Access to care looks different depending on where—and how—you practice. In this episode, we center the veterinarian’s role across settings inside the shelter and out, unpacking how veterinarians balance medical priorities and operational realities, while partnering with pet owners, community organizations, and other practitioners. We’ll explore the real-world impact of community clinics and high-volume surgery on shelter medicine—and how these services should shape access-to-care strategy moving forward.

Rabbits are the new kids on the block: Most animal shelters weren’t designed with this sensitive, recently-domesticated species in mind. A shelter stay can spike stress both for bunnies and the teams challenged with meeting their needs.The first-ever Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) Guidelines for Humane Rabbit Housing in Animal Shelters is here to help. Join Drs.Chumkee Aziz, Zarah Hedge, Sarah Hicks and Jonna Swanson for a conversation on applying these new standards— developed by nearly two dozen rabbit care, facility design and shelter medicine experts—to your everyday shelter scenarios.

In this webinar, experienced shelter veterinarians share how new and ongoing research has transformed the way they diagnose, treat, and manage ringworm in shelter settings. Drawing from hands-on experience treating a lot of cats, they’ll break down updates on what works and how to avoid overcomplicated pathways that lead to increased LOS and unnecessary crowding.

You’ll walk away with practical, evidence-based guidance for building a consistent and effective ringworm management strategy, one that protects animal health and supports well-being during treatment—and preserves staff sanity.

Shelter medicine bridges gaps in veterinary care access, ensuring animals are sterilized, vaccinated, and healthy before going home to the people and communities who care for them. Shelter Med Live is the place where vet professionals connect around what it takes to make shelter medicine happen every day—from intake triage to MacGyvering creative fixes.

Every third Wednesday, join your UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program outreach veterinarian host and special guests for real talk and real solutions. Ask questions (or send them in ahead of time via sheltermedicine@ucdavis.edu).

This isn’t a lecture—it’s a conversation for everyone who wants to nerd out on shelter medicine. Kick back and recharge with your colleagues in the middle of a long week!

Can’t make it live? Register to receive the recording and resources after the event, accessible through the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program Shelter Learniverse, #ThanksToMaddie!

This event has been approved for 1 hours of continuing education credit by CAWA and NACA.

Different shelters, same traffic jam: Too many animals, not enough exits, and teams fighting burnout in the gridlock. Overcrowding compromises care. Stress shoots up and decision-making stalls. But you’re not powerless—whether you’re frontline staff, a volunteer, in a leadership role, or a veterinary professional, you can drive real change. This session will equip you with immediate steps to reduce harm and break up traffic jams today.

With Drs. Kate Hurley and Cindi Delany, you’ll explore balancing intakes and outcomes for better welfare, using daily monitoring and pathway planning to move animals faster, and making tough euthanasia decisions when no safe live outcomes exist.

After this session, you’ll be able to:

• Understand Capacity for Care basics, your roadmap to getting every animal the right outcome at the right time.
• Spot warning signs that put animals and staff at risk.
• Use proven harm-reduction strategies to protect health and well-being.
• Make confident, humane decisions to guide animal outcomes.
• Implement quick wins to improve flow, outcomes, and support your team’s morale and mission.

Whether you’re trying to survive another overwhelming week or map your way to more sustainable practices under pressure, this is for you. Because when you’re operating beyond capacity, every decision matters.

This webinar has been approved for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit by RACE, CAWA, and NACA.

Can’t make it live? Register to receive the recording and resources after the event, accessible through the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program Shelter Learniverse, #ThanksToMaddie!

 

We know that the single best way to protect neonatal and juvenile animals from infectious disease is to care for them in an environment where exposure to disease is low, but those environments can be hard to find! Despite efforts to find low-risk housing options for these vulnerable animals, underage puppies and kittens still sometimes end up being housed in animal shelters or other environments where exposure risk is real. Previous recommendations have been to wait until 4 weeks of age to begin vaccination, potentially missing opportunities to provide protection as early as possible.

