Help using the Capacity for Care Calculator

This tool is designed for shelters and animal services agencies that want a simple, repeatable way to compare today’s population to the care and housing they have available. It combines animals in care, usable housing units, staffing, and care minutes per animal into a single daily snapshot.

You can use the calculator as a quick daily check, to support conversations with leadership or staff, or to test “what if” scenarios such as adding staff, changing housing use, or setting new length of stay goals.

How the calculator is organized

Step 1 – Count animals in care. Enter the number of cats and dogs currently in the building and how many in each group are special care animals.
Step 2 – Enter usable housing units. Count how many appropriate, species specific units you have for daily housing and decide how much to hold back as a housing margin so you do not run every space at 100 percent.
Step 3 – Enter staff and volunteer time. Enter how many full time and part time staff work in animal care, their productive time, and predictable volunteer hours. Include any extra minutes spent supporting foster animals.
Step 4 – Set care minutes per animal. Estimate how many minutes per day it takes to feed, clean, and care for a standard cat or dog, plus extra time for special care animals and basic enrichment.
Step 5 – Projections and LOS (optional). If you want to look ahead, enter projected intakes and outcomes over a time horizon and average daily intake and target length of stay for cats and dogs.
Step 6 – Results. Review housing and staffing status, projected population, and the “magic number” view. The final intake recommendation summarizes whether intake should continue, slow, or pause.

Before you start

You can complete the calculator using a quick walk through the building and your daily staffing schedule. Over time, you can replace estimates with data from your shelter software, staffing plans, and time studies.

Data to gather in advance

Today’s population. Counts of cats and dogs in the building, separated into standard care and special care animals. If possible, use a point in time count taken at the same time each day.
Usable housing units. The number of kennels, runs, cat condos, rooms, or other spaces you regularly use for daily housing that meet welfare standards for size and design.
Staffing and volunteer time. The number of full time and part time staff in animal care, their scheduled hours, and predictable volunteer shifts that reliably happen.
Care minutes per animal. Best estimates for how long it takes to feed, clean, and provide basic care for a standard animal and for animals needing extra care, plus time for basic enrichment.
Optional intake and outcome numbers. Recent average daily intake and target length of stay for cats and dogs if you want to use the magic number and projection features.

How special care animals are used in the model

Animals marked as special care use the higher care minutes you set in Step 4. This increases total care minutes required while keeping housing counts simple.
Special care animals may be neonates, sick or injured animals, animals on intensive behavior or medical plans, or animals with complex feeding or handling needs.
If you are unsure whether to mark an animal as special care, it is usually safer to include them so you do not underestimate time.

How housing safety margins work

The housing safety margin in Step 2 sets the percentage of total units you want to keep open as a buffer.
The calculator multiplies your total units by this margin to calculate usable cat and dog capacity. All housing status results are based on these usable numbers, not total units.
Many shelters start with a margin of 10–20 percent and adjust over time as they learn what works in their building.

How staffing and care minutes work together

Staff and volunteer inputs in Step 3 are converted into available care minutes per day. Productive percentages account for breaks, meetings, admin work, and other non–animal care time.
Care minutes in Step 4 are multiplied by the number of standard and special care animals to calculate required care minutes per day.
The care safety margin increases required minutes to acknowledge variation and unexpected work. The staffing status compares buffered required minutes to available minutes.

Understanding the results

Housing status. Compares today’s cat and dog population to usable capacity. Results show whether each species is within or beyond the housing safety margin.
Staffing status. Compares buffered care minutes required to available staff and volunteer minutes and reports whether care time is sufficient or below the requirement.
Projection. If you enter a horizon and expected intakes and outcomes, the calculator shows projected population after the period you chose.
Magic number view. Uses the relationship “capacity = average daily intake × length of stay” to show required capacity for your target LOS and the LOS needed to stay within current usable capacity.
Final intake recommendation. Summarizes whether housing and staffing are within margins or beyond them and suggests whether intake can continue, should slow, or should pause while you recover capacity.

Quick tips for getting good results

Use the calculator at roughly the same time each day so you can compare snapshots over time.
Start with simple, conservative estimates. You can refine care minutes and productive time after you complete a few time studies or track tasks over several days.
Keep a short note log when results do not match your lived experience. Often this reveals where assumptions or inputs need to change.
Use the projection and magic number views as conversation tools, not as precise forecasts. They are intended to support planning, not to replace local judgment.
Revisit housing and care minutes when your physical space, staffing model, or daily routines change.