Thank you to Crain’s for celebrating women and affirming the power we have to be a driving force for change. Being in a room with women who are using their influence to do exactly that — in business, in their communities, in the lives of others — was a reminder of what’s possible when women are in positions of leadership.

As a young girl, I loved animals and dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. Life took me in a different direction, but my love of animals never left. When I started BISSELL Pet Foundation at age 52, I had a deep belief that the pets waiting in our nation’s shelters deserved more, and that I could help. My childhood dream came full circle in ways I never could have imagined.

My foundation began by giving grants to shelters and rescue organizations doing the hard work on the ground. But I knew we could do more — so we built national initiatives focused on adoption, transport, crisis response, and spay and neuter that have impacted more than one million pets.

Even as our momentum grew, I kept asking the same question:

What if we could stop pets from ending up in shelters in the first place?

We knew prevention was the key to keeping animals out of shelters. But as a foundation, we weren’t doing it directly — and we didn’t know if we could. I challenged my team to find a new way, and we created a formula for delivering high-volume spay and neuter care at a low cost that we hadn’t seen done before. That became Fix the Future®, our national disruptor model focused on prevention — scaling spay/neuter access to stop pet homelessness before it starts.

Here’s how it works:

The root cause of pet homelessness is lack of access to affordable spay and neuter care. While traditional animal welfare efforts focus on adoption after pets enter shelters, Fix the Future shifts the system toward prevention. We send veterinarians into communities, providing spay/neuter services alongside vaccines and microchipping. It’s now the nation’s largest spay and neuter program.

In 2025 alone, we completed more than 211,000 surgeries. This year, we’re aiming for 230,000 across 27 states. Changing an entire system seemed impossible — but we found a way to make it happen.

To any woman reading this: your work is important and the impact you’re having is real, even when it doesn’t feel that way. Don’t be afraid, and don’t give up on your dreams — you never know where they will lead you. What I’ve learned is that it’s never too late to make a difference. And when you’re passion-driven, you’ll find a way to do things that once seemed impossible.

And to the veterinarians, shelter partners, donors, volunteers, and the incredible team at BISSELL Pet Foundation: thank you. Every milestone we’ve reached belongs to all of you.

Until every pet has a home,

Cathy Bissell

This is something I see far too often. Through the work my foundation supports across the country, especially in the South, dogs are found shot every day, and others are hurt in ways that are hard to understand. Even the clinic in Louisiana that treats many of these dogs is shocked by how frequently they see dogs with gunshot injuries. Some can live with their injury, but many require surgeries that cost thousands of dollars. It’s a priority for me to help as many of these injured pets as I can to stop their suffering and help them have a future in a loving family.

It’s also personal for me. One of my own dogs, Ranger, was found with a gunshot injury and a broken leg, trying to survive on his own in unimaginable pain. The bullet went through his femur, breaking his leg in 2 places, and then lodged into his other leg, where it remains today. I brought him back to Michigan, and he had a lengthy and complicated surgery requiring a plate. I’ve seen firsthand what that kind of suffering looks like.

And in these two recent cases, the circumstances were heartbreakingly similar. Both times, a family pet slipped through a fence and ended up in a neighbor’s yard. They weren’t causing harm.

Both dogs were shot.

In one case, a witness later shared that the dog wasn’t behaving aggressively, just sniffing in the bushes. Unfortunately, the eyewitness was too afraid of retribution to tell animal control what she had seen. The other case involved a person known for shooting dogs on his property, who has never faced consequences. How have we come to this point?

Their families did everything they could—rushing to emergency care, facing overwhelming costs that they couldn’t really afford, making impossible decisions just to save them. The pet owners may have already been struggling to afford their pet’s care, and now they are saddled with enormous bills—because their neighbor made a choice to shoot their dog.

I understand that people get scared. We’ve all seen the headlines, and those stories stay with you. But these weren’t moments of immediate danger. They were moments where something went wrong—where a gate didn’t latch or a fence gave way.

And the response was irreversible.

