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

  • Hi, Amelia: The Learniverse program has been around for some time now and is getting great reviews! In addition, National Animal Care & Control now has a 15-hour entirely self-paced program called Shelter See More

  • Hey Alycia! That is great to hear she got placed! Feel free to email me with any others :) ------------------------------ Teagan H Veterinarian Buddy Pets NY ------------------------------

  • Hey Lisa! Currently, we only feature cats and dogs. However, in the future, we may expand beyond that. ------------------------------ Teagan H Veterinarian Buddy Pets NY ---------------------------- See More

  • Thank YOU, Maddie's Fund, for the support, resources, connection, and networking! The entire world of animals, and the people that support them, are benefited by all the work you do! We are so very grateful See More

  • 2025 was a year of connection, celebration, and shared learning here on Maddie's Pet Forum. Our weekly community conversations continued to serve as a consistent, engaging space for industry-wide conversation See More

  • Hi, Deb: Of course! I will email you shortly. Erika ------------------------------ Erika Shaffer Instructional Designer Maddie's Fund ------------------------------

  • Emme, I'd love to connect on this. We're a foster-based cat rescue in Columbia County. I created a list of everything we need and asked Libby, the head of NYSAPF, to confirm it is correct. The comments See More

  • Hi, Diane. We're a foster-based rescue in Columbia County NY. I am working with the NYSAPF to get more clarity on what non-shelter rescues need and at least get the resources they have on their website See More

  • 2025 was a big year for Fearless Kitty Rescue! We've had lots of positive changes and forward movement. We rescued 76 more cats than in 2024 bringing our 2025 total to 480. We adopted out 69 more cats See More

  • Hello! I'm hoping you can provide some guidance on additional resources similar to the program discussed here through Shelter Learniverse. We have the option to create a career ladder within our animal See More

  • Interested in link please! ------------------------------ Marilyn T Perez Prince Georges County Animal Services and Adoptions Center ------------------------------

  • We are cat only too. I'd love to get that information from you as well. Thanks, Deb Remedios Cat Rescue deb@remedioscatrescue.org ------------------------------ Deb Zahn Executive Director See More

  • Our 2025 goal was to receive 501c3 certification and we did that earlier than expected! We just launched our online donation platforms before the end of the year. Next big goals are: getting liability See More

  • Hi, it's me again! We were lucky enough to place our longest resident whom I had in mind, so I am looking into our database for the next one. I encourage anyone who is writing the bios to check this See More

  • This is AMAZING! So crucial to have hard research and data to back up the the problems and correlations we observe. I'd love to see an article on where BSL stands in the US in 2026, especially after See More

  • Discussion

    Here's a linnk to an article with video about treat buckets. I'm looking for either DIY buckets or marketed ones that are worth the money. https://sheltermedicine.wisc.edu/library/resources/treat-buckets-on-kennel-doors See More

  • Samantha - just saw this. I recently built an app on AppSheet that can be used to manage what dog is in what kennel, and display the status on a large monitor (think, like a flight status TV at an airport). See More

  • Is this something that could be used to track amount of food we use in our organization? We don't have a pet food pantry but we want to track food usage for ourselves. ------------------------------ See More

  • Discussion

    Paper logs and that's not the most efficient or accessible to the team. I'd like to hear what others are doing to streamline this process. ------------------------------ Kallie Laity Owner Kitty Kisses See More

  • Discussion

    I posted a that I created a free app in Microsoft Access to do exactly this. Here: https://forum.maddiesfund.org/discussion/free-app-to-manage-people-animals-food-distributions-for-pet-food-pantry-programs-soon-available#bm7d246b2c-9d1b-471b-864c-9b57a3b44388 See More

  • Hi Maya, thanks so much for sharing all this! I'm a scientist at my day job and I love seeing peer-reviewed research on animal welfare. I was very interested in the article about the onset timing of behavior See More

  • Hi Maya, Wow!! That's a super impressive list from just one year! Thx for sharing this :) Sheila ------------------------------ Sheila Segurson, DVM, DACVB Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist See More