In this webinar, we explore updated recommendations for early vaccination of neonatal and juvenile puppies and kittens in environments that present meaningful risk. We cover the science, the supporting literature, and most importantly, how to apply these new guidelines in a shelter setting.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Describe the immunological basis for vaccine protocols in neonatal animals
• Summarize the literature supporting early vaccination in high-risk environments
• Identify scenarios where early vaccination is recommended due to disease risk
• Apply updated vaccine protocols in animal shelters
• Adapt vaccination strategies for use in other high-exposure settings

This webinar has been approved for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval, as well as 1.5 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA).

Shelter medicine bridges gaps in veterinary care access, ensuring animals are sterilized, vaccinated, and healthy before going home to the people and communities who care for them. Shelter Med Live is the place where vet professionals connect around what it takes to make shelter medicine happen every day—from intake triage to MacGyvering creative fixes. Every third Wednesday, join your UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program outreach veterinarian host and special guests for real talk and real solutions. Ask questions (or send them in ahead of time). This isn’t a lecture—it’s a conversation for everyone who wants to nerd out on shelter medicine. Kick back and recharge with your colleagues in the middle of a long week!

On this edition, we’re diving into pediatric spay and neuter—what’s new, what’s still misunderstood, and how to make it work in a shelter context. Hosted by Dr. Jennifer Bennett (DVM, MS, CAWA) with guests Dr. Brian DiGangi (DVM, MS, DABVP) and Dr. Emily McCobb (DVM, MS, DACVAA), the discussion covers everything from pre-surgical candidate considerations, anesthesia tweaks, and recovery, to barriers and implications for shelters and access-to-care programs. Expect the kind of practical wisdom you can only get when you’ve been there, spayed that, plus plenty of “wish I’d known that sooner” takeaways. You’ll find a conversation that’s as accessible as it is evidence-based.

This event has been approved for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit by CAWA and NACA.This event is accessible through the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program Shelter Learniverse, #ThanksToMaddie!

Strong sanitation is the backbone of healthy shelters—it protects animals, safeguards staff, and saves lives. But doing it right can be resource-intensive, stretching time, people, and budgets thin. That’s why Dave Hachey, President of Ogena Solutions, first brought us Accel/Rescue, and why he’s now doubled down with Sheltr-Partners.org, a not-for-profit created to negotiate better prices specifically for animal shelters and rescues.

In this conversation with Cynthia Karsten, DVM, of the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, you’ll hear the story behind Sheltr-Partners.org, how free membership works, and the benefits shelters are already seeing. You’ll also get an inside look at the newest, most economical hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant. Join us to discover innovative sanitation tools that are helping organizations save major time and money, and plug in your own numbers to see what resource savings are possible for your team.

This webinar has been approved for 1 hour of Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA).

What if the “gold standard” wasn’t the only standard? This recorded webinar challenges the idea that there’s just one right way to deliver veterinary care. Building on concepts like spectrum of care and incremental care, it introduces contextualized care—a practical, values-driven framework that helps meet the needs of animals, people, and communities, even when resources are limited.

Watch to explore:

• What contextualized care really means in shelters, community medicine, and private practice
• How to identify and address common barriers to veterinary care
• Strategies for aligning care decisions with available resources, legal/ethical responsibilities, and community priorities

Whether you’re in a shelter, clinic, or outreach setting, this session will help you expand access without compromising compassion.

This webinar has been approved for 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and by National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA).

This course has been approved for 1.5 hours of RACE continuing education credit until 6/9/2027  in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval.

Are you struggling with offensive odors, excess humidity, or persistent respiratory disease problems in your animal shelter? We can’t see the air around us, but we know it’s an important factor in the health and well-being of animals and people. How can you measure ventilation? What is a MERV rating? Is that air purifier in the cat ward helping?

View this webinar for answers to your biggest questions, plus practical recommendations on currently available tools to improve air quality – including some promising new technology.

By the end of this webinar, you’ll be able to:

• Assess your shelter’s air quality and its relationship to animal health
• Identify immediate, low- or no-cost steps you can take to improve air quality
• Evaluate air purifier options

Ready for a breath of fresh air? Learn how to create healthier breathing environments in your facility today, clearing the way to better outcomes for sheltered animals and the people who care for them.

