Topics in the Animal Welfare Community

 




About Topics:

Topics are used on Maddie's Pet Forum to help categorize discussions and resources which makes all content easily searchable. Members of the Animal Welfare Professionals community must select at least one topic when creating posts or when adding files to the Resource Center. Members are also encouraged to follow topics of interest to curate the notifications you receive in your Personalized Digest emails.

On your profile, there are two areas related to topics: "Topics I Follow" and "Observed Topics".
To follow topics of interest, click on the "+ Add a Topic" button to reveal the list of 25 Animal Welfare topics. This is the most direct way to ensure you receive the content you're most interested in.
Reveals list of animal welfare topics to follow
Topics that have an asterisk * next to them mean that they are a specific Human Animal Support Services (HASS) Element. These have recently been added to better support the members of the HASS Learning Community and you do not need to be a HASS project participant in order to post to these topics.

As you interact with discussions and resources in the Animal Welfare Professionals Community, the system performs calculations based on your actions (such as reading, favoriting, liking and commenting on content) to automatically promote content you're interested in in your Personalized Digest email. These are shown on your profile as your Observed Interests. You can easily remove any of these interests by clicking on the gray x next to the topic name. 


All Animal Welfare Topic Discussions

  • Discussion Thread

  • Are you a veterinary professional looking for CE credits and wanting to Save More Kittens? This conference program has been approved by the AAVSB for 6.5 credits of RACE® live, interactive CE for veterinarians See More

  • RE: Fundraising Budget

    Discussion

    Hi there. First find a brewery or winery that will partner with you. Brunswick Beer and Cider in Leland are giving the beer to us at cost $2.50/can. Also we lucked out by hosting our annual donation presentation See More

  • Are you doing an all in all out method for these group housing situations? That's what's recommended per the ASV guidelines. If so, you should only have to use harsh cleaners when all the cats have been See More

  • Discussion

    We have a section in our city's Sunday paper where we can highlight animals, we often work with the local news and will have small segments about shelter going ons and featuring some of our long term dogs. See More

  • Wow, this sounds like an amazing program and I would love a copy of the playbook as well. We are also in a rural area as well, and really limited in care for community cats which is a HUGE issue here as See More

  • Hi everyone! I'm hoping to connect with other rescues, fosters, and animal advocates in the Southern California area who might be interested in partnering with us to help place some very deserving See More

  • RE: Foster Request Lists

    Discussion

    I was look at maybe help fostering animals.. ------------------------------ Teagan Lezama student Powdersville SC ------------------------------

  • Discussion

    Not sure where you're located, but I wonder if you could get in contact with some local (or national) influencers who could spotlight your dogs, or even take fresh pics of them to use the power of social See More

  • At Mandarin's Retreat, we use QuickBooks Advance purchased through TechSoup which costs about $190 a year. It cost us a little more to purchase training through QuickBooks Made Easy. After a steep learning See More

  • There are sort of two answers here. Most shelters have two different systems: An accounting system that tracks all revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities, vendors, etc. A fundraising CRM that can See More

  • RE: Fundraising Budget

    Discussion

    Gosh Carol ~ your photo contest sounds amazing! We have that on our list for next year. Do you have "lessons learned" that you can share? Either written of just with a phone call over coffee? Thanks! See More

  • We're a small spay-neuter program for community cats in Montenegro, income in the $65-75K range. We use Quickbooks, purchased through TechSoup in 2019. Got us through 2025. Intuit no longer supports the See More

  • Hi Melody, I'd be happy to try to help. I just left a large cat-only shelter last year after 12 years, and housing was a high priority for us. How long do you have cats living in these rooms and how See More

  • Discussion

    Hi Renee, Transitioning from delivery to pickup after distributing that much food and driving that many miles sounds like a major operational change. I think one of the most important goals would be See More

  • Hi! I am a volunteer grant writer for a very active Bucks County, PA cat rescue , with annual donation income of roughly $100,00. The first time we put together a grant, the rescue director (who has a See More

  • We are an animal shelter that strives to have free roaming cats in our adoptable cat rooms. We recently switched from using bleach to using an accelerated hydrogen peroxide product in our cat areas. While See More

  • Discussion Thread

  • Discussion

    Thank you, Shey! This is exactly what I needed to hear, too, as we are in a similar situation. We are doing a lot of things right, but we need more focus on doggy days out and short-term fostering, which See More

