Topics



 


About Topics:

Topics are used on Maddie's Pet Forum to help categorize discussions and resources which makes all content easily searchable. Members of the Animal Welfare Professionals community must select at least one topic when creating posts or when adding files to the Resource Center. Members are also encouraged to follow topics of interest to curate the notifications you receive in your Personalized Digest emails.

On your profile, there are two areas related to topics: "Topics I Follow" and "Observed Topics".
To follow topics of interest, click on the "+ Add a Topic" button to reveal the list of 25 Animal Welfare topics. This is the most direct way to ensure you receive the content you're most interested in.
Reveals list of animal welfare topics to follow
Topics that have an asterisk * next to them mean that they are a specific Human Animal Support Services (HASS) Element. These have recently been added to better support the members of the HASS Learning Community and you do not need to be a HASS project participant in order to post to these topics.

As you interact with discussions and resources in the Animal Welfare Professionals Community, the system performs calculations based on your actions (such as reading, favoriting, liking and commenting on content) to automatically promote content you're interested in in your Personalized Digest email. These are shown on your profile as your Observed Interests. You can easily remove any of these interests by clicking on the gray x next to the topic name. 


All Animal Welfare Topic Discussions

  • Sure! Most of our donations are individuals! We don't have any corporate payroll deductions, although I believe we are registered with Benevity and some folks do their donation match to us. We hustle See More

  • Karen, can I ask you about your donations? Do they mainly come from individuals, local businesses, or corporate payroll deduction funds? You're doing amazing work! ------------------------------ Amy See More

  • RE: Beware of Jordan's Way

    Discussion

    We decided a long time ago that getting humiliated by having a pie thrown in the face of employees or volunteers to raise money may not be the best fit for us, what would some of our larger donors think? See More

  • Hi Maria - There are a lot of great ideas here that can hopefully help. I agree that starting to post more on social media to bring awareness is a good start. It will help find like minded people while See More

  • We hope to see you on the next Maddie's Community Conversation on Monday, April 20, 2026 at 11am PT / 2pm ET for "Uncovering Insights on the Latest in Shelter Medicine Research," a conversation with See More

  • Discussion

    Thank you for that feedback, Debi. I am so glad to hear that the tools resinated with you. Thank you for sharing the example of Pudge and how your organization was able to support the extended family that See More

  • Discussion

    That's so great, Rose! And that's funny, I basically just tried to answer all the questions I get asked doing feasibility studies. Thanks for sharing it-Maddie's is the best and I am so grateful to them See More

  • Hello! We are very excited to introduce The National Cat Behavior Helpline providing no-cost, phone-based cat behavior assistance to help keep cats in homes & out of shelters. We urge shelters & rescues See More

  • Discussion Thread

  • Hey Everyone - I'm new here. I live in Philadelphia and am eager to transport Philly-based cats to shelters with capacity. All of the rescues that I work with in Philly (PAWS, Stray Cat Relief Fund, See More

  • Discussion

    Thank you so much, Sarah and Maddie! This guide is an absolute game-changer for anyone in animal services! For non-profit shelters like ours, free, comprehensive, and authoritative resources like See More

  • Thanks to the 118+ people and paws who joined us on today's Community Conversations call! The recording is now available to watch on-demand. Below you'll find a recap of today's call and the See More

  • Discussion

    You are so welcome Tausha! ------------------------------ Sara Pizano ------------------------------

  • Discussion

    What an amazing resource! Thank you so much Dr. Pizano and Maddie's Fund! This will be so helpful in my collaborations with community partners. ------------------------------ Tasha Haug Homeward Animal See More

  • I would contact United Spay Alliance. They are a national group. They should have resources for spay neuter. www.unitedspayalliance.org ------------------------------ Beverly Paladinetti Philanthropy See More

  • Holy smacks, everything in this reply hits in the right space. What I'm having difficulty with is having enough funding to start building that educational awareness and show our community that sterilization See More

  • Hi Stacy, Just wanted to share this screenshot. When is the next TNR class? ------------------------------ Maria Plattner Director Forest Felines MN ----------------------------- See More

  • That is good to hear. When we did TNR work at the cat rescue I worked at out of state, it was paid time for all of us and we didn't have volunteers or property owner's doing the trapping. I have been doing See More

