• Sheltering Resources

• CatSense shelter system

• CatSense research findings

• How the Hide, Perch & Go box works 

• Box ordering Information
  

CatSense 
The BC SPCA's Cat Welfare Enhancement Program

Shelter workers have all seen it: a cat enters a cage and immediately retreats to the litter box and sinks low, peering over the top, pupils fully dilated. The cat doesn't move until closing and then, when there is no one around, the cat leaves the litter box and tunnels under the newspaper lining the cage. In the morning, the cage is a complete mess, the cat under the newspaper, water and food spilled. Workers diligently tidy the cage so that it looks clean and neat for potential adopters. The cat goes back in the litter box, and the pattern repeats. This is a cat needlessly experiencing poor welfare. If this is happening in your shelter, you will benefit from the CatSense program and the BC SPCA's Hide, Perch & Go box.

CatSense:
The Emotional Life of Cats Video & Manual

CatSense has four components:

1. A comprehensive 65-page CatSense manual;
2. The award-winning 22-minute video called The Emotional Life of Cats;
3. A comprehensive 2-hour training video on cat welfare and shelter management techniques.
4. Hide, Perch & Go box. 

1. CatSense Manual

The manual is a complete guide for putting in place a system for ensuring good welfare of cats in a shelter environment. There are sections on housing, cat behaviour, ways to improve welfare, checklists for monitoring cat stress, and templates for both short- and long-term planning to put in place good welfare practices that are evidence-based. 

2. CatSense Video: The Emotional Life of Cats

The training video builds on the hands-on experience of staff and volunteers by explaining the four emotional states experienced by cats in shelters. The video uses actual examples of cats displaying anxiety, fear, frustration, and depression and their associated behaviours. 

The video and workbook materials provide intervention techniques to reduce and prevent cats from experiencing stress, and provide shelter workers with the tools to ensure that cats are matched appropriately with adopters. These include protocols for handling from intake to adoption, and include re-homing support materials for adopters.

3. Training Video
The 2-hour training video is a presentation conducted by Nadine Gourkow, BC SPCA Animal Welfare Manager, on the concepts of cat welfare in a shelter environment and the intervention strategies and procedures to improve welfare for cats. Gourkow's knowledge of cat welfare is internationally recognized and it is Gourkow's extensive research that led to the creation of the Hide, Perch & Go box.

4. The Hide, Perch & Go Box
One of the interventions for cats in the shelter is the use of the Hide, Perch & Go box. The box is a cost effective tool to reduce stress and improve welfare for shelter cats. Used in conjunction with the CatSense program concepts shelters can dramatically improve the welfare of cats.

Box Benefits

• Separates feeding, elimination and sleeping areas
• Provides opportunity for hiding, perching and face rubbing
• Provides a choice of material to lie on and difference in temperature and light
• Provides more control over the amount of exposure to the shelter activity to facilitate self management of stress
• Enables the cat to saturate the cage with his/her own scent by face rubbing on the box, making the cage more familiar.
• Transforms to a cat carrier upon adoption
• Reassembles for use as a hide and perch area in the guardian's home.

For more information, and to find out how to order the
CatSense video and manual or the Hide, Perch & Go boxes click here