Free Course Teaches Abu Dhabi Residents to Improve Stray Cat Welfare

Abu Dhabi Animal Welfare and Microchipped.ae, in partnership with the Department of Community Development, have launched a free online training course designed to help volunteers move beyond feeding stray cats toward more comprehensive and humane care. The course covers nine modules developed by Microchipped.ae and Animal Welfare Abu Dhabi, offering lessons on how to safely manage stray-cat communities informed by the trap-neuter-return (TNR) process.

The online course, which takes approximately three hours to complete and includes how-to videos, addresses topics such as recognising disease, handling equipment safely, and using emotional intelligence when interacting both with animals and members of the public. Three veterinary clinics — the British Veterinary Centre, Mike’s Veterinary Clinic in Dubai, and Pet Pavilion in Mussaffah — are supporting the content with professional endorsements and health-and-safety guidelines.

More than 4,000 stray cats across Abu Dhabi already receive support via community care programmes involving volunteer feeding, veterinary care, and TNR efforts. Since launch, the new course has drawn over 110 volunteer sign-ups within days.

If successful, organisers plan to expand the model to include training for care of other animal species, with separate protocols for dogs and wildlife.