Length of Stay: Four Proven Strategies to Help Animals Leave Your Shelter Faster - Shelter Animals Count
27Sep’24
Length of Stay - Four Proven Strategies to Help Animals Leave Your Shelter Faster
Is length of stay getting longer for the animals in your care? If so, you’re not alone! In the Shelter Animals Count 2024 Midyear report, we showed that while shelter intakes have not increased this year, there are still more animals entering shelters than leaving, which means we have a bottleneck of dogs and cats stuck in shelters. In our recent webinar series, Where Have All the Dog Adopters Gone?,” we showed that dog adoption interest has decreased and this may also be contributing to the high number of animals in shelters.
As the Hill’s State of Shelter Pet Adoption Report notes, while external factors outside of our immediate control play a role, there are quick and easy steps shelters of any size can take today to reduce the length of stay for animals in your care.
1. Make animals available and accessible to the public right away
In many shelters, friendly, healthy pets are kept in non-public areas of the shelter during the stray hold period. By letting the public see pets during their stray hold and listing the status as “available as of DATE,” you can reduce the overall length of stay because that pet can be adopted on the day it is available.
Try this: Determine the length of stay of stray animals before they become available and accessible to the public. In many shelters, you’ll find that animals sit in non-public areas and/or are not listed on the website for days, weeks, or even months after the stray hold expires.
2. Promote fostering and adoption for all eligible animals
Make sure the public knows that most animals are eligible for foster or adoption, even those who’ve been overlooked. Training staff to process foster and adoption requests quickly can be especially helpful for long-stay animals. Offering fostering as a low-commitment option may encourage people to take a chance on pets they might not otherwise consider.
Try this: Pilot this idea with a program for dogs and cats that are frequently passed over. Place a sign on their kennels that say “Ask About Fostering Me” or a sign indicating that the pet is available for foster care or adoption. Promote this initiative so that people know they can foster a pet with minimal paperwork or waiting periods. An extra benefit is that as more animals are fostered, you can send pets with medical or behavioral challenges to more experienced care givers.
Take it a step further by creating a Foster-to-Adopt Program for pets available for adoption.
3. Offer pre-adoption options for pets on stray hold
Pre-adoption allows people to place a hold for pets that are still on stray hold status. Potential adopters fill out paperwork and pay a hold fee or the pet’s adoption fee in advance. They receive an adoption agreement with a clause that specifies if the pet is reclaimed by the owner, the adoption is null and void. Then the fee can be held under the person for another pet that they are interested in later on.
Once the pre-adoption is completed, staff can fast-track the pet directly to be spayed or neutered the day after the stray hold expires. You give the adopter a pick-up window of when they can pick up their pet following their surgery, if applicable, and let them know verbally and in the adoption contract that if they do not pick up the pet at the specified time, that the custody will revert back to the shelter with the pet being placed for adoption. This is becoming a best-practice approach in shelters to reduce the pet’s time in their care while maintaining the option for owner reclaim. For a great example, visit Memphis Animal Service’s website as they explain how pre-adoption works at their organization.
Once the pre-adoption is completed, staff can fast-track the pet directly to be spayed or neutered the day after the stray hold expires. You give the adopter a pick-up window of when they can pick up their pet following their surgery, if applicable, and let them know verbally and in the adoption contract that if they do not pick up the pet at the specified time, that the custody will revert back to the shelter with the pet being placed for adoption. This is becoming a best-practice approach in shelters to reduce the pet’s time in their care while maintaining the option for owner reclaim. For a great example, visit Memphis Animal Service’s website as they explain how pre-adoption works at their organization.
Try this: If you’re nervous about making animals on stray holds available for pre-adoption, try piloting the change with just a few animals. Select a handful of pets who are on stray holds and put a little sign on their kennel that says, “I’m available for pre-adoption so you can take me home as soon as I’m available!” Provide information and basic training to your customer service staff and adoption counselors so they understand the pilot. Finally, make sure to add a clause to your adoption agreement. Try it out and see if it works. If so, consider making it a regular practice!
4. Let pets undergoing medical treatment go home as fosters
Animals who are receiving ongoing treatment for upper respiratory infections, heartworm, mange, and other treatable and manageable conditions can be available for foster and adoption. Shelters are even successfully finding fosters for pets undergoing ringworm, and other conditions we sometimes assume people don’t want to help with. If people choose to adopt a pet who is receiving ongoing treatment, you can continue to treat the pet for them or provide medications. In most cases, you can let the adopter know that they will be responsible for ongoing treatment at their own veterinarian and many adopters are more than willing to provide continued care. For underage pets and others the shelter veterinarian wishes to monitor, they can be sent to a foster home for the duration of treatment or until they’re old enough to be adopted.
Try This: Have a staff meeting with key people from each department. Review the animals that are currently on hold for medical treatment and for each pet, discuss if the pet living in a kennel is best for that pet or if foster or adoption could be an option. If individual staff identify roadblocks to making pets available, discuss how those barriers could be overcome. For instance, a staff member may say, “We don’t have time to have this animal going back and forth. It’s easier to treat them here.” If that’s the case, discuss how you could overcome this problem by having standing orders, utilizing telehealth for foster caregivers, or having designated times when foster caregivers bring their pets for rechecks and treatments. KC Pet Project allows for pets to be fostered while undergoing medical treatment or awaiting special surgeries. For all of their pets in foster, they provide a link to a google form for the fosters families to fill out if they have a medical concern to address any issues while the pet is in the home and designates appointment times for fosters to bring their pets in to be seen by a veterinarian each day.
In closing, by streamlining processes, removing obstacles, and encouraging fostering and pre-adoption, your shelter can make a real difference in reducing animals’ length of stay. Start implementing these strategies today, and you’ll soon see pets moving out of the shelter faster and into loving homes!
For further insights on adoption trends and shelter challenges, see the Hill’s 2024 State of Pet Adoption Report.
This blog written in collaboration with Kristen Hassen from Outcomes Consulting.