This webinar has been approved for 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and by National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA).

When it comes to caring for cats in shelters, housing isn’t just a place to stay—it’s a critical factor in their health and happiness. But how do you know when to go “cage-free” or stick with individual enclosures? In this engaging and practical webinar, we explore the ins and outs of non-cage housing for shelter cats.

Discover the surprising benefits and hidden risks of room housing. Learn which cats thrive in group environments and which need their own space to feel safe. See real-life examples of smart room setups and furnishings that work for cats, caregivers, and shelter operations alike. Plus, we’ll walk you through an inspiring case study that demonstrates how creative housing solutions make a lifesaving difference in disaster response.

What you’ll walk away with:

• A clear understanding of the pros and cons of cage-free vs. cage-based housing.
• Insights on designing and furnishing non-cage housing that supports social play, stress relief, and behavioral wellness.
• The skills to make informed decisions on when and how to use group housing to support cats’ natural instincts and well-being.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and by National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA).

Two half-days. Cross-country solutions for reducing shelter crowding and getting animals back where they belong. Whether you’re a field officer or animal care attendant, manager or volunteer, customer service or communications team member, at this summit you’ll find actionable sessions that will speak to you and your work.

Day 1: In the Community
Lost animals have a ten times greater chance of returning to their home if they never leave their neighborhood. Day one includes an overview of the most leveraged field interventions that turn Lost into Found, and touches on proven proactive programming that works to prevent separation in the first place.

Day 2: At the Shelter
Nearly half the animals in our shelter have the potential for a positive outcome that is not adoption, but the moment an animal enters our doors their odds of returning home begin to drop. Day two will focus on programs that have proven successful in reversing this trend and pushing Return-to-Home rates to heights that rival both adoption and transfer combined.

Join Bruce Wagman (Lead Counsel, SF SPCA Shelter PALS) and Cindi Delany (DVM and Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge Director of Online Learning) to discover how your shelter can:

• Empower RVTs to take charge of vaccine clinics (even if your vet is elsewhere)
• Provide increased access to wellness care for pets in your community
• Use telemedicine to expand the veterinary care your shelter can provide, whether an animal is in foster or in the field, working with staff or contract veterinarians
• Increase access to care for underserved pets and their people and decrease unnecessary intake
• Use telemedicine to increase veterinary care for animals in the shelter

This must-see webinar will set the stage for everything California shelters do this year. View the webinar at Maddie’s U and share with your field officers, veterinary staff and community partners, so you can turn the page to better care together!

Discover innovative, proven strategies to transform your feline housing and get cats purring! With this webinar, you’ll be prepared to level up your shelter’s housing even with limited resources. UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program veterinarians Dr. Becky Stuntebeck and Dr. Denae Wagner will unveil tips and tactics for creating environments that work better for cats and for your team. From DIY cozy nooks to interactive play zones and portals, you’ll learn the how-tos of housing that puts cats at ease, supports animal health and staff safety, and encourages adoptions. You’ll also discover keys to supercharging cat care and overall welfare regardless of housing.

Legal Meets Best Practices: Translating California regulations into best practices that benefit you, your shelter, and the people and animals in your community.

Join us in this two-part series as we embark on a fun, interactive journey to demystify California’s legal landscape and discover how California laws and regulations can work in harmony with shelter policy to reduce unnecessary intakes and shorten shelter stays.

In this series, we cut through the legalese, distill key takeaways, and provide you with practical, “what does this mean for me and my work?” guidance. If your shelter squad only ever attends one webinar series about how legal guidelines can be used to your advantage let this be the one!

Learn Some New Moves and Create the Change You Want to See with the Spring 2023 Shelter Summit and Fast Tracks

There’s a new, different, better experience coming to the Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge Learniverse this March, and it’s designed with your feedback, your busy schedules, and your big goals in mind.

