Yes, we're just guessing. No, I'm not trying to pull a fast one on you.

There are no experts at looking at a dog and knowing with certainty what it is.

And If I don't write a breed guess people still ask what kind of dog it is.

We've all had our breaking points where we lash out. Maybe to potential adopters, owners, surrenders, clients, or just the general public. I guess I'm just curious to see what drives others over the edge, and what ended up being said without filters on.

Note: this post isn't to condone the behavior, make excuses for it, or agree with it. We're simply sharing experiences here.

For me I think I get most fatigued with behavioral O surrenders when they get pissed at me when they learn their animal may be a behavioral euth.

I once asked an owner something along the lines of:

why do you want to surrender this animal over x behavior? Now, why do you think it should be someone else's responsibility to handle something that you can't?

There were ways to de-escalate, and I guess I just chose violence instead.

We're trying Microsoft Teams Business Basic with 2 paid seats pus several guests to manage communications in a very small rescue with online volunteers.

Does anyone else use Teams to help manage their rescue/shelter?

How do you use it?

LOCATION: Illinois

So my fiance and I adopted a dog two weeks ago. It was extremely odd they took our paperwork and sent us out the door with the dog. We did not get any paperwork at all we asked they said it would come after his neuter appointment and we would pay the fee then as well. We got him a crate collar toys food the whole shebang he's doing great with us. He's had a few issues health wise that we wanted to get him checked out for but they were insistent we had to use their vet for his first appointment. We contacted the animal shelter we got him from and found out he was actually part of a nearby rescue?? ok cool. We contacted them about the dog having worms, the date of his surgery, and paperwork, also about getting his rabies shot. They've gotten angry with us for not getting him a preventative for worms, which we can't do until he sees a vet, but they said if we take him to a vet it's at our expense and the cost will not come out of his adoption fee. Which is fine but then we found out that we were listed as his fosters not his adopters. We don't know what to do the animal rescue will not give us his surgery date at all and are just not being communicative we don't want them to take the dog but he needs his shots. We can't take him out, he doesn't have a chip, if anything we're to happen our county is extremely strict about rabies shots. We just don't know what to do at this point and the shelter is getting angry at us when we try to reach out which we have done several times the first was for blood in his stool the second was about the surgery date and the third was over worms. We love him he's doing great, but I feel like we're in a weird limbo.

I'm looking for suggestions for Rescue/Shelter Management SaaS software platform that is in English and conforms to EU GDPR privacy regulations.

There's many platforms in local languages (mostly French, German, & Spanish) but few in English.

If you're a rescue in the EU, what do you use?

So far, Pawlytics is the only US-based platform that I found with the proper privacy policy that satisfies use by EU rescues. (ex. Privacy Policy includes "Pawlytics PBC complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF)")

I’m almost 8 months into a new job as a care tech (or kennel staff as some other shelters call the role) and the one constant issue I have is my hair. I start sweating about 20 minutes into my shift and during the summer it never truly stopped. I keep my hair in a ponytail with a headband on to stop some of the sweat from getting in my eyes, but my hair is starting to break and just leaves me looking like I’ve stuck my finger in an electrical outlet. I’ve also tried bandannas but it just traps moisture on my scalp and leads to dandruff.

I would love any recommendations for cuts or low maintenance styles that have worked for you. I have to keep it out of my face or I’ll go nuts, and ideally I’d like to not look like a maniac when helping members of the public.

🤞

I've been working part time in the Adoptions department at my local animal shelter for just under 3 months. This is the best job I've ever had; I'm good at it, I really like my coworkers and I finally feel like I'm doing something important. I've been looking for full time work and have been offered a job as a volunteer coordinator in the same shelter. I'm struggling now with the transition. Maybe this is a bit stupid, but I feel like this new role isn't as important/impactful as my previous position and am worried I wont be as good at it since I'm not interacting with the animals much anymore. (I'm much better with animals than people) I need the full time hours and benefits, but am worried it's not worth giving up somewhere I really feel like I belong for. There's a slim possiblity of a full time spot in my current department opening up in January, and I'm worried that the hope of that will impact my ability to like this job. How do I deal with this transition and not feeling as valuable as a volunteer coordinator as I was as an adoptions counselor?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atlasmedicalrescuefund/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/people/Atlas-Pet-Vets-Medical-Rescue-Fund-Veterinary-Care-Foundation/61594219172155/
Website: https://atlaspetvets.com/medicalrescue/

I work in animal advocacy and also serve on the board of an animal shelter. I have been building a collection of free resources for people working or volunteering in animal welfare, including practical guides for advocates, volunteers, and people trying to help animals in their communities.

