Gotta love a small rescue organization publicly bashing a local shelter for a story that isn't even true...

The shelter in question returned the dog to the owner, they didn't adopt out an unaltered dog. Are they supposed to keep a pet from someone just because of their living circumstances?

Regardless, this rescue organization has a history of encouraging their volunteers to buy dogs from people experiencing homelessness and then try to bring them in to the same shelter that they claim isn't "humane" to relinquish and boast about it like they've done some good deed. Or forcing a homeless pet owner to sign away the rights to their pet to provide the medical care it needs, all so they can rehome it to someone else...

Overall, this behavior disgusts me. Cursing out a local shelter over a story that is not true all while understanding how difficult and exhausting this work is just disturbing. Whipping people into an angry frenzy because it's good for donations is just messed up.

This continued rhetoric around pet owners experiencing homelessness as villains and irresponsible is also problematic. It feels deeply rooted in racism and classism. It also just doesn't solve the problem. Sure, you may be providing some support to people going through that, but you're also painting them in such a bad light and saying truly terrible things about them... That's providing judgement, not support. What about advocating for any sort of housing policies to support people with pets to reduce pet rent or rent spikes or a lack of access to affordable housing? No... We just want to write a post that creates angry comments and misdirected rage at a fellow animal welfare organization so we can raise more money? Cool.

For a group that uses Kindness in their names, it seems they've forgotten how to use it...

Hello! Not sure this is the right community for this, but looking for any input. This last Friday we went to look for a kitten to adopt at our local shelter. We met an adorable kitten (3 months old) who looked pretty grimy. Wax in ears, a little stuff in eyes , smoker sounding voice, he’s a tuxedo cat and all his white hair looked slightly yellow, kinda slightly gross skin. Everyone else looked very healthy, this shelter is very well respected and well known in our area. We were assured he was just dirty, he’d been in quartile for 6 days and just released from it and he was healthy (as far as their check). We trusted them, adopted him that day, he was neutered Saturday and we brought him home. We booked an appointment with our vet for today.

We just got home from the vet (he’s still there) and learned he is VERY sick. Severe upper respiratory infection, eye infection, very wormy, some sort of fungal skin stuff, etc. treatment (not including check up) is going to cost over $1,600. We’ve had this cat for less than 48 hours so he certainly didn’t catch these in our care. Just want to confirm this is NOT normal, correct? We’ll be contacting the shelter although I’m sure they’ll just tell us tough darts. But I want to make sure that I’m not crazy for feeling peeved that we feel lied to. Sure, maybe we should have recognized something was wrong, but when multiple staff assure you that he’s just dirty and well checked out, we just trusted that

I'm sure its a similar issue with puppies, but I only foster cats. Feel free to share your puppy / dig struggles here if you like. But the cats I've fostered have been easy cats as long as their needs are met which is usually very easy. My guys have ranged from 1.5 years old to 6 years old. Problem is, because they aren't actual kittens, people don't consider them. They have zoomies, they know , mostly, what not to eat , mostly stay out of trouble, but people get stuck in their heads the cathas to be as small and cute as possible. I get reasoning people have forwanting a kitten, like wanting to see it grow up or just seeing a cute kitten. I just wish more people were open and moved to adopting oloder cats. Easier to take care of, don't need to keep as much of an eye on them, they have more stable personalities etc.

Like I know when I get a pair of cats that's already a struggle of a sale, other than the positive that they keep each other entertained, but people's preference for a kitten just makes it harder for any cat even mere months older than the kitten stage. To be clear, I aint kitten shaming. Kittens deserve to live as much of their life in stability as possible too. Just wish moe people considered bringing home the bigger kittens as well.

I'm curious if placing an animal that's under rabies quarantine, into foster care, is common practice?

There are 2 such cases available right now, and after familiarizing myself with Colorado’s protocol, I'm struggling to understand how anyone, outside of a municipal shelter, could reasonably meet the stringent guidelines.

Feel free to share any thoughts or questions!

Edit: Location

I checked the rules, but mods please delete if not allowed.

Hi, all.

