Factors Informing Outcomes for Older Cats and Dogs in Animal Shelters

Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia-Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their Outcomes

Access to comprehensive municipal pound, animal welfare shelters, and rescue group data for admissions and outcomes for stray and owner-relinquished cats in Australia is currently lacking. This hinders effective assessment of existing management strategies for domestic cats by animal management agencies. Our study aimed to estimate the numbers of cat admissions and intakes to Australian municipal council pounds, animal welfare organizations (excluding smaller animal welfare organizations thought to have annual cat intakes of less than 500), and animal rescue groups and their respective outcomes for 2018-2019 (pre-COVID). Unavailable municipal council data were imputed based on known data and council human populations. Only Victoria and New South Wales had publicly available municipal data, and only RSPCA had publicly available data in all states. We estimated a total of 179,615 (7.2/1000 human residents) admissions to pounds, shelters, and rescue groups in 2018-2019, with an estimated 5% reclaimed, 65% rehomed, and 28% euthanized. Reclaim rates were low across all the agencies. Councils operating their own pound had nearly double the euthanasia rate (estimated at 46%) compared to animal welfare organizations (25%). Rescue groups rehomed an estimated 35% of the total number of cats rehomed by all agencies. The upper quartiles of councils with intakes of >50 cats in Victoria and New South Wales had estimated euthanasia rates from 73% to 98%, and 67% to 100%, respectively. We recommend that comprehensive municipal pound, shelter, and rescue statistics be routinely calculated using standardized methods and made available publicly in a timely fashion. This would inform management strategies to optimize live outcomes and therefore reduce the negative mental health impacts on staff tasked with euthanizing healthy and treatable cats and kittens.

Animal sheltering: A scoping literature review grounded in institutional ethnography

A diverse research literature now exists on the animals, staff and organisations involved in animal sheltering. We reviewed this research through the lens of institutional ethnography, a method of inquiry that focuses on the actual work that people do within institutions. The main topics, identified through a larger ethnographic study of animal sheltering, were: (i) research about shelter staff and officers; (ii) the relinquishment of animals to shelters; and (iii) animals' length of stay in shelters. After reviewing the literature, we held focus groups with shelter personnel to explore how their work experiences are or are not represented in the research. The review showed that stress caused by performing euthanasia has attracted much research, but the decision-making that leads to euthanasia, which may involve multiple staff and potential conflict, has received little attention. Research on 'compassion fatigue' has also tended to focus on euthanasia but a granular description about the practical and emotional work that personnel undertake that generates such fatigue is missing. Published research on both relinquishment and length of stay is dominated by metrics (questionnaires) and often relies upon shelter records, despite their limitations. Less research has examined the actual work processes involved in managing relinquishment as well as monitoring and reducing animals' length of stay. Institutional ethnography's focus on people's work activities can provide a different and more nuanced understanding of what is happening in animal sheltering and how it might better serve the needs of the animals and staff.

When and Why Cats Are Returned to Shelters

There is considerable research on why cats are initially relinquished to shelters, but much less attention has been given to returns, despite the significant implications for shelter capacity and cat welfare. Furthermore, the structure of many databases fails to account for cats who are returned beyond 30 days, despite this making up a substantial portion of returns. In the current study, we examined common risk factors and reasons for return in a population of 2642 shelter cats. We found that cats who were older at the time of adoption or had a bite history had an increased risk of return, whereas cats that were in foster care prior to adoption had a decreased risk of return. We divided the returns by the time to return (<30 days: short term, >30 days: long term) to examine whether time to return had an impact. Approximately half the cats were returned in the short term. Cats were more likely to be returned for reasons, such as behavior, unwanted, and other pet in the short term and personal reasons, cost, euthanasia, and stray in the long-term return. Strategies to reduce returns should consider different solutions for short and long returns to maximize effectiveness.

