Cat Comforter Meeting

2018

Welcome! Tonight’s Agenda

Looking at the Numbers-Year to Date Stats

Policy Changes, Updates & Reminders

New Enrichment Programs

Adoption Success Stories

Foster Stats & Updates

What’s Ahead?

Q&A’s

A Look at the Numbers

Intake and Adoptions Year to Date

Intake % Change

2017 2,037

2018 2,225 +9.2%

Adoptions % Change

2017 1,617

2018 1,727 +6.8%

From August 2017 –August 2018 how many more animals

have we taken in as a result of hoarding cases?

Did You Know??

Cat Comforting Year to Date

2016 2017 2018

Cat Comforting Hours

as of end of August4811 4387 5236

3800

4000

4200

4400

4600

4800

5000

5200

5400

Cat Comforting Hours YTD

(as of August)

Cat Comforting Hours as of end of August

19 % Increase YTD!

A Closer Look at Cat Care

3115

1549

454118

CAT CARE HOURS

Comforting

Blue Dot

BOH

Misc Care (* includes Read to

Calm, Feliway)

Current HSHV Live Release Rate

“Save Rate” is…

YOUR WORK IMPROVES

& SAVES LIVES

A look at a few of the MANY lives…

Kohl & Rambo

Rambo

Kohl

Kohl & Rambo started out very, very

shy but were eventually able to trust

and open up to comforters. Both were

back and forth from foster to cage

and volunteers helped them settle

back in many times. It took some time,

but we did find perfect homes for them.

Rugby, Mesho, & Eldrick

Rugby Mesho Eldrick

Put on “maintenance” plans.. they’d been with us for a long time. Some

adopted and returned, they were uncomfortable with the amount of

handling they were getting. All very, very nice cats that wouldn’t have made

it here without Blue Dot intervention. Slowing down visits and keeping the

visits low in number made all of the difference with them. They needed people (our HSHV Cat Comforters ) who understood them to really shine.

Figaro

Figaro was a really complicated cat…

hard to engage and keep engaged.

He’d change the game at times and

what was working stopped working, he

was an intelligent cat stuck in a

situation he couldn’t control. The Blue

Dot comforters made him a project

and he truly blossomed with their care.

Volunteers gave him the control and

offered stability and consistency, which

he really needed. He was with us for a

long time, a cat who had never lived

inside and was under a lot of stress.

The Blue Dot program kept him sane and engaged with the world.

Mila

Mila literally hated all staff… all of us.

Once she got into individual housing

she was able to settle into her space.

Mila became a lap cat with the

comforters and we were astonished to

see her napping on laps. She became

very bonded with a few comforters

and would never have found a home if

she couldn’t have made that bond

with some of the humans in her life.

Volunteers knew her better than

anyone and really kept her happy, it was an amazing bond!

Thank You Cat Comforters!

Policy Changes, Updates &

Reminders

OUR VOLUNTEER TEAM

As of September 27th, 2018:

• 2, 728 volunteers overall

• 528 Junior Volunteers

• 104 Tiny Lions

• 472 Foster Volunteers

• On an average day:Average # of volunteer shifts: 152

Average # of volunteer shifts empty: 33

Average # of volunteers each day: 105

2018 VOLUNTEER

SATISFACTION SURVEY

Survey Demographics2

49

Su

rve

ys

Co

mp

lete

d!

19%

42%

20%

14%

5%

HOW LONG SURVEY RESPONDENTS HAVE

BEEN VOLUNTEERING AT HSHV

Less than 6 months 1-2 years 3-5 years 5-10 years 10 years +

Volunteer Preparedness97.6% of volunteers feel well prepared to perform their duties as a

volunteer

93.3% of volunteers find procedures for volunteer assignments clear and

easy to follow

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Physically Equipped Emotionally Equipped

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

“I feel equipped to handle the aspects of my volunteer duties”

Emotional Impact of Volunteering97.7% of volunteers enjoy their role as a volunteer

98.1% of volunteers feel their volunteer assignments are

meaningful to them

64%

28%

5%

2% 1%

"I feel appreciated for my

contributions as a volunteer"

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree72%

25%

3%

0%

0%

"I feel my time is well spent

volunteering"

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Volunteer Interactions89.7% of volunteers feel they can readily receive support

and guidance from other adult volunteers.

54%40%

6%

0%

"I enjoy working alongside

HSHV adult volunteers"

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

40%

35%

24%

1%

"I enjoy working alongside

HSHV junior volunteers"

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Volunteer Department Interactions“I feel respected by the

Volunteer Department Staff”

Strongly Agree 69.3%

Agree 22.4%

Neutral 4.7%

Disagree 2.4%

Strongly Disagree 1.2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

"I feel I can discuss my questions and concerns with the volunteer department"

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

"I receive timely and useful communication from the volunteer department staff"

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

• No need to stay in one “zone” anymore!

• With proper hand sanitizing between visits and adhering to order of visitation, no increased risk of disease transmission.

• Checking visitation logs will help determine which

cats have been visited with.

• Remember to document visits on the individual cat

pages even if nothing has changed

from the last visit.