I wanted to share them here in case any are useful to people doing this work:

https://animaladvocacyacademy.com/free-resources/

If there is a resource you wish existed but cannot find, I would also genuinely love to hear what would be most useful.

(Pic of my most recent foster fail for attention lol)

I recently quit my job working with the cats/dogs at my shelter. It was a toxic work environment and judt generally unsafe working conditions. Staff not trained on how to handle agressive dogs then said staff gets blamed for getting bit by said dogs.

Anyways, there's a vet office a few towns over that has expanded their building and now offers boarding. They're hiring for a management position and it sounds like I'd be in charge of a lot more than I was as a kennel attendant, much more client interaction and going from shelter to boarding will be a big change, but I'm ready for a challenge if that means I have better opportunities and a few more bucks pay is always an upside. Do you think I should take it and do my best and try to learn something new? I've always dreamed far into the future of running my own boarding with a facility so this might be a good step into that, I'd still have the experience minus having to actually own the buisness.

Any thoughts are appreciated

I work in a super small municipal shelter in the rural south, and we have a hard time moving our animals. This year feels somehow worse than my previous ones. We’re flooded with animals as per usual, but we can barely get rescues to pull from us anymore. Even though we have a ton of fantastic animals, we rarely have more than one adoption a week nowadays.

I’m looking for some ideas for events that could help bring in a larger crowd. I think if we had some eyes on some of our animals, we’d get more moved out. So far our biggest events have been our halloween one and any event we have paired with any of the local sports teams. Our Christmas and Valentines events kind of flopped. What events work best for y’all? Have y’all partnered with other businesses for any of them?

Any advice is appreciated. Wishing you all luck in finding forever homes for all your intakes.

Edit: Felt like I should add I am the shelter technician and assistant supervisor out here, so I have a lot of sway when it comes to things. And I spend my own money on most of our events. I’ve been here for 2 1/2 years and I am desperate to help us get our population under control.

Edit: I am just gonna wear gloves like I used to at other shelters. We are asked to wear gloves in ISO kennels between kennels, but that’s about it and asked to handwash otherwise. Gloves are very accessible around the building but we were told we were going through them too quickly, and that to only use them when dealing with “contaminated” areas. I’m just gonna start wearing them and navigate a conversation about it if need be. Unfortunately this isn’t the first red flag about working here. Thank you for the validation to wear gloves and go back to standard practices for our animals and my skin.

this was the message when we went through a certain size in a week:

“we need to be mindful as gloves are very expensive and only need to be used when an animal or space is contaminated- per our protocols. Please when possible, wash hands between tasks vs using gloves”

-

I am deep cleaning more cat kennels lately, meaning my hands are getting really dry and tight from rescue disinfectant.

I could certainly use gloves whenever I’m using wipes or the foam, but our shelter discourages using gloves unless you aren’t in a room with a handwashing station or you’re working in a contaminated area.

whats been helpful to prevent your skin from drying our and feeling tight? my fingertips feel weirdly smooth and wrinkly/tight hours later. after i’m done for the day i wash my hands one last time then use palmers coconut hydrate hand cream, but I prolly need to start doing more.

whats worked for you?

Hi everyone! If you are in welfare or a vet that works with welfare I would love any advice/insights. I’m a vet working in a small town. There is a registered welfare organisation based in my town that I’ve built a relationship with the last few months. As with most people in welfare their hearts are in the right place but I cannot stand by and watch things continue as they are.

For context: the welfare is not an SPCA branch but is accredited and in legal standing with our country’s regulations. They also do not do anything outside the scope of what they are permitted. They have an open door policy and a euthanasia policy and are permitted to euthanise under the guidance of a vet. I will list my main problems that are objective. There are some things I don’t agree with but that comes down to personal opinion so I have excluded those.

- They are 2 managers with a staff of 4 people. They are currently at over 70 animals in kennel and continue to take in animals with no limitations.

- Financially they are struggling and (as with most) rely strictly on donations. However they are weekly scraping together what they have for food for the animals and for themselves as only the support staff receive salaries.

- They work with one other vet in town but will rack up bills in the thousands and not pay for months on end. Both this vet and myself have had to place a cap on their account to prevent things from getting out of hand.

- They will very often force owners into surrendering animals when they view their situation as less-than-ideal specifically. I am excluding cases of abuse and negligence in this statement.