Financial and Socio-Economic Effects of Investment in the Context of Dog Population Management

The modern world faces serious challenges associated with the presence of stray dogs on the streets, especially in urban areas. Vardar Planning Region in North Macedonia, which consists of nine municipalities, experiences such challenges. According to current reports, the number of stray dogs on the streets of cities in this region has increased, which has resulted in an increase in the number of dog attacks on residents. As the existing capacities are small in the registered shelters, we considered the possibility of building a new shelter for stray dogs to meet the needs of this region. The goal of our paper is the evaluation of the financial and socio-economic justifications for the construction of a shelter for stray dogs in the Vardar Planning Region (VPR). The results of the financial justification analysis show that the project does not provide satisfactory financial results. Namely, the Financial Net Present Value (FNPV) is negative, with a value of EUR 75,291. The Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR) is 0.57%, lower than the discount rate, which is not acceptable for a private investor. The Financial Benefit-Cost Ratio (FB/CR) of this project is 0.925, suggesting that the total discounted costs are greater than the total discounted revenues. On the other hand, the expected socio-economic benefits from this project are multifaceted, including savings in stray dog bite costs, savings in the cost of traffic accidents caused by stray dogs, and savings in the treatment of diseases caused by stray dogs. The results of the economic analysis show that this investment has full socio-economic justification and that it should be implemented. The Economic Net Present Value (ENPV) is positive and amounts to EUR 789,916. The Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR) is 25.94% and the Economic Benefit-Cost Ratio (EB/CR) amounts to 1.90, i.e., greater than 1. The results of the sensitivity analysis also confirm the justification for the realization of this project.

Adoption Can Be a Risky Business: Risk Factors Predictive of Dogs Adopted from RSPCA Queensland Being Returned

Not all dog adoptions are successful. This two-year retrospective study used survival (i.e., time-to-event) analyses to investigate readmissions for dogs adopted from RSPCA Queensland shelters between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2020. A better understanding of temporal patterns and risk factors associated with readmission may help RSPCA Queensland shelters better target and tailor resources to improve retention by adopters. The failure function (the cumulative percentage of adoptions that were readmitted by day of the adoption period) increased rapidly during the first 14 days of the adoption period. Approximately two-thirds of all returns occurred in this period. This readmission rate may have been influenced by the RSPCA Queensland adoption-fee refund policy. The cumulative percentage of adoptions that were readmitted plateaued at just under 15%. Dog size, age, coat colour, breed, and spending time in foster before adoption were factors associated with the risk of readmission. Failure functions for a low and a high-risk adoption example demonstrated the large degree of difference in hazard of readmission between covariate patterns, with estimated percentages of adoptions being returned by 90 days for those examples being 2% and 17%, respectively. Spending time in foster care before adoption appears to be protective against readmission, presumably because it supports a successful transition to the new home environment. Behaviour support and training provided for dogs during foster care may contribute to improve their outcomes. These findings highlight the profile of the higher-risk dogs potentially providing shelters with an opportunity to examine where and how resources could be allocated to maximize outcomes for the overall cohort. Population attributable 90-day failure estimates were calculated for each of bodyweight and age at adoption, coat colour, spending time in foster care before adoption, and breed. This calculation shows the expected reduction in the cumulative percentage of dogs readmitted by day 90 if the hazards of readmission for higher risk categories were reduced to those of a lower risk category. Expected reductions for individual factors ranged from 1.8% to 3.6% with one additional estimate of 6.8%. Risk of readmission could be reduced through increased development of foster capacity and capability, targeted interventions, improved adopter-dog matching processes, and more effective targeting of support for higher risk dogs, such as older or larger dogs. Population impact analyses provide a macro view that could assist shelters in strategically assessing the return on investment for various strategies aiming to improve adoption outcomes and potentially reduce readmissions.

