Special Issue "Advances in Animal Sheltering"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jacquie Rand
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, QLD 4343, Australia
2. Australian Pet Welfare Foundation, Kenmore, QLD 4069, Australia
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to announce a Special Issue of Animals entitled Advances in Animal Sheltering  devoted to new research aimed at reducing the number of dogs and cats euthanized in shelters and municipal animal control facilities. This Issue is focused on improving our understanding of the causes of relinquishment or of pets being lost, and the strategies to reduce these. It also aims to identify strategies which increase live release and positively impact return to owner, adoptions, fostering, and the role of rescue groups. 

Although in many countries there has been a significant reduction in the number of healthy and treatable animals euthanized in shelters and animal control facilities, unacceptable numbers are still being euthanized. Peer-reviewed studies which document effective strategies are vital to provide evidence for shelter managers, boards, government agencies, and other policy-makers to embrace change to save lives. Animal euthanasia also has significant impact on staff, and evidence of this negative impact, as well as the positive impact of introducing life-saving strategies, are important to convince management and authorities of the need to change.

To achieve zero euthanasia of healthy and treatable dogs and cats in shelters and municipal facilities, it is vital that research is fostered which improves our understanding of the factors which reduce pets being relinquished or lost, and effective strategies to save lives. Therefore, I invite researchers to submit original manuscripts which will advance our knowledge of ways to reduce intake and increase the live release of animals from shelters and municipal animal control facilities.

We are delighted to announce that Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International (SPCAI) and FOUR PAWS are generously providing sponsorship for this Special Issue "Advances in Animal Sheltering", and therefore the publication fee payable by authors for accepted articles will be waived. If you are interested, please contact Gammy ([email protected]) to apply in advance.

Prof. Jacquie Rand
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • shelter
  • animal control
  • euthanasia
  • reclaim
  • rehoming
  • adoption
  • live release
  • dogs
  • cats
  • kittens
  • puppies
  • spay/neuter
  • microchipping
  • surrender
  • lost
  • relinquishment
  • stray
  • identification

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Effects of Music Pitch and Tempo on the Behaviour of Kennelled Dogs
Animals 2021, 11(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010010 - 23 Dec 2020
Viewed by 1479
Abstract
Confinement can be stressful for some dogs and this can lead to behavioural issues and poor welfare. A key component of the stress response is behavioural arousal, characterised by increased alertness and sensory sensitivity. This makes behavioural observations a useful tool to assess [...] Read more.
Confinement can be stressful for some dogs and this can lead to behavioural issues and poor welfare. A key component of the stress response is behavioural arousal, characterised by increased alertness and sensory sensitivity. This makes behavioural observations a useful tool to assess stress, as they provide insight into an animal’s internal state. Auditory enrichment has been shown to reduce arousal-related behaviour in dogs, but it is not clear if specific characteristics of a music track, such as tempo and/or pitch, produce these effects. The aim of this study was to compare behavioural responses of dogs to music tracks played with different characteristics (high pitch, low pitch, fast tempo, and slow tempo), as well as white noise and a control. Pitch and tempo modifications were applied to ten piano music songs and the six treatments (four different treatment-song combinations, white noise, and control) were presented daily, for ten minutes each, to ten dogs over ten days. Behavioural changes seemed to be driven by low-pitch tracks, which increased the level of alertness of the dogs. These findings could be related to the Morton’s motivations-structural rules: harsh, low frequency vocalisations signal aggressive motivations in mammals. Dogs may have perceived low-pitch tracks as more unsettling and were therefore more active and alert when listening to them. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Animal Sheltering)
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Article
Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter
Animals 2020, 10(9), 1573; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10091573 - 03 Sep 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1621
Abstract
Although the adoption rate of dogs and cats from animal shelters has increased, a proportion of animals are returned to the shelter after they are adopted. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors informing the return of 102 dogs to [...] Read more.
Although the adoption rate of dogs and cats from animal shelters has increased, a proportion of animals are returned to the shelter after they are adopted. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors informing the return of 102 dogs to an animal shelter over a four-month period, and the return of 72 cats to an animal shelter over a three-month period. Descriptive statistics revealed dogs are most commonly returned for behavior issues related to aggression (38.2%), and cats are most commonly returned due to the adopter’s personal reasons (56.9%). The results also indicated that more than half of the dogs (51.0%) and cats (57.0%) returned in this study were owned for more than 60 days. Further research is needed to compare the effectiveness of different pet retention programs in addressing the factors that inform returned adoptions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Animal Sheltering)
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