Animal Welfare Professionals

If you were at the May 15 Million Cat Challenge webinar with Dr. Sara Pizano, A Playbook Approach to Saving Lives in Animal Shelters, or viewed it in archived format, please post your questions and comments here! Dr. Pizano will be stopping by in the days after the webinar to respond, and we encourage you to share your thoughts with each other, too!

I serve as Executive Director for a municipal animal shelter in South Carolina, We currently accept owner surrenders by appointment only, however, lost/found animals (strays) are open admission and we are overrun with cats and kittens this time of year. Although we have a spay and neuter clinic, we currently do not have a vet on staff and rely on part-time contract vets as well as a mobile clinic that comes three times per month for S/N. I am looking for suggestions on mitigating and diverting feline intake. 

Hello Chris and my sincerest apologies for this delayed reply to your post. Maddie's Fund has several video programs about this topic. Many of these webpages also have related links on the right side of the page with useful resources on this topic - see the list below. 

You've probably also visited the Million Cat Challenge section of this Forum - if not, here's the link https://maddiespetforum.org/group/million-cat-challenge-2/
and, please visit the Million Cat Challenge website for even more resources on cat intake management.

Let us know how it goes!

Alternatives to Intake: When the Shelter Isn’t the Answer presented by Wiley Stem, Assistant City Manager in Waco Texas

Capacity for Care: When Less Adds Up to a Whole Lot More for Shelter Cats
Kathleen Olson, Executive Director of the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County and Ollie Davidson, DDirector of Programs and Digital Director for Tree House Humane Society

House Fewer Cats, Save More Lives, Make Everyone Happy!  by Karen Green, Executive Director of the Cat Adoption Team (CAT)

Intake Mitigation and Managed Intake by Sarah Heilman Boyd, DVM and Joe Hellebrand, Director of Animal Services, both of Brevard County (FL) Sheriff's Office Animal Services

One Shelter's Journey to Save More Feline Lives by Cristie Kamiya, DVM, Humane Society Silicon Valley

Outsourcing Neonatal Kitten Rearing for Life-Saving Success  by Katie Ingram, Animal Services Manager at Placer County Animal Services in Auburn, California

Return to Field: Animal Shelters and a New Approach to Healthy Unowned Cats by Scott Trebatoski, Florida Animal Control Association Outstanding Agency of the Year for three consecutive years with the City of Jacksonville

Return-to-Field from an Animal Control Officer's Perspective by Tim Reeder, Animal Services Officer, City of Huntsville (AL) Animal Services 

Shelter Crowd Control: Keeping Community Cats Out of Shelters by Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, director of Maddie's^® Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida

Return to Field: Putting Theory into Action to Save Cats by Dr. Sara Pizano and Cameron Moore 

The Milk Man and Wait Until 8 Programs: Saving Cats & Kittens by Thinking Outside the Box by Dr. Maria Serrano and Kathleen Labrada