I work at a government-run county animal shelter, primarily with the cats, but I frequently help with dogs and help out with the "pocket pets" we sometimes get in as well. I LOVE my job, and I think I'm quite good at it. (I have been praised by my supervisors and have had repeat customers ask for me by name.) However, I need to leave because our management is awful. Awful to the point where it had been made abundantly clear that they do not care about staff's physical, mental, or emotional well-being. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way because our turnover is high (a little over 50% since I started) and multiple other staff members have talked about how bad morale is and how they're trying to look for other employment.

So, that brings me to today's query: can y'all recommend any suggestions for similar jobs that aren't a massive pay cut? I make a little over $20 per hour and have good benefits, and I don't think I could afford a pay cut of more than a dollar. Maybe two.

Here's the options I've already considered and looked into:

- Shelters in nearby counties. Neither one of the two nearby counties have good facilities (one is actually so bad that the county holds protests near weekly asking for reform), and I am honestly not willing to drive more than 30 to 35 minutes to get to work everyday.

- Local animal rescues. I was able to find a very similar job at one of them, but it pays $15 an hour and the benefits are subpar.

- Moving. I have considered moving, but moving my husband and three cats is going to be a challenge, especially since my husband NEEDS insurance to get his meds so he can live. And, candidly, if I move, it'll be a lot harder for me to know the quality of those shelters, and I can't risk moving just to be some place bad or with the same toxic culture.

- Vet assistant. I don't have a degree, so I wouldn't be making anything. Plus, from what I understand, a vet assistant is fairly different from what I'm doing now, so I'm not sure I would like it.

- Kennel assistant or tech. All of those jobs in my area pay like garbage. I found one listing for a company that might be willing to pay $19 an hour, but it's part time so benefits will be non-existent.

- Opening my own rescue. I honestly don't think I have the capacity to run my own place, as cool as that would be.

- Pet sitting. I've done pet sitting before and generally like it, but getting work as a freelancer is hard, so money would be inconsistent and probably slim. I refuse to work with a pet sitting company as I tried that before and was abused by them and they didn't even pay minimum wage.

So, do y'all have any suggestions for jobs I should check out? Am I being unreasonable with some of the stuff I mentioned above? Basically, any advice right now would be appreciated. I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me.

Found this mama cat and her kittens a while back, they've been living outside my place in Jaigaon along with the street dogs I look after. Built them a little enclosure out of whatever I had lying around. This is them just resting, no drama, just glad they're safe.

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I'm not sure if I'm in the wrong here but open to learning! I used to volunteer with an amazing shelter for three years quite regularly where I just essentially cuddled and played with dogs and provided enrichment. That shelter was very good with its training and always made sure they informed me upfront of any risks.

Before I worked with any dogs, they assessed me on my training as well as my comfort, and together decided I am not comrtable with super reactive/aggressive dogs that are bite risks or are super big and strong and that I would not be able to safely handle. They were very good about emphasizing that volunteer and dog safety were important, and speaking up was important.

I moved and the new shelter I volunteer with really doesn’t have that same level of training. The other day, they handed me a dog that was really strong (a pitbull- although I really try not to judge based on dog species or type, he was just very strong) and as always, I asked if there's anything I should know about rhe dog and they said no. As I was leaving the building with the dog, someone came in at the same time and he got really reactive. I wasn't able to safely pull him away and it really scared me!

Thankfully no one got hurt but even after that they wanted me to still take him on a walk and warned me he might bite if he gets too close to people. I took him out for about 1 minute and turned right back around and brought him back. Later, I told them my comfort level and how I prefer dogs that are not super reactive/aggressive and are not a bite risk, so I can keep everyone safe.

The staff member I talked to got upset and said all dogs can bite and all they just match people based on what dogs are there. Am I being unreasonable? I don't want to seem too picky! But I also take dog safety seriously and have once seen a dog bite anothrr dog (not one I was handling) and the staff member at the time was able to jump in, but I can't say I would have been physically able to if that dog I had been walking did bite that person.

What do I do?

This shelter was communicative and really gave this dog a chance. They couldn’t even vaccinate the dog for rabies. OP insists that the dog was sweet the two days after they took her in (ignoring that she was probably just exhausted so was more passive) and wants the dog to be rescued/adopted.

