What Is Surrender Prevention? Help Cats & Shelters

by Amy Shojai | Apr 16, 2024 | Cat Behavior & Care | 1 comment

Recently I learned about a marvelous program called SURRENDER PREVENTION that seeks to keep cats from going into shelters and losing their homes. This FREE program offers tools and tips for shelter staff not only for shelter adoptions but to keep cats in homes. This lightens the workload, while saving cat lives–and loving relationships, by keeping cats in homes.

My colleague, Dr. Rachel Geller, offers the free workshop four times a year on the Community Cats Podcast site. Join the next session on June 19 or on October 16, 2024 to learn what surrender prevention is and why it works. Attendees qualify for certification as a Surrender Prevention Specialist.

Top Three Reasons Cats Lose Homes

Litter box problems

Scratching problems

Intercat aggression.

Dr. Geller says, “Traditionally, for a behavior problem-based surrender, shelters focused on concerns like: it is realistic that we will be able to take in this peeing cat? Will a biting cat be adopted? Do I have volunteers who could work with this aggressive cat? Do I have foster homes who will take a cat that scratches rugs and furniture?”

What Makes Surrender Prevention Programs Different

A surrender prevention program in shelters offers a new education and empathy-based approach, to help cat lovers. “We will help you, free of charge to resolve this problem so that you can keep your cat,” says Dr. Geller. “As a Surrender Prevention Specialist, you will be empathetic, non-judgmental, a champion question asker and practical when it comes to time, patience and financial limitations of the cat owner.”

By focusing on education, the program helps cat lovers understand that most problem cat behaviors are written in kitty litter–you can reduce and often eliminate unwanted scratching or litter box misses.

Eliminating the Financial Barrier

Financial concerns also offer a barrier, since access to qualified cat behavior advice from veterinary professionals has a cost involved–or they are not available everywhere in the country. “In these cases, the cat is already in a loving home, so the goal of surrender prevention is to make sure that the cat remains there by working with the owner to resolve the behavior issue,” explains Dr. Geller.

“Surrender prevention provides this important resource to cat owners in the community – and this includes adopters and fosters. Surrender Prevention saves two lives – the cat who was going to be surrendered stays in her home, and this frees up a spot in the shelter for a cat who is truly homeless.”

This program helps reduce shelter intakes that result from behavior issues, allowing the program to focus on the felines who need shelter and rescue. That helps save truly needy cats so we can focus on the cats who truly need shelter and rescue, thus saving more cats. “This program builds positive connections between shelters, rescues and people within our communities, “says Dr. Geller.

I love hearing from you, so please share comments and questions. Do you have an ASK AMY question you’d like answered? Do you have a new kitten and need answers? Stay up to date on all the latest just subscribe the blog, “like” me on Facebook, and sign up for Pet Peeves newsletter.

Stay up to date with the latest book giveaways and appearances related to my September Day pet-centric THRILLERS WITH BITE! Amy Shojai, CABC is a certified cat & dog behavior consultant, a consultant to the pet industry, and the award-winning author of 35+ pet-centric books and Thrillers with Bite! Oh, and she loves bling!

1 Comment

Angela on April 17, 2024 at 6:57 am

Thanks for sharing this. It is so important that help is given to people who are struggling and might otherwise keep their pet.
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