Community
8 Important #SocialMedia Tips for Shelters and Rescues
by Daniella Latham
With 69% of adults using social media today1, this channel has become a necessary marketing tool for organizations. Social media for animal shelters and rescues is not only a free way to heighten your organization's web presence, it’s a very powerful way to highlight the shelter, the cats and dogs up for adoption, as well as bring additional fundraising opportunities.
A social media profile as a marketing tool for your organization can be the quickest way to communicate to the public and to reach many potential adopters, volunteers, and supporters at once. The size of your organization does not matter – both large and small rescues or shelters can benefit from the right social media presence.
Whether you use Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, here are 8 easy tips that can help you create a robust social media program to address your goals1:
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Inspire action. Ensure each post or tweet has a call to action.
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If your organization needs donations to help with an influx of surrenders - create a post where you ask for what you need, with clear instructions on how to proceed. Here is an example from @WaggytailRescue:
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Target locations and audience categories.2 Does your Montana shelter want people driving from Utah to help? If you’re not doing out-of-state placements or only work with local rescuers, make that clear and target your Facebook posts using the “location” function for your listings. You can also select multiple targeting categories, such as ‘interests’, which can help you get more specific to help find your best audience!
How to Set Up Location Targeting On Your Facebook Page
Go into your page Settings, then:
- Click Settings. Make sure you’re in the General tab on the left sidebar (available to Profile Administrator of your page only).
- Select Targeting and Privacy for Posts.
- Check Allow targeting and privacy options when I create posts on my page.
- Save your changes.
How to Select Targeting for Your Facebook Posts
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Be creative. Come up with new, creative ideas to catch your audience’s attention. If you keep repeating the same type of post, the audience may grow too accustomed to seeing it…and lessen its effectiveness. Types of posts include:
- Videos
- Sharing other animal welfare organizations' Facebook pages
- Content/website shares
- Polls
- Ask questions or for recommendations
- Ask for donations/volunteers
- Infographics
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Update status. Make sure that every animal’s status is updated regularly, listing whether he/she is still available, adopted, gone to rescue, etc. Some shelters and rescues keep the main page clutter-free by moving animals who are no longer in the shelter into a secondary photo album. Even if his/her status is unchanged, try to put new comments on the post to keep viewers interested: “Ellie loves her fur siblings! She’s very interested in the smaller dogs!”
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Develop a community with your readers. The reader or viewer may not be part of your community yet, but you want them to be, so refer to them using the pronoun “you.” This encourages the community to like, share, and comment on posts.
For example, instead of saying, “The Small Dog Shelter wants to thank people who came to their adoption event on Sunday,” say “Thanks so much to all of you who attended our adoption event on Sunday!”
Volunteers can also be a large source of content and engagement for your organization's social media profile. They can take photographs, tell stories about the animals they interact with, write animal biographies and share information that you can use for content. When a volunteer or foster parent takes a pet photo or writes a story that you share, they’ll see that they’re contributing in a big way to finding that animal his/her new home, and they’ll be inspired to come up with new ideas.
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Manage your social media in one place. Use a social media management tool such as HootSuite (free version) to manage your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts all on a single dashboard as a time-saver. You’ll be able to see what’s working to engage your audience, and where you may need to give a bit more love.
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Use #Hashtags on your social media posts. A ‘Hashtag’ is a word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify posts on a specific topic. Your post, when tagged, will appear in searches when people look for those topics or terms.
Here is an excellent example of a use of hashtags on Instagram from @RescueDogsRockNYC.
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Share content to get started. Leveraging and sharing related content will create variety on your organizations’s page. Here is an example to get you started:
It’s important to cultivate trust and a loyal following by sharing engaging content and sharing it often. And don't forget, sharing happy ending adoption stories is just as important as sharing animals still waiting for a home. It helps remind the public and your network of helpers that their support is saving lives. Take advantage of this free opportunity to help your shelter or rescue.
Happy #posting!
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HEALING THE HEART: SHELTER AND RESCUE PROTOCOL FOR HEARTWORM-POSITIVE DOGS
Community
Healing the Heart: Shelter and Rescue Protocol for Heartworm-Positive Dogs
by Daniella Latham
Healing the Heart:
Shelter and Rescue Protocol for Heartworm-Positive Dogs
Marie Calabrasa, a widow in her early 70’s, saw Keni the hound’s photo on a local Pennsylvania rescue group’s website. His sweet face and floppy ears almost completely won her over, except for one thing. Rescued from an overcrowded shelter in North Carolina, Keni had been overlooked by potential adopters because he was heartworm positive.