The Spring 2023 Shelter Summit and Fast Tracks will give you the opportunity to learn by doing, create the change you want to see at your shelter, and go further together with your colleagues and the support of expert coaches.

#ThankstoMaddie, participation in the Shelter Summit and Fast Tracks is absolutely free and everyone is welcome! Register for the Summit now to maximize your resources and set yourself and your shelter up to thrive during kitten season and beyond.

The Shelter Summit will be recorded in case you can’t attend live and has been pre-approved for CAWA and NACA CE credit; RACE approval is pending.

More details at www.sheltersummit.com

Times are tough for shelter dogs. We can help. Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge and Human Animal Support Services have teamed up to bring you a completely FREE, two-day virtual conference to tackle your biggest challenges surrounding big dogs. The sessions are available on-demand 24/7 so you can attend when it’s right for you, no matter what your time zone is. We’ve got proven solutions and data-driven protocols delivered to you in straightforward, streamlined modules for all levels of animal shelter professionals. We want your organizations to be supported as you learn better dog management, getting more live outcomes, shortening lengths of stay, and creating safer shelters. This conference has been pre-approved for 8 hours of Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and National Animal Care & Control Association. Each hour-long block in this conference has been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit until February 14, 2024 in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval.

Offering the Right Care means animals are not left in dangerous circumstances to cause harm, suffer, or die because the shelter can’t admit them; nor are they are admitted to a crowded shelter when there are better options within the community. You’re doing this work because you want to serve animals and people in the shelter and in the community, but in order to provide the best care, you have to know—and make sure you’re operating within—your capacity for care. Within the shelter’s walls, the Right Care encompasses staffing, housing and programs to meet each animal’s basic needs. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to provide humane housing and match community need to community capacity and shelter services to ensure all animals receive the care that is right for them. The four “Right” webinars were presented as a series, “The Future Is Four: The Right Care in the Right Place at the Right Time to the Right Outcome.”

 

From the team that brought you the Million Cat Challenge, it’s Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge! #ThanksToMaddie, the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, the Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at UF, Team Shelter USA and the Open Door Veterinary Collective are partnering to expand the Challenge to include dogs and integrating access to care. The Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge team is offering a variety of pro bono learning opportunities that include shelter consultations, online bootcamp training, sustainable access to veterinary care mentorships, and programs for veterinarians and students. Join Dr. Sara Pizano, animal welfare strategist and author of “The Best Practice Playbook for Animal Shelters” as she explains the details of the new program and how to apply. Dr. Pizano will be joined by Dr. Cynthia D. Delany, Director of Online Learning at UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, who will introduce the Learniverse, an interactive, online learning community found at the intersection of Knowing and Doing. Hosted by a team of animal welfare’s leading experts, it is a space to question, test, and implement innovations in the pursuit of continuous discovery and improvement in animal sheltering.

Everyone is welcome!

Like most industries, the last three years of animal sheltering have been unprecedented. Your organization has been collecting data, but how does it compare to organizations in your community or across the country? How can we use this data to better plan for the future of animal welfare? Join us for a panel discussion on the last three years of national animal sheltering data, hosted by Petheath Inc’s Senior Vice President of Software Solutions, Steve Zeidman. He will be joined with special guests, Brent Toellner from Best Friends Animal Society, Dr. Julie Levy of the University of Florida Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program and Kristen Hassen from American Pets Alive!.

Don’t miss it: For the first time, we present data specifically on bully breed dogs.The link to the recorded webinar is found in the February 16, 2022 blog post.

How do you determine the “Right Place” for an animal at risk of entering the shelter? In this course, you will learn the framework that allows you to remove decision fatigue and get animals where they need to be—or help them right where they are.

As part of the Maddie’s®️ Million Pet Challenge’s Learniverse program, subject matter experts from the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program will discuss guiding principles that animal welfare professionals can use to make decisions, train their staff and engage the public.

You’ll also learn about programs you can use at your shelter to lead animals to the right outcome while making the best possible use of your resources and reducing the burden on your staff. Finally, you’ll see how other animal shelters have successfully implemented these programs.

