When and Why Cats Are Returned to Shelters

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Shelters hope that when cats are adopted, they are moving into their “forever homes”; however, a non-trivial number of cats are returned to the shelter after adoption. It is helpful for shelters to understand why, as cats who are returned impact the ability of the shelter to take in new cats and can negatively impact the returned cat’s welfare. We looked at which cats might be at a higher risk of being returned and what reasons the owners gave for returning their cats. We also compared whether cats were returned soon after adoption (within 30 days) versus over a longer period of time (more than 30 days to 4 years after adoption). We found that the reasons cats were returned shortly after adoption were focused on specific issues with the cat, such as behavioral problems or conflicts with other pets. In contrast, cats who were returned in the long term often had to do with the owner, such as major life changes (births, deaths, illnesses, children) or the cost of owning the pet. Our findings suggest that shelters might need to consider different types of strategies for long-term and short-term returns to reduce the return rates overall. ABSTRACT: There is considerable research on why cats are initially relinquished to shelters, but much less attention has been given to returns, despite the significant implications for shelter capacity and cat welfare. Furthermore, the structure of many databases fails to account for cats who are returned beyond 30 days, despite this making up a substantial portion of returns. In the current study, we examined common risk factors and reasons for return in a population of 2642 shelter cats. We found that cats who were older at the time of adoption or had a bite history had an increased risk of return, whereas cats that were in foster care prior to adoption had a decreased risk of return. We divided the returns by the time to return (<30 days: short term, >30 days: long term) to examine whether time to return had an impact. Approximately half the cats were returned in the short term. Cats were more likely to be returned for reasons, such as behavior, unwanted, and other pet in the short term and personal reasons, cost, euthanasia, and stray in the long-term return. Strategies to reduce returns should consider different solutions for short and long returns to maximize effectiveness.