transferred to elevated holding cages whenever possible.
Individuals that are exhibiting marked fear and stress at the time of entry should be housed in specially designated quiet areas away from other animals and foot traffic within the shelter. Whenever possible, animals should be housed in their same enclosure, and whenever appropriate, spot cleaning instead of complete sanitation should be performed to preserve their scent, which is necessary for stress reduction. Spot cleaning is also often preferred because daily removal of a cat from the cage for complete sanitation may be unnecessary for disease control and may create enough stress to reactivate latent viral rhinotracheitis (herpes) as mentioned previously (Gaskell and Povey 1977). Care should be taken during cleaning procedures to minimize stress and noise, and cats should be allowed to retreat to their hiding spot if they choose while their cage is quietly tidied and replenished around them as needed. Commercially available “cat dens” are ideal for this purpose. See Figures 2.1a and b. In most instances, dogs should be removed from their enclosures during cleaning procedures or allowed to move side to side of a double‐sided enclosure to prevent undue stress. See Chapter 8 for more information about sanitation protocols.
The way in which animals are handled in the shelter has a profound impact on their behavior, health and wellbeing and impacts their ability to adapt to a new environment. When animals are provided with regular, consistent, predictable positive interactions and pleasant activities, they learn what to expect and can adapt and adjust to the routine. Even stressful events are less stressful if they are on a schedule. When aversive stimuli are unpredictable, chronic fear and anxiety may result. Conversely, if events that are perceived as stressful (such as cleaning) occur on a predictable schedule, animals learn that a predicable period of calm and comfort will always occur in between or afterwards. In other words, animals quickly learn consistent routines – and they will acclimate to a new environment much more quickly if they know who will be caring for them and when, and that the experience can then be a positive one. The importance of regular schedules of feeding, cleaning, exercise, and play cannot be overemphasized. Animals also respond to positive experiences in their daily routines. For example, feeding and playtime may be greatly anticipated; thus, scheduling positive daily events (e.g. a treat at 3 : 00 p.m. every day) should also be a priority.
Thus, a good emotional environment, combined with behavioral wellness care, promotes adaptation to the shelter environment because animals can learn to what to expect, have the ability to shield themselves from unpleasant stimuli, and are afforded the provision of basic essential creature comforts, as well as some control, variety, and choice.
2.9.2 Physical Environment
2.9.2.1 Population Density
Overcrowding is one of the most potent emotional and physical stressors recognized in housed animals (Griffin and Baker 2002; McMillan 2002). It increases both the number of susceptible animals and asymptomatic carriers in a given group, thus increasing the likelihood of disease transmission between group members through both direct contact and contaminated fomites. Overcrowding also increases the magnitude of many stressors in the shelter environment including noise, air contaminants and infectious agents, and compromises animal husbandry, inflating the risk for serious outbreaks of disease in the population. With too many animals to care for, shelter staffs' ability to provide proper care to animals and good customer service to the public becomes overwhelmed. In turn, this can negatively affect adoption rates since potential adopters often find an overcrowded and dirty shelter to be an overwhelming and uninviting environment, further compounding the shelter's crowding problem.
For all these reasons, shelters must limit the number of animals they house to the number for which they can provide reasonable care. A shelter's capacity for care is not simply a matter of space available for animals, but also of the shelter's ability to provide proper care to meet their physical and emotional needs. Though there is no single, simple formula available to determine the number of animals that a given facility should house, an assessment of housing capacity in relation to an organization's staffing, resources and population statistics can be used to estimate its capacity for care. At times, unexpected intake may result in temporary conditions of overcrowding, but a good wellness program dictates that protocols must be in place to alleviate overcrowding and maintain a modestly populated environment for the health and protection of the animals and staff within the organization's capacity for care. The ASV Guidelines for Standards of Care caution that “Every sheltering organization has a maximum capacity for care, and the population in their care must not exceed that level” (ASV 2010).
First and foremost, employing sound population management strategies and operating within the organization's capacity for care are crucial to prevent crowding, reduce euthanasia, and optimize positive outcomes. As a part of daily walk‐through rounds for routine animal surveillance, thoughtful consideration should always be given as to why each individual animal remains in the shelter and what could be done to optimize or hasten a successful outcome for that animal (Hurley 2004). Ideally, overcrowding is prevented or reduced by decreasing the average length of time animals remain in the shelter, combined with limiting or diverting intake. Programs to increase and speed up adoption, redemption, transfer (to rescue or foster care) as well as return to field programs for neuter‐return of community cats help to minimize euthanasia for space in open‐admission shelters and maximize intake in limited admission shelters.
In some instances, when all other options have been exhausted, euthanasia may need to be performed in consideration of the population in order to alleviate overcrowding or prevent disease outbreaks from spreading out of control. Fortunately, as managed admissions have been embraced by many municipal or public shelters, this has become increasingly less common. However, when necessary, thoughtful euthanasia decisions, though always difficult, are a crucial part of the responsibility of every shelter. Euthanasia may be necessary at times for individual animals that are suffering from irremediable physical or behavioral disease or that pose a risk to public health or safety. Once a carefully thought‐out decision is made to euthanize an animal, the procedure should be performed without delay. For example, aggressive dogs that cannot be safely rehabilitated within the resources of the organization or safely rehomed should not be held beyond their legal holding periods. Instead, they should be humanely euthanized as soon as possible to prevent undue stress and anxiety on the dog and risk for the shelter staff, public, and other animals. No matter what the underlying circumstances are surrounding the euthanasia of an animal, these decisions are always challenging. Delays in action, however, often prolong the suffering of sick or emotionally troubled animals, contribute negatively to population health and prolong the stress of individual animals in the shelter.
2.9.2.2 Segregation of Animals and Traffic Patterns
The segregation of animals entering shelters is essential for proper welfare, infectious disease control, staff safety, and compliance with animal control procedures. Different species should be housed separately from one another. Depending on a particular shelter's mission and functions, animals should be segregated into wards according to their physical, behavioral, adoption availability and legal holding status. For example, common ward designations include one or more areas for “healthy holding,” adoption, and isolation. Proper traffic patterns throughout the shelter that direct people and animals from areas housing healthy and vulnerable animals first to areas housing sick animals last are important to minimize disease transmission and maintain health. Other considerations for animal segregation include the following:
Kittens and puppies younger than four to five months are particularly susceptible to infectious disease, and extra care must be taken to limit their exposure – these holding areas should be easy to disinfect and have extra attention paid to close monitoring and appropriate biosecurity. However, biosecurity should not be emphasized to the extent that it becomes a barrier to socialization or adoption, as minimizing the LOS is particularly