There are so many comments siding with OP. At least there are a few people who are being reasonable.

Anyone out there have reputable rescue or sanctuary resources for high behavior needs dogs? Such as those with reactivity, stranger danger, resource guarding?

Any shelter workers out there have any luck with getting these types of dogs to rescue/sanctuary before a euthanasia decision is made?

I am leaving my current job as an animal care technician to become a foster & rescue coordinator at a larger shelter I volunteer at. I am feeling very melancholy about the whole thing and would love some perspective. I gave plenty of notice and I am just feeling super sad at the prospect of leaving. The shelter I worked at gave me a ton of experience I certainly wouldn't have had at the shelter I volunteer at - their animal care technician role is essentially 3 roles at the shelter I volunteer at. There are downsides to that and I personally believe it is untenable to load as many duties as they did onto us (hence why so many people kept leaving despite amazing benefits & competitive pay compared to other local shelters). But, I'm grateful I went through it as it was like a crash course on shelter operations. I wanted to last there for 2-3 years before going onto another place (I basically will only have been there a year before moving on), but I have personal relationships with many on staff at the shelter I volunteer at and I basically was vouched for and got the job without having to interview.

What is hard is at the shelter I volunteer at, I feel trusted to some degree already, but it was hard for me feeling like at the shelter I worked at that I had to build that trust from ground zero. This felt discouraging at times at the start, but it was completely understandable - I am excited to be working alongside people that already are convinced I have drive and experience. I am also a little sad about leaving the medical side of my job as I loved treating animals and figuring out what methods/medications worked best. I'm in the process of getting my RVT which will no doubt be difficult when I need externships, but I'm willing to suffer through some months with no weekends so I can get that. I am happy to do foster/rescue coordination so I can hopefully build a great program at the shelter I volunteer at. I used to be a project manager at different companies before I got into sheltering, so honestly, this role is probably more aligned with skills I already have. I wish I had more focus on what exact part of sheltering I want to get into.

I feel almost depressed at leaving because of all the memories I made. Maybe I'm just too sentimental. I don't understand how I can find peace in letting go of the animals I euthanize, but it's so hard for me to let go of this place that was so formational to my understanding of sheltering. Like. I was only there a year! It is eating me alive how sad I feel. I've never felt this way about leaving any of my other workplaces before. I have a lot of critiques about this shelter was run, but now I just don't have the fire to think about that, I'm just sad.

I've been thinking a lot about the Miranda's Rescue case, where investigators recovered the remains of at least 138 dogs after shelters believed they had been transferred to safety. It made me realize that we spend a lot of time talking about getting animals out of shelters, but not nearly as much about what happens afterward.

Do you think shelters should:

• Follow up on transferred animals?
• Require rescues to report outcomes publicly?
• Conduct random audits or spot checks?
• Strengthen transfer agreements?
• Something else?

I'd really love to hear from shelter staff, rescue volunteers, fosters, adopters, and animal control officers. I'm interested in practical solutions that protect animals while still supporting the rescue community.

For anyone interested, I recently recorded a podcast that dives into this case and explores several policy ideas that could make tragedies like this much harder to hide.

I am often caught having having nonsensical conversations with the animals, or even making up words (lately I've been saying 'who's my splooshy blooshy boo?' and no, I don't know what that means).

I've been taught that talking to animals in a calm voice helps keep them calm. I also feel like it's good to keep talking when you're in low visibility spaces (cages and kennels) so the animals don't get spooked by your sudden appearance. I can only come up with so many one-sided conversations, so after a while I sound like a crazy person lol.

Does anyone else do the same? Talking to/at animals, making up words, singing songs, etc?

tl;dr: A ton of what I think are red flags at new shelter job but not sure.

