Guest Speaker: Jacklyn Ellis
Despite our best efforts, the shelter can be a stressful place for cats. Some cats love humans but the separation from what is familiar coupled with exposure to a new and scary environment can cause them to shut down. Others may be poorly socialized and need assistance to form a positive association with humans. It is our duty to help them have the best possible well-being while in our care, and human-animal interaction as enrichment can play an important role in that. But how to bridge that gap from fear to friendship can be confusing/frustrating – some efforts can seem to do more harm than good. It can be difficult to know what approach to use, how to guide staff and volunteers on how to use it, and to know if your efforts are really helping. This webinar will guide attendees on a formal program for gaining the trust of the more fearful cats in your care, and a method for tracking their progress and welfare so that case managers can know when to implement additional interventions.
About the speaker: Jacklyn Ellis is board certified by the Animal Behavior Society as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, is Certified in Shelter Behavior – Cat by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and is the Director of Behavior at Toronto Humane Society. She earned her PhD in Animal Welfare at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, where she conducted research on methods for reducing stress in shelter cats. Her work has been published widely in peer reviewed journals and she has presented at many national and international conferences, particularly on feline stress and elimination behavior. She has recently authored two chapters for a new edition of the leading textbook on the behavior and welfare of shelter animals.
Join us on the fourth Thursday of every month as we talk about dog and cat behavior – supporting pets in our community and animal shelters. Each month, we hear from speakers about topics of interest to our group, such as behavior medications, modifying animal behavior, assessing and improving animal welfare, and how organizations successfully provide behavior support to dogs and cats.
Who should join: Animal welfare staff and volunteers who are interested in dog and cat behavior, and everyone who works to keep pets out of shelters and in homes.
You only need to register once for all meetings: https://maddies.fund/MonthlyBehaviorRegistration
Can’t attend live? Register anyway and you will get a link to the recording within a day or two after each meeting.
All recordings and resources shared during the webcast will also be available in the Maddie’s Monthly Behavior Connection group on Maddie’s Pet Forum – https://maddies.fund/monthlybehaviorconnectionMPF
Maddie’s Fund does not share registration information.
The opinions expressed by webinar presenters are their own and do not necessarily represent those of Maddie’s Fund.