It’s hard to reconcile. We love our pets deeply. We call them family. They comfort us, ground us, and are part of our everyday lives. But in moments like these, it’s as if none of that matters.

I keep coming back to a simple question: when did we lose patience for these kinds of mistakes?

Because they are mistakes. Fences fail. Dogs slip out. It happens, even to responsible pet owners.

None of that should end in violence.

There are always other options—calling a neighbor, contacting animal control, giving someone the chance to make it right. Small decisions in those moments can change everything.

I don’t think this is about policy as much as it is about perspective. It’s about choosing to pause rather than react. It’s about remembering that the animal in front of you is someone’s beloved pet, not a threat to eliminate.

Most of us will never face a moment like that. But we all help shape what happens next—by what we accept, what we question, and how we show up for each other and for the pets in our community.

Until every pet has a home,

Cathy Bissell

My first answer was no.

Last year, I had the opportunity to speak virtually at the United Spay Alliance Conference. That conversation was recently released as part of the United We Spay podcast with Stacy LeBaron.

Hearing it again reminded me how quickly things have evolved, and I wanted to share the back story of Fix the Future® with all of you.

The Call: 2023

At the time, BISSELL Pet Foundation wasn’t doing spay and neuter work directly. We were funding it—providing grants, following up, making sure the work was being done well. But running clinics ourselves? That wasn’t our model.

Then a call came from someone I knew at the Humane Society who had been working in Puerto Rico.

She asked if we could help run a spay/neuter project there.

I said, “We don’t do that.”

And she said, “You can. I know you can.”

That moment changed everything. She challenged me—and we did it.

Puerto Rico: Where It All Shifted

My team and I pulled together nine veterinarians and 26 vet techs. We raised $175,000 in three phone calls, shipped equipment to the island, and after a few months of planning, 1,222 pets were spayed and neutered within six days.

What we saw there made something very clear: the need was immediate, overwhelming and solvable, if the right pieces were in place.

All the equipment we purchased remains on the island and continues to be used, still helping animals today.

That project showed us what was possible. It sparked an idea.

Building a New Model

After Puerto Rico, I kept thinking about communities closer to home: Detroit, rural Southern towns where I had relationships, places where access to veterinary care simply didn’t exist in a meaningful way. Could we replicate what we did in Puerto Rico?

Because the problem isn’t that people don’t care about their pets; it’s that they can’t get help. Appointments were months out. Clinics were overwhelmed. The procedure was too expensive. And in the meantime, litters kept coming into shelters.

We realized quickly this wasn’t just a funding problem. It was an access problem. And that meant we had to think differently.

Fix the Future®

Fix the Future began organically from that realization. It was a response to a growing need and the understanding that organizations like BISSELL Pet Foundation had to step up in a creative way to meet the need.

We built a model that connects high-quality, high-volume veterinarians with communities that need them most. Local organizations provide space, staffing and support. BPF funds the veterinarians directly. And together, we provide access for pet owners, shelter pets and TNR groups.

Since November 2023, we’ve:

• Served more than 350,000 pets.

• Built a network of 311 veterinarians actively performing surgery.

• Supported 180+ organizations in 27 states.

Communities are constantly reaching out for help, and we continue to grow the program to try to meet the demand.

A Program Designed to Disrupt

This program was intentionally built to break down the barriers of the existing system that kept pets from getting spay and neuter care. It is designed for everyone, regardless of income or number of pets.

Because the reality is simple: even people who are willing and able to pay often can’t get appointments. Clinics are booked out for months, costs continue to rise, and the system cannot keep up with demand. When access breaks down, the result is the same everywhere: more unplanned litters and overwhelmed shelters.

What makes the Fix the Future model different is the way it delivers care. It brings high-volume veterinary teams directly into communities and focuses on efficiency and safety at scale, like we did in Puerto Rico. Each surgeon performs in large numbers, typically 40 to 60 cats per day or 30 to 50 dogs.

That structure is what changes everything. It reduces cost, increases capacity, and removes the typical barriers. Additionally, pets also receive vaccinations and microchips to help keep them healthy and in their homes.