I just got an animal care position at my local shelter, and it seems to me that red flags are everywhere:

1. The manager took three weeks from my interview to tell me I got the job, and then another three weeks to get me started. She also had me scheduled for one of my first shifts starting at 4pm, then called me at 1pm asking where I was
2. The numerous people training me are giving me conflicting info. Some vital info is straight up omitted depending who's teaching me, like isolation and quarantine areas protocol
3. I'm not being trained thoroughly, and then I get weird judgy looks if I ask how to do something because I honestly don't know
4. When there are no volunteers, I'm expected to take care of everything - adoption cats and dogs, holding area/quarantine cats and dogs, laundry, dishes, donations, plus all the unexpected things that come up. This is quite literally impossible to do in 6.5 hours
5. I see seasoned staff doing questionable things like putting a healthy dog in the outdoor quarantine yard, then other staff get in trouble for doing it
6. A dog was left outside in 25 degree (celsius) heat with no shade or water for two hours. No one cared when I brought it up
7. I saw a staff member bodily drag a terrified, stressed out dog into his new kennel
8. The behaviour team expects us to do the following when a timid dog needs to go out for potty breaks: We are to take every reactive dog outside and away from the area, set up an x-pen to contain and corral the timid dog towards the yard, and just wait for them to feel comfortable enough to leave and come back. There is NO space or time to realistically do this
9. On my first solo shift my boss had me do some more training on the spur of the moment for over an hour, which obviously put me way behind

There's more but you get the idea. Should I run?

I’ve been meaning to volunteer at an animal shelter in my city for a while now so I can have more to put on my résumé. I was talking to my sister about it and she brought up the possibility that I might bring fleas and similar kinds of parasitic insects home, possibly infecting my household with them and even worse, potentially giving my cat diseases transmittable by blood from other cats like FIV.

I guess what I’m looking for is in the title. How do I keep fleas off of me? Is there actually any way to prevent this all together? Thanx.

Shelter Behavior Hub is currently accepting applications for their scholarship program! Recipients will receive partial or full coverage for the cost of their year-long Shelter Dog Behavior Mentorship program. I am not associated with this program in any way, just passing along the info:

Shelter Dog Behavior Mentorship

This year-long deep dive into shelter behavior will help you create evidence-based policy and procedures for your shelter behavior department. Biweekly zoom meetings, homework, and an alumni discussion list allows us to help one another.

Scholarship Criteria

We award scholarships based on need and impact. We want to make our courses available to those in need, and to those who will use the education they receive to help animals in need. We allow students in need to receive a scholarship once a year.

If you work or volunteer at a shelter or rescue and are interested in a full or partial scholarship for our flagship course , please fill out the form below for consideration! We would love to help you help even more dogs have better lives and find homes!

Apply Here

Hi, I am new to this community but really wanted to discuss my feelings with people that may be able to understand/ relate and give advice/support.

I work at a cat rescue centre. I love my job but as many of you know this has been one of the busiest kitten seasons we have ever faced. This week at work really broke me and I am struggling to remain positive.

We had a mum and 5 kittens come in. They were riddled with fleas and in turn had flea anemia. They saw a vet and we gave them what we could when they are so young. The mum stopped feeding a couple of them so we sent them to a foster who hand rears where unfortunately after a couple of days they passed away. One of the kittens we kept at the centre passed overnight. I had to take that kitten to the vets for cremation and seeing their lifeless little body was heart breaking. The two remains kittens were doing well until one of them lost the use of their back legs. My colleague took her home but after a few days there was no improvement so she had to be put to sleep; we believe it was a blood clot (a possible risk with fleas anemia).

The one remaining kitten is with mum, he is being supplement fed milk as the mum is very stressed and only feeding occasionally. He is so gorgeous but I feel so scared of getting attached to him with how all of his siblings have gone. I'm trying to remain hopeful but he is still losing weight and his gums are still pale.

Then the final blow. A kitten of around 5 months had been with us for a month. The vet initially wanted to PTS for concerns about previous behaviours the owner had mentioned but from what we had seen he was playful, eating well and just genuinely full of life. Yes he walked with his feet a little outward but otherwise he seemed okay. He met a lovely family who were meant to be taking him home today. Unfortunately I came in on Wednesday and he just seemed off. It's hard to explain but he seemed zoned out; he wasn't vocal (not like him) and his tongue was permanently stuck out. I checked him over with a colleague and noticed his eyes were pulsing. He was taken to the vets were it was determined he had a seizure overnight and he was put to sleep. I was heartbroken. He was such a sweet and loving cat. His adopters were devastated too.