“I’ll be honest—I was concerned because I thought he had a health issue. I’m on a fixed income and was worried about the cost of treatment,” said Marie. After careful thought, she decided to adopt him and took him for his continued treatments, paying for it out of her own pocket. “The rescue did not have the funds to treat him,” she said.
This is not an uncommon scenario that plays out with dogs that are rescued from an area of the country with a high stray animal population where heartworm disease is prevalent1. Sheldon Rubin, 2007-2010 president of the American Heartworm Society, says that “Heartworm disease has not only spread throughout the United States, but it’s also now found in areas where veterinarians used to say ‘Oh, we don’t have heartworm disease’ -- areas like Oregon, California, Arizona, and the desert, where irrigation and building are allowing mosquitoes to survive.”1
Heartworm Disease Prevention
Daily decisions must be made about the best allocation of resources for prevention and treatment of disease, spaying/neutering, and behavioral rehabilitation. Heartworm disease is among the most complex infectious diseases to detect, treat, and prevent. For that reason, it presents a special challenge to animal shelters.2
Challenges in the Shelter Setting
According to Martha Smith-Blackmore, DVM, research assistant professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, and author of “Managing Heartworm Disease in Shelter Animals” published by the American Heartworm Society (AHS), animal shelters face significant challenges in preventing, diagnosing, and treating many forms of infectious disease due to limited financial and organizational resources. In shelter animals, risk for heartworm infection is thought to be higher than in privately owned pets because stray and surrendered shelter animals are less likely to receive prior veterinary care.5
According to compliance data provided by Vetstreet in 2016, 64.31% of dogs do not receive any heartworm disease preventive medication.3,5 “Considering how difficult achieving compliance with veterinary recommendations is among the best clients, it is easy to understand how a surrendered animal is unlikely to have received good or consistent preventive veterinary care3”, stated Dr. Smith-Blackmore.
In 2014, The Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) and the American Heartworm Society joined forces to discuss the prevention, treatment, and management of heartworm disease in animal shelters. In January 2015, the Heartworm Disease Resource Task Force was formed to formally address this issue.
Heartworm Disease Diagnosis2,4
Although funds may not be available for heartworm disease diagnostics in all shelters, an ideal goal is to perform a heartworm antigen and microfilaria test in all dogs at intake, as recommended by the American Heartworm Society in their current guidelines.
Shelters that evaluate dogs for heartworms should communicate to adopters that immediate, and annual testing is critical to detect infection and initiate treatment, if needed. Additionally, shelters should reinforce the importance of giving pets preventative medications as a safeguard, so heartworm disease does not become an issue.
Heartworm Disease Treatment2,5
The American Heartworm Society’s protocol is considered the gold standard for elimination of heartworms from dogs, based on current knowledge. This protocol for dogs entails a pre-treatment phase, which includes administration of doxycycline, and monthly heartworm preventive agents for 2 months before beginning a 3-injection treatment with an adulticide. Some shelters can implement this protocol while dogs are under their care or in foster homes, while others must leave treatment to adopting owners and their veterinarians to implement.
Use of Other Protocols4
If the shelter does not use, or recommend, the AHS’ recommended protocol for treatment, adopters need to be informed about the risks and responsibilities associated with the selected treatment method, including the following:
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“Slow kill” treatment is less effective than the adulticide treatment recommended by the AHS and may not eliminate all the worms—even after 18 months or more of treatment.
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During the lengthy waiting period, the worms in the dog’s body will continue to damage the heart,lungs,and pulmonary vasculature.
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Strict exercise restriction is needed for the entire time that the animal harbors worms.
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Risk for selection of resistant heartworm populations is increased.
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Not all shelters share the same level of expertise in heartworm treatment or client education. In the shelter setting, the decision to use a treatment protocol other than the AHS protocol can be a deliberate “war zone” approach to treating heartworm disease—in human medicine, treatment options in war zones or developing countries do not always reflect the best recommendation available but are better than no option.
According to Dr. Smith-Blackmore, shelter staff should inform adopters when dogs are being treated with a protocol that is less than the gold standard, and instruct them to consider following up with their veterinarians for further treatment. This is a rational approach given the limited time and resources in the shelter setting.2,5
Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) Position Statement on Heartworm Disease Management6,7
The ASV supports the application of the American Heartworm Society guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis, and management of canine and feline heartworms in animal shelters.
Regardless of geographic location, sheltering organizations are urged to maintain all dogs and cats on monthly heartworm preventive medications year-round to protect individual animal health and welfare and limit disease transmission within the community.
The ASV encourages shelters to perform screening tests on all dogs to identify infected dogs and institute therapy to reduce pathology and infective potential. Alternatives to maintenance of infected dogs within the shelter population, such as foster care and transfer to partnering agencies, should be considered when possible.
