Capacity for Care Calculator

Count units where cats are housed once they are available or nearly ready for adoption, such as adoption rooms or condos.

Count units used for intake, observation, or short term holding, such as admission or isolation rooms that meet size and design standards.

Count units used primarily for medical treatment or infectious disease isolation that are still appropriate for ongoing housing.

Count kennels or runs where adoption ready dogs are normally housed. Size should be appropriate for the dog’s body size and needs.

Count units where dogs are housed for intake, observation, or short term holding when those units are suitable for ongoing housing.

Count units where dogs receive medical treatment or are isolated for disease control that are still built for daily housing.

Percentage of total units that you plan to keep open as a buffer. Many shelters start with a 10 to 20 percent margin and adjust over time.

Include full time staff whose duties include feeding, cleaning, treatments, and other hands on animal care.

Enter the typical scheduled hours in a shift for full time staff, for example 8 hours.

Estimate the percent of each full time shift spent on direct animal care after subtracting meetings, breaks, administrative tasks, and travel.

Include part time staff whose regular duties involve direct animal care.

Enter the typical scheduled hours in a shift for part time staff.

Estimate what portion of each part time shift is spent on direct animal care tasks.

Include only volunteer hours that occur reliably, such as scheduled kennel cleaning or enrichment shifts. Estimate an average per day.

Estimate what portion of volunteer time is spent on direct animal care tasks as opposed to orientation, training, or other duties.

If staff spend regular time each day on foster coordination, calls, or support, enter those minutes here so the model counts that time against total capacity.

Include routine feeding, litter box care, cleaning, and basic health checks for cats without special needs.

Include feeding, cleaning, letting dogs out or walking for basic needs, and basic health checks for dogs without special needs.

Include additional time for treatments, hand feeding, neonatal care, or behavior support for cats that need extra attention.

Include additional time for treatments, special handling, or behavior and training plans for dogs that need extra attention.

Include planned time for play, social contact, or other enrichment activities per cat per day.

Include planned time for walking, play, training, or other enrichment activities per dog per day.

Percentage of extra care time to add on top of calculated minutes to account for variation and unexpected needs. Many shelters start with 10 to 25 percent.

Enter the number of days you want to look ahead. Set to zero if you do not want to use the projection feature.

Include all sources of intake you expect during the projection period, such as owner surrenders, strays, and transfers in.

Include adoptions, transfers out, return to owner, and other live outcomes you expect during the projection period.

Include all expected dog intakes across the same time frame.

Include adoptions, transfers, return to owner, and other live outcomes you expect for dogs.

Use recent intake data (for example, 3 to 12 months) and divide total cat intake by the number of days to get an average per day.

Use the same time period to calculate an average daily intake for dogs.

Enter the ideal average length of stay in days for cats. Leave at zero if you want the model to calculate the LOS needed to fit within current capacity.

Enter the ideal average length of stay in days for dogs, or leave at zero to have the model calculate the LOS needed.