COVID-19 associated reduction in elective spay-neuter surgeries for dogs and cats

The rise in subsidized spay-neuter access helped drive the euthanasia of shelter pets in the US from an estimated 13. 5 million in 1973 to 1.5 million in 2019. When the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered lockdowns beginning in March 2020, many veterinary providers suspended nonessential services such as routine spay-neuter surgeries. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volume of spay-neuter procedures performed by spay-neuter clinics. A retrospective study of patient data from 212 spay-neuter clinics using Clinic HQ practice management software was conducted from January 2019 through December 2021. The clinics collectively performed 1,217,240 surgeries in the pre-COVID baseline year of 2019. A sharp decline in surgeries began in March 2020 (−22%) and reached a nadir in April 2020 (−80%). Surgeries began to increase in May 2020 (−39%), before plateauing in July 2020 (−6%) and remaining slightly below the 2019 baseline in most months through the end of 2021. Compared to 2019, total surgeries decreased 13% to 1,059,388 in 2020 and decreased 3% to 1,184,274 in 2021. In 2020, when clinic disruptions were highest, the impact of the surgery cutbacks varied by geographic region, species, age, and source of animals. Compared with 2019, in 2020 surgeries decreased 17% in the Midwest region, 15% in the Northeast and West, and 11% in the South. Surgeries were reduced 19% in dogs and 10% in cats. When grouped by age, surgeries were reduced by 18% in geriatrics, 14% in adults, and 11% in juveniles. Reductions were similar for females (−14%) and males (−12%) and similar for unowned/organization-owned animals (−14%) and privately owned animals (−12%). In total, 190,818 fewer surgeries were performed by the 212 studied clinics in the 24 months from January 2020 through December 2021 than would be expected had 2019 levels been maintained. If a similar pattern was experienced by other spay/neuter providers in the US, it would suggest there is a deficit of more than 2.7 million spay/neuter surgeries that animal welfare organizations have yet to address.

The Potential Impact of a Dog Training Program on the Animal Adoptions in an Italian Shelter

Simple Summary

Human–dog relationships are mainly focused on the physical and emotional wellbeing, and has much evolved in the last decades, becoming even more intense over time. Such a novel conception should also be applied to the life that takes place in kennels, which have been mistakenly regarded as a landfill or a burden on society for too many years. Here, we took into consideration an Italian shelter, and analyzed 555 adopted dogs who underwent a well-detailed behavioral training program, to assess the potential impact of the education upon the adoption of attitude. We documented a higher increase in the number of adoptions both for adult and senior animals when compared to the age-matched untrained dogs. Collectively, our data highlight the importance of a proper training, mainly accomplished with reward methods, to get a more suitable and balanced owner-dog attachment.

Abstract

One of the main concerns of the human–dog relationship is today associated with the quality life inside the kennels, which are very often regarded as animal dump where dogs are exiled, representing a burden on society. In the present study we sought to investigate the importance of performing an appropriate behavioral program on the adoption chances within an Italian shelter, near Naples (Ottaviano). In this respect, we enrolled 555 adopted dogs of different ages, who followed a tailored-4-month lasting training program between 2018 and 2020. Once entered there, they were carefully examined by the veterinary behaviorist, and directed towards a suited training program, to improve living conditions. We documented a higher number of both adult and senior dogs who left the kennel and were adopted, compared to the age-matched untrained animals (n = 479), housed in the same kennel from 2015 to 2017. Taken together, the present data highlight an important role for training in improving the natural attitudes of the companion dogs, thus pointing towards a better human–animal bond.

Trends in Intake and Outcome Data From U.S. Animal Shelters From 2016 to 2020

In this retrospective, exploratory study, intake and outcome data were compiled from 1,373 U.S. animal shelters for which such data were reported consistently across a five-year study period (2016–2020). Linear regression analysis was used to examine the five-year trends and the impacts of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) on the overall trends in intake and outcomes in U.S. animal shelters. The results of the analysis reveal that total intake and euthanasia for both dogs and cats significantly decreased over the study period. The adoption, return-to-owner, return-to-field, and transfer (for cats) categories as a percentage of intake all showed significant increases. Live release rates as a function of total intakes and total outcomes for both dogs and cats showed significant increases over the study period. The findings from this study address a critical gap in the field by summarizing emerging trends at the national level in how cats and dogs are being served in U.S. animal shelters.

