New Course Covers Community Cat Program Dos and Don’ts

Two community cats hang out together

Whether you’re curious about implementing a community cat program or already have one at your shelter that you’d like to improve, Community Cat Programs Legal Considerations, the latest course in the Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge Shelter PALS Legal Series, has you covered.

Community cat programs provide significant benefit to cats, community members, and shelters—there’s a reason Return to Field, which we now call Return to Home, was one of the five key initiatives of the Million Cat Challenge, helping shelters save over four million cats to date! Despite widespread support and documented success of these programs, questions about the legality of sterilizing, vaccinating, and returning unowned, healthy free-roaming cats to their homes can arise.

In this short, Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge Learniverse self-paced, on-demand training module (SPOT mod), Bruce Wagman, Lead Counsel for San Francisco SPCA’s Shelter Policy and Legal Services (Shelter PALS) program, explores what community cat programs (CCPs) are, explains why CCPs are needed, and describes how effective CCPs operate within legal considerations.

You’ll learn how your shelter can address cat overpopulation and help cats thrive where they are by implementing humane, life-saving, evidence-based community cat programs, and you’ll leave with a list of important dos and don’ts surrounding:

  • Cat Eligibility
  • Intake Procedures and Flow Through the Shelter
  • Returning Cats to Their Outdoor Home
  • Program Data Collection
  • Engaging Shelter Staff and Gaining Community Support

This course has been approved for 1.0 unit of CE by CAWA, NACA and RACE.

Other courses in the Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge Shelter PALS Legal Series

Animal Intake Requirements and Holding Periods Legal Considerations

Finder Foster Legal Considerations

Learn more about the Maddie’s®️ Million Pet Challenge Learniverse.  

Related Articles

New Course Clears Up Finder-Foster Program Questions

NEW course! In the Finder-Foster Programs course from San Francisco SPCA’s Shelter PALS (Shelter Policy and Legal Services) and the Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge Learniverse, you’ll learn how you can reunite more animals with their families, promote animal well-being and minimize stress by reducing time spent in the shelter, and reserve resources for animals in need of shelter services—all by engaging people who are already helping animals in your community.

Finder Foster – Foster Legal Considerations with Shelter PALS

What is a “Finder Foster” program – how does it work, how long do finders need to hold an animal and what are other important legal aspects of these programs?

In this course, hosted on Maddie’s® University, you’ll learn how Finder Foster programs can help you reunite more animals with their families, promote animal well-being and minimize stress by reducing time spent in the shelter, and reserve resources for animals who really do need to come in—all by engaging people who are already helping animals in your community.

Animal Intake Requirements and Holding Periods – Legal Considerations with Shelter PALS

When it comes to daily shelter activities, the most common questions, and greatest confusion, revolve around intake (if, when, who) of animals, and the applicable holding periods once intake occurs.  Knowing which animals should enter the shelter and how long they must stay is crucial to prioritizing intake of the animals who truly need to be at your shelter and minimizing length of stay in shelters for those animals.

Responses