  • Discussion

    ASPCA Pro appears to be working on a Feline Risk Assessment but it's been listed as 'Coming Soon' for quite some time. Hopefully, it will be available soon. https://www.aspcapro.org/behaviorpathway See More

  • Hi, thank you for sharing this-your project is incredibly impactful, and I really appreciate the prevention-based approach. Focusing on keeping pets out of the shelter system in the first place is so important, See More

  • Discussion

    Thank you for sharing this toolkit-this was extremely insightful. One of the biggest takeaways for me is how clearly it highlights that owner surrender is often tied to personal crisis situations such See More

  • I really appreciate this discussion because community involvement is honestly one of the biggest factors in whether TNR efforts succeed or fail. It's not just about trapping and fixing cats-it's about See More

  • Discussion

    That is wonderful, Aliyah! Please reach out if you have any questions! ------------------------------ Shoshana Mostoller Director of Programs My Dog Is My Home ------------------------------

  • Yes, we are volunteer-ran. I have one volunteer who is basically "full-time". I work at a full-time job, as do most of my other volunteers. We rely heavily on the colony caregivers do the trapping and See More

  • Hi Maria; In collaboration with Neighborhood Cats we just recorded an updated session in February 2026, below is the link to access the recordings and take the certification. Feel free to reach out See More

  • Hi Kendall, Thank you so much for posting this! Are there any upcoming webinars on this? Or a link to the recording of the past one I could watch? ------------------------------ Maria Plattner See More

  • Hi Stacy, Thank you so much for that information! I'll look into the Community Cats Central. I have spoken to a representative of MNSNAP and our closest humane society and they are not able to help See More

  • Hi Amy, I have one vet that will do two neuters or one spay a week that will give us discounted rates, otherwise I'm driving about 2 hours away to get them sterilized at a low cost (we are very rural). See More

  • Discussion

    CARE does an online Kitten Shower during the month of April. We use the Amazon gift registry and also link to the donation page on our website. We've had very good response and will continue. We may offer See More

  • RE: Kitten Shower Ideas Needed

    Discussion

    those are some awesome ideas. I'm thinking about having like a kitten shower when we do our prevention fest in July. ------------------------------ BJ Adkins Founder/Director Animal-Angels Foundation See More

  • Discussion

    Thank you for your kind words, BJ! And just wanted to add that in 2015 when the ASPCA and others started to highlight owner surrenders who just needed temporary help to keep their pets, it was a huge turning See More

  • Discussion

    Here are some ideas: Name a litter of kittens for a fundraiser! Bottle Baby Feeding Demos! Sponsor a foster starter kit! Host a foster bootcamp sign up during kitten shower! Connect with local See More

  • Discussion

    This guide is saying something that I think a lot of us in this space have been circling around for a while. The system was designed around reaction, not prevention. Sara puts it right up front. What See More

  • I want to ask a question that I think it's one this community is uniquely positioned to answer. Last month I was talking to a shelter intake coordinator in another state. She told me about a family See More

  • Discussion Thread

  • Discussion

    We do a Kitten Shower each year and we have had the most success with a drive up Kitten Shower in front of our rescue. We have partnered with businesses and tried other places, but the drive up option See More

  • One specific action I can take in the next 48 hours: I can create and post a short, impactful video highlighting the mission of LC'S Foundation, showcasing our partnership work, community impact, and See More

  • #AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement) #AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms #Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment #FosterPrograms #PetSupportServices*

  • Hi everyone, I'm Natalia, founder of Hope Paws Support Fund – a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. I want to connect with all rescues that can pull from Riverside Shelter in California. Why? Because we have See More

  • Discussion

    It's that time of year for the Jordan's Way tour. For anyone who doesn't know about it, Kris Rotonda goes around the country doing Facebook live fundraisers for animal shelters, in the name of his nonprofit, See More

  • Beware of Jordan's Way

    Discussion Thread

  • Library Entry

    #EducationandTraining

  • Discussion

    Announcing (drumroll please), The Go-To Guide for Animal Services! This guide is a high level summary resource for all things animal welfare and relevant for both non-profit and municipal leaders and is See More

  • Discussion Thread

  • Discussion

    Hi Ms. Katheryn, Our shelter had a fun kitten and puppy shower last year where we partnered with a local brewery who was gracious enough to allow us to host one there. They offered to make a special See More