The “Right Time” is the time that best allows services to be provided in alignment with animal and human need and shelter capacity. Within the shelter, it includes setting open hours and offering services by appointment, as well as managing animals in care through pathway planning, hold periods, and daily welfare rounds, components critical to moving animals as quickly as possible to positive outcomes. Whether we’re talking about the hours our shelter is open or the demands on our staff time, the system we build directly impacts the time an animal spends in our shelter.

In this course, you’ll learn strategies for streamlining tasks, reducing length of stay, and making the most of the resources you have. You’ll also learn about interventions you can make at your shelter to lead animals to the right outcome at the right time, and you’ll see how other animal shelters have successfully made changes to improve services in their communities.

The Right Outcome is the one that best supports the well-being of animals, honors the connections between humans and pets, stabilizes communities, and maintains public health and safety. When we serve animals in the right place, at the right time, and provide the right care while working within our capacity, we make it possible to achieve the right outcome.

This course discusses Return-to-Home principles as well as barriers to adoption from animal shelters and strategies for avoiding decision fatigue while making decisions with compassion, empathy, and clarity.

Offering the “Right Care” means animals are not left in dangerous circumstances to cause harm, suffer, or die because the shelter can’t admit them; nor are they admitted to a crowded shelter. In this course, we’re going to talk about matching community need to community capacity and shelter capacity and services to ensure that all animals receive the care that is right for them while prioritizing Right Care and wellness for our staff too.

In this course, you’ll learn principles of humane housing for dogs and cats as well as strategies for strengthening staff well-being and maximizing your capacity to care for animals, with the goal of ensuring animals and people at your shelter can thrive.

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 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.

We’ve asked a legal expert to help us understand these important details. We’ll be using the state of California and its legal requirements for these programs as an example. You’ll want to speak to your own legal counsel to make sure your area (state, county, city or other locality) doesn’t have different regulations in place.

Have you tried everything you can think of to connect with your community? Have you reduced barriers to fostering and adoption and still animals are sitting? In this 60-minute webinar, we’ll explore what might be keeping people who want to foster or adopt from coming to your shelter, and we’ll share three of the most impactful and untapped practices you can use to encourage engagement across your community.

Does it seem like animals keep getting sick no matter what you do, especially right now with intake numbers climbing in many shelters? Does URI have to be status quo for summer? Is parvo inevitable? Have you wondered what else you can do to get ahead of these vicious cycles?

From animal care attendants to RVTs and beyond, everyone in the shelter has the power to have a big impact on animal health. Whether you’re providing daily care for animals or reviewing care and intake protocols, in this webinar, you’ll learn practical steps to relieve the strain on animals and team members when infectious diseases and intake numbers are climbing. UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program veterinarians Dr. Aziz and Dr. Stuntebeck answer questions and arm shelter staff with the information needed to squash the most concerning infectious diseases in your shelter.

This course will discuss the laws that shape intake and holding periods for animals in shelters in the state of California (but the basic concepts and discussion points will apply to all states). You’ll learn the California-specific state mandates and requirements surrounding intake, exceptions surrounding holding periods, and how to determine holding periods in various situations. If you’re not in California let this information guide you in what to research in your own state.

This course will explore what community cat programs (CCPs) are, explain why CCPs are needed, and describe how effective CCPs operate in compliance with state and local laws. 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.

In this short course, you’ll learn how to fully leverage the veterinary care capabilities of your entire team – not just your designated “medical” staff – including front office staff, field officers, kennel attendants, volunteers, and fosters. Bruce Wagman, Lead Counsel for San Francisco SPCA’s Shelter Policy and Legal Services (Shelter PALS), will review which shelter tasks team members can perform, from intake-related care and running diagnostics to providing treatment, surgery, euthanasia, public veterinary services, and emergency care. After this course, you’ll be ready to maximize your shelter’s options for providing veterinary care while adhering to the law and Practice Act requirements.

The goal of this course is to simplify, distill, and deliver the essential knowledge you need to address challenges and navigate the intricate landscape of drug and premises permit regulations.