Direct and Indirect Factors Influencing Cat Outcomes at an Animal Shelter

Animal shelters play a vital role for pets, such as transitioning animals between homes, from outdoor communities into homes, caring for unadoptable and community animals, and providing a breadth of veterinary and welfare services. The goal of shelters is to move cats to their appropriate outcome as quickly as possible, which for many animals, is to rehome them as quickly as possible through adoption. Therefore, the ability to identify pre-existing factors, particularly those occurring outside the walls of the shelter, which result in specific outcomes is vital. In this study, we used structural equation modeling to test four hypotheses addressing how to predict cat outcome from a shelter in Washington, D.C. We developed four hypotheses that described how cat outcomes could be predicted, based on four general factors: (1) The characteristics of the cats; (2) The location of origin; (3) The type and date of intake; (4) The length of stay. Using 4 years of data from the Humane Rescue Alliance in Washington, D.C., we found support for each of our hypotheses. Additionally, we tested and found support for a global model, which comprised an amalgamation of our all our predictors. From the global model, we can conclude that many factors are at play in predicting cat outcomes in this shelter and very likely in many others as well. Critically, these factors are interconnected, indicating, for example, that cat characteristics mediate the influence of intake location on outcome type. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of incorporating influences beyond the shelter when attempting to understand cat outcomes. Therefore, to modify cat outcomes most efficiently, such as increasing adoption probabilities, our results show that efforts may be most effective when incorporating multiple factors.

Emergency Fostering of Dogs From Animal Shelters During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Shelter Practices, Foster Caregiver Engagement, and Dog Outcomes

Each year, millions of dogs enter thousands of animal shelters across the United States. Life in the shelter can be stressful, and one type of intervention that improves dogs' experience is human interaction, particularly stays in foster homes. Prior research has demonstrated that fostering can reduce dogs' cortisol and increase their resting activity. Despite these benefits, little is understood about the utilization of foster caregiving in animal shelters, and even less so during a crisis. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization deemed the coronavirus outbreak a worldwide pandemic, and subsequently a nationwide emergency was declared in the United States. Nearly all states issued stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the virus. During this time, media outlets reported increased interest in the adoption and fostering of shelter pets. This study explores canine foster caregiving at 19 US animal shelters during the first 4 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In our investigation, we found that shelters' utilization of foster caregiving increased from March to April 2020 but returned to initial pandemic levels by June 2020. Slightly less than two-fifths of foster caregivers were community members with no prior relationship with the shelter, and these caregivers were over four times more likely to adopt their fostered dogs than those with a pre-existing relationship to the shelter. Individuals fostering with the intention to adopt, in fact, adopted their dogs in nearly three-quarters of those instances. With regards to shelters' available resources, we found that very low-resource shelters relied more heavily on individuals with prior relationships to provide foster caregiving while very high-resource shelters more often recruited new community members. We also found that our lowest resourced shelters transferred more dogs out of their facilities while more resourced shelters rehomed dogs directly to adopters. To our knowledge, these findings represent the first in-depth reporting about dog fostering in US animal shelters and, more specifically, foster caregiving during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, they provide greater understanding of how monetary and human resources were utilized to affect the care and ultimately, the outcomes of shelter dogs during this time.

