Susan Houser
The Perspective of the Rescuer
In many communities rescuers are the backbone of the No Kill effort. They pull animals from the shelter, including the ones most in need...
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Susan Houser
Dec 28, 20166 min
The Controversy Over Shelters Spaying Pregnant Animals
A perennial issue for No Kill has been whether it is ethical for No Kill shelters to spay dogs and cats who are known to be pregnant....
Susan Houser
Dec 14, 20167 min
The No Kill Movement’s Place in History — And Why It Matters
We do not have any good method of collecting data on animal shelters, either today or historically. Understandably this has led to a...
Susan Houser
Nov 22, 20164 min
Poor People Should Be Able to Have Dogs Too
The United States used to have a nationwide dog overpopulation problem. In the early 1970s humane advocates started mass spay-neuter...
Susan Houser
Oct 25, 20164 min
Five Reasons Why Government Is Bad At No Kill
If you’ve been in No Kill for very long, you’ve noticed it — the great majority of communities that have achieved sustainable No Kill...
Susan Houser
Oct 13, 20166 min
The Devil Is In The Details
It has been more than 20 years now since the concept of a No Kill community was created by Rich Avanzino in San Francisco. Today many...
Susan Houser
Jul 26, 20165 min
Purist or Pragmatist?
There are two types of No Kill activists. Those of you who have been around for a while know exactly what I mean. For people who don’t,...
Susan Houser
Jun 24, 20163 min
No Kill: Are We Running As Fast As We Can?
We all want the United States to get to No Kill as fast as possible, but institutions take time to change. Given the inherent lag time...
Susan Houser
Jun 18, 20165 min
Open Adoption
Open Adoption – it’s a topic that’s sure to start a lively discussion among shelter people. But what, exactly, is it? One misconception...
Susan Houser
May 22, 20166 min
Criticism: Constructive and Otherwise
There has been a lot of discussion on this blog’s Facebook page over the last month or two about the role of public criticism of local...
Susan Houser
Apr 3, 20165 min
Can We Go Too Far With Spaying And Neutering?
We have achieved very high spay-neuter rates for owned cats and dogs (83% for owned dogs and 91% for owned cats*). If people are to have...
Susan Houser
Feb 14, 20164 min
Words of Wisdom
I’ve interviewed lots of No Kill shelter directors over the last few years, and many of them have told me about the mottoes they use to...
Susan Houser
Feb 7, 20166 min
Dealing with Bird Conservationists
The last few years have been a very exciting time for cat advocates because the new community cat paradigms are revolutionizing how...
Susan Houser
Nov 25, 20154 min
Who Speaks For No Kill?
One of the first things that new students learn about in law school is the famous 1803 Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison, which...
Susan Houser
Nov 21, 20156 min
Keeping Our No Kill Directors
Getting to and sustaining No Kill is more difficult in some places than others. If I were looking for the easiest place for a No Kill...
Susan Houser
Nov 9, 20159 min
The Decline in Feral Cats
A great debate has been raging for several years now about how to control the number of feral cats. On one side of the debate we have...
Susan Houser
Nov 4, 20157 min
Happy Cats
Today, as the end of 2015 approaches, we can say with confidence that no healthy cat should be dying in a shelter. That includes feral...
Susan Houser
Oct 23, 20155 min
The Commensal Cat
Cats are commensal animals. This fact has some very important implications for trap-neuter-return (TNR) and for the battle to save cats...
Susan Houser
Oct 15, 20154 min
Expanding the Circle of Compassion
According to the American Pet Products Association, 70% of dog owners and 57% of cat owners say their pet is like a child or family...
Susan Houser
Oct 10, 20156 min
Is This How We Treat Our Best Friend?
If a person walked up to a dog on the street and intentionally hit it with a tire iron in the face, breaking its nose and causing...
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