A Story That Stays with Me

During that podcast conversation, I shared a story that’s stayed with me.

A 17-year-old girl reached out because she had 23 cats in her home and no support. The situation had spiraled beyond what she could manage.

She drove six hours—with 9 cats in her car—to get help. When we gave her gas money, she cried.

That’s what people are dealing with. Our approach is: help everyone as much as we can.

Spay and neuter should be the foundation of everything we do in animal welfare. It should be accessible. It should be prioritized. And it should not be out of reach for anyone.

Because without it, we will always be catching up to suffering instead of preventing it.

Change is Possible

In the end, this work comes down to something very simple. Every animal deserves a chance at a healthy life. And every community feels the consequences when that chance is out of reach.

We cannot adopt our way out of the overpopulation crisis. We only move forward when we prevent the suffering before it begins.

That is what spay and neuter makes possible.

And if there’s one thing I hope people take from this conversation, it’s this: change is possible when we are willing to challenge ourselves to do things differently.

We all can do more. The time is now to make a difference.

It’s the kind of heartbreaking story that grabs attention because of its scale. And for most people, the immediate reaction is the same: How did this happen?

I ask that question every time I see a case like this, but unfortunately, I know the answer.

Because the truth is, this isn’t rare. It’s something we are seeing more and more often across the country.

At BISSELL Pet Foundation, our Animal Incident Management® team is regularly called in when situations like this reach a breaking point. Over the past several years, we have responded to cases involving hundreds of animals at a time, stepping in alongside shelters and law enforcement to stabilize conditions and help place pets safely.

Sometimes the calls come from authorities. Sometimes from shelters or from people in the community who are in the rescue network. And sometimes, they come from the very people who started the rescue, once things have become too overwhelming to manage.

Not all of these situations begin with bad intentions. In fact, most begin with compassion.

Here’s how it happens. Someone sees a dog at risk and wants to help. Then another. And another. At first, it’s great—they are making a difference. Unfortunately, it’s a slippery slope. They continue to step in to save lives, often without the resources, infrastructure, or support system needed to sustain that work and provide for the pets long-term.

Over time, the mission shifts from saving pets to simply collecting them. Animals go without proper medical care and food. Living conditions decline. Numbers grow beyond what anyone can safely manage.

Eventually, the situation becomes a crisis for the very pets they set out to save.

This is the part of animal welfare that is hard to talk about. Because we all want to believe that every rescue is a good rescue. And many are.

There are incredible rescue organizations across this country doing lifesaving work every single day. BISSELL Pet Foundation’s rescue partners are transparent, responsible and deeply committed to the animals in their care. We honestly couldn’t do our work without reliable rescue groups.

But not every group operates that way.

And as someone who has spent years responding to these situations, I believe we have a responsibility to be honest about that.

If you are donating, fostering, or adopting, take a moment to understand who you are supporting. Credible organizations are transparent and willing to share information. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s worth taking a closer look—and reaching out to your local shelter for guidance. Ask them which rescues they partner with. Ask who they trust.

Shelters are on the front lines of this work, and they often have a clear view of which organizations are truly helping, and which ones may be struggling.

The situation is complicated. We need rescues. They play a critical role in animal welfare, especially for pets who need extra time, care, or specialized placement.

But rescue work has to be sustainable. It requires planning, resources and the ability to make difficult decisions, including when to say no to taking in more pets than the rescue can handle. Because when that doesn’t happen, the outcome can look like what we saw two weeks ago.

Every one of us wants to help pets in need. The best way to do that is to make sure our support is going to organizations that are equipped to provide safe, humane and responsible care.

And sometimes, helping simply means speaking up. More than 300 lives were saved because people in the Lake Hughes community recognized something wasn’t right and took action.

We all can do more to protect animals. The time is now to make a difference.

Until every pet has a home,
Cathy Bissell

This appeared in an “advertorial” section that looked very much like a feature story, complete with a table of contents and profiles of local businesses. While labeled promotional content, meaning the pages were paid for by the businesses highlighted, the casual reader could easily interpret it as an endorsement from the magazine.

