October 2023 Monthly Report

Learn about animal intakes, outcomes, return to owner rates, average length of stay, live-release rates, and other agency statistics for October 2023.

Summary

The October 2023 monthly report includes reporting on factors including return to owner (RTO) rates for found animals, average length of stay (LOS), in addition to live-release-rates. These are key industry measures for the effectiveness of shelter operations to reunite or find placements for animals. There are also numbers of volunteers in each role, in addition to contributed hours.

Animal Intake

MCAS accepted stray dogs, sick, injured or at-risk adult cats and kittens from the public. Officers also picked up stray or lost animals. Owner-surrendered animals were accepted on a case by case basis, depending on urgent circumstances; adoption returns are also included in the total. Other intakes represent animals placed into protective custody by Animal Services officers, injured wildlife, or other Field-Services circumstances.

Intake Type	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Wildlife	Other	Total
Stray or at large	214	30	98	129	9	34	514
Owner Surrenders	38	0	10	2	0	0	50
All Other Intakes	11	5	3	8	7	4	38
Total Live Intake	263	35	111	139	16	38	602

Veterinary Care Provided

Animal Health and Animal Care staff provided a wide range of veterinary services to animals in care.

To keep animals healthy, Animal Health staff administered 484 vaccinations, including rabies, DA2PP and Bordetella for dogs and puppies, and FVRCP for cats and kittens.

They provided 922 health exams and consultations, including routine exams, wound checks, pre-surgery checkups, behavior assessments, and reviewing test results or diagnoses with foster volunteers. Due to veterinary staff availability, spay and neuter surgeries for shelter animals were limited, and many adopters were issued vouchers to complete surgeries and rabies vaccination at contracted veterinary clinics, including Oregon Humane Society.

Veterinary Service	Cats	Kittens	Dogs	Puppies	Other	Total
Health Exams & Consults	211	278	346	24	63	922
Spay & Neuter Surgeries	17	27	9	0	6	59
Medications Administered	672	237	1,838	0	18	2,765
Tests & Diagnostics	7	10	0	0	0	17
Vaccinations	62	143	255	20	4	484
Other Vet Treatments	166	714	550	77	9	1,516
Total Services	1,135	1,409	2,998	121	100	5,763

Fostered Animals

The majority of animals in foster care were kittens, cats, dogs, rabbits, and puppies. Many animals entered and left foster care over the course of the month, so the total number represents the cumulative total, and not the maximum number of animals in care at one time. Thank you to 119 foster volunteers for your lifesaving service.

Animal type	Entered care	Previously in care	Total in foster care	Returned from care
Cats	13	26	39	14
Kittens	61	86	147	107
Dogs	26	13	39	29
Puppies	10	3	13	5
Other	2	1	3	3
Total	112	129	241	158

Animal Outcomes

Length of Stay (LOS)	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Overall
Average Days	14	4	23	25	18

Return to Owner (RTO)*	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Other	Total
Stray (No ID)	46%	23%	9%	2%	0%	20%
Stray (With ID)	66%	n/a	43%	0%	0%	58%
Average RTO Rate	53%	23%	18%	2%	0%	28%

*RTO is calculated only for reclaimed animals with a stray intake circumstance.

Heading	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Wildlife	Other	Total
Live Release Rate	90.5%	96.4%	87.1%	94.3%	31.3%	92.5%	89.8%

220 or 33.8% of animals were adopted.

155 or 23.8% of animals were reclaimed by their owners. The majority of animals represented in these outcomes were dogs with a license and/or microchip for owner-contact.

207 or 31.8% of animals were transferred to another agency.

54 or 8.3% of animals were humanely euthanized, including cases of injured wildlife, injured or severely sick cats and kittens, and other domestic animals at the recommendation of a veterinarian, or for behavioral issues which would make an animal unsafe to place back into the community. Cat intake is officially limited to cases where the cat is sick or injured, or in immediate danger due to cruelty, neglect, and similar circumstances, and kittens over six weeks old. There is decreased intake volume for cats, and an increased percentage of veterinary-recommended euthanasia for adult cats due to these intake conditions.

2 cats, or 0.3% of animals were returned to field at the location where they were found. 9 animals or 1.4% of animals died in care, including 6 kittens, 1 cat, and 2 fish. 3 animals or 0.5% had other outcomes, including 2 dogs and 1 cat lost in care.

Outcome Type	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Wildlife	Other	Total
Adopted	88	1	49	74	0	8	220
Reclaimed/returned to owner	126	7	19	3	0	0	155
Transferred to another agency	35	19	31	88	5	29	207
Euthanized	24	1	13	4	11	1	54
Return to field	0	0	2	0	0	0	2
Unassisted death	0	0	1	6	0	2	9
Other outcomes	2	0	1	0	0	0	3
Total	275	28	116	175	16	40	650

Transfers

MCAS transferred 31.8% of shelter animals to other shelters and rescues. Thank you to our community partners for your lifesaving work.

Cat Adoption Team
Oregon Humane Society
Caye's Aquarium
Stumptown Strays
Humane Society Of Southwest Washington
Harmony New Beginnings Animal Rescue
Portland Audubon
Hiss & Hers Herp Hobbies
Pets On Broadway
Homeward Bound Pets
Family Dogs New Life Shelter
Animal Aid INC
Theresa's Country Feed and Pet Supply
Indigo Rescue
Hope's Haven

Volunteers

Thank you to volunteers for your service to the animals and people of Multnomah County.

Volunteer Roles	Volunteers	Hours
Cats	7	83
Cleaning	21	153
Dogs	34	481
Events	0	0
Foster Animals	119	6,171
Info Desk	6	129
Laundry	17	153
Transport	2	5
Other (Office, surgery, reserve officer, etc.)	3	26
Total*	188	7,201

*Unique volunteers - many volunteers serve in multiple roles.

Online Resources

Many services provided by MCAS are accessible online, at multcopets.org. Members of the public can search for adoptable or lost / found pets, license their pets, and learn about other resources and news. MCAS website pages are translated into four languages.

Page Categories	Page Views
Adoptable Pets	169,486
Lost & Found Pets	51,125
Home Page Visits	18,891
Licensing Resources	19,285
News & Updates	4,639
Low-Cost Services	5,102
Kitten Resources	409
Field Services	3,814
Volunteering	1,718
Other Pages	40,683
Total	315,152

Field Services

Field Services officers responded to 682 urgent needs of community members and their pets, investigated cases of potential cruelty or neglect, loose-aggressive animals, bites, and picked up stray, injured, abandoned, potentially dangerous, or deceased animals. Officers also responded to non-urgent calls such as barking dogs, animal trespass, and other community issues.

Dispatch Category	Count	Percentage
Deceased Animal Pickup	68	10%
Stray Animal	131	19%
Suspected Cruelty / Neglect	111	16%
Loose aggressive animal (Animals actively charging, attacking, or chasing people or animals)	90	13%
Bite Investigation	70	10%
Loose animal	39	6%
Injured Animal	24	4%
Abandoned Animal	6	1%
Animal Placed in Protective Custody	31	5%
Wildlife	65	10%
Other	47	7%
Total	682	100%