December 2023 Monthly Report

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

Summary

The December 2023 monthly report includes 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	184	20	90	48	7	15	364
Owner Surrenders	37	0	6	1	0	49	93
All Other Intakes	17	0	7	1	1	3	29
Total Live Intake	238	20	103	50	8	67	486

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 498 vaccinations, including rabies, DA2PP and Bordetella for dogs and puppies, and FVRCP for cats and kittens.

They provided 919 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	217	155	396	42	109	919
Spay & Neuter Surgeries	16	5	3	3	26	53
Medications Administered	15	80	17	11	27	150
Tests & Diagnostics	5	10	1	1	1	18
Vaccinations	108	114	200	36	40	498
Other Vet Treatments	136	256	468	94	46	1,000
Total Services	497	620	1,085	187	249	2,638

Fostered Animals

The majority of animals in foster care were kittens, cats, dogs, 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 96 foster volunteers for your lifesaving service.

Animal type	Entered care	Previously in care	Total in foster care	Returned from care
Cats	20	31	51	18
Kittens	25	63	88	54
Dogs	15	9	24	15
Puppies	12	2	14	10
Other	15	0	15	3
Total	87	105	192	100

Animal Outcomes

Length of Stay (LOS)	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Overall
Average Days	12	9	16	24	14

Return to Owner (RTO)*	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Other	Total
Stray (No ID)	42%	11%	5%	0%	0%	22%
Stray (With ID)	56%	100%	14%	n/a	n/a	40%
Average RTO Rate	46%	15%	9%	0%	0%	27%

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

Live Release Rate (Live Outcomes / Total Outcomes)
Heading	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Wildlife	Other	Total
Live Release Rate	92.8%	100.0%	91.2%	88.3%	37.5%	92.7%	91.0%

269 or 55% of animals were adopted.

106 or 21.7% 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.

69 or 14.1% of animals were transferred to another agency.

39 or 8% 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.

1 instance of wildlife (bird), or 0.2% of animals were returned to field at the location where they were found. 5 animals or 1% of animals died in care, including 3 kittens, 1 bird, and 1 rabbit.

Outcome Type	Dog	Puppy	Cat	Kitten	Wildlife	Other	Total
Adopted	114	6	74	55	0	20	269
Reclaimed/returned to owner	95	3	8	0	0	0	106
Transferred to another agency	11	4	21	13	2	18	69
Euthanized	17	0	10	6	5	1	39
Return to field	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Unassisted death	0	0	0	3	0	2	5
Other outcomes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	237	13	113	77	8	41	489

Transfers

MCAS transferred 69 or 14.1% of shelter animals to other shelters and rescues. Thank you to our community partners for your lifesaving work.

Oregon Humane Society
Cat Adoption Team
Harmony New Beginnings Animal Rescue
Stumptown Strays
Hiss & Hers Herp Hobbies
Portland Audubon
Pacific Pug Rescue
Lavender Haven Sanctuary and Rescue
Theresa's Country Feed and Pet Supply
Rose City Rabbit Rescue
Rabbit Advocates
Hazel's House Rescue
Furfriends Animal Rescue Inc.
Animal Aid Inc

Volunteers

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

Volunteer Roles	Volunteers	Hours
Cats	8	64
Cleaning	26	178
Dogs	34	487
Events	0	0
Foster Animals	96	4,635
Info Desk	8	130
Laundry	14	166
Transport	1	15
Other (Office, surgery, reserve officer, etc.)	3	35
Total*	178	5,709

*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	210,466
Lost & Found Pets	53,661
Home Page Visits	29,510
Licensing Resources	17,999
News & Updates	32,220
Low-Cost Services	4,880
Kitten Resources	204
Field Services	3,344
Volunteering	1,977
Other Pages	39,382
Total	393,643

Field Services

Field Services officers responded to 549 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	40	7%
Stray Animal	92	17%
Suspected Cruelty / Neglect	106	19%
Loose aggressive animal (Animals actively charging, attacking, or chasing people or animals)	84	15%
Bite Investigation	66	12%
Loose animal	33	6%
Injured Animal	23	4%
Abandoned Animal	1	0%
Animal Placed in Protective Custody	39	7%
Wildlife	32	6%
Other	33	6%
Total	549	100%