Animal Welfare Professionals

What is the most recent purchase of under $100 that has made the biggest positive impact at your shelter, rescue or organization?

Feral cat dens....hands down. We use them for almost all adult cats now. They are great hiding boxes for our cat runs too!

Yep, Feral Cat Dens! We just bought our first one and I'm looking for funds to get more!

Honestly, a microchip scanner so we can better equip ACO's for field RTO whenever possible, which helps keep shelter intake numbers down. 

An O'Cedar spin mop and bucket set.  It was around $35 and is super efficient at soaking up stubborn standing water on the floors of the dog kennels.  The floors are uneven and there are always water puddles, even after using a squeegee.  

For public shelters one of the greatest cheap investments are some enrichment toys for your cats - could be as simple as ping pong balls. We really like the activity created by food toys. Not only does it keep the cats mentally active it also engages the public to interact or watch the cats and it has increased our adoptions.

#OrganizationalManagement

I looked at what Jackson Galaxy has on his website and then purchase from Amazon

steam cleaner by shark...

Treat pouches! 

Left over paint from Lowes. Repainted our puppy area in daycare colors. The public loves the new look.

Viralys gel (maple flavor)! We give it to our cats in the morning and it has greatly diminished our vet bills for URI's. 

Do you give it to every cat every morning, or just those cats with URI?

Thanks, Donna

We give to every cat, those sick and those not sick, every other day. 

Interesting.  The science behind whether lysine as a supplement for URI is effective, herpesvirus in particular, is iffy at best.  But I'm glad it's helping you!

I read that lysine given before the cat/kitten was sick is determined to be more helpful than after URI has been discovered in one study or another.  Whatever the studies say, at Pet Allies shelter we give lysine every other day to dogs and cats and have seen significant improvement in fewer outbreaks of URI/Kennel cough.  We give it to all animals every other day. 

Cat Dancer wand toys.  We attach them to the kennels for the adult cats.  Provides enrichment, entertainment for the cat, and allows potential adopters to interact with the cats. We send them home with the cat, also. 

Ultraship 35 digital scale to weigh kittens in foster care. They are $25-$35 each, but it is so important to know if your kittens are gaining weight and on the right track. Also, the Snuggle Safe discs which are around $25 each are great ways to keep orphan kittens warm the safe way.

Bagels/donuts for the staff! Puts everyone in a good mood, and let’s them know they are appreciated. The animals win too when the staff feels loved 🍪💕😀

We use Vengage for $9/month and it helps us create awesome, engaging newsletters to send to staff and board weekly and supporters monthly.

I recently ordered these simple stickers as a way to help others become more comfortable with asking clients for donations and for clients to get excited about donating. Staff and volunteers are wearing the stickers proudly around the shelter as are clients. I spent $25 on 1000 stickers. The artist/printer even donated an extra 500 stickers for free.

I love this. Something that feels so simple and doesn't cost much but reminds people to donate and want to donate to be able to wear it proudly. 

Love this idea, Thank you!

Where did you order these from? They are very cute!

@KimA One of our graphic designers at the shelter created the design and then I had them printed through a shop on Etsy. Susan is super talented. She was able to make our logo work and everything fit into the circle. If you don't have a design, it sounds like Susan is capable of helping you design something. Overall, the stickers have been going so well! We are now giving them out in our grooming department, medical, intake, pet store, etc.. visitors are loving it and I love how much more confident everyone is now with soliciting the donation. 

Yes! @LaurenWickmanHSSV please let me know where you get these!

@KS One of our graphic designers at the shelter created the design and then I had them printed through a shop on Etsy. Susan is super talented. She was able to make our logo work and everything fit into the circle. If you don't have a design, it sounds like Susan is capable of helping you design something. Overall, the stickers have been going so well! We are now giving them out in our grooming department, medical, intake, pet store, etc.. visitors are loving it and I love how much more confident everyone is now with soliciting the donation.

Love this idea so much!

Love this! Do your staff wear them all the time to get the conversation started?

Just to confirm, it was $25 for 1000 stickers? Her current pricing is now $25 (on sale for $17.50) for 100 stickers. Still a great idea and we could easily shop around to other vendors.

Feral Cat Dens!! Since we have put them in to use with all scared/feral cats that come in to our facility, we have greatly diminished the number of injuries to staff as well as the number of scared cats darting out of the kennel as soon as we try to clean/feed them. They are greatly reducing the amount of stress we are seeing in the scared/feral cats, and the scared cats are settling in and showing their friendly side much sooner than when they didn't have anything to hide in. I would recommend anyone that intakes scared or feral cats to have some on hand!

would you happen to have a photo of your "feral cat den"?  Or is that the name of the product?  Thanks much!

Feral Cat Den is the name of the product, here is the link for the place we order them from: http://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29912

More volunteers    And blanket warmers for recovery after surgery