Dear Million Cat Challenge, If someone traps or brings in a healthy cat, and we say we can't take it at this time, is it okay to tell them to just let it go? – Wondering

Dear Million Cat Challenge, Here’s the question that keeps me up at night: If we don't take them, what will happen? What parking lot or busy intersection will they be dumped in? What creek will they be drowned in? What will happen if they are injured or sick or starving? The possibilities if we don’t take them eliminate the possibility for us of turning any animal away. – Out of the frying pan into the fire?

Dear Million Cat Challenge, Regarding Alternatives to Intake: If someone becomes angry at your policy and walks out/threatens to abandon an indoor cat, for example, are you recommending that the shelter attempt to intake those animals as they previously would? – Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Dear Million Cat Challenge, You say incorporating Alternatives to Intake doesn’t mean foisting the problems on other organizations, but most of the suggestions were referring them to other organizations. How does that not just shift the problem? It’s hard enough getting all the animal welfare groups in our area to get along – I’d sure hate to jeopardize that by forcing cats on an organization that’s not able to handle them. – Trying to be a Good Neighbor

Dear Million Cat Challenge, Can an open admission public shelter limit intake hours or create waiting lists and still qualify as open admission? – Left Out?

Dear Million Cat Challenge, I’ve heard you say it’s okay to have adult cats wait for admission to the shelter, sometimes even for months at a time. I realize it’s not ideal to admit cats when the shelter is overcrowded or they’re not likely to get adopted anytime soon. But I worry that leaving them out there means they will just be breeding and adding to the problem instead! – Concerned Spay/Neuter Surgeon

Dear Million Cat Challenge, I’m all for the concept of Managed Admissions. However, my staff is understandably nervous about implementing it. The public around here is so used to being able to bring us a cat any time without any limits. How do you tell clients they must make an appointment to surrender their pet? Is there specific wording or key phrases that work? – At a Loss for Words

Dear Million Cat Challenge, We have a 7-day holding time for strays. Is that too long a period for Return to Field? – Restless in the Shelter

Dear Million Cat Challenge, Are Return to Field programs primarily for cats deemed feral or too unsocial for adoption? Is RTF recommended for a healthy social cat? – Curious

Dear Million Cat Challenge, Why is Return to Field not considered abandonment? We keep running into that question. – Legal Eagle

Dear Million Cat Challenge, We are a private shelter and our municipal shelter takes in the strays. So Return to Field is not really an option for us. How can we best get the city shelter to be more open to participating ... have any other participants found things that have worked for them? – Wants to Help

Dear Million Cat Challenge, Where is the funding for the costs of Return to Field? – Broke in the Field Dear Broke,

Dear Million Cat Challenge, How would you suggest dealing with other feline groups that are anti-Return to Field, so much so that they are turning colony managers away from our SNR and/or sterile feral programs? We've been attacked more by one feral group than the public! – Unjustly Accused

Dear Million Cat Challenge, Our local bird protection group is opposed to Return to Field programs. They claim cats kill birds at an alarming rate. Suggestions? – Animal Lover

Dear Million Cat Challenge, We get a lot of old farmers that like to trap dozens of feral cats and bring them to the shelter or they threaten to shoot them. They want nothing to do with a Return to Field program. What's the best approach?

Dear Million Cat Challenge, My shelter doesn’t have the manpower to return cats to their neighborhood after neutering. How are shelters handling the workload for the “return” in Return to Field?

Dear Million Cat Challenge, What can my staff say when they are being accused of being cruel or irresponsible for returning a cat to the neighborhood when it doesn’t have a known caregiver? – Not Cruella

Dear Million Cat Challenge, What can my animal control officers say when residents object to the cats being returned to their neighborhood after neutering? – Neighborly

Dear Million Cat Challenge, What can I say when the local health department says they won’t support the Return-to-Field program because first rabies vaccine only lasts for a year? – Wondering

Dear Million Cat Challenge, You’re preaching to the choir when it comes to our shelter and the whole humane housing thing. Our cats are either housed in spacious, double-sided condos or group rooms with tons of perches and hiding places. The problem is, we still have a super-long length of stay. Even kittens sometimes seem to grow up in the shelter. And even though the cats are pretty happy here, I know it’s not the same thing as having a home of their own. It seems like most of what you talk about with Capacity for Care decreasing length of stay has to do with the benefits of better housing. But what can we do if we already have great housing? – Trapped in the Slow Lane

Dear Million Cat Challenge, You say that to reach Capacity for Care, you don’t have to take in fewer cats, just shorten the length of stay for each one. But we already take in more cats than get adopted back out and we don’t have the resources for Return to Field right now. As a result some cats currently end up getting euthanized either because they get sick or just because we need to make space for more incoming. I don’t see how housing even fewer cats is going to fix that! Can you help me understand? – Show me the numbers Dear Million Cat Challenge, I watched the Maddie’s Institute webinar on Capacity for Care, and one of the shelter directors mentioned that sometimes they won’t take in cats or they’ll ask people to wait when the shelter is full. My question is, shouldn’t we be worried about what will happen to those cats? Maybe they will meet a fate even worse than being admitted to a slightly crowded shelter! I do want to provide good care for every cat, but how do we balance that with all the cats in danger out there? – Wondering about the Others

Dear Million Cat Challenge, We have several shelters within our system and we’re looking to reach Capacity for Care at each one. This will mean portalizing stainless steel cages at most of the shelters – and that means cutting our housing unit numbers pretty much in half. What makes it really challenging for us is that each shelter is in a different place in terms of their ability to grow adoptions and options for managed admission. The one thing that’s absolutely off the table is increasing euthanasia. Do you have any advice that will help all our shelters get to C4C? – Looking for choices

Dear Million Cat Challenge, Ok, I get it. Fewer cats with better care and shorter length of stay equals happier cats, staff, and volunteers; less illness; lower costs; more adoptions; and to hear you tell it, possibly rainbows and unicorns in the shelter courtyard! It sure sounds great. But all kidding aside, what if we have too many cats in the shelter today to meet our Capacity for Care? How can we lower the numbers without euthanizing more cats? Of course, that’s not something we’re willing to do. – We want our rainbows and unicorns, but at what price?

Dear Million Cat Challenge, I’ve read your information sheet and love the idea of providing our cats with more space, but I still don’t see how we can keep fewer cats on hand and still save more lives. It seems like magical thinking! How does it work? – Skeptical but trying to be open-minded

Dear Million Cat Challenge, How do you feel about same-day adoptions? My organization is scared stiff to do this but it might remove a huge barrier. Our process currently takes about a week. – Is Shorter Better?

Dear Million Cat Challenge, After spending weeks to bring a cat or kitten to full wellness, how do we let go of our tendency to put some of the “barriers” in place to keep irresponsible people from adopting? Example: People who lie about their intentions (i.e., indoor vs. outdoor requirements)? – Wants to Trust