Part 2: A Sector-Wide Survey of UK/British Isles Shelter Organisations Caring for Cats: Caregiver-Reported Approaches to Assessments, Behaviour Management and Homing Decisions

Shelter organisations take responsibility for the care, assessment and homing of large numbers of domestic cats from diverse backgrounds. However, not all cats that come under shelter care are suited to close human-cohabitation or to certain types of human-domestic lifestyles. Shelter stakeholders may undertake decision-making processes to determine how each cat should be managed and where they should go next. These processes may lead to different cat welfare experiences and long-term outcomes depending on how they occur, yet little is known about current approaches. The aim of this study was to characterise current approaches to cat and adopter assessments, behaviour management and homing decisions across the British Isles shelter sector, considering reported practices against sector minimum standards where applicable. A total of 393 quantitative and qualitative responses from employees and volunteers were received. Responses indicated that overall, stakeholders were consistently undertaking cat and prospective adopter assessments, with subsequent information used to support cat management, decision-making and homing. However, the degree of standardisation and objectivity associated with these processes was unclear, with considerable variation in approaches, including certain practices potentially associated with poor cat welfare outcomes identified. Examples include exposure to stressful handling and behavioural interventions and assessment ‘tests’, prolonged stays for harder-to-home cats and potentially suboptimal homing decisions for cats not suited to domestic ‘pet’ lifestyles. Identified opportunities to support welfare-friendly processes at the individual level include more consistent use of cats’ within-shelter behavioural presentations as grounds for ‘pet’-suitability assessments, and careful and consistent application of cat-labelling and terminology. It is also recommended that care is taken to ensure methods of cat assessments, behavioural interventions and homing decisions are pragmatic and optimised to positive cat welfare outcomes.