The Million Cat Challenge: Diving deeper with Removing Barriers and Return to Field

Return-to-Field“Sterilize, vaccinate, and return healthy un-owned

shelter cats to the location of origin as an alternative to

euthanasia.”

Return to Field (RTF) (aka Shelter/Neuter/Return)

• Sterilize/vaccinate/return to location found– No feeder required

• Targets healthy unowned cats brought to shelter

• Direct impact on shelter population and euthanasia

• Addresses impracticality of sheltering all cats

3http://www.animalsheltering.org/resources/all-topics/cats/managing-community-cats.html

Dear Million Cat Challenge...How does R2F work logistically? Is the

"trapper" responsible for picking up the cat after sterilization to return to the field or is

it up to the staff?

Partnerships for success• Transport to the shelter• Admission/Documentation

of location for return• Sterilization/vaccination/

recovery• Return to habitat• Public education/nuisance

mediation• Follow up with

caretakers/traditional TNR www.catcenter.org

Dear Million Cat Challenge...What about a friendly, healthy, altered cat

without identification that is brought in by a person who saw it in their neighborhood,

put it in a crate and brought it to a shelter? No "trap" involved.

Which cats qualify? • Healthy• Stray/un-owned• Adults and older kittens• Behavior depending on

adoption/transfer capacity

• No imminent danger/environmental concern at location of origin

7http://www.aspcapro.org/god-help-the-ones-that-purr

Dear Million Cat Challenge...How do you handle the

situations when people bring cats to the shelter and are emphatic that they don't

want the cats back?

Sharing the good news?

During the first several months of the program, animal control officers and intake desk staff told people dropping off nuisance cats that the cats would be sterilized and returned. This resulted in many heated discussions and complaints from citi zens. So, JACPS decided to take cats in and gather the needed information without getting into the specifi cs about what would happen next. This policy has resulted in far fewer complaints and less stress for the staff involved.

“But I don’t want that cat back.”• Return location is local –

not adding any new cats• Identify and solve the

actual problem• Educate about deterrents • Offer help with solutions• Give it time

• Use discretion on case by case basis

• Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect at first

Impact on citizen complaints

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• 755 targeted community cat spay/neuters over 2 years• Complaint calls declined from 1032 to 166

ICMA/HSUS Community Cat Management Guide, page 31

Impact on citizen complaints

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• 1188 targeted community cat spay/neuters over 2 years• Complaint calls declined from 1958 to < 200

Dear Million Cat Challenge...

How have other shelters financed their return to field programs? We’d love to do it

but we don’t exactly have bags of cash laying around…

Options for funding• National and local grants to

get started?• Public funding?• Fees for healthy stray intake?• Start small and work into

existing surgery schedule?• Utilize volunteers for

transport and communication

• Savings from ↓ intake over time may offset costs

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Can your community afford NOT to RTF?

Our cost to care for a cat is about $200, and our cost to s/n is $67. We also take in 3,000 fewer cats per year since the program began. We never added extra money for this, we just shifted costs by moving the qualifying cats through the shelter and back out as fast as possible. One of the more compelling arguments I've seen for governments is future cost control. If you don't invest now, costs will continue to rise at a greater rate in the future. If you do invest now, you can reduce cat intake and costs over time...and the bonus is, they won't have to do it using lethal control. win win!

- Jon Cicirelli, San Jose City Animal Services

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Dear Million Cat Challenge...local TNR and rescue allies are afraid that it is too cold or the cats won't be cared

for. Any advice?

Will they be ok?“When we started Feral Freedom in Jacksonville we microchipped all of the cats in the first 13 months of the program to track exactly that (5,640 cats were processed). The animal control officer designated for picking up the DOAs had a scanner on his truck and would check both for an ear tip and a chip. We had one instance where a cat from our downtown area had wandered up one of the bridges and been hit by a car, but otherwise, there were no other reports.

Cameron Moore, Target Zero, Jacksonville, FL

Cold climateAlthough complaints have dramatically lessened over the years, every now and then I hear these worries, not from people who have actually seen a cat freeze to death, but people who just can’t stand the thought of a cat living outside during a Michigan winter. I do sympathize with those feelings (I HATE HATE HATE thinking of a cat cold and hungry), but logic and experience tell me that by and large, they are okay out there. A few of these people have stopped donating. Such is the nature of the business. “You can’t make all the people happy all the time.”

Tanya Hilgendorf, Humane Society of Huron Valley

Survivors

“there is no apparent relationship between estimates of feral cats and latitude or January temperature in southern Canada (Table 2), and feral cat numbers may be significant in parts of Alaska”

Blancher, P. (2013). "Estimated Number of Birds Killed by House Cats (Felis catus) in Canada." Avian Conservation and Ecology 8(2).

Opening doors• Feeding cats is a reality• Non-lethal programs

open lines of communication– For cat protection– For nuisance mitigation

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Mitigation

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Dear Million Cat Challenge...We do return to field and have saved

close to 1,000 cat lives over the past three years. The shelter we work with requires

that the cats are combo tested. Would you recommend continuing this practice?

Model 1No sterilization

No testing

Model 2Sterilize 1,000

Remove FeLV+

Model 3Sterilize 2,000

No testing

Percent FeLV+ 4% 4% 4%Adults sterilized 0 1000 2000Adults left intact 2000 1000 0FeLV+ euthanized 0 40 0Adults left FeLV+ 80 40 80Kittens born 6000 2880 0FeLV+ kittens (75%) 180 86 0Total FeLV+ cats 260 126 80

Mass sterilization controls both kitten births and spread of FeLV/FIV

Thanks to Julie Levy for this slide!

Dear Million Cat Challenge...What is your response to

bird lovers who are opposed to having cats returned?