  • Apply NOW for the fall session of Online Instructor-Led Courses! Looking to implement a new program, learn more about a specific subject and create positive change for pets and people in your community? See More

  • Congrats on getting a new facility! The way our organization allocates funds from general fundraisers is typically 60% to high need areas (primarily vet care) and 40% to the general fund. This of course See More

  • Discussion

    We're a private no-kill shelter as well, and I completely understand how discouraging it can be to see the same dogs waiting day after day. ❤️ One thing we've been focusing on is making sure our See More

  • Discussion

    I remember when Goldens were the breed that everyone just had to have. Years ago there was a commercial with Goldens. That's all that it took for breeders to ramp up and everyone just had to have one. See More

  • RE: Foster Request Lists

    Discussion

    Hi Michelle! One of the coordinators where I foster was trying to use Trello for sharing available animals to fosters. It ended up being a lot of duplicate work plus the time it took to update all the See More

  • Discussion

    This is such a timely question, because I am also looking to switch up my system! I'm at Seattle Area Feline Rescue, and we only do cats as well. CAT is very similar to our org in many ways, and we are See More

  • RE: Foster Request Lists

    Discussion

    Hi Samantha, I know your foster intake is a lot higher than ours but we use volgistics as our volunteer platform, so all volunteers are in this database. Within volgistics we assign the volunteers See More

  • Discussion

    We at Retrieve a Golden of the Midwest (RAGOM) have seen a substantial reduction in our intake except for dogs with behavior issues. We accept referrals from shelters of golden mixes even if they don't See More

  • Discussion

    I keep reading "reach out to rescues". As a rescue I will tell you that across the US rescues are packed, foster homes are filled, adoptions are slow. Now all rescues aren't created equal, just like shelters. See More

  • This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous Howdy everyone, and happy Wednesday! I'm here to ask what technology stacks other high volume, spay-neuter clinics are using in their day See More

  • I would love to see the playbook. It sounds like a great program. We have a lot of resources here in our area, but we definitely see the need for even more accessible care. I'd love to see how your program See More

  • This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous Hello everyone! I am reaching out to see how other organizations allocate fundraising funds(or any non-designated funds for that matter) See More

  • Discussion

    Hi! We also have dogs who have been in the shelter for a long time. As the Marketing Coordinator, I try to create social posts highlighting our long-term residents and, in partnership with our Foster Coordinator, See More

  • Thank you! I did reach out to BJ Adkins, and thought there might be others who also would be able to chime in. If you think of anything else, please let me know. I appreciate you responding. Grateful,Joy See More

  • Hello, everyone! My name is Liz Swaynie, and I'm the Executive Director of Great Lakes Rabbit Sanctuary, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Willis, Michigan, that's been rescuing and rehoming abused, abandoned and See More

  • Discussion

    Hey there! I know you made this post last year, but I wanted to offer my expertise! I am the Executive Director of Great Lakes Rabbit Sanctuary located in Willis, Michigan. We have existed for 31 years, See More

  • Hi Joy, It sounds like your work would benefit from reaching out to BJ Adkins. You can find her thread here. Upstream is her strength and she is really skilled at building people infrastructure. You See More

  • Thank you so much for having me! It was a great session! Here are some answers to the Q&A's that were in the chat. Do you have to be a licensed veterinarian to assist in emergencies? General rule: you See More

  • RE: Foster Request Lists

    Discussion

    Hi Samantha, We use Trello Boards, with one for dogs/puppies and one for cats/kittens. For a frame of reference, our annual intake is approximately 1,700. Each animal has a photo/photos and as much information See More

  • Discussion Thread

  • Hiring more staff

    Discussion

    Hello everyone. I am reaching out to see if anyone has experience in a municipal shelter that has had to ask their city for more staff? We are in the process of building a new shelter that will double See More

  • Who doesn't love kittens?!?! Please join us for Maddie's Community Conversation on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 11am PT/2pm ET for a conversation with @Marnie Russ, founder of National Kitten College See More

  • RE: Foster Request Lists

    Discussion

    We are a small cat rescue and take advantage of the Google Workspace for Non-Profits. We created chats, and will put our request in there. The chat is foster parent specific, so it doesn't interfere with See More

  • Attached is a copy of Jerrica's presentation slides. ------------------------------ Alison Gibson Media Projects Manager Maddie's Fund ------------------------------