hi everyone! i posted this in my animal shelter group but figured this might be a good place to ask. i work at a county animal shelter and want opinions or other experiences.

we work pretty closely with our city police departments at my county shelter. they have their own animal control division, but they also have random officers/cadets bringing in animals.

don’t get me started on this, as it could be a whole conversation; i don’t see any reason why random police officers are going out and taking neonatal kittens out of bushes to bring them to us, but they are.

anyway, if police officers are going to be involved i figure animal handling is absolutely a necessary skill. i’ve seen these police officers drag 4 month old puppies in on catch poles, hold scared cats dangling with their arms outstretched, etc. this treatment is dangerous for people and animals, and makes our job so much more difficult when we have to deal with the animals after they’ve been traumatized by the officers.

in one incident that made me livid, for some reason a police officer was sent out in the middle of the night to collect a single neonatal kitten??? well, he ended up placing the kitten in a regular sized (dog sized) metal kennel with a thin towel, and left it there. the kitten squeezed through the bars of the kennel, likely desperate for warmth or food, and i found it cold and dying on the floor in the morning.

do police officers train for animal handling… at all? or are they just being told to wing it in most cases? what are some good ways to go about possibly getting training for our police departments?

i keep seeing videos or reports of officers handling animals inappropriately across the country, like the officer who shot a 16 year old blind dog because he “thought it could have rabies”. is there just a genuine lack of education on things like that among the public/officers? id be laughing at that if the outcome had been more positive; in the video the dog is just kinda slowly walking around him and gives no indication of being ill.

Thank you to everyone who take their time to read this. This is a story you all have probably heard before but it's the one I'm stuck in.

I have been very closely involved in a local rescue. I started out employed for kennel care and am now a volunteer involved in any adoptions that do actually happen here and behavior interventions, as well as taking the spicy dogs to the vet. So I'm a pretty big asset to this rescue, however I cannot support them much longer no matter how much I love the dogs.

The physical shelter can reasonably house 32-42 dogs... There are 70+ there and an unknown amount at the director's home but I'm going to say 10+ in her own home, 4 at her office and another dog who is too aggressive to house with other dogs in another home.

And she keeps taking in more that are brought in. If someone tells her they will release the dog back on the street or take the dog to county she will take them 100%.

Because most of these dogs have been at the shelter for 5+ years they are destroyed mentally and physically and some are beyond adopting out to the average person.

I have been so involved for so long because I've been trying to think of a way to end this craziness of the shelter. It is a fabulous facility and they've been a name in the community for so long, but under this woman's rule it caused much more suffering than it stopped.

Yes I have contacted the humane society, animal control and the state veterinarian about various issues and nothing has come of it. Even reported to OSHA about all the mold and mouse poop and dogs unvaccinated for rabies that the employees are working around.

I have contacted the news before because dogs they covered the "saving" of 5-10 years ago are still here degrading. One in particular was saved from county after being hit by a truck, and now 7 years later he is blind, losing his ability to walk on his one front leg, and has bitten many people.

I am happy to contact any of these organizations again if there's a better way to parley what is happening. It is so out of hand, this place contributes to a majority of my crippling anxiety. I think even if I washed my hands of it I would still feel that pit.

I'd like to add that we are in a US area that is in an absolute pet crisis. The county shelter regularly is over capacity by hundreds of dogs and there are dogs and cats loose everywhere in the area breeding. There is no easy solution to all of this but in my opinion we're better off putting a lot of care in less animals to improve their lives and get them out asap to be able to take in more and continue the process rather than warehousing as many as possible and considering them saved.

hi. for background i’ve been working for an animal shelter for nearly 4 years now. i’ve fostered for around 3 years straight, all types of dogs and cats.

i used to have a dog selective pitty, but he just recently passed away a few months ago. so my fostering options have opened up tremendously to where i can now foster big boy dogs.

this is my fourth foster after my old dog passed away and i’m so in love with this dog it’s insane. i’ve never felt this way with another dog (i’ve had my fair share of “oh, i COULD adopt this dog” but not a dog where i feel connected to and i can envision my life with)

but of course, we put him online when i got him, and nearly 2 days of him being uploaded online he has an adopter extremely interested in him. to top it off - everything is the same. they have another dog who is blind, family is just like mine, fenced in backyard, etc. i think it hurts more to me honestly.

i feel horrible. i don’t want to rip this dog from a family who wants to adopt him but i also know if i see him go i will be heartbroken. this would be my first dog that i actually picked out (all my other owned animals were dumped on me)

this dog is AMAZING. he is so incredibly smart and for such a big guy, he is eager to meet other dogs, small animals and people. i did not want to adopt another dog because fostering is so rewarding to me. but i think he could be such a great foster brother.

me and my partner mentioned lying and saying he attacked another dog, maybe to turn them away, but it weighs on my conscience. i have to make a decision this week, and it sucks.

edit: i go by they/them pronouns. or atleast he/him

In the Journal of Shelter Medicine and Community Animal Health:
https://jsmcah.org/index.php/jasv/article/view/85

"kennel viewing periods showed an 82% increase in adoptions"

"23% of large dogs were viewable, but they account for 83% of large dog adoptions"

Full paper is open access. Download it here:
https://jsmcah.org/index.php/jasv/article/view/85/134

I live in a state where my shelter is one of two large city shelters. The other one is an hour from mine and has probably twice the animal capacity. They recently joined the intense “no kill” movement and frequently adopt out problematic dogs, but refuse to take them back when the adopters have issues or the dog is a liability.