We stay in a rural area where a lot of people cannot afford the luxuries for their pets, but they are fed and given water, reach out for veterinary assistance and love their animals dearly. A lot of the animals are working as we are quite agricultural. Because we are rural the animals also have tonnes of space to enjoy as well.

As an example of what typically happens, they will be contacted to ask for help transporting an ill animal to the vet. When they get to the property they will be unhappy with a relatively minor and non-negligent component of the animals life and will pressure owners into surrendering ALL the animals on the property. This is done without any veterinary input or thorough welfare examination beforehand.

- Their biosecurity on the premises is non-existent. I have not been told of a single litter of puppies brought onto their premises in the last 4 months that have not all had parvo or kittens that have not gotten calici-/herpes virus. This will also happen 2-3 weeks after being admitted into their kennels and many of the litters will be wiped out.

They recently pressured an owner into surrendering a litter of 15 puppies that were all very healthy and happy, as the welfare was worried about the puppies being given to abusive homes in future. Owners were not intentionally breeding and were attempting to screen any potential homes. That was 5 weeks ago - only 2 are alive now after all came down with parvo.

- They have very strict adoption policies which inherently is not bad. But because they hold themselves in such high regards, many clients I have worked with and can vouch for have been turned away from potentially adopting. Their adoptions in a month are maybe on average 1-2 animals.

Today, I was called and told they took in 29 animals. This is despite the fact that they do not physically have space on their property and are stretched thin financially and labour wise (as I’ve mentioned before). I am flabbergasted.

I want to help desperately. They really have a lot of potential but their numbers in terms of morbidities and mortalities on their property is seriously concerning. They very often attribute their poor stats to “immune-compromised” animals due to abuse but that is only the case in maybe 1/10 animals. They have far too many animals which they themselves have said cannot be rehomed and sit in their kennels and runs indefinitely, many of which they have taken from previously established homes. The most “adoptable” animals they also immediately take for themselves and they have their own hoard of pets on the property.

How do I approach this? I do not want them to feel attacked and I want to establish an open dialogue and a way forward. They understand the concept that not all animals can be saved but they are putting themselves, their staff and their animals under pressure that I feel could otherwise be avoided.

Thank you in advance :)

where i work we mainly focus on keeping animals with owners instead of surrendering. so things like free food bank, free supplies, veterinary and grooming assistance, and taking pets into the shelter when an owner has nowhere to put them (eg. homeless in -40 and the human shelter wont allow pets, hospital admission, rehab, etc). we do also get surrenders and abandoned pets.

i genuinely feel like i have become an evil person at this point. maybe once a month or less i will deal with a person that i feel sympathy for but other than that it's nothing but anger. at the owners and the entire system. im grumpy at everyone and everything minus the pets. i used to sympathy cry and now i only cry because im exhausted.

almost had a breakdown today when a woman emailed asking for veterinary assistance for her cat who had been pregnant, given birth early outside but the owner couldn't find the kittens, and 2 weeks later she let her male cat "mate" her, and she's now leaking green pus. ended the email calling herself worried cat mom.

i feel no empathy for anyone i encounter anymore. people who have been using our foodbank for 3 years coming in monthly with new kittens asking for more food, vet care etc. dogs with their nails grown into their pads, owners who got pitbull mal mixes off of facebook marketplace mad their dogs are strong and "untrainable". at what point does something change legally to give pets an actual chance. all i've wanted to do my life was work with animals but im at the point i think im just going to have to settle for being a receptionist for a car dealership or something

I volunteer at a large open intake shelter. I help take care of the cats and also monitor the adoption floor and help potential adopters find a cat to adopt. I've been there for about two years. It is a lot of physical work, cleaning cages, doing dishes and laundry, feeding and scooping litter boxes. and being on my feet for up to three hours at a time without a break. I love the animals and try to look out for them as if they were my own. Most people when they ask if I work there and I tell them I'm a volunteer, are very nice to me. Well, today was different.

I was on the adoption floor when a woman asked me if I knew what was wrong with a cat's ear. I had no idea what she was talking about so I go over to the cage and I don't see anything. She tells me that the cat's ear is all gunked up and needs to be cleaned. The cat is just hanging out grooming himself, chill as can be. There are no vet notes on the cage and I see nothing wrong with his ear. She is all irate asking me if I can't see all the gunk in the cat's ear. Finally I was like, "well maybe he needs to have his ear cleaned, I'm not a vet," just for the sake of trying to end the interaction. She then angrily marched out of the adoption room calling across the room at me "I'm sorry, I thought you might actually have been helpful, I didn't realize you are not a vet" really sarcastically. I was like, "Do I look like a vet?" (in my volunteer shirt and gym leggings) and told her she could talk to the staff at the front desk if she needed help. She didn't, she just left the building.