No More Zones!

White Cage Cards

Just Chillin’

Sorry, I’m not available for adoption. For information see the Front Desk.

Staff Only -or- Volunteers OK

Placed by _________________

(staff first name)

Review Date ______________________

Look for the “Just Chillin” Sign

White Cage Cards Only

(no yellow sticker). These

will all have “Just Chillin”

drop cards in them. Look

for the volunteers OK box to be marked. If it is, you

may visit with that cat.

However, if a visitor is

interested, have them go to the front desk to see

staff no matter which box

is checked.

Order of Visitation Review

CAT COMFORTING & DOG/PUPPY VISITATION Sequence

FIRST - not sick or being treated for non-contagious medical issue –

Kittens/Puppies then Cats/Dogs

Healthy/Non-Contagious = NO sticker**

LAST - on medication for URI, kennel cough or other contagious issue

Kittens/Puppies then Cats/Dogs

watch sticker**

**Other cage card stickers that may be present on the cage card are not considered in the

handling sequence.

You are welcome to answer questions

about a cat/kitten to a potential adopter.

If you are comfortable, you can assist in

opening the cage doors in UT/DT. Guests are not to do

this without help from staff or volunteers.

Please get staff assistance for areas where doors are

locked such as condos, Purrs Plaza, & Meow Meadows.

Visitors must have a pass to enter these rooms.

Always get a staff member if there are questions or

assistance is needed.

Assisting Potential Adopters

• Treats

• To be used for when working with Blue Dot Cats or as

motivators for behavior modification with enrichment

programs (i.e. Read to Calm/Clicker Training).

• No use with other cats, trying to avoid GI upset with

overuse.

• Documenting Visits

• Even if nothing has changed since a cat has been

visited last, please still note on the individual cat page

that visit took place.

• Signing up in VIC

• It is helpful to other comforters and staff when looking

at the schedule to see who is coming in. Sign up in

advance as much as possible.

Other Helpful Reminders

• Positive Messages that you want to share with potential

adopters. Helps them get “to know” our cats more.

• Simply write a positive message and place it in a

cage card sleeve pocket.

• Make sure not to cover up any important

communication (i.e. blue dot, go slow, etc).

• Found at the cat comforter station.

Cat Comment Cards

• Closed group, must be a volunteer to join

• A place for updates, stories, pictures, or volunteers

needed requests.

• Posts containing sensitive topics such as death,

euthanasia, or killing/injury to animals are not to be

posted.

• Posts should not include solicitations of goods/money from

other volunteers.

• If there are any questions/concerns about any HSHV

related matter, contact the volunteer department rather

than posting on social media.

Volunteer Facebook Group

• Posts that do not fit within the social media

policies will be removed.

• If a post needs to be removed, the

volunteer will be notified by Karen or Tawn explaining “why”.

• Volunteers may be removed from the facebook group after

2 posts.

• We want to make sure the tone of the group remains

positive.

• Respecting that not everyone wants to know or read about certain topics

• If you ever have questions, please just ask. We are here and

want to help .

Volunteer Facebook Group

New Enrichment Programs

READ TO CALM

• Helps to decrease stress, anxiety, and fear in shelter

cats.

• Cats can explore their environment, take risks without

consequences. Especially important for fearful cats.

• Learning to be bold and to come by people without the

pressure of being pet or talked to.

• For frustrated cats, teaches that pacing, pawing, and

vocalizing does not affect a person’s action.

Program Benefits

• Binders will list which cats in each comforting

area would benefit most from Read to

Calm.

• Bring any reading material you wish from

home…magazines, books, the cats don’t mind.

• Place a barrier between you and the floor/wall when

sitting (i.e. towel, chair, stool).

• Cats in cages-can sit on a stool outside of the cage or

stand.

• Condos- sitting on a stool works best.

• Communal Rooms-sitting on the floor or bench.

Getting Ready for a Session

• Read aloud (quiet or at regular volume is alright),

continuously, slowly, & steadily to calm the cat.

• Best practice is to avoid contact and petting even if the

cat comes up next to you.

• Reading only, no singing or speaking to the cat

• You can spend 10-30 minutes per cat, whatever time

allows.

• After your session you can leave treats, but only if

calm/relaxed (treats for behavior modification)

During a Session

• Open to all levels of Cat

Comforters.

• Read to Calm training handout

located in resource library.

• Cat Comforting always takes

priority for visitation.

• You can read to any cat outside of

his/her cage, but blue dot

restrictions still apply when opening

cages, entering condos and

communals.

• Sign up in VIC (choose your own

times) under Read to Calm.

• Document that you did Read to

Calm on the individual cat page

(check the box and write a note,

even if no changes).

How to Get Started?

When you do read to calm,

indicate that you did so on the

individual cat page.

HEADSTART TRAINING

• Can Cats be trained?

• Yes! Animals are learning all of the time

• Cats often have been thought to be “untrainable” because more traditional forms of animal training cause

flight/avoidance behaviors

• Why train Cats?

