So we've looked at the pet dog and cat and the street dog and cat. But what about that in-between animal, the shelter animal? It lives in a sort of limbo world, neither owned by a person and enjoying all the comfort and security that can bring, nor living free on the streets, entitled to wander where it likes and eat what it chooses. We're now gonna look at the challenges faced by the shelter dog and cat. I'm here at the Dogs Trust rehoming center in Glasgow, Scotland, currently home to just over one hundred dogs. For many stray or unwanted animals, the shelter is a temporary holding facility for them until they can be found a new, good, loving home. But for others, it can be where they spend the rest of their days as they are deemed undesirable to be rehomed because of their age, breed, appearance, or behavioral problems. Some shelters, for various reasons, be it financial, time, or staffing constraints, don't actively re-home, which leads to long term confinement for these animals. Some shelters will be what we call no kill shelters, where no animal is ever euthanized. This can be due to the religious or cultural beliefs of that particular country or the moral policy of that organization or charity. Others have a strict 7 day rule whereby, the animal is euthanized if nobody rehomes it or comes to collect it within that timeframe. Although the majority of shelters like the Dogs Trust here in Glasgow try their very best to be a positive place for the dogs and cats that find themselves living in them, other the shelters are less successful and the animals living there may suffer a range of welfare problems that can be difficult to avoid. Shelters are a necessary fact of life and the majority of people owning, running, and working in them try their very best to ensure the animals have a good quality of life. Since most shelters are charitable organizations run entirely on public donations, some may find it difficult to raise the finances they need to run the shelter well. Dogs and cats living in understaffed, underfunded, and overcrowded shelters are most at risk from of a reduced quality of life. That time in the shelter can be very stressful, frightening, and difficult for them to cope with. Despite the good intentions of most shelters, we still need to look at the main welfare problems that the animals residing in them face. We'll start with improper housing. Dog and cat shelters come in a whole array of shapes and sizes. Some offer group housing for their residents with dogs and cats living together in mixed size groups. Others provide single housing with the dog or cat spending the majority of their time in solitary confinement. There are welfare implications with both these types of housing. Dogs are sociable animals and providing company can be enriching. But, with insufficient resources available for every single dog in a group house situation, this can elevate stress levels, allow disease to spread more quickly, breeding to occur in an un-neutered population, and fighting to break out. Research has shown that cats are selectively social. So group housing can be stressful for them and may also lead to fighting, which can lead to injuries being sustained. One study concluded that when cats are together in the same room, there should be enough space so that they can maintain distances between themselves of at least one to three meters. We also may see problems with inadequate food and feeding regimes. Some shelters simply do not have enough money to be able to feed their dogs and cats an adequate diet. Or have enough feeding stations for all of their residents leading to some animals having to fight for their food or go hungry. Poor health is another problem. Many shelters cannot afford veterinary treatment and skin conditions, injuries, and diseases remain untreated, leading to suffering for the animals involved. And finally behavioral problems can develop whilst these animals are being housed. Solitary confinement, little human interaction, and an unchanging environment means a lack of stimulation for these animals. For days, weeks, months, or even years on end. Studies have shown that the time spent in kennels or a rehoming center can be very stressful for a dog, leading to an increase in cortisol levels. This chronic stress can have a negative impact on health and behavior, resulting in cardiovascular, endocrine, renal, gastrointestinal, hematological and behavioral changes. These in turn can have an impact on the likelihood and the success of re-homing. As my colleagues have talked about earlier on this course, welfare can be measured. This Welfare Assessment Protocol was specifically designed for shelter dogs to do just that. The basic welfare principles that need to be considered are good feeding, good housing, good health, and appropriate behavior. If you look at the chart here you can see how each of these principles can be measured by an observer. For example, you can look at an animal's body condition score to be able to see if the shelter is providing sufficient food and feeding stations. Or you can look for evidence of animals in pain or suffering from diarrhea, lameness, skin conditions or coughing if you want to see if the animals are experiencing good health. Based on the four welfare principles in the assessment protocol, it’s safe to say that dogs like Bobo here are experiencing really good welfare. Being in the shelter means that he doesn't have to roam the streets fending for himself or risk being euthanized. He is being cared for by people who are knowledgeable about dogs and dog behavior. He's being well fed, he's receiving veterinary care, he's receiving behavioral expert advice, and being played with and walked and interacted with on a daily basis. However, not all dogs are as lucky as Bobo here, to end up in a shelter that are appropriate to their needs. It has been estimated that between 6 and 8 million dogs and cats are housed annually by shelters in the USA alone. Dogs Trust commissioned a survey and found that between April 2010 and March 2011, an estimated 126,176 stray dogs were handled by local councils across the UK. This is equivalent to 345 strays being found every day. So why do so many dogs and cats end up in shelters? I talked earlier about owners relinquishing their dogs to shelters due to behavioral problems, but what are the other reasons? Well, there are lots of reasons. It might be that they are a stray animal born on the streets. They might be pets that are owned but unattended, so they are picked up by wardens. Perhaps they are pets that are unwanted, and thrown out, due to a whole variety of circumstances for the owner. They could be rescued dogs and cats from intercepted trucks from the illegal dog meat trade, which goes on in parts of the world. Or they may be dogs that exceed the height restriction, enforced by local governments, in some countries. Whatever the reason may be, shelters should not be the long term solution for the unwanted cats and dogs of the world. We've now looked at the three different categories of dogs and cats and the welfare problems that they're facing. Now let's look at how we can improve welfare for these animals.
