Maddie's® Insights is our ongoing webcast series with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people. Join us in February as we look at research that can help you make decisions about cats who aren't suitable for adoption. Our speaker is @Jacklyn Ellis, MRes, PhD, CAAB ,CSB-C, Director of Behaviour at the Toronto Humane Society.

Thursday, February 12 at 12n Pacific for one hour

Watch the recording
If you'd like to earn continuing education credit for RACE, CAWA or NACA, please view this recording on Maddie's University

Recent research published in the Journal of Shelter Medicine and Community Animal Health highlights an important truth: not every cat is suited for life in a traditional home. Using the Feline Spectrum Assessment (FSA), the study revealed that cats least likely to be socialized were more fearful, less affectionate, and less amenable to handling post-adoption (even by their primary caretaker) compared to their more socialized counterparts. Adopters of these cats were also more likely to report their cat would have been happier outside, underscoring the need for shelters to carefully match cats with appropriate placement pathways. This evidence helps confirm what many in sheltering already know-while adoption is an ideal outcome for many cats, it is not the right outcome for every cat.

In the case of cats for which a traditional adoption pathway would not be appropriate and TNR/RTF is not possible, working cat or barn cat programs provide a humane and practical alternative. But careful consideration must be given to ensure the cat is medically appropriate, the placement site is suitable and safe, and that the transition into a new environment is conducted in a thoughtful, stepwise way. At Toronto Humane Society, cats identified as barn cat candidates are selected using the FSA alongside behavioral history and ongoing monitoring of in-shelter behavior modification progress, then integrated using a structured acclimation process: a period of crate confinement, followed by exploration in a secure space such as a tack room, before eventual free-roam. This approach maximizes welfare and sets both the cat and placement site up for long-term success.

Learning Objectives:
· Understand how findings from recent research on the Feline Spectrum Assessment can inform decisions about which cats are best suited for traditional homes, barn cat placement, or TNR/RTF.
· Learn how to identify appropriate candidates for barn or working cat programs by combining FSA results, behavioral history, and in-shelter progress.
· Explore step-by-step strategies to successfully integrate barn cats into their new environments in ways that support welfare, safety, and long-term success.

Earn continuing education credit from The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement towards 1.0 CAWA CEs. This webinar has also been pre-approved for 1.0 continuing education credits by the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA). It has also been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit until 12/12/2027 in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval.

About our speaker

Dr. Jacklyn Ellis is board certified by the Animal Behavior Society as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, is Certified in Shelter Behavior – Cat by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and is the Director of Behavior at Toronto Humane Society.  She earned her PhD in Animal Welfare at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, where she conducted research on methods for reducing stress in shelter cats. Her work has been published widely in peer reviewed journals and she has presented at many national and international conferences, particularly on feline stress and elimination behavior.  She has recently authored two chapters for a new edition of the leading textbook on the behavior and welfare of shelter animals.

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Hello from southeastern Pennsylvania!!

I'm currently fostering three 8-month olds for adoption (2 were adopted in December).  Two of the three remaining are ready to go; the third (Riff) is not yet socialized.  I'm looking for advice on whether I should keep trying or let him back outside with our colony.

A little background: we trapped Riff & brought him inside to make sure that he received his needed dose of antibiotic for a bad URI.  That was late December.  I put  him into a portable catio to isolate his food, so as to work with him, socialized him, and get him ready for adoption.  Well, he escaped from his catio (my fault, didn't secure one of the doors).  Although he successfully completed his antibiotic regimen, I was not able to work with him because he would hide under the couch when I'd enter the room.

His siblings Moppet & Buddy are now inside most of the time because we thought we had a family for them, but it fell through (and to keep Riff company!).  We let them outside on decent days for a few hours because they get restless in the foster room all day & night.  Just this week, Riff no longer hides right away when I come in to feed & hang out.  He still defaults back under the couch but has started to edge his way out as I lure him with his food & treats, and will (cautiously) eat his food not far from me.  He watches his siblings climb all over me (& my husband when he comes in), and reacts to a laser pointer and other toys. 

The kittens (and their momma) have known me as the food provider since they were two months old, and Riff was always the shy one, coming out only when he saw me go back inside, even with his momma & siblings around.  Eventually, he joined the rest of the family with me around, but always kept his distance...but still hide if any other community cats showed up.  Because he's so timid, I think he may had been scared into hiding by some of the older bullies and the same might happen if he were to become a community cat again.  It seems he's just not interested in being outside anyway...he's never even approached an open door or been lured by being called for lasers or toys.

Anyway, I know this is long, but I'm looking for any advice on what to do.  I'm afraid he'll become a recluse if his siblings are gone, but we just don't have room for him in our house with 12 other cats.  And with a few territorial community cats, I fear he'll be chased away if we just put him out.  He's got it in him to be social...that I know!!  

Any thoughts??  Thank you :)

Hello @Laura Anne Scheetz.,

Thank you for posting your question - we know how important this is to you.  If you are unable to join the webinar today, we'll ask Dr. @Jacklyn Ellis if she could offer advice here. The webinar will be recorded and if you have registered for it, you'll get an email with a link to the recording. 

Meanwhile, here are a few resources on Maddie's University about fostering and socializing cats that may help:

 Helping Cats Who Hiss and Hide: Assessments, Behavior Modification and Re-Homing Strategies for Shy and Fearful Cats

Foster Care course collection

Feline Lifesaving course collection

Thank you for taking such good care of the kitties!

Alison 

Loved the About cats it vary informative

Thank you, Taylor!  

