Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter

Although the adoption rate of dogs and cats from animal shelters has increased, a proportion of animals are returned to the shelter after they are adopted. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors informing the return of 102 dogs to an animal shelter over a four-month period, and the retu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Sloane M. Hawes, Josephine M. Kerrigan, Tess Hupe, Kevin N. Morris
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	MDPI AG 2020-09-01
Series:	Animals
Subjects:	companion animals cat dog shelter outcomes euthanasia
Online Access:	https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1573

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spelling	doaj-098e490956774da39f55532ebcf00db52020-11-25T03:21:27ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152020-09-01101573157310.3390/ani10091573Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal ShelterSloane M. Hawes0Josephine M. Kerrigan1Tess Hupe2Kevin N. Morris3Institute for Human-Animal Connection, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USAInstitute for Human-Animal Connection, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USAInstitute for Human-Animal Connection, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USAInstitute for Human-Animal Connection, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USAAlthough the adoption rate of dogs and cats from animal shelters has increased, a proportion of animals are returned to the shelter after they are adopted. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors informing the return of 102 dogs to an animal shelter over a four-month period, and the return of 72 cats to an animal shelter over a three-month period. Descriptive statistics revealed dogs are most commonly returned for behavior issues related to aggression (38.2%), and cats are most commonly returned due to the adopter’s personal reasons (56.9%). The results also indicated that more than half of the dogs (51.0%) and cats (57.0%) returned in this study were owned for more than 60 days. Further research is needed to compare the effectiveness of different pet retention programs in addressing the factors that inform returned adoptions.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1573companion animalscatdogshelteroutcomeseuthanasia
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Sloane M. Hawes Josephine M. Kerrigan Tess Hupe Kevin N. Morris
spellingShingle	Sloane M. Hawes Josephine M. Kerrigan Tess Hupe Kevin N. Morris Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter Animals companion animals cat dog shelter outcomes euthanasia
author_facet	Sloane M. Hawes Josephine M. Kerrigan Tess Hupe Kevin N. Morris
author_sort	Sloane M. Hawes
title	Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter
title_short	Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter
title_full	Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter
title_fullStr	Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter
title_full_unstemmed	Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter
title_sort	factors informing the return of adopted dogs and cats to an animal shelter
publisher	MDPI AG
series	Animals
issn	2076-2615
publishDate	2020-09-01
description	Although the adoption rate of dogs and cats from animal shelters has increased, a proportion of animals are returned to the shelter after they are adopted. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors informing the return of 102 dogs to an animal shelter over a four-month period, and the return of 72 cats to an animal shelter over a three-month period. Descriptive statistics revealed dogs are most commonly returned for behavior issues related to aggression (38.2%), and cats are most commonly returned due to the adopter’s personal reasons (56.9%). The results also indicated that more than half of the dogs (51.0%) and cats (57.0%) returned in this study were owned for more than 60 days. Further research is needed to compare the effectiveness of different pet retention programs in addressing the factors that inform returned adoptions.
topic	companion animals cat dog shelter outcomes euthanasia
url	https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1573
work_keys_str_mv	AT sloanemhawes factorsinformingthereturnofadopteddogsandcatstoananimalshelter AT josephinemkerrigan factorsinformingthereturnofadopteddogsandcatstoananimalshelter AT tesshupe factorsinformingthereturnofadopteddogsandcatstoananimalshelter AT kevinnmorris factorsinformingthereturnofadopteddogsandcatstoananimalshelter
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Factors Informing the Return of Adopted Dogs and Cats to an Animal Shelter

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