Organizations choosing to treat and/or adopt out infected dogs should ensure that:
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Resources and mission allow for the humane care of exercise restricted dogs with extended lengths of stay
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Shelter staff, volunteers, and potential adopters are educated on the importance of adhering to each component of the management protocol
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Potential adopters are encouraged to consult with their veterinarian for further guidance.
Shelter and Rescue Heartworm Disease Resources
In 2017, The American Heartworm Society and ASV published new 'best practices' to help stop heartworm transmission via transported dogs.
A Heartworm Disease Management for Animal Shelters Webinar is also available.
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ARE YOUR DOGS SUFFERING FROM NOISE AVERSION?
Community
ARE YOUR DOGS SUFFERING FROM NOISE AVERSION?
by Dr. Sara Bennett, owner of Veterinarian Behavior Consultations.Listen to a short podcast and learn more about Canine Noise Aversion in shelters and how SILEO® (dexmedetomidine oromucosal gel) can be used for treatment.
SILEO® is a trademark owned by Orion Corporation Orion Pharma Animal Health. It is manufactured by Orion Corporation and distributed by Zoetis under license from Orion Corporation Orion Pharma Animal Health.
© 2018 Zoetis Services LLC. All rights reserved. SIL-00091
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MAKING INTAKE AND ADOPTION SPECIAL FOR SPECIAL NEEDS PETS
Community
KITTEN SEASON: COPING AND SUCCEEDING
by Daniella Latham
The Task at Hand (or Paw)
While the spring and summer are the busiest and most challenging times of the year for many of us in animal welfare, the good news is that a little planning and preparation now can go a long way to ensuring things run smoothly in the months ahead.
During Kitten Season, raising orphaned kittens on a large scale has long been considered a job better left to small-scale rescue groups, or achieved in small numbers by dedicated foster volunteers.1 The expansion of feline foster programs and, more notably, the establishment of kitten nurseries to address Kitten Season, are changing the situation for the better. Both inside the shelter and in the greater community, and with media exposure, this idea is catching on as a way to bring awareness to the kittens and drives potential adopters to the rescue or shelter.
As an example, The Best Friends Animal Society in New York City’s kitten nursery operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The nursery’s team of staff members, volunteers and foster homes provide around-the-clock care for every kitten. Their duties include bottle-feeding every two hours, preparing food, doing laundry, making sure each kitten has a warm blanket, and more. No matter the task, the goal is to provide each kitten with all the newborn support he or she needs. Best Friends kitten nursery also takes in as many kittens as possible from partner shelters to further the goal of no-kill shelters in New York City and its surrounding areas.
Ready for the Busy Spring and Summer Months?
First, estimate how many cats and kittens you are likely to see this year. This important detail forms the foundation of your planning, and lets you accurately estimate which resources—housing, staff members, volunteers, foster homes, vaccinations, medications—you’ll need.2
When estimating how many cats and kittens you may see, you should look at the intake numbers in several ways3:
- Separate strays from owner surrenders, because in most cases they will have different holding periods based upon vaccination status. If that doesn’t apply in your jurisdiction (e.g. there is no holding period for cats) or if you don’t accept strays, don’t worry about this step.
- Separate kittens from adults. A cut-off of 5 months is a general rule per the ASPCA, but your shelter may handle different populations of kittens differently.
- Look at the real number for each month, rather than using annual intake and assuming it is equal across every day of the year.
- It’s always a good idea to look back at several years—particularly if your shelter is seeing a trend of increasing or decreasing intake.
- Place this information into an easy-to-chart program like Excel—it’s easy to organize, and you can use calculations in the spreadsheet.
Next, it’s important to assess your shelter or rescue’s capacity for care and compare available resources to the population of cats in your shelter in order to eliminate any gaps.
Protocols and Procedures4
Age and surrender status of the kittens determine shelter intake protocols and procedures. Below are recommendations to keep in mind:
- Physical examination
- Viral testing (feline leukemia and FIV)
- Treat for internal and external parasites
- Immunization
- If stray, quarantine until available for adoption
- If surrendered and healthy, place for immediate adoption
- If too young for adoption, utilize foster care/foster family
Although Kitten Season may seem like a year-round event, shelter and rescue groups have done an exemplary job trying to stabilize the feral cat population, which in turn impacts the number of kittens that are born this time of year.
What can make a difference in how to manage this time of year is getting the word out within your community that “The season is coming”. By letting people know early that their help is needed, you will have a better chance of recruiting volunteers and a list of foster families eager to help with your kittens.
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ARE YOUR DOGS SUFFERING FROM NOISE AVERSION?
