Australian Community Cat Program - webinar

The Australian Community Cat Program is a research project initiated and led by the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation, which is a not-for-profit organisation focused on reducing euthanasia in animal welfare shelters and local government facilities.

The aim is to demonstrate that a proactive approach to managing cats, using high-intensity, free desexing programs that prevent kittens being born, is an effective method to humanely reduce their numbers and associated biosecurity risks in urban and peri-urban areas of Australia.

This collaborative project is being run across four Australian States and targeted to areas with a high cat intake into shelters and pounds, or high numbers of cat-related complaints to councils. It is primarily aimed at desexing owned cats and those being cared for by semi-owners (defined as people who did not regard the cat as their property). There is also a focus on converting semi-owners to owners and increasing responsible cat caring behaviours.

Webinar presenter:

Emeritus Professor Jacquie Rand: 

Emeritus Professor Rand graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from Melbourne University in 1975, and worked in veterinary practice for 8 years before doing a residency and doctorate at the Ontario Veterinary College, Canada, followed by 3 years as a senior registrar at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. She is a registered specialist in small animal internal medicine and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Medicine. 
She was appointed Professor of Companion Animal Health at UQ in 2001 and retired at the end of 2015 to head the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation, which is dedicated to saving pets’ lives through research, education and advocacy. She has published over a 112 journal articles, authored 42 book chapters, and is editor of three books. 

Currently, she is involved in research programs in shelter medicine aimed at preventing unwanted and problem pets, as well as ongoing research in in diabetes and obesity.