This is what we are up against.

After more than 15 years in animal welfare, it was a discouraging reminder of how much misunderstanding still exists about where many retail puppies come from.

Most puppy stores do not breed the dogs they sell. Instead, puppies are typically sourced from large commercial breeding operations. Buyers rarely see the conditions where those dogs are raised, meet the parent dogs, or understand the full story behind how those puppies arrived in a storefront window. Many are transported long distances before ever being placed for sale.

What people rarely think about are the parent dogs behind those puppies.

Last week, BISSELL Pet Foundation worked alongside National Mill Dog Rescue to help move nearly 250 dogs discarded by commercial breeders. Most of them are the mothers and fathers who were used for breeding and are no longer considered useful or profitable. They are Corgis, Shih Tzus, Jack Russells, Maltipoos, Huskies, and other popular breeds people recognize from pet store windows. They were safely transported to several of our trusted partners who were waiting with loving arms.

Without rescue, their future would have been uncertain.

These are the dogs people never see when they walk into a puppy store. They are the ones who have spent their lives producing litter after litter, often confined to cages, never knowing a life beyond the breeding facility. Most have never felt grass under their feet or experienced a gentle human touch.

BISSELL Pet Foundation’s Animal Incident Management® (AIM) team frequently responds when dogs from puppy mills and large-scale commercial breeding operations need rescue and placement. By the time we are called, these animals have spent years living as breeding machines rather than companions.

When someone buys a puppy from a retail store, they aren’t thinking about these dogs. They see an adorable puppy in a clean window display and choose to believe everything behind that moment is just as wholesome.

But the truth is that every puppy sale begins somewhere, and too often it begins with a parent dog suffering for years.

Today, nearly 250 dogs are getting a fresh start. They’re feeling grass under their paws, learning what kindness looks like, and will soon find homes where they are loved as family.

At BISSELL Pet Foundation, we do not support large-scale breeding operations that put profit over the well-being of dogs. Whether they are called commercial breeders, backyard breeders, or puppy mills, too many animals in these systems experience lives of neglect.

Please share this story so more people understand the reality behind puppy stores and the breeding industry that supplies them.

The time is now to make a difference.

Until every pet has a home,
Cathy Bissell

We became involved when BPF’s Animal Incident Management® (AIM) team was called to support the rescuer working on this case in rural Louisiana. There, a property owner was overwhelmed with about a dozen adult dogs in his care, none of them spayed or neutered. Then, one female gave birth, adding nine puppies overnight.

That was on a Saturday.

By Monday morning, two more females had given birth, bringing the total to 19 puppies in just 48 hours.

This is the position the lack of prevention puts us in.

Almost every single adult dog on the property tested positive for heartworm. While heartworm disease is preventable, it’s costly and time-consuming to treat. It is already difficult to place large dogs in today’s shelter environment. Add heartworm treatment, extended medical holds, and limited foster space, and the challenge grows exponentially. Then add nearly twenty puppies needing placement, and the impact spreads quickly across multiple organizations being asked to help.

Today, all three mothers and their litters are in foster care with one of our shelter partners, where they’ll grow healthy and strong before finding loving homes. The mothers are beginning heartworm treatment. All of the other adult dogs have received medical care and spay/neuter and have been placed with BPF partners, where they ultimately will be available for adoption.

Yes, this story has a hopeful ending. But it is also a story about what happens when a community’s pet owners have nowhere to turn for support.

In many parts of the country, accessible and affordable spay/neuter services simply don’t exist. And when prevention is missing, a crisis becomes inevitable. We have been seeing this play out with particular urgency in the rural South.

Additionally, we are repeatedly learning about law enforcement in Arkansas being called into situations involving neglect, uncontrolled breeding and abuse. Local rescues are asked to step in for animals that need immediate placement, yet no proactive steps are taken at the local or state level. The cycle continues, and the burden on shelters and rescues grows, and pets continue to be the victims.

