Risk factors affecting length of stay of cats in an animal shelter: A case study at the Guelph Humane Society, 2011–2016

Abstract

There is a strong need for animal shelters to determine strategies to decrease the incidence of healthy animals being euthanized due to a lack of space. Thus, the Capacity for Care program was implemented at the Guelph Humane Society during August 2014. One objective of the Capacity for Care program is to decrease length of stay of cats within the shelter to improve individual welfare and increase the number of successful adoptions. The current study uses data collected from the Guelph Humane Society between 2011 and 2016. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to determine factors affecting a cat's time-to-adoption (length of stay). Cats' length of stay decreased by 24% after the implementation of the Capacity for Care program (p<0.001). Exotic breeds were found to have a length of stay 64% shorter than domestic shorthairs (p<0.01), while males had a length of stay 20% shorter than females (p<0.001). Adult cats' length of stay was 13% shorter than kittens (p≤0.01), which is expected as a result of calculating length of stay from date of admission rather than date available for adoption. This study provides evidence that the Capacity for Care program is associated with a reduced length of stay for cats; suggesting it is a suitable program to improve cat welfare and address cat overpopulation.

Distinct Lineages of Feline Parvovirus Associated with Epizootic Outbreaks in Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates

“…National data from Royal Society of Prevention to Cruelty (RSPCA) shelters show a progressive decline in euthanasia rates from 74% in 1995 to 27% in 2018 [40,41]. Similar declines in euthanasia have occurred in shelters in other countries such as Canada [42].…”

Coat Color and Cat Outcomes in an Urban U.S. Shelter

“…Measures were also included for two controls: breed and whether labeled a stray at intake. Prior studies found that breed was a predictor of cat outcomes, e.g., long and medium-haired domestics had longer lengths of stay at shelters than short-haired counterparts [ 9 ], and “exotic” breeds experienced briefer stays than shorthairs [ 8 , 9 ]. The shelter in this study used labels of domestic shorthair, domestic mediumhair, and domestic longhair to categorize 7660 (96.0%) as nonidentifiable breeds; this study slotted the remainder of the sample into two non-overlapping categories: “Fancy—mix” ( n = 192) and “Fancy—single breeds” ( n = 131).…”

“…First, a contingency table was used to test for differences in outcomes across coat colors, as well as whether coat colors differed by each of two covariates. Although some prior research focused on coding color as black versus all others [ 9 ] or on a darker/lighter continuum [ 32 ], the approach here features six discrete color categories. Nonparametric chi-square testing is appropriate given that the three outcomes, coat color, and two controls are categorical [ 38 ].…”

“…Efforts to decrease the number of euthanized cats have been multipronged: shelters and adoption agencies often promote spaying/neutering, make greater attempts to reunite lost cats with their owners, and implement rehoming programs. For their part, researchers have conducted studies to better understand the adoption preferences of potential owners, including identifying cats’ physical characteristics and traits, as well as shelter factors, that shape cats’ outcomes for the better or worse, such as sex and age [ 8 , 9 ], breed [ 9 ], stray vs. owner surrender [ 10 ], activity level [ 11 ], housing conditions and handling procedures [ 12 ], and shelter or cage enrichment experiences [ 9 , 13 ], among others.…”

“…Yellow cats had the longest length of stay, but their stays were not dissimilar to those of black, brown, gray, and white cats. However, in a municipal shelter in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, it was found that that black cats were not significantly disadvantaged relative to counterparts of other coat colors in terms of length of stay [ 9 ]. One study reported that black cats had shorter stays than their white counterparts in an urban shelter in Sydney, Australia [ 35 ].…”