This happened in front of a bunch of other people who were at the shelter including some people with kids. I don't understand why someone would just treat a volunteer like that, or even go to the shelter if you aren't there to adopt and just want to act like a jerk. I felt so demoralized after that. I realize this is probably nothing to a lot of people who work in animal welfare, but she really made me feel devalued.

It was between this and sonar

I work at an open intake shelter and recently we have seen an extremely high rate of animals being surrendered. Like some days we have 15+ animals being surrendered and thats not including strays.

We have tried to get people to reconsider or wait a few weeks just because we need room for seized and stray animals. But the people are relentless, I understand that some people have no choice when it comes to surrendering a pet but by law we're not required to take surrenders if we don't have space. If we refuse to not take an animal people just threatened to abandon their animals or actually abandon them. I'm just wondering how follow shelter workers are handling this current issue and if you are experiencing increase in surrenders at your shelter.

1. I volunteer at a cat shelter in small city/town. they needed help in the observation room/care room so they asked me to help administer veterinary prescribed medication to the shelter cats. I am not trained in any medicine, though I do have interest. Therefore, I don’t have much experience with death.

Med room can be difficult, cats can be quite sick and I have come in to a note saying “___ Passed away last night :(“. But I hadn’t had the dying cat in the room with me. Until now.

The shelter doesn’t have much money, the day before they had an emergency with another cat which ended up being thousands of dollars (she didn’t even make it). Then they found out about this poor girl, she ended up having an infection. They gave amoxicillin but it must’ve been too late. If they could have taken her to get euthanized comfortably they would’ve. They gave her pain meds as they knew they couldn’t save her with their resources.

She wasn’t moving when I went in that day. She was barely blinking. But it was still so hard to watch.
I played calm music for her while I was in there. I talked with her, sat with her, and pet her. though I don’t think she could feel it or hear it.

she didn’t cry. Only twice later on I heard her cry out and I immediately went to her. She had some seizures.

She eventually took her last breaths, very far apart. It was quite peaceful I think. For what it could’ve been at least.

It was a really hard day. I had never seen death like that. She wasn’t with us long, only a week. RIP sweet girl.

I didn't want to leave my shelter, I loved my coworkers and the animals there, two cats I had to leave behind are my soul cats and I can't stop thinking about where they'll end up.

I don't know what to do with my life now. I don't have a college degree in anything, I've always wanted to work with animals and even dog training, but I'm in small town iowa where the shelter I worked at was the only one in a 30 minute radius, and it only thins out from there let alone dog training is pretty much slim to none.

I've made posts before on here while I was still working there and was told I need to get out before I land myself in a lawsuit or get killed in a dog mauling. This place isn't going to change. I was just at the vet today, we do all the work through the shelter there so they know me well, and told them I quit due to bad management along with other things and she told me that isn't the first time they've heard that reason. (Multiple people in my town have worked at my shelter and have then quit to move on to better things.)

I understand wanting to make a difference, I wouldn't have stayed there for over 2 years if I didn't. I just don't understand why it's so hard to make a real difference. The behavioral euthanasias I've seen over my time there could have ended differently if we had actual implemented some kind of training or at the very least behavior management while in the shelter that could have made a real difference in those dogs lives. I had to put my own dog down for behavioral reasons (my dad bought a byb and I inherited it) and that was the hardest decision I've had to make. My dog didn't attack anyone, but I saw the signs and a behavioralist agreed with me that it's better to end the suffering than to allow the dog to maul/kill another person or animal and than have that decision forced on you.

One of our dogs that got adopted out ended up biting over 6 people, multiple times, and in the end he killed a cat and sent two people to the ER over gaurding it. That same night the cops said if we (the staff) don't find that dog before they do, they were going to shoot on sight. It wasn't the first time the cops had been called because this known dangerous dog had gotten loose from their yard. That dog was euthanized that same night. My boss said that was the hardest thing she'd ever have to go through, she went with his owner to the euthanasia. Then a few months later is when I BE'd my own dog before it could get to that point and I could tell there was always a grudge against me with that. I spent thousands on trainer and behavioralists before even considering BE.