What do you say to public health officials

who are concerned about rabies or toxoplasmosis being spread by cats?

Remember this

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Reality check• At least 50% removal

required for eradication• ~ 30-80 million un-owned

cats in the U.S. • ~ 2 million cats euthanized

in US shelters• Increase of 8-20x required

for eradication• Removal short of

eradication has no benefit

Worse than nothing?

Did it work? • “Contrary to expectation, the relative

abundance and activity of feral cats increased in the cull-sites, even though the numbers of cats captured per unit effort during the culling period declined. Increases in minimum numbers of cats known to be alive ranged from 75% to 211% during the culling period, compared with pre- and post-cull estimates.”

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R

RT

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R

RT

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RT

Rabies risk from cats decreased by 11%Toxoplasmosis risk unchanged

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R

RT

Rabies and toxoplasmosis risk from cats decreased by 33%

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• Cats picked up dead down 20%• Intake (cat and kitten) down 29%• Euthanasia down 75%• Euthanasia due to URI down 99%

WOW!!!

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Once we fully implemented our program, the only real regret we had was that we

didn't start it soonerJon Cicirelli, City of San Jose Animal Care Services, San Jose, California

Removing Adoption Barriers

“Expand the pool of adopters by removing barriers to adoption such as price,

process or location.”

Removing Adoption Barriers• Acknowledging that people

who want cats, will get cats• Higher risk adopter = all

the more important to get a shelter cat

• It’s ok if it doesn’t work out– They learned something– You learned something

about the pet– The pet got a little break

Shaping the path to adoption• Consider: PriceConvenience LocationApplication processEmotional experience

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Why people choose cats

Weiss, E., K. Miller, et al. (2012). "Why Did You Choose This Pet?: Adopters and Pet Selection Preferences in Five Animal Shelters in the United States." Animals 2(2): 144-159.

Not ideal

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Putting things in perspective

Putting things in perspective

35 times more

It’s ok to relax a little• Even stringent disease

control measures may not be enough when the shelter is crowded

• Less stringent disease control that ↓ LOS, maintains C4C and ↑ adoptions often better for health

• Use your common sense but don’t be afraid to experiment– Especially adult cats and

foster return healthy kittens

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What about price? • Increased length of stay =

crowding = costs for daily care, illness, lower morale

• Decrease costs or increase income by means other than adoption fees when lives are at stake

• Evaluate cats early to determine adoptability; don’t wait weeks to make them free

Hidden cost of fees“I do want to share some warm fuzzy! We have simply lowered our adoption price (from $110 for kittens and $75 for adult cats to $50 and $25 respectively) and now we cant keep cats in the shelter. I was shocked by the difference! Yes this is the slow season but the crickets are chirping here!”

WOW!!!

January – March 2014:Length of stay: 19 days

Live release: 52%

January – March 2015Length of stay: 8.5 days

Live release: 81%

Another kind of magic number

I played around with the adoption prices. Adult cats that have been in the Shelter for awhile have their adoption fee reduced from $145 to $95 as an incentive for adoption. The program was stalling. I tried $50/cat, but that was still too high. I tried $25/cat, but people just thought there was something wrong with the cat and avoided it. I tried $45/cat, and that was the magic number for people on PEI.

Erin Mullen, Prince Edward Island Humane Society

Dear Million Cat Challenge...

Doesn't waving adoption fees bring into question the value of

life? If the adopter cannot afford the fee, can they afford care of the

animal?

Dear Million Cat Challenge...What about animals that don't get

returned - escape from unsafe homes, fall from high rise apartments without

nets on the windows or other things that could be avoided with home visits?

Dear Million Cat Challenge...

Should contacting a landlord be important? I personally like to be

able to check with regards to if they are allowed an animal and also use

said landlord as a reference.

Remember this

American Pet Products Association Survey 2012

What we CAN control if people adopt from us

Whether people get a cat that is already spay/neutered, current on vaccines, microchipped.

Whether people get some guidance and advice on selecting an appropriate pet.

Whether people get education and advice on how to introduce their new pet to their home and provide it with medical and behavior care/training.

Whether people have a resource if they need help, to avoid the pet ending up back in the shelter in the future.

Getting back a healthy, adoption-ready animal if for any reason the adoption doesn’t work out.

Good news

Cats acquired as strays or with minimal planning are less likely to be relinquished to a shelter

Studies show…

There is no difference in attachment levels or perception of shelter between adopters of full price and fee-waived cats

There is no difference in subsequent care or attachment levels between adopters using a policy-based versus conversation-based process

DO…• Have conversations• Use a consistent

process to make sure adopters get all their questions answered

• Check identification and keep records

• Trust your instincts • Make exceptions

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Return rate before and after open adoptions

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Return rate before and after open adoptions

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Does this worry you?

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HSUS 2014 Pets for Life Report: 88% of clients have never contacted a shelter or animal control services

Strategic adoptions• Make a positive

connection between shelter and adopter, demonstrate mutual trust

• Allow adopter (and kids and friends) to experience a spayed/neutered/ identified/vaccinated pet

• Low cost spay/neuter that comes with a pet ;-)

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More pie please!

Shelter/rescue 3%

Brave new worldWhen we started to concentrate on the sense of urgency and how to get them into homes now -- and not hang onto them because we want, not need, but want to do just one more thing; it is amazing how many things are eliminated because they were never really necessary in the 1st place... So with our 'we can hold 200 cats mindset' -- for the last 3 months, our cat count has been in the 40s and 50s. We are not euthanizing; we are adopting.

Renee Webb, Fond-du-Lac Humane Society

Can we count you in?

The Million Cat Challenge is made possible by an educational grant from Maddie’s Fund

Don’t forget to visit us tomorrow!

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#ThanksToMaddie!

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