Prediction of Adoption Versus Euthanasia Among Dogs and Cats in a California Animal Shelter

Abstract

The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to investigate determinants of adoption of cats and dogs from a large municipal animal shelter. The subjects were 4,813 cats and 3,301 dogs impounded by the Sacramento County Department of Animal Care and Regulation and offered for adoption September 9, 1994 to May 26, 1995. The study constructed models predicting the conditional probability of adoption using logistic regression and a final multiple logistic regression model from variables found to be important predictors of adoption. Age, sex, coat color, and reason for relinquishment were major determinants of adoption in cats. Age, sex, coat color, reason for relinquishment, breed, purebred status, and injury status were major determinants of adoption in dogs. Shelter personnel could utilize this information to increase the adoption of frequently overlooked animals. Alternatively, shelters could use this to focus their resources on animals with characteristics the public prefers.

Development and application of CatFACS: Are human cat adopters influenced by cat facial expressions?

“…There was also a bias towards one sex, with males being adopted quicker even though it was the less abundant sex available. This sex preference has been reported before in other studies (Lepper et al, 2002;Fantuzzi et al, 2010). From all the behavioural variables examined, only rub was significantly correlated with the Length of Stay.…”

“…HSUS, 1995;Gourkow, 2001). However, data show that tendency to sit at the front of the pen (Wells and Hepper, 1992) or physical characteristics (such as coat colour or breed: Podberscek and Blackshaw, 1988;Lepper et al, 2002;Delgado et al, 2012;Brown and Morgan, 2015) are the traits that most influence adopters' actual, final decisions (Gourkow and Fraser, 2006). Fantuzzi et al (2010) also found a positive relationship between activity levels, viewing time and adoption decision in shelter cats.…”

Sex, age and size as factors affecting the length of stay of dogs in Czech shelters

“…According to our results, females have demonstrably shorter LOS in shelters compared to male dogs. This finding is supported by several other studies (Patronek et al 1995;Lepper et al 2002;Clevenger and Kass 2003;Marston et al 2004;Mondelli et al 2004;Diesel et al 2007). These studies also showed that females are more likely to be adopted.…”

“…puppies up to 1 year of age) have the shortest LOS in shelters. This finding is confirmed by one Czech study (Němcová and Novák 2003) and also by many other studies (Patronek et al 1995;Hart et al 1998;Lepper et al 2002;Previde et al 2003;Brown et al 2013). Brown et al (2013) also found that LOS did not depend on other factors such as the size of the puppy, sex, or breed group.…”

“…We did not monitor whether dogs admitted to shelters were neutered or not; thus, we have no data on whether potential adopters prefer animals sexually intact or neutered. However, some foreign studies reported that neutered individuals are more adoptable than sexually intact individuals (Lepper et al 2002;Clevenger and Kass 2003). We also examined the age of dogs as one of the factors influencing choices among potential adopters and the numbers of dogs admitted to the shelter.…”