Critical Problems for Research in Animal Sheltering, a Conceptual Analysis

Animal shelter research has seen significant increases in participation over the past several decades from academic organizations, private organizations, public entities, and even corporations that aims to improve shelter programs, processes, operations, and outcomes for the various stakeholders/participants involved in a shelter system (animals, humans, the community, wildlife, and the environment). These efforts are scattered through a huge variety of different research areas that are challenging to define and scope for organizations seeking to start new lines of research inquiry. This work aims to enumerate some of the most critical outstanding problems for research in animal sheltering in a conceptual framework that is intended to help direct research conversations toward the research topics of highest impact (with the highest quality outcomes possible). To this end, we define seven (7) key areas for research: animal behavior, adoptions and special needs populations, medical conditions, disease transmission, community, ecology, and wellness (one health), operations, and public-private-academic-corporate collaboration. Within each of these areas, we review specific problems and highlight examples of successes in each area in the past several decades. We close with a discussion of some of the topics that were not detailed in this manuscript but, nonetheless, deserve some mention. Through this enumeration, we hope to spur conversation around innovative methodologies, technologies, and concepts in both research and practice in animal sheltering.

Phenotypic Characteristics Associated with Shelter Dog Adoption in the United States

The objective of this study was to identify phenotypic characteristics of dogs predictive of adoption after being received into a shelter. Individual dog records for 2017 were requested from shelters in five states that received municipal funding and utilized electronic record keeping methods. Records from 17 shelters were merged into a dataset of 19,514 potentially adoptable dogs. A simple random sample of 4500 dogs was used for modelling. Variables describing coat length, estimated adult size, and skull type were imputed from breed phenotype. A Cox proportional hazard model with a random effect of shelter was developed for the outcome of adoption using manual forward variable selection. Significance for model inclusion was set at alpha = 0.05. Dogs from shelters in the North were more likely to be adopted than dogs from shelters in the South (hazard ratio (HR) = 3.13, 95% C.I. 1.27-7.67), as were dogs from Western shelters versus those from Southern shelters (HR = 3.81, 95% C.I. 1.43-10.14). The effect of estimated adult size, skull type, and age group on adoption were each modified by time in the shelter (p < 0.001). The results of this study indicate that what dogs look like is predictive of their hazard for adoption from shelters, but the effect of some characteristics on hazard for adoption depend on time in the shelter. Further, this study demonstrates that adopters prefer a certain phenotype of shelter dog including those that are puppies, small sized and not brachycephalic, when accounting for time in the sheltering environment.

Old friends make the best friends: A counter-narrative of aging for people and pets

This study examines the counter-narrative of aging-Old Friends Make the Best Friends-that nonprofit animal rescue organizations collaboratively construct to encourage the adoption of senior dogs and cats. Textual analysis of organizational websites revealed three coordinated strategies for challenging negative assumptions and changing public sentiment: education and advocacy, supportive services, and appeals to altruism. Together, the organizations endorse senior pets as potentially damaged but always resilient, deserving of care and still capable of meaningful life. In doing so, they disrupt dominant scripts of aging as decline with support for the human-animal bond in later life. Ultimately, this counter-narrative normalizes the lived realities of aging for pets and people: It champions the promises of old age by advocating for senior animals and pet guardianship in later life, and it acknowledges the inherent challenges of old age by providing financial, material, and emotional resources to manage the care of senior pets, older adults, and the relationships that sustain them.

A label's a label, no matter the dog: Evaluating the generalizability of the removal of breed labels from adoption cards

A common barrier to entry for New York City (NYC) dog adopters trying to rent apartments is the breed label the animal shelter assigned to their dog, despite the fact the labelling is primarily based on intuition and appearance. Bideawee, a limited admission shelter with three locations in the greater New York area, including one in NYC, phased out breed labels from their adoption cards in December 2017. In this study, we evaluated the generalizability of previous findings, specifically, that the removal of breed labels from adoption cards affected length of stay. Moreover, due to Bideawee's multi-location structure, this study provided a unique opportunity to compare variables across different shelter sites while having shelter administration practices held constant. Data from 16-month time periods before and after breed labels were removed was compared. The median length of stay of a dog at Bideawee decreased by 11.3 days (-37.3%) once breed labels were removed (Mdn = 19.0) compared to when breed labels were in place (Mdn = 30.3). A Mann Whitney test indicated that this difference was statistically significant (U(Nno breed labels = 1259, Nbreed labels = 987) = 386309.5, z = -15.41, p < .001). Dogs with a "green" behavior assessments (on a scale of green, blue, yellow, red) were almost four and a half times more likely to be adopted faster than "red" dogs (HR: 4.495, 95% CI 2.755-7.335, p < .001) before breed labels were removed, but only two times as likely to be adopted faster afterwards (HR: 2.220, 95% CI 1.514-3.254, p < .001). The return rate stayed constant across the two time periods at 6%. These findings provide new insights on dog adoptions in the NYC area and suggest that the removal of breed labels will help all dogs get adopted from animal shelters.