• Mental enrichment

• Confidence-building

• Build relationships

• Modify undesired behaviors

• Increase appeal to adopters

Head Start for Cats-Clicker Training

Positive Reinforcement

Training

Aversive Training Methods

Rewards good behavior Suppresses “bad”

behavior

Builds bond with your

animal

Can create fear and

avoidance

Creates enthusiastic,

confident learners

Negative associations with

handler & environment

Provides clear feedback

that the animal

understands

Can result in more

problematic behaviors

Anyone can train Must be perfectly timed.

Trainer/aversion must be

present

Trains out natural

behavior/communication

It’s All in the Approach

• With positive reinforcement, indicates

immediately when a cat is “right”.

• Marks the behavior we are looking for.

• Cats then receive a primary reinforce

(i.e play, treat).

• Clicked behaviors are more likely to happen.

• Behavior that is clicked must be rewarded.

• Advantage to using clicker is that is always sounds the

same.

• Eliminates the need for “no reward markers” such as

“no” or “aach, etc”.

Why Use a Clicker?

• Cat stays in their location.

• Volunteer gathers all the necessary supplies (located at

cat comforter station)

• Clicker

• Treats

• Target Stick

• Work in short intervals; sessions can be 1-2 minutes each.

• Take frequent breaks to avoid frustration.

• Document about visit in individual cat page

What a Session Looks Like

• Attend an upcoming training session

• Next training is on Saturday, November 3rd from 1-4pm

• Open to all levels of cat comforting.

• What is Covered in Training?

• Steps to teaching a behavior.

• Different training techniques.

• Reward delivery.

• Looking at core skills for both active and shy cats.

• Lots of practice!

How to Get Started!

Adoption Successes!

Gillian Flynn

Came from the 108 hoarding/breeder situation

Spent time in foster, Downtown Cats, and Purrs Plaza

Was one of the last adult Maine Coons to be adopted from the case

Adopted by Karen D., one of our loving cat comforters!

Meg

Spent over 5 months at HSHV/TLC

Loved to be the center of attention…

…But touch her the wrong way and she would make you pay!

Adopted by a wonderful, self proclaimed “sassy cat whisperer”

Lula Mae (FKA Winnie)

Came in on the love train at 7 weeks old

LOVES water, her favorite thing is to sit under the running sink faucet

Recently learned how fun it is to explore kitchen counters

Gets along great with her older brother (HSHV alum) Oliver

Adopted by long time dog walker Anja Z!

Tobias

Scared, scared, scared when he came to HSHV

Only 9 months old, but had already been passed along to several different households

Adopted as a barn cat by dog walker volunteer Alexis M.

And today…

Pilar

Came in as a stray at 12 years old

Spent most of her time with HSHV in a foster home for medical concerns

Adopted as a foster “failure” by Kristin S. and George E.

She now has a cat sister, a dog sister, and a dog brother!

Foster Updates

2018 Foster Stats

Busy year due to hoarding & breeding cases!!

Close to 1200 placement of cats/kittens in foster

Includes 67 nursing mothers (some of who were already pregnant.

Also included…164 Bottle Babies

17 kittens with ringworm were sent to foster and 9 for FeLV observation

Who Goes to Foster?

• Interested in Fostering? Attend an upcoming orientation

session.

• Saturday, October 6th from 9-11am

• Wednesday, October 17th from 6-8pm

• Help Feed the Animals Fundraiser for the Foster Program

• November 2nd at 7:30pm

• Located at Bona Sera restaurant in

Ypsilanti

• Live music and is FREE! Guests can

make donations to the foster program

• Invite your friends!

• More information on the events calendar

at www.hshv.org

Upcoming Fostering Events

What’s Ahead?

• Beginning October 1st , hour requirements will be

changing from 75 hours of cat comforting to 40.

• An email announcement will be sent out to all

comforters updating everyone of this change.

• Every other aspect of the program will remain the same

• Monthly hour report run by volunteer department, email

sent to volunteers with the 40 hours.

• Self study training on VIC which includes a presentation,

video, and post training test (can be done online or printed

and turned into Tawn)

• Once test is reviewed, a “Welcome” email for blue dot

comforting will be sent, assignment will open up, and

comforters can get a blue dot for nametag at cat

comforter station.

Blue Dot Training

• Will be changing to a Paw I

assignment as of October 1st (of

course, Cat Comforters can still participate! )

• Why the change?

• Similar to cat feeding, volunteers will

not be interacting with the cats, just

providing the feliway square.

• Just as with cat feeding, when

entering condos volunteers are

asked not to interact with the cats.

• Will provide better schedule

coverage to open up to all

volunteers.

Morning Feliway

• Will be returning! We are looking end of 2018-beginning

of 2019. Email will be sent when dates are finalized.

• We want to know what you want to know!

• A brief survey will be sent in the upcoming weeks to get

your feedback on topics you would like to know more

about.

• A great way to learn more about working with the many

personalities comforters encounter with our feline residents

• An opportunity to ask questions and to learn from staff and

other volunteers.

Cat Comforter Education Series

Thank you for all of your

hard work and dedication to the

cat comforting program!

You make a difference!

Q&A’s