iCatConnect spotlights practical strategies for cat welfare

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International Cat Care is promoting iCatConnect as a global online event focused on practical cat welfare challenges, bringing together more than 15 international speakers to discuss cat overpopulation, unowned cat care, shelter and homing practice, Trap-Neuter-Return, community engagement, and end-of-life decision-making. The event builds on iCatCare’s first iCatConnect meeting in 2024 and, in its 2025 program, was delivered as a free online session with live panels, case studies, audience Q&A, and up to 4.5 hours of CPD. The initiative is tied to iCatCare’s broader unowned-cat strategy work, supported by Battersea’s Global Enabler funding, which is aimed at building shared knowledge and more coordinated, system-level change across the companion animal welfare sector. (aiam.org.au)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the event reflects a wider shift in feline welfare from reactive rescue alone toward population-level, collaborative management that includes veterinary teams, shelters, municipalities, and community caregivers. That matters because iCatCare and its partners are explicitly framing neutering, homing, shelter flow, and community cat programs as connected parts of a long-term welfare strategy, not stand-alone interventions. (icam-coalition.org)

What to watch: Watch for future iCatConnect programming, and for how iCatCare’s multi-country unowned-cat initiatives translate conference themes into country-specific frameworks, training, and veterinary-facing guidance. (icatcare.org)