Recently, some of our partners took in dogs who had been beaten and severely neglected from an Arkansas abuse case. The conditions were horrifying. Two dogs were particularly traumatized. With time, medical care, and patient love, they have begun to trust again. One of them, a dog named Rosie, has already been adopted into a safe and loving home.

Stories like Rosie’s remind us what’s possible. But without changing the system to hold owners accountable for neglect and abuse, and making it possible for owners to get care, we remain in reaction mode, moving dogs from crisis rather than preventing suffering in the first place.

These cases break my heart. At BPF, we are doing everything we can to expand spay/neuter access where it’s needed most, but I know we have to keep pushing for more.

In April, our AIM team and Arkansas Shelter Alliance partners will sit down with coalitions across Arkansas, including animal control leaders and law enforcement, to talk about expanding spay/neuter access, increasing wellness services, and creating proactive plans to stop the cycle before it starts.

We are taking the time to do this because it’s not just one property where suffering is happening. These are the kinds of calls we receive every day, responding to crises that could have been prevented.

If we truly want fewer animals to suffer, we have to invest in spay and neuter to stop the cycle at its source. The time is now to make a difference.

Until every pet has a home,
Cathy Bissell

The way we talk about animal shelters matters. And it’s time for us to stop using the term “kill shelter.”

I understand where that phrase came from. It grew out of a movement that wanted to reduce euthanasia and push for better outcomes for pets. It began with compassion.

But over time, the language has created confusion, division, and real harm, often to the very shelters and animals we’re all trying to protect.

I’ve spent time inside large municipal shelters that take in every animal who comes through their doors, cruelty cases, severely injured pets, large-scale neglect situations, dogs with serious behavioral challenges. They don’t get to choose what walks in. They serve their entire community.

And yet, because of a percentage, a single live release rate, some of these shelters are labeled in ways that imply they lack compassion.

That has never felt right to me.

When a community shelter is called a “kill shelter,” families hesitate to walk through the doors. Volunteers question where to give their time. Donors look elsewhere. Who wants to adopt from or support a place associated with killing?

And the animals inside that building are the ones who pay the price.

The “no-kill” designation is often tied to a 90% live release rate. On paper, that sounds straightforward. But that number doesn’t tell you whether animals are housed humanely or in overcrowded conditions. It doesn’t tell you how long pets are waiting for homes. It doesn’t tell you whether disease is spreading or whether staff are stretched beyond capacity.

A single metric cannot capture the complexity of this work.

Over the years, I’ve also watched how these labels fuel public criticism, especially on social media, without context about the cases shelters are handling or the responsibilities they carry. That kind of pressure doesn’t create better outcomes. It creates fear, burnout, and sometimes drives good people out of this field entirely.

When BPF asked more than 100 shelters about this issue, nearly all told us the same thing: these labels confuse the public and make an already difficult job even harder.

I believe compassion shows up in daily decisions, balancing public safety, animal welfare, limited space, and often limited funding and staffing.

Believe me, I want to save every pet possible. Through my foundation, and in my own home, I have supported and taken in dogs that were difficult, sick, or severely injured. Some have stayed with me. Others I’ve worked with until they were ready to be placed with the right family.

But I’ve also learned that not every animal is safe to place in a home. Some dogs, particularly those with severe, unmanageable aggression, cannot be rehabilitated in a way that makes them safe for a family — especially when so many other highly adoptable pets are waiting for homes.

Placing an animal where someone could be injured isn’t responsible. And keeping a dog confined in a kennel for years, deteriorating emotionally and mentally, simply to maintain a label isn’t humane either.

These are heartbreaking decisions made by people who care deeply. No one enters this field because they want to euthanize animals. They do it because they want to help them.

Not everyone will agree with every decision. But compassion cannot be reduced to a single metric. Sometimes it means making impossible choices and doing the best you can for the animals and the community.

In recent years, I’ve seen an unfortunate pattern emerge from the labels we impose on shelters. Well-intentioned individuals, desperate to save dogs from euthanasia lists, start rescues without the resources, staffing, or infrastructure needed for the long term. What begins with good intentions can quickly become overwhelming.

