Assessing Behavior and Welfare in Sheltered Animals: Research Progress and Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

Animal welfare is a top concern for organizations sheltering animals in kennel housing. With the length of stay in shelters increasing and adoption rates remaining stagnant in many shelters, many of the animals they house face weeks to months in less than ideal conditions. Even the most highly resourced shelters face challenges keeping up with the physical, mental, and social needs of the animals in their care. The result is that dogs, cats, and other companion species are facing behavioral and psychological decline as their adaptive mechanisms fall short. The first step to providing better welfare to these pets is understanding their current mental state and needs, as well as the ability to monitor change over time.

Welfare assessments come in many shapes and forms that are not universal between species. This Special Issue seeks to identify key factors in assessing the welfare of sheltered animals with the goal of presenting the results of research covering a wide range of behavior and welfare assessment topics. Equally important are questions about tools for assessing the welfare of kennel-housed companion animals, including appropriate procedures/protocols, the effects of their implementation, realistic expectations, limitations regarding practical use, and opportunities for further improvement.

Authors are invited to submit original research, case reports, and review articles focusing on behavior and welfare assessments, the implementation of behavior and welfare assessment tools, and the challenges and limitations of such tools and assessments, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Evaluation of physiological measures as tools for assessing sheltered animal welfare;
• Evaluation of behavior observation tools for assessing sheltered animal welfare;
• Assessing the welfare of sheltered animals in response to behavioral and medical interventions, including psychopharmacology;
• Evaluation of housing systems and their effects on behavior and/or animal welfare;
• Discussions surrounding the practical implementation of welfare assessment tools;
• Measuring the effects of adoption and/or foster protocols on animal welfare and/or behavior.

Articles on dogs, cats, and other companion animals housed in shelters are welcome.

Dr. Meghan Herron
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• behavior
• welfare
• companion animals
• shelter
• stress
• behavior evaluation