This is the only animal shelter I’ve volunteered at so I thought this was normal.

I was reading about a new shelter opening up about 30 minutes away and when I heard the details I was pretty surprised. The new one is 16,000 sq feet and has room for 48 cats and 24 dogs. The one where I volunteer at is probably 3000 sq ft or so and houses about 300 cats!

Is this even legal? I reached out to animal welfare but haven’t heard anything back yet.

Posted on job forums, realized othe shelter workers might have advice

I worked at a major animal shelter as an Intake/Admissions Counselor. My job included using a gas for euthanasia on small animals (birds, mice, ECT). I kept reporting that the gas was leaking, boss refused to fix the issue, and after a year I quit on the spot after not being able to handle the side effects of being poisoned. OSHA has started getting involved now, but I already quit. I'm totally lost for what to do for work. This was my dream, and I only have an AA in Mathematics. Job duties (I liked) were: *Vaccinate animals *Asses behavior/medical condition *Decide pathway for animal (send to behavior training, medical triage, adoption floor) *Euthanize sick animal from public, or dangerous dogs *Inventory and stocking *Educating the public on various topics (spay/neuter, TNR, wildlife protection) *Delegating staff to do certain tasks

I have a job as a front desk clerk at a vet clinic right now, but it feels so beneath what I'm capable of. Not trying to discount the work, I'm just very hands on and not good at speaking, so I feel like I quit a job where I was the most valuable employee, for one I suck at. (That's how I discreetly tell my boss I'm autistic without outing myself anyways.)

After I quit I was told several people cried. I've never had coworkers that cared for me or respected me that much, and I'm afraid I will not be able to find that again. This was the first job I ever liked the job duties, and even though I was paid dirt I loved it. Advice for how to find a good fit? Especially since I don't have a higher education. Sadly there are not many other rescues/shelters and they have not been hiring in the last 2 years I've been looking.

Tldr: Quit dream job, want to find a job that uses the same type of skills

New dog in shelter wants to be in kennel. Clearly nervous (panting and yawning) when taken out, eats and drinks lying down, rushes inside first chance after pacing or sitting at door outside and has virtually no bathroom activity after 4 days.

Is otherwise aggression free and wants human interactions. Large breed livestock guardian dog. Has she just lived in pen whole life? Every movement or new sound makes her unsure but will happily sit next to staff in kennel...is this a mill dog?

I'm a volunteer not a pro. Is this fact sheet how managed intake is usually carried out? What are the pros and cons in practice?

The theory makes lifesaving a priority. We want to do everything possible - public awareness, pressure, persuasion - to keep dogs out of shelter and prevent euth for space. More adoption events, telling people when the shelter is full, encouraging finders to foster found dogs, etc. I love those strategies and hope they work as often as possible.

My concern is that we already do a lot of these things. People can foster found dogs. They know the shelter is full. We have intervention in the lobby, like cheap shots and free food. Nonprofits to pay redemption fees. It seems like people who care about their dogs often need material things we can't provide (not just a free group training class or free shots, but $1000 in medical care or a trainer for aggression). And those who don't care are not swayed by the idea that the shelter is full. During covid we had more managed intake policies that even led to dumping.

How can we avoid a policy of "emergency intake only" turning into "accommodating people who shamelessly insist on dropping off a dog, and letting the others slink away and do whatever they're gonna do out of the public eye."

Is managed intake connected to no-kill? Of course I'm not in favor of killing but if people are intent upon being rid of their dogs they're better off in a kill shelter than on the street (or passed on to the next moron while unaltered), right?

I'm considering volunteering to one of our local shelters but I'm worried that coming home stinky will traumatize my already skittish rescue cats. One cat's a derp and a chonk but the other seems very insecure. Any advice?

I don't think I will ever be able to get another dog since my last one passed away. But I would still like to foster a dog until they find their forever home. I work from home and would love an excuse to walk several times a day again.

All the shelters in my country will check you up. They have criminal background checks, and checks with the animal welfare authority. (And proof of employment if you wish to adopt.) These are all fine except for when they ask about referees. Two people I know that can vouch for me. And I am completly friendless, not even able to give one number.

The first and probably the last dog I ever owned I got as a puppy. And they just hand them out if you seem normal during an interview. No check ups or anything.

What do I do? Any advice?

I am currently a volunteer photographer at my local shelter. I have access to all animals and all areas of the shelter. That being said, I really can’t tell what is desperately needed. There is always a ton of food, litter, toys, etc. in storage. Is there something that would be extremely helpful that normally people don’t think to donate? I’ve asked my director but she says that me volunteering to photograph the animals is plenty. I checked the Amazon wishlist and purchased a few things from there, but what things typically get overlooked from donations?

*EDIT: I asked the director and she said other than taking photos, “adopt me” leashes are wanted for day out trips and events. I have purchased some food, cleaning supplies, and a few leashes.

Literally just started working here and the amount of people coming in with kittens expecting our full capacity shelter to just take them and deal with it is insane. I’ve been losing all hope in humanity. (Also want to add 99% are outdoor/indoor cats they own, not strays that live in their area) ..

How do I know? They took her picture off the website. I just saw right now. Her picture wasn't missing.

The last time I saw her, it was my birthday.

I'm probably never gonna see her again. But she will always have a place in my heart. I am going to get a portrait. I have saved her photo. But wherever she is, I hope she's happy. I wish I could see her one last time but it doesn't matter.

I’ve been volunteering at my local shelter for a couple of months now, and I see this cat. I love her to bits. I’d adopt her myself if I had the resources to do so. I’m worried about her not getting adopted out due to her not liking kids and not liking other cats. I’m just wondering what is her and other animals likelihood of getting adopted out when they have characteristics like that? She’s super sweet, and I’d hate for her and others to be put down to happen just because they couldn’t get adopted. Thank you :) .

Hi I have an in person interview as an Adoptions Manager position at a shelter. Just don’t know what I should wear to it? Do I go business casual? Or nice jeans and shirt? I live in scrubs so now I have to wear real clothes and just don’t want to send the wrong impression.

Hi everyone,

I work in communication/administration for a relatively big animal shelter (we have 13-14k intakes a year, we're open intake with a municipal contract). I take care of our website and email campaigns, among many other things (ah that non-profit life!)

I've been wondering if anyone had any experience in automated email alerts for new animals that go up for adoption? Our main database is Petpoint, and we use the (pretty terrible) Petpoint API to display animals on our website directly. It's an automated process, when animals go into certain stages, they get displayed on the website, and when they're adopted (so stage change to 'released') they get taken down.

We get a lot of request from the public to get email alerts when new animals are up for adoption. It's not possible for us to create these emails manually, we have way too many animals that go in and out of adoption daily to be able to sustain a manual system. Does any bigger shelters have experience with automated email that would be sent either daily or weekly with a list of all new animals up for adoption?

We use Mailchimp for our main email marketing, and we do display animals on Petfinder (directly connected to petpoint, and uses the same API as we do for the animals displayed on our website)

I'm not even sure this is something that could be done without a fully custom coded system, but I'd love to hear from any shelter that may have such a system in place!

Thanks all :)