Find your perfect fit: Choose your Learning Path on Maddie’s University
Whether you’re just starting out in animal well-being or looking to level up your skills, our updated Learning Paths page on Maddie’s University® takes all the guesswork out of what to learn and sets you up for success. Each path contains content that covers a single topic so you can discover what you need and get on with your day. BehaviorEverything you wanted to know about behavior! A series of collections with self-paced courses and resources on dog and cat behavior, body language, training, shelter care, program...
How Field Officers are addressing pet transport barriers directly in the community
Access to pet care isn’t always as simple as scheduling an appointment. For many families, transportation is one of the biggest barriers standing between their pets and the care they need. If you haven’t already done so, we recommend watching the webcast recording, “How Field Officers are addressing transport barriers directly in the community.” In this webcast, animal well-being specialists shared how animal control officers are integrating pet transport into their work to keep pets with their families. Speakers...
Maddie’s Weekly Roundup: Using social media for foster placements, anxiety medications for shelter pets and more!
Happy Monday! Below is a brief roundup of resources added over the past week. Shelter practices & barriers in the use of anxiety medications and alternativesJoin us on Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 12PM ET/3PM ET for the next installment of “Maddie’s® Insights: Shelter Practices & Barriers in the Use of Anxiety Medications & Alternatives,” presented by Bailey Eagan, PhD, MSc., Director of Research with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Fear, anxiety and stress… Learn...
Shelter practices & barriers in the use of anxiety medications and alternatives
Join us on Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 12PM ET/3PM ET for the next installment of “Maddie’s® Insights: Shelter Practices & Barriers in the Use of Anxiety Medications & Alternatives,” presented by Bailey Eagan, PhD, MSc., Director of Research with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Fear, anxiety and stress are common challenges for cats and dogs in shelter environments, yet little is known about how shelters use psychoactive medications and non-medication alternatives to...
Social media that delivers — how digital engagement boosts foster placements
Let’s face it: people spend hours scrolling social feeds. Why not turn that scroll into a shelter-to-home journey? Our 2024 National Foster Survey spotlights social media as a powerhouse for foster recruitment. Here’s how to post smarter—and fill more foster homes faster. Shelters that ramp up their social media activity see real results: high activity organizations posting 10 or more times per week place a median of 350 pets in foster care, while low activity shelters posting just 0–4 times manage only 151...
Maddie’s Weekly Roundup: Programs for neonatal kittens, addressing gaps in veterinary care and more!
Happy Monday! Below is a brief roundup of resources added over the past week. We’re also excited to announce the new Community Conversations host for October: Rachel Rae Williams, Board Member of Spay Neuter Network. Below is the call lineup for next month so you can plan ahead: 10/6: Keeping Families and Pets Together 10/20: Experiencing Domestic Violence 10/27:Beyond the Binary: Intersections for Community-Centered Animal Control and Shelter Operations Learn how to build one-of-a-kind programs for neonatal kittensNeonatal kittens may...
Learn how to build one-of-a-kind programs for neonatal kittens
Neonatal kittens may be the tiniest residents in our shelters, but they face the biggest risks. That’s why Kitten College: Transforming Tiny Lives Through Innovation, a free self-paced course on Maddie’s® University, is here to change the story. This one-of-a-kind program gives animal shelters and foster-based organizations the tools to launch or expand neonatal programs that are sustainable, impactful and built on proven best practices. Grounded in shelter medicine and guided by the principles of high-quality, high-volume...
2025 Access to Care Report: How we can address the biggest gaps in veterinary care
“Access to veterinary care is not just an animal welfare issue — it’s a public health and family well-being issue,” says Dr. Michael Blackwell, lead author of the 2025 Access to Care report. “When pets don’t get the care they need, families face emotional distress, financial hardship, and difficult decisions no one should have to make.” Dr. Blackwell and his team at the Program for Pet Health Equity, University of Tennessee, Knoxville released a new report that builds on the 2018 Access to Veterinary...
Maddie’s Weekly Roundup: Cat Superhighway course, webcasts and more!
Happy Monday! Below is a brief roundup of resources added over the past week. Your roadmap to get every cat to where they need to goDo you want to streamline pathway planning to find the best available outcome for every cat and kitten at your organization? Look no further than Cat Superhighway, a free self-paced course on Maddie’s® University. This course equips animal shelter professionals with the tools to implement or enhance pathway planning for cats and kittens, streamlining their… Learn More August and September 2025...
Your roadmap to get every cat to where they need to go
Do you want to streamline pathway planning to find the best available outcome for every cat and kitten at your organization? Look no further than Cat Superhighway, a free self-paced course on Maddie’s® University. This course equips animal shelter professionals with the tools to implement or enhance pathway planning for cats and kittens, streamlining their journey to the best possible outcome. Cat Superhighway presents research-backed strategies to reduce length of stay, decrease intake and ensure positive outcomes for all cats....
