Shelter environments cause significant stress for cats. Understanding and implementing high-welfare shelter design and practices improves welfare and adoption outcomes.
Shelter cat welfare requires balancing protection from infectious disease transmission with behavioural and psychological welfare needs. Cats are territorial animals for whom loss of home territory and unfamiliar scents cause immediate stress. Providing hiding spaces, familiar scented objects from previous home, and positive human contact significantly reduces stress indicators. Slow, careful introduction to handling reduces fear of people. Rapid adoption matching programmes that reduce stay duration prevent the progressive welfare deterioration seen in long-term shelter residents.