Animal Welfare Professionals

We are interested in setting up a sound system for the shelter where we can "pipe in" calming (and of course seasonal!) music to all the animals and people in the shelter. Does anyone have experience putting in a system? We are hoping we can do it all "bluetooth" with limited wiring. Our shelter is mostly cinderblock.  Does anyone have experience with this? Have you found specific types of music that help calm the shelter animals? Thank you!
#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment

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Erin Hooks
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Hi Erin,

Good question. We used echo dots that we could turn on and off remotely for this purpose. When it comes to what type of music classical music has some indications that it might be a beneficial form of auditory enrichment so do audiobooks. You will have to monitor the feedback from the animals as to determine their preferences. We had some dogs that liked Jazz and a cat who seemed to enjoy Harry Potter audiobooks in our shelter.

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Christine D. Calder DVM
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
Calder Veterinary Behavior Services
www.caldervbs.com

Veterinary Behaviorist
Behavior Specialist, MPF
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Erin, 
There was a great session I attended during the ASPCA-AAWA Research Forum on November 3rd called "Measuring & Minimizing Sound in Shelters to Improve Cat Welfare". The presenter was Bailey Eagan from the University of British Columbia Animal Welfare Program. I know you didn't specifically ask about cats but this presentation was SO good and included a lot of actionable items to help reduce stress. I highly recommend it! In addition to music, the presentation touched on other sources of noise like dishes, doors, cabinets, human voices, and cage reverberations and included ways to mitigate them.  

The session is available to watch for free at ASPCAOnline (Again, I highly recommend!).  Here's how:

• go to https://www.aspcaonline.org/#/catalog
• if you don't already have an account on ASPCAOnline, sign up for a free account to get access
• if you're not brought back to that catalog page after you register, go back to https://www.aspcaonline.org/#/catalog 
• select ASPCA-AAWA Research Forum
• click "Enroll" under "Measuring & Minimizing Sound in Shelters To..." 

I love that you're looking for ways to help the animals and people who visit your shelter and hope this is a helpful resource for you!

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Kim Domerofski (she/her)
Community Manager
Maddie's Fund
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Original Message:
Sent: 11/19/2021 5:47:00 PM
From: Kim Domerofski
Subject: RE: Shelter Sound System

Erin, 
There was a great session I attended during the ASPCA-AAWA Research Forum on November 3rd called "Measuring & Minimizing Sound in Shelters to Improve Cat Welfare". The presenter was Bailey Eagan from the University of British Columbia Animal Welfare Program. I know you didn't specifically ask about cats but this presentation was SO good and included a lot of actionable items to help reduce stress. I highly recommend it! In addition to music, the presentation touched on other sources of noise like dishes, doors, cabinets, human voices, and cage reverberations and included ways to mitigate them.  

The session is available to watch for free at ASPCAOnline (Again, I highly recommend!).  Here's how:

• go to https://www.aspcaonline.org/#/catalog
• if you don't already have an account on ASPCAOnline, sign up for a free account to get access
• if you're not brought back to that catalog page after you register, go back to https://www.aspcaonline.org/#/catalog 
• select ASPCA-AAWA Research Forum
• click "Enroll" under "Measuring & Minimizing Sound in Shelters To..." 

I love that you're looking for ways to help the animals and people who visit your shelter and hope this is a helpful resource for you!

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Kim Domerofski (she/her)
Community Manager
Maddie's Fund
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Hi Erin, did you ever find a solution to pipe in music in your shelter? We are looking for an option to do this at our sanctuary for the dogs and cats. So far, I'm not finding any options online so please let me know.

thank you,

Tracy

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Tracy Horton
Director/Volunteer
Wylie Animal Rescue Foundation
NV
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Hi my name is Michelle Lewis with LaMa Animal Rescue. We are currently building a shelter and I am interested in this as well. 

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Michelle Lewis
President
LaMa Animal Rescue
LA
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2024 08:55 AM
From: Tracy Horton
Subject: Shelter Sound System

Hi Erin, did you ever find a solution to pipe in music in your shelter? We are looking for an option to do this at our sanctuary for the dogs and cats. So far, I'm not finding any options online so please let me know.

thank you,

Tracy

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Tracy Horton
Director/Volunteer
Wylie Animal Rescue Foundation
NV
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I have used this for music in the shelter, it made such a positive difference. We had an existing stereo and speaker system set up - hard wired.

https://rescueanimalmp3.org/

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William Oglesby
Animal Protection & Control Manager
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