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I'd love to take a look at it. Send your email to catspawjamasrs@gmail.com and I'll send any feedback to you directly. ------------------------------ Michelle DePrima Cats Pawjamas Rescue Society Olathe See More

Hey, I run a similar program at Animal-Angels Foundation in Central Alabama. We call our equivalent The Bridge, with crisis foster as a sub-program. We have hit this exact wall a few times in our first See More

Julielani, Yes, I did mean the tools you suggested, envisioning them on a shelf on the wall. However, I much appreciated your expansion of "outside the kennel" as the place to start working on the transition. See More

Hi Augusta, Thank you for trying the plan and for sharing the observation because I actually think it highlights something important about the emotional side of kennel return. My impression is similar See More

Hi! We run a program called Shaina's Safe Haven, named after a volunteer who sadly passed away. The purpose of this program is to offer temporary foster care for people who are in a situation that does See More

The New York Times reported today that HUD is circulating an internal memo that would dramatically narrow Fair Housing Act protections for assistance animals. Emotional support animals would be largely See More

Karen, the history you laid out is real and worth respecting. Spay/neuter is the biggest prevention win the field has ever produced. From 17 million dying in shelters in the 1980s to under 500,000 today, See More

I couldn't agree more: prevention absolutely works better than repair. But what I'm seeing now in animal welfare isn't a field that hasn't figured out prevention. It's a field in crisis. And when people See More

Socially Conscious Sheltering is a real framework that came out of real practitioner experience trying to balance resource constraints with animal welfare commitments. The No Kill movement is also a real See More

Every AI tool I tried for my own nonprofit produced something that sounded like a regional auto insurance company. The donor thank-yous were generic. The grant LOIs needed three rewrites. The board update See More

H Kristina: As a foster, I completely understand that concern. I've worked to make Foster Kitten as affordable as possible at $2.99/month, while still providing secure cloud storage, offline persistence, See More

Yes, good advice. Unfortunately there have been several large scale raids in California in the past few months; Villa Chardonnay in Julian and Rock n Pawz in Lake Hughes are also under investigation for See More

How are your Community Microchip Scanners Working? If your organization has community microchip scanners, please take a few minutes to complete our short survey. HASS is gathering insights on how scanners See More

Karen, This is exactly the kind of answer I was hoping the thread would surface. Every one of those removed requirements maps to a gate the field has treated as untouchable for decades. Two of yours See More

This sounds like an amazing concept! However, my only hesitation is the cost structure. We try to keep fostering completely cost-free, so I'd prefer not to introduce a resource that requires our fosters See More

So many! We removed the requirements for adoption applicants to provide ID, information on prior pets, information on ability to pay for vet care not have previously surrendered pets to us have See More

As a grant writer for a 501(c)(3), I've reached out to our local grocery store chain, and they've been incredibly generous. Additionally, Costco, Whole Foods, and Kroger (plus sister stores) offer grant See More

Wow, thank you so much for bringing this up! I volunteer with a rescue too, and we've definitely seen a similar uptick in returns this year. From what we've seen, the top reasons are usually See More

Try your local grocery store for gift card donations or food donations to purchase party trays, etc. We also have a very supportive board of directors who will sponsor a lunch for staff or volunteers from See More

Hi Michelle: I realize this thread is several years old. I am a software engineer and solo developer. I created Foster Kitten, an iOS and web app. It includes a socialization checklist generated See More

Thank you, Julielani, for sharing your flyers. Just yesterday, while volunteering at the local shelter, I had a dog that reluctantly approached its kennel. I was able to use the circle, reset, repeat method See More

I agree with most of what BJ Adkins says here. My entire career was in health care fund development, so I've had a lot of experience in researching, cultivating and asking. I'm a volunteer grant writer See More

Thanks so much for your input. Based on the shelter I volunteer at, I can see how there just isn't enough time or people to create and maintain such a thing. Although it might take me a while, I think See More

This year we have seen a drop in donations overall. But that's to be expected with the state of the economy. It's hard as people have to move into assisted living situations. Some places allow pets. See More

Hi everyone — I’m Chris Roy, Founder & CEO of Doobert and host of the Top Dog Podcast. We recently launched the podcast to spotlight leaders in animal welfare who are creating meaningful change in shelters, See More

Hi Brittany-first, I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter's service dog, Gunner. What a heartbreaking experience, and what a powerful way to turn that pain into a mission that helps other families and See More

Brittany, welcome. Rural prevention work is one of the hardest lanes in animal welfare and one of the most needed. Glad you're stepping into it. A few things that might help based on where we are at Animal-Angels See More

Here's a reply you can paste: Roxanne, this is the question I keep coming back to with our fundraising coach. Here's what's been working for us at Animal-Angels Foundation in central Alabama. We are See More

Yes. We are seeing the same pattern in central Alabama, and our intake forms read identical to what you described. Returns of dogs that have been in their homes three, five, eight years. Not adoption failures. See More

Brynnadele, thanks for amplifying the village point. That one matters because the operational truth underneath it is harder than the social media surface makes it look. You cannot post "fostering is supported" See More

Lee Asher/The Asher House operates as a "rescue/sanctuary" but it's all for show. The Facebook page, JusticeforChevy3, has a ton of information on what's really going on there. ------------------------------ See More

This is such an important distinction and honestly one I think a lot of rescues are starting to realize in real time. Social media can absolutely help move dogs into homes, but building a sustainable foster See More

Bonnie, thank you for naming this so plainly. The behavior you described, owners dumping the dog or calling animal control claiming a stray when they hear about the waiting list, is happening everywhere See More

Hi Corrine, Thanks so much for your insight. I think our return requests tend to come in waves as well. We are in a community with an older median age, so many of our recent requests have involved See More

I heard something about asher house. What happened with him? Con artist? Did he even rescue? *Thank you for considering a Rescue!!* TerryExecutive Director Tired Dog Rescue P.O. Box 10751 Gulfport, MS See More

HI Meghan, We are also a cat-only rescue. We seem to go in spurts where we get calls for owner surrenders. Last month we had a few come back. Most people are quoting financial reasons or moving. We are See More

Hey animal welfare friends, We want to hear from you! Home To Home, a non-profit dedicated to supporting pets going from one home to another, is conducting a short 5-question survey (click here) to See More

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous A large municipal shelter in the Midwest recently moved to a new building with double sided kennels. Each side of the kennel is separated See More

What are the most effective and sustainable strategies for identifying, engaging, and cultivating relationships with funders for animal welfare initiatives, particularly foundations and corporate partners. See More

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous Return rates have more than doubled comparing Jan-Apr of 2025 to the same time frame in 2026. I work in a large municipal shelter serving See More

Offered by the Koret Shelter Medicine Program Shelter Learniverse as part of Maddie’s ® Million Pet Challenge, the Shelter Care Specialist Certification Program empowers frontline animal shelter See More

 06-12-2026  |  12:00 AM - 11:55 PM PT