My shelter takes in dogs from them frequently, I would say since the start of 2024 we have probably taken 15 to 20 of their dogs and euthanized majority of them due to severe reactivity, aggression, or bite histories that are difficult to manage or adopt out.

Today I had a gentleman call because he surrendered a dog they would not take back. They adopted it out to him in August and it has bit him significantly twice since then. Was on 800 mg of trazodone a day in the shelter. He said he called them first and they were being extremely difficult about taking the dog back and basically refused.

If an adopter called me, saying their fairly new adopted dog bit them unexpectedly in the face and they were scared for their safety, I would tell them to bring it in immediately. Can’t fathom putting somebody in that situation and lying about the dogs behavior. Has anyone been through this? I have called and left voicemails asking questions about each individual dog and what their assessment process is like, but they don’t get back to me.

Recently read an interesting article, I thought I would highlight some parts and see what everyone's opinion on it was. But I highly recommend giving it a read if you have time, especially some of the quotes in 3. Results section.

The article interviews a few dozen low-income individuals to identify barriers, if any, they experienced with housing with a pet. They interviewed 24 current, former, and aspiring pet owners. Most participants were female, were aged 44–60 years, Black, had a high school education, and were employed full-time or government assistance. Many had experienced homelessness in the past.

A couple interesting facts was that 50-75% of rental housing allows pets yet 72% of renters say pet friendly apartments are hard to find, and only 8% of rental homes don't have pet restrictions. A rental that accepts pets is on average $200 more per month, and white neighborhoods had significantly more pet friendly rentals.

Another interesting thing I didn't even think of, was the authors noted the amenities they provided for this research; they gave interviewees a meal, transportation, child care during the interview, etc. Because without this, they wouldn't be able to get interviewees. Which made me consider how skewed polls/interviews can be when the group struggling the most can't be heard.

No affordable pet rentals also seemed to be a reason for people to choose to be homeless, which is heartbreaking. Some people were quoted saying it was "like choosing between life and death". Another interesting thing that was noted from a few interviewees was this common thought that if they could afford their pet, they could afford the pet deposit and the pet rent and the higher overall rent etc. Which I find is unfair.

People that had ESAs stated they felt more secure in their housing, but also point out the disparity that the most marginalized groups have to jump through these hoops to show that their pet has emotional benefits. The authors then go on to say that people advocating to address the misuse of ESAs should shift focus to advocating for pet friendly housing. Which I honestly agree with.

One crazy thing I didn't realize was the amount of rentals that obscure their pet policy! It is not uncommon apparently for these rentals to not fully disclose their policy on pets until signing or even after moving in! Having this information available on the web costs nothing and can be changed asap.

Y'all will have to tell me what you think of the following;

none of the participants in our study reported giving their pet up to an animal shelter... participants sought alternative options, such as giving their pet to a friend or family member, returning their pet to where they got them from initially, or leaving them under the care of the next occupant of their unit.

That means abandoning the animal, right? Or am I understanding that wrong?

One quote really made me think;

...they didn't let my dogs be on the balcony. They had to be inside. I had a newborn baby, so I couldn't really have them inside all the time… 

Usually when I see dogs on a balcony I instantly think how could someone do that. But this really made me rethink my quick judgements.

There are some REALLY sad quotes from the interviewees in here and the study is honestly very eye opening, I highly suggest giving it a read.

Source:

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2024.1465682/full

We’ve recently had an issue with our drains and have been told to stop putting hair in the drains as much as possible, however, we clean with hoses and spray chemicals to prevent spreading of any diseases and many dogs come in with upset stomachs from anxiety, so most of the hair isn’t something we can even see until the water pushes it all together and we can’t sweep beforehand. Is there anything other shelters do to prevent dog hair going down the drains while cleaning?

I just found this sub. So my mom and I are still listed as Fosters with the National Newfoundland Rescue. We tried to rescue a Dog who became extremely attached to my mom, and it was very apparent that she had issues.

She screamed all night. We didn't sleep for 4 days. She was night blind, she was aggressive with my dog, and on the last full day we had her, she snapped at my face resulting in my dog attacking her.

We ended up getting rid of her and returning her to NNR to a different home and again it was another foster fail, and resulted in her being sent out to a dog sanctuary where she was put down due to her becoming increasingly aggressive.

My friend worked at the sanctuary and they had to put her down due to a brain tumor.

I don't know if we can ever shelter again. We bought another newfy from a reputable and well known breeder. He'll either be a therapy dog or one day be my service dog.

Is it wrong that we have up on that dog so easily?

TIL today is when you honor your pets for Day of the Dead so we gave some offerings for the shelter animals who didn't make it home. Not pictured: Bubbles and cat TV. Apologies for the Santa candle it's the only one we had.

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