BPF has been called in more and more frequently to respond and find placement for pets when those efforts reach a crisis point. We have found dogs warehoused for months or left in unsafe conditions after funding ran out or support systems collapsed. No one sets out for that to happen. But sometimes, the outcome of these rescue efforts can be even worse for the pets involved. They often are forced to endure years of suffering, without adequate food, shelter or veterinary care. This is not a solution; it compounds the problem.

If we truly want fewer animals to suffer, we have to move beyond labels and start having honest conversations about the complexity of this work.

I don’t claim to have all the answers. But I do believe this: when we change the way we talk about shelters, we create opportunities for better solutions, and better outcomes, for the animals we all care about.

The time is now to make a difference.

Until every pet has a home,
Cathy Bissell

Subscribe now

“We are overwhelmed.”
“My staff is exhausted.”

Over the last couple of years, animal shelters have been facing a level of strain that feels different from when I first started my foundation. Intake is rising in many communities. Families are being forced to move because of rent increases and housing restrictions that don’t allow pets. Veterinary shortages mean people struggle to access affordable care — especially spay and neuter. Economic pressures are pushing loving pet owners into heartbreaking decisions.

All of this adds up to more pets entering shelters.

I’ve walked through facilities where kennels are doubled up, offices have been converted into temporary dog housing, and staff members are doing everything they can to create calm in an environment that is anything but calm. And still, more animals keep coming through the door.

While this isn’t ideal for the pets, the toll on the people also concerns me. Shelter professionals are some of the most compassionate and resilient people I know. But compassion fatigue is real. They are making incredibly difficult decisions about the pets in their care every day. They witness things most of us are fortunate never to have to see, like the results of neglect and abuse. When the weight of that never lets up, it takes a toll on them emotionally.

I’m not sharing this to create alarm. I’m sharing it because it’s the truth. If we care about saving lives, we have to understand how much pressure the system is under and what we can all do to make a difference.

I spend every day thinking about these challenges and working toward solutions. I want to share what I’m seeing — and what we’re learning — because shelters truly are the heart of animal welfare in this country. Supporting them matters deeply to me; it’s how we save lives.

The time is now to make a difference.

Until every pet has a home,
Cathy Bissell

Shelters are under extraordinary strain. I see it every day: staff stretched thin, animals staying longer, communities trying to keep up with challenges driven by housing insecurity, veterinary shortages and economic pressure. At the same time, I also see real progress when shelters, advocates and communities come together with the right support. Both of those truths exist at once.

For a long time, I’ve shared these observations, stories and updates through BISSELL Pet Foundation’s website. I’ve written about what’s working, what isn’t, and what it actually takes—on the ground—to reduce pet homelessness in a meaningful way. Transparency and learning have always been part of how we approach this work.

This Substack is an extension of that commitment.

At BISSELL Pet Foundation, we lead national initiatives to address the root causes of pet homelessness—including Fix the Future®, now one of the largest spay and neuter programs in the country, increasing access to adoption through our Empty the Shelters® events, and responding to emergencies that place immediate strain on already full shelters. We also stand alongside shelters and rescues facing some of the hardest situations imaginable—from cruelty and neglect cases to large-scale intakes that increasingly require outside help.

This work matters because it saves lives.

Here, I’ll continue sharing my writing—building on what we publish through BISSELL Pet Foundation, but also creating space for reflection, context and conversation. I’ll write about what I’m seeing in real time, where progress is happening, and where we need to push harder if we’re serious about lasting change for pets and the people who care for them.

If you’ve followed my writing before, thank you for being here again. If this is your first time joining the conversation, welcome. I hope what I share here helps you better understand the challenges, and the opportunities facing animal welfare today.

The need is urgent. I’m grateful to have a place to keep this conversation going with you. If you have any questions or topics you’d like me to discuss, I’ll always do my best to answer them. Please help spread the word by sharing this Substack with others who are passionate about animal welfare and creating real change.

Until every pet has a home,
Cathy Bissell

Subscribe now