What: Every year, Californians relinquish approximately 1 million cats and dogs to animal shelters and pounds throughout the state. Of these animals, nearly 70 percent eventually are euthanized. In an attempt to address this social problem and reduce the unnecessary loss of animal life, an assistant professor from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is turning to Sacramento animal shelters and the pet owners who frequent them. Dr. Philip Kass, a veterinary epidemiologist, is wrapping up the first month of the yearlong Sacramento Overpopulation Study. S.O.S. is a two-pronged survey of pet owners who relinquish animals to shelters and of pet owners randomly interviewed at shopping centers. Kass will be available to talk about the very preliminary responses received during the first month of the study. The local project is part of a national study, aimed at identifying the characteristics of cats, dogs and their owners that influence and possibly predict the success or failure of the owner-pet relationship. These characteristics might include animal behavioral problems such as barking or unrealistic expectations on the part of the owner. When: Thursday, April 27, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Where: Department of Animal Control, Sacramento County Directions: Take Highway 50 to the Bradshaw Road exit. Go south until you come to the county animal shelter at 4290 Bradshaw Road. Visuals: Survey employees will be interviewing owners who are bringing in pets to the shelter. Kass and shelter staff members will talk about the dogs and cats that are relinquished. Background: See reverse side. Sacramento Overpopulation Study (S.O.S.) Fact Sheet What is S.O.S.? S.O.S. stands for the Sacramento Overpopulation Study, a scientific research project intended to provide clues to why roughly 1 million dogs and cats are annually relinquished to pounds and animal shelters in California, and why nearly 700,000 of those pets are euthanized. The study is based on surveys of pet owners. Who is conducting S.O.S.? The study is coordinated by Dr. Philip Kass, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. The local study is part of the National Shelter Study being conducted in conjunction with veterinary schools at Colorado State University, the University of Tennessee and Cornell University. It is funded by the National Council of Pet Population Study and Policy, which is composed of veterinarians, dog and cat breeder associations, and representatives of the pet industry. The Sacramento study also is funded locally by the California Council of Companion Animal Advocates, whose members include representatives from veterinary medicine, humane organizations, private breeder associations and the pet industry. How does S.O.S. work? During the next year, survey workers will be stationed at the Sacramento City animal shelter, the Sacramento County animal shelter and the Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter. The workers will interview pet owners who are bringing animals to the shelters. The owners will be asked questions about their experiences with cats and dogs in general and with the particular animals they are relinquishing. In addition to the shelter interviews, pet owners will be randomly interviewed at Sacramento-area shopping centers. Their answers to many of the same survey questions will provide a "control group" of data to be compared with responses of owners who are giving up their pets to the shelters. What questions will be asked? Here are a few examples: • What problems have you experienced with the pet you are relinquishing? (Only for shelter interviews.) • How often do you think the animal was too noisy during the past month? • Is it true or false that it will cost more than $100 a year to keep a dog or cat as a pet? • How much training or instruction did you obtain in the care and management of your pet? What is the purpose of S.O.S? The study was designed to identify characteristics of the animals and their owners that may influence and possibly predict the success or failure of the owner-pet relationship. Such characteristics might include animal behavioral problems such as barking in dogs and furniture-scratching in cats or unrealistic expectations in owners. Once these key characteristics are identified, Kass and colleagues at other universities hope they can design educational programs to help owners deal with some of the problems and, in the long run, prevent the massive euthanization of unwanted cats and dogs.