All of the side effects of stress put a shelter cat’s life at risk. A stressed cat is more likely to succumb to illness, especially upper respiratory infection (URI) more likely to exhibit behavior issues in the kennel, such as fractious behavior and less likely to show social behaviors that lead to adoption. That sounds dramatic, but when you think about it, it’s a pretty accurate statement. Because cats express stress in less overt ways, stress is called a “hidden killer” for cats in shelters. We’ll get into what the tools and techniques are and how to use them in greater detail, but for now, know that your primary goal will be to use them to target and reduce the stress of cats in your shelter.Ĭats do not express stress as openly as other species of animals.

There are a wide variety of tools and techniques you can use to enrich the experience for cats in your facility, and the good news is that many of them are not costly to implement. What enrichment is and why shelters should focus on itĮnrichment, at its most basic level, is a means for meeting the emotional and mental health needs of animals in your care. In this resource, we provide you with a primer on feline enrichment, including the reason that it is necessary, feline behavior basics that you should know, and a framework for how you can implement and grow a feline enrichment program in your shelter. As our understanding of cat behavior grows, it becomes compelling that we make a plan to provide for the emotional and mental health of cats, too, and that such a plan be considered a part of meeting the shelter cat’s basic needs.Įven with the limitations that animal shelters pose, you can provide cats with avenues for expression of instinctive cat behavior by implementing a basic feline enrichment program. Even in homes, cats often lack appropriate outlets for expressing natural behavior, and the shelter environment is undoubtedly even more restrictive, since cats in shelters are confined to small spaces for long periods of time.

While this standard does provide for the physical well-being of cats, it doesn’t account for their emotional well-being. Historically, food, water and shelter have been considered the basic necessities of survival, and the essentials that all animal shelters must supply cats for humane care.

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