  • One of our proudest accomplishments of 2025 was breaking ground on the future home of our rescue- a long-awaited Cat Campus that will allow us to expand, innovate, and improve the lives of cats and our See More

  • February 2026 Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection Shelter Evacuation via Emergency Foster Homes One day ahead of Hurricane Helene hitting Asheville, NC, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue orchestrated See More

     02-05-2026  |  12:00 PM - 01:00 PM PT

  • January 2026 Maddie's Monthly Behavior Connection Pain and Behavior: a Case-based Talk Pain & discomfort are often underdiagnosed in dogs with behavioral issues. This presentation will highlight See More

     01-22-2026  |  12:00 PM - 12:50 PM PT

  • As we close out the year, I wanted to share some new studies published by our ASPCA research teams this past year on topics in access to care, sheltering, and cruelty. If they spark inspiration, including See More

  • We have increased our intakes and adoptions by approx. 80%, we have continued to get word out into the community that we are now a public 501c3 and we are starting to slowly see more community support See More

  • Hello, As we close out 2025, I'm grateful for a year of meaningful community engagement and a reminder that every effort-big or small-matters. Thanks to an amazing partnership with Isaac Middle School, See More

  • Thank you for creating this application & sharing it, great to know! ------------------------------ Amy LeBlanc Co-founder Dog Coordinator meowWOOF Animal Collective & Cafe LA --------------------- See More

  • RE: Pet Food Pantry Tracking

    Discussion

    We are a new organization & currently working in our community to create a pet food pantry. I look forward to reading comments on this topic, thank you Amber for bringing it up. ------------------------------ See More

  • Lets see, this year we had quite a few senior cats and black cats. We adopted them all out to loving homes and still get updates on them! We also got quite a few TNR's done this year. ------------------------------ See More

  • I'd love your thoughts on avoiding "rescue burnout" with our volunteers! ------------------------------ Catherine Roche-Wallace foster volunteer Animal Aid for Vermillion Area LA ------------------- See More

  • Discussion

    This is very interesting! I'm not a PA resident but I hope it passes and other states follow. ------------------------------ Claire Schuch Associate Director for Research University of Tennessee, Knoxville See More

  • This is such a great point and perspective! Thank you so much for reminding us of the ever present erasure of indigenous cultures in this country. ------------------------------ Elsa Enstrom Helpline See More

  • "Epistemological genocide" is sometimes also called "Epistemicide" is overlooked when discussing systemic oppression. Epistemological genocide is the systematic erasure of Indigenous ways of knowing or See More

  • Would love to see more talks from Indigenous and/or Nomadic peoples since it is well known that many animal sectors are built off of Indigenous epistemologies without actual representation from our peoples See More

  • Pet Food Pantry Tracking

    Discussion

    We're looking to revamp how we track food distributed through our pet food pantry and would love to hear what's working for other shelters. Are you using spreadsheets, shelter software, paper logs, or See More

  • Pet Food Pantry Tracking

    Discussion Thread

  • Discussion

    Following too as shipping to Hawaii can be prohibitive. Have found decent hard-shell carriers in Amazon for around $12 retail, in the past. ------------------------------ Denise Bouey Director of Animal See More

  • We hope to see you on the first Maddie's Community Conversation of the new year on Monday, January 5, 2026 at 11am PT / 2pm ET for "Get Them Out, Even for a Little" a conversation with Shonyae See More

  • First time posting here! Can't wait to get involved with this community. I am a coordinator of a bully breed rescue in Indiana. We are a medium sized foster-based rescue. This year, our win was reorganizing See More

  • One win I'm proud of from this past year came from a period of real challenge. After feeling disheartened and disengaged for a time, I realized I couldn't control everything around me, but I could control See More

  • Discussion

    Hi Stephanie, Highly recommend checking out Animal Farm Foundation's fantastic resource library. They have took kits specifically for this topic, among many other phenomenal resources I believe you See More

  • Discussion

    Following cause I'd love to know as well. Right now we use the cardboard carries for about $5 a piece ordered off of amazon ------------------------------ roy forster Director Happy Life Animal Rescue See More

  • Discussion Thread