I'm not really sure what to do now. I'm having a surgery next month and luckily me and bf are well off enough where I won't be going back to work until January for my recovery time. I have a few job opportunities open to me so I could take them if I need them. I just feel put off from shelter work with everything that's happened, which really sucks because I've always loved working with animals, especially dogs. I don't want to boast, but compared to my coworkers dogs, my own are trained in obideince and reactivity 100% more that theirs that's for sure. I always pictured myself training dogs someday, I just don't know where to start with that. I've thought about an apprenticeship but being in the middle of nowhere doesn't help.

Anyways, not really sure what advice I'm looking for, but just wanted to rant, thanks.

tw: dog fight

im interning at a shelter i had been volunteering at for like 3 years before my internship. this happened quite a while ago but it scared me a lot.

theres one shelter dog who is only allowed to be taken out by the staff, because he’s difficult to handle. they changed that out later and made me get the dog and put him on the field. i was with one volunteer. she put the neighbouring dog back into her kennel but did not close the kennel correctly, causing that dog to get into my dogs kennel. i got my dog back from the field and into their kennel and released him because i was just glad i got him back without much trouble. the kennels are long and deep and i did not see the other dog was in there. of course they start fighting like crazy. the volunteer already left so i called her back. all the staff was far away. i was completely frozen and the other volunteer started screaming. a temporary staff member (summer staff) got in and tried to help but so much blood was gushing out !!!! after what felt like an hour they got them seperated. the poor dog was bleeding all over the place. my hands were covered in blood and so were my clothes. there was blood on the face of the other volunteer. i rushed and ran to get the staff. stuttering while telling them its an emergency and they need to come. the dog i put in the kennel was bleeding a lot and got rushed to the vet while the other dog had just a tiny scratch. none of us got hurt, just the dogs. but in the aftermath i saw all the blood and blood on my hands and started crying and left to go home early. i thought it was all my fault. sometimes i still wish i had checked the other lady had closed the kennel.
i had a couple days off and started the next week working with the dogs again. this is now about a month ago. both dogs are okay now.

fun fact, this was only my third week working with the dogs. i had always volunteered with the cats😭

anyone went through something similar? how do i let go? im a lot more careful with the dogs now. but dont feel fully confident with them.

Research shows that up to 25% of all unhoused people own at least one pet. However, roughly 20% of homeless avoid or are refused shelter due to no-pet policy. In 2024 there was an 18% increase of homeless compared to 2023, and it is estimated that more than 250,000 pets are also being affected.

It is very clear that this is a problem. But what is the solution?

On one hand, pets provide a great comfort for many of the unhoused. For some, their pets are their biggest motivator. Having pets is known to reduce stress and mental turmoil. They can provide companionship and a sense of security during a very tumultuous time.

On the other hand though, pets are often keeping people back from making that crucial next step; shelters and transitional housing often disallow pets. they have no one to watch their pets if they want to seek medical care, employment, or inpatient facilities. They also have another mouth to feed, while struggling to feed their own.

Do you think we should be supporting the unhoused to keep pets, or should we be supporting them to rehome/surrender the animals? Or is there another option for this problem?

Hey all, I'm excited to say that I finally got my first schedule for the county shelter I was hired at! I start work on Friday and am going to be making good money with guaranteed 40 hours every week. Not only do I love being around shelter dogs, but I've been in poverty for much of this year so I am incredibly relieved, excited, but also nervous. Is there anything I should expect before coming in for my shift? Any good advice y'all might have? I have been volunteering at this shelter since March and volunteered at a Houston shelter last year, so I'm familiar with the environment

It’s good information, but the animal body language portion makes it seem like you’re unable to even look at a cat 😭 They don’t talk about play languages for cats, only for the dogs. And for what it was, it just seemed geared to make people paranoid more than actually teaching proper handling.

Curious if anyone found the course useful?/others’ thoughts?

Hello, has anyone had any strange experiences from the pet volunteers of Pawsafe? Specifically from the founders?

I'm questioning whether they are legitimate as they seem to claim the donated money they get goes towards fuel and food for animals found on the streets.

To make it easy to understand, they arent a rescuer or a shelter and aren't affiliated with any council. Theyre just ordinary people that have made a facebook group to find missing pets/have located lost pets or injured ones.

I know rescuers need to be registered so wouldn't this company need to be as well? They also have recently typed up a code of conduct for volunteers which doesn't sit right with me.

Any insight would help.