Hello @Laura Anne Scheetz.,

It sounds like Riff has shown some progress in the last week, and that is really promising! Now that he is reliably eating in front of you, I would start implementing a methodical approach to socialization, like the one I use at Toronto Humane Society highlighted in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSHPQVd4fMc and keep track of which step in the process you are able to get to without him going above threshold/becoming overly stressed. Based on his recent progress it sounds like you might be on the precipice of a breakthrough! But I would caution that even if you manage to socialize him further and he starts showing affection to you, it is quite possible (perhaps even likely) that he will continue to have  fearful temperament and be shy with new people. I would predict that if/when you do find him an adoptive home that it will take longer than a typical cat for him to come out of his shell there as well, so make sure that you counsel any potential adopters on this possibility, and perhaps send them the training link as well (if it woks for you, that is). If you try the methodical approach in the link provided and you don't have success in a reasonable time frame, I would consider reintroducing him back into your colony. But based on what you are reporting, I suspect you will have success with our program :)

The recording is now ready to view!  
NOTE: If you'd like to earn continuing education credit for RACE, CAWA or NACA, please view this recording on Maddie's University.

Links to resources from the webcast:

Research paper: https://jsmcah.org/index.php/jasv/article/view/116/238

Maddie's Insights: Beyond "Doing Better" Using Behavior Data to Monitor Well-Being in Cats (webcast) https://university.maddiesfund.org/products/maddies-insights-beyond-doing-better-using-behavior-data-to-monitor-well-being-in-cats-on-demand 

Turning Fear into Friendship: Building Trust with Shelter Cats (webcast)https://university.maddiesfund.org/products/turning-fear-into-friendship-building-trust-with-shelter-cats

ASPCA. (2016). The ASPCA's Feline Spectrum Assessment: A tool to identify the socialization level in cats https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/ASPCA-FSA-manual-2016.pdf 

Presentation slides are attached.

Attachment(s)

Not All Cats Want the Couch. J Ellis. pdf.pdf   2.35 MB 1 version

The Barn Placement Manual and the THS - Feline Stray Intake Form are attached to this post.
Note that the manual is scheduled for an update this year.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Attachment(s)

THS - Feline Stray Intake Form.pdf   147 KB 1 version

Barn Placement Manual.pdf   269 KB 1 version

Here are answers to the questions we did not get to during the webcast:

Curious, was it the same person doing the assessments and giving feedback? Wondering if the high peaks vs low peaks were possibly due to a different person doing the assessments? Maybe Carl didn't like one person vs another. Just a thought.

Dr. Ellis: The data is collected during the BMOD sessions, which are conducted by a team of highly trained volunteers who have been tested on their inter observer reliability (meaning one person's score can be trusted to be roughly the same as another person's score if they were watching the same behaviour). However, you are quite right that a cat may behave differently for one person than for another. There are many reasons that might contribute to this – for example, a cat could behave differently for men than women, or in the AM vs the PM (especially if psychopharmaceuticals are active in one session but not the other). When we conduct our follow ups we review all of these factors on the data sheet and make adjustments if we have a theory that might lead to improved BMOD results. For example, if we find a cat has better results in the AM than the PM, we may concentrate BMODs for that cat in the AM until we are consistently seeing the desired behaviours and then gradually broaden the time frame to generalize the behaviour, or we may work with the vet team to see if it is reasonable to increase the frequency of medication administration.

How did you encourage your survey participants to respond, to get such a high response rate in your study?

Dr. Ellis: We reviewed the literature to see what strategies have been linked to high response rates and implemented all the strategies we could. Before we started sending out the survey, adopters were sent a study notification email which included information about the study as well as notification that respondents would be included in a prize draw. Then, we attempted to contact each adopter up to three times: twice by telephone at different times of day, and lastly by email. But ultimately, I think a lot of the success can be credited to the engagement of our adopters and probably a little bit of luck. 

As you assess during those first few days, do you utlize the Beyond Better plan that you've presented on before?

Dr. Ellis: Yes! Some of the data collected during the BMOD sessions and highlighted during this presentation was directly from my paper Beyond "Doing Better": Ordinal Rating Scales to Monitor Behavioural Indicators of Well-Being in Cats. (Ellis, J. J. (2022). Beyond "Doing Better": Ordinal Rating Scales to Monitor Behavioural Indicators of Well-Being in Cats. Animals, 12(21), 2897.)

I'm looking for a pathway PLAN or TEMPLATE for deciding if a cat can go outdoors <--- to help mitigate the number of long LOS cats that are either openly marked "working" cat versus "informally acknowledged"... i.e. unsocial towards most/all humans.

Dr. Ellis: Unfortunately, I do not have a template I can share, but if you want to create a template, factors that I would start with would be: if you have evidence (prior to intake or in care) of enjoying interaction with humans, their result on the FSA, their medical condition, and their appropriateness for life outside (including signs of previously thriving outside if that's where they came from, declawed status, etc).

Cats length of hair is not relevant to placement unless it's in poor condition?

Dr. Ellis: From my perspective, that is correct. I would not preclude placement of a cat just because he or she has long hair. But, if they had an outdoor origin and their long fur was in poor condition on intake, I would 'use caution' when considering placing them in an alternative location (but notably, poor coat condition is not on our 'not suitable' list). I think it is also important to point out that in our alternative placement program, cats are provided shelter and fed daily, so they may have a better chance to thrive in this location than the environment they came from. If poor coat condition on intake is noted, we would consider what factors may have contributed to this condition, and that would be a big part of our evaluation.

How long after intake do you perform the testing? Could initial stress skew the FSA number?

Dr. Ellis: A cat's behaviour is absolutely impacted by the initial stress of coming into care. However, the research used to design the FSA was conducted under these conditions. This means they measured which behaviours were most associated with cats with known history of socialization when they were experiencing this initial stress. The FSA was designed to be conducted starting either the afternoon of their first day in the shelter, or the morning after (if they came in late in the day).