Most of us know dogs put a lot of store in how things smell, their noses are legendary for their sniffing ability. It’s not as widely known that the smells in a cat’s environment are a critical part of what makes a cat feel safe and free of stress, whether the cat is living in… Learn More
Problems related to urinating and defecating outside the litter box and living with more than one cat are among the top reasons people surrender cats to a shelter. Is that worse for cats who have been declawed? The average number of cats per cat-owning household is 2, indicating that multi-cat households are very common in… Learn More
Can something as simple as more frequent cleaning of food bowls and changing of water in a shelter cat’s housing get them adopted more quickly? A study soon to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science suggests that it is. The study was conducted in Austria, where it’s illegal for shelters to… Learn More
Mary Kennedy Withrow, a staffer at the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, arrived at the shelter recently and found a woman standing outside with a gorgeous German Shepherd. She said she had found the dog running down her street, and wanted to have her scanned. “I would have kept her, but my other dog didn’t seem… Learn More
In 2009, veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker attended a presentation where veterinary behaviorist Dr. Karen Overall said something that changed his life: “Fear is the worst thing a social species can experience, and it causes permanent damage to the brain.” “I’d always thought of myself as a particularly compassionate veterinarian,” he said. “I had been exposed… Learn More
Shelter cats are happier, more playful, friendlier with each other, and less stressed when they have more room — 4 square meters, or 43 square feet, per cat, to be precise. In a study published in the June 2016 issue of Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Swedish researchers tested the play, mutual grooming, and inter-cat aggressiveness… Learn More
Did a recent study really suggest animal shelters stop evaluating dogs for temperament and adoption? Not exactly. The study, authored by Dr. Gary J. Patronek of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts and Janis Bradley of the National Canine Research Council, was published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior in August. Its central… Learn More
Do you have 15 minutes to help develop feline behavior assessments to help cats find homes, or stay in the home they already have? The Feline Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (Fe-BARQ) is a survey designed by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania to provide cat owners and specialists with a standardized method for evaluating… Learn More
Can your children see the world from the point of view of a dog, cat or other animal? Would they more easily experience empathy and compassion if they could? A new app designed to take young readers into an animals-eye view of the world while getting and keeping their attention is designed to help children… Learn More
Does your shelter or rescue group counsel adopters on how to carefully and gradually introduce a new cat into the family? If so, many of your adopters may well be ignoring your advice — and things work out anyway. A couple of weeks ago, Million Cat Challenge co-founder Dr. Kate Hurley of the UC Davis… Learn More