Study finds that implementation of behavior assessment makes cats more adoptable at one municipal animal shelter
Dr. Laurie Wright, who received the Maddie’s® Graduate Certificate in Shelter Medicine in 2013, presented recent research at this year’s Veterinary Behavior Symposium preceding the AVMA Annual Convention in Boston, MA on an unexpected byproduct of behavior assessment in shelter cats.
The study, titled “Development of a feline behavioral assessment scale to assess anxiety and approachability in unadoptable cats results in increased adoptability in a municipal animal shelter,” looked at 22 cats who were deemed unadoptable due to behavioral issues. The 22 cats were moved into individual housing and the shelter veterinarian performed daily behavioral assessments for 4 days.
After the study period it was discovered that 13 of the 22 cats were now deemed adoptable and were, in fact, all adopted over the following 3 weeks. This was a huge increase in the cat adoption rate at the shelter at that time and suggests that participation in this study contributed to the resolution of behavioral issues and therefore increased adoptability. (Read Dr. Wright’s abstract below.)
Effects of Housing Modifications on Welfare of Cats in a Municipal Animal Shelter
L.K.Wright Kent County Animal Shelter, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Abstract
This is a retrospective study of cats housed in the adoptable population of a municipal open admission animal shelter. The total average annual intake of cats in this shelter is 4,000 cats with a total average daily occupancy of 67 cats overall. The objective was to assess the effects of variables of housing arrangements and sanitation protocols on the health and welfare of the cats during their length of stay in the shelter until adoption. The author examined patient medical records from the shelter for 2010, 2011, and 2012 to measure incidence of respiratory disease and monitor average length of stay. Incidence of disease was monitored by nasal and ocular discharge, sneezing, oral ulcers and loss of appetite. Behavioral observations included interaction with human caretakers, amount of time spent sleeping, and time spent hiding vs. active play behavior. Progressive step-wise modifications to housing arrangement, population management and cleaning protocol were made over a two year period. As a result of the observations the shelter has maintained the modifications to policies and procedures for housing management and stress reduction to improve the welfare for shelter cats
Already a long-time veterinarian, Dr. Wright discovered Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program’s Online Graduate Certificate via Internet research whilst on a mission to improve the health and welfare of cats in her shelter. In 2013 Dr. Wright tripled the number of cat adoptions at Kent County Animal Shelter using strategies she learned from both the UF Shelter Medicine and UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program websites. Dr. Wright currently serves on the board of local shelters in Michigan, is the director of the veterinary technician training program at Baker College, and serves as a teaching assistant for Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program online courses.