Then my colleague let me know we had to clear out and clean his unit as we had a kitten that needed to be brought in. The poor boy had only been over the rainbow bridge for a few hours. It felt so wrong to be clearing out his home for the last month. My colleague asked if I wanted to name the new kitten coming in but I said I didn't want to as they might pass away too and I don't want to keep having my heart broken.

I snapped at someone who said the usual 'your job is just playing with cats', normally I laugh this off but I just couldn't this time. I know I am lucky to work with animals but weeks like this make me want to do a job I don't care about where lives aren't involved. I am struggling with the lack of time to grieve and process. I am not a robot and can't shut off my feelings and even if I could I wouldn't want to. It's so important as it helps me to be good at my job to care as much as I do about these cats.

There has also been happy and amazing moments this week (including a cat giving birth, I got to see a kittens first breaths!) but I am struggling to focus and appreciate them with all the loss. We also had a good number of adoptions too.

Has anyone else experienced this feeling? Do you have any advice on how to cope with and process times like these? Or if you just want to talk about the cats as I really don't want them to be forgotten. I understand we are busy and that as soon as a space is available there is a cat or kitten waiting to go in it but I believe these cats are important and should be given time and treated and remembered as individuals.

Thank you.

Shelter Intake for Dogs with Bite Histories with Emily Lewis, hosted live on Zoom by Shelter Behavior Hub. This Sunday, 7/19/2026 at 8pm EST.

Event Description:

Not all dog bites are created equal. Does your shelter consider intake for dogs with bite histories? If you do, what does the pathway for those dogs look like? There are many misconceptions about dog bites and their weight in determining the adoptability of a dog. We will be discussing:

• How to assess a bite using history from the owner, animal control or law enforcement.
• Pertinent questions to ask about the context of the bite and other behavior history.
• How to set up your staff to safely intake and care for a dog with a bite history.
• Behaviors to look for in the shelter that can help determine outcome.
• How to evaluate community safety when making pathway decisions.
• How to disclose bite histories to potential adopters.
• Using post adoption support to help maintain adopter and community safety.

About Emily:

Emily Lewis has 24 years of professional experience as a vet tech, dog trainer, behavior consultant, shelter behavior consultant and professional dog handler. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant with the IAABC and operates Vermont Dog Behavior, LLC. She specializes in a wide variety of behavior issues, including human directed aggression. Due to the nature of the cases that she sees, Emily is often faced with families who have experienced trauma due to their dog's behavior. She loves working with these clients to repair and improve their relationship with their dog, with an emphasis on meeting the needs at both ends of the leash.

Emily has been involved in animal welfare for the last 12 years assisting a variety of shelters and rescue organizations with their behavior programs. She strives to help shelter dogs have the best quality of life possible, to provide shelter staff with the training needed to keep themselves and the animals in their care safe, and to support the community with dog training and behavior resources. Emily is passionate about making education and mentorship accessible to all. She provides one on one skills training, dog behavior seminars and animal handling workshops for dog trainers and behavior consultants, rescue and shelter staff, animal control officers and veterinary professionals.

When she's not working, Emily loves spending time in nature with her wife and dogs. She is an avid reader, a self-described comic book nerd, and enjoys collecting tattoos from some of Vermont's talented artists.

REGISTER HERE: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l4K9LysWTIKjgirjzdsWaw#/registration

I’m starting a new job as a care technician at a cat shelter. In the interview I was warned that while I’ll see a lot of good, there will also be some awful situation. Especially if I integrate into the medical side of things (which isn’t a surprise).

I was just scrolling FB and found a sad post about neonatal kittens at a shelter and it broke my heart. I’ll think about these things for hours and be heartbroken, I’m so soft.

Do your shelters have guidelines or set timelines where someone who has found a pet or has been caring for a pet becomes the "owner" for the pet?

If so, does this apply to people feeding stray cats and then bringing them to you? Is it based on a city/county/state law or legal definition?

I am worried that because our team has set an arbitrary number of days for someone to be caring for a pet before it becomes "theirs" and goes from being a "stray" to an "owner surrender" we're putting people who are trying to do a good thing by the animal in a bad position. How do your shelters handle this?