More Than 9 Lives: Improving Shelter Cat Intake and Adoption Rates

Municipal animal shelters across the United States struggle to properly care for the cats housed in their facilities due to overpopulation. The sheer volume of cats entering shelters greatly outpaces the rate in which they are adopted out, resulting in an immense resource strain that too often results in the euthanasia of millions of shelter cats across the country each year. The enormous influx of cats is largely due to abandonment or considerable populations of feral, stray, or community cats living on the streets. In addition, shelter cat adoptions occur at a much slower pace, with many cats spending months, if not longer, in the care of shelters before either being adopted or euthanized. Through a review of relevant literature, this thesis examines methods that humanely reduce the number of cats making their way into shelters each year, investigates key factors that influence a cat’s length of stay in a shelter before adoption, and explores two potential strategies for improving adoption rates for cats with behavioral problems. Additional research was conducted in the form of content and visual analyses to better understand the ways these issues are being addressed. The research indicates that while great strides towards combatting the problem are well under way, both heightened awareness and additional action is needed on both ends of the shelter cat process, from intake to adoption, in order to reduce shelter cat overpopulation.