The impact of returning a pet to the shelter on future animal adoptions

Unsuccessful animal adoptions are stressful for many owners and may reduce their willingness to adopt again. The goal of this study was to determine the proportion of return owners who adopted post-return and investigate return characteristics that affected the likelihood of post-return adoption. We analyzed adoption records from a South Carolina animal shelter between 2015 and 2019 (n = 1999) using a logistic regression model including post-return adoption (binary) and return reason, species, animal sex and age. We found one in 10 individuals adopted from the shelter within 12 months of return, and post-return adoption was associated with return reason and species. Returns due to owner-related reasons, such as the owner’s health (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.07, 0.57) or unrealistic expectations (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.19, 0.94) were associated with significantly lower odds of post-return adoption. Owners who returned due to the animal’s health exhibited four times greater odds of post-return adoption compared with behavioral returns (OR 4.20, 95% CI 2.37, 7.45). Our findings highlight the value of ensuring adopters’ expectations are aligned with the reality of ownership and minimizing adopter-animal behavioral incompatibility as unsuccessful animal adoptions can reduce the owner’s willingness to adopt again and may affect the adopter’s relationship with the shelter.