The influence of degree of socialization and age on length of stay of shelter cats

Surveys indicate that cat behaviors, such as degree of friendliness or playfulness, are important to potential adopters and cat owners. There are few data, however, relating the degree of socialization in cats with length of stay (LOS) in a shelter. Based on provided definitions, staff from 31 shelters in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States placed cats (n = 645) into one of three behavioral categories: interactive, approachable, and unapproachable. Age and LOS for each cat were also reported. Using a mixed model analysis that controlled for the effect of shelter, the LOS of interactive cats was 37 days, LOS of approachable cats was 51 days, and LOS of unapproachable cats was 119 days. LOS increased four days, on average, for each additional year of age and there was an interaction between age and behavioral categories. Importantly, LOS of interactive cats was not influenced by age. Future research should explore the effectiveness of cat behavioral modification programs on reducing LOS of shelter cats.

Changes Associated with Improved Outcomes for Cats Entering RSPCA Queensland Shelters from 2011 to 2016

Simple Summary

The aim of this study was to identify changes that contributed to the markedly improved live release of cats in Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Queensland shelters by comparing data from 2011 and 2016. Admission numbers were similar in these two years. The number and percentage euthanized decreased substantially from 58% in 2011 to 15% in 2016. The greatest contributor to this were marked increases in cats rehomed (i.e., adopted). The number of cats adopted doubled from 2011 to 2016, with over half the increase contributed by increased shelter adoptions, and the remainder achieved by increased off-site adoptions, largely through agreements with Petbarn stores. Improved outcomes were facilitated by nearly doubling the number of cats temporarily in foster care. Cats euthanized for behavioral reasons decreased by 85%, including a marked decrease in the number of euthanasias because the cat was deemed feral. Euthanasia of young kittens dramatically decreased. The number of cats reclaimed by their owner was similar in the two years and was only a small contributor to the numbers of cats released live. To achieve further improvements, programs that decrease intake for both stray and owned cats would be beneficial.

Abstract

This retrospective study of cat admissions to RSPCA Queensland shelters describes changes associated with improved outcomes ending in live release in 2016 compared to 2011. There were 13,911 cat admissions in 2011 and 13,220 in 2016, with approximately 50% in both years admitted as strays from the general public or council contracts. In contrast, owner surrenders halved from 30% to 15% of admissions. Percentages of admissions ending in euthanasia decreased from 58% to 15%. Only 5% of cat admissions were reclaimed in each of these years, but the percentage rehomed increased from 34% to 74%, of which 61% of the increase was contributed by in-shelter adoptions and 39% from non-shelter sites, predominately retail partnerships. The percentage temporarily fostered until rehoming doubled. In 2011, euthanasias were most common for medical (32% of all euthanasias), behavioral (36%) and age/shelter number (30%) reasons, whereas in 2016, 69% of euthanasias were for medical reasons. The number of young kittens euthanized decreased from 1116 in 2011 to 22 in 2016. The number of cats classified as feral and euthanized decreased from 1178 to 132, in association with increased time for assessment of behavior and increased use of behavior modification programs and foster care. We attribute the improved cat outcomes to strategies that increased adoptions and reduced euthanasia of young kittens and poorly socialized cats, including foster programs. To achieve further decreases in euthanasia, strategies to decrease intake would be highly beneficial, such as those targeted to reduce stray cat admissions.