Sex, age and size as factors affecting the length of stay of dogs in Czech shelters

Autor: Eva Voslářová, Jiří Žák, Iveta Bedáňová, Vladimir Vecerek
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Acta Veterinaria Brno, Vol 84, Iss 4, Pp 407-413 (2015)
ISSN: 1801-7576
0001-7213
Popis: Certain factors associated with the characteristics of sheltered dogs can be important in the adoption process. This study focused on the sex, age, and size of abandoned dogs in Czech shelters. Abandoned male dogs remained significantly longer in shelters (median 27 days) compared to abandoned females (median 21 days). With respect to potential adopters, bitches were the preferred sex in Czech shelters. Young abandoned dogs up to the age of one year had the shortest length of stay (median 19 days), whereas older dogs had the longest length of stay, i.e. dogs in the age range of 7–9 years (median 53.5 days) as well as dogs older than 9 years (median 54 days). Abandoned dogs over 65 cm at the withers, i.e. giant dogs, and abandoned dogs up to 35 cm at the withers, i.e. small dogs, had the shortest length of stay in Czech shelters, with medians of 16 days and 21 days, respectively. Medium-sized dogs, i.e. dogs measuring between 35–50 cm at the withers, and large dogs, i.e. dogs measuring between 51–65 cm at the withers had the longest length of stay in shelters. A better understanding of factors that negatively affect the adoption process in abandoned sheltered dogs can significantly shorten the length of stay of such dogs in Czech shelters and help to improve the adoption process itself as well as the welfare of sheltered dogs. Time to adoption, sheltered dog, stray, welfare, rehoming Stray and abandoned animals are a potential source of danger to public health, the environment, and other animals. The medical histories of stray or abandoned animals are often unknown and such dogs may be potential sources of infections that are dangerous to both humans and animals. The issue of stray and abandoned companion animals also pertains to veterinary health care and the question of animal protection and welfare. Companion animals admitted to shelters usually fall into three categories: stray or lost companion animals caught by municipal dog catchers, stray animals brought to the shelter by their finders, or companion animals relinquished by their original owners (Notaro 2004). In some countries the law forbids euthanizing shelter dogs unless they are severely ill. In these cases, dogs could remain in shelters for extended periods of time until they are adopted (Normando et al. 2006). Some authors reported dogs remaining at the shelter for over 1 year (Brown et al. 2013) or even over 5 years (Wells et al. 2002). Dog’s morphology is important in predicting adoption (Protopopova et al. 2012; Voslařova et al. 2015), as are some other characteristics. Size (Brown et al. 2013), sex (Patronek et al. 1995; Lepper et al. 2002; Clevenger and Kass 2003; Diesel et al. 2007), and age (Hart et al. 1998; Lepper et al. 2002; Clevenger and Kass 2003; Němcova and Novak 2003; Brown et al. 2013) have been reported to influence adoption success. These characteristics may vary regionally and depend on the preferences of potential adopters (Normando et al. 2006; Brown et al. 2013) and temporal fluctuations in the availability of animals (Patronek et al. 1995; Normando et al. 2006). Significant differences between shelters regarding the admission characteristics of the dogs, length of stay, and outcomes were observed and it is important to characterize these differences ACTA VET. BRNO 2015, 84: 407-413; doi:10.2754/avb201584040407 Address for correspondence: MVDr. Jiři Žak Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Welfare Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Palackeho tř. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic Phone: +420 541 562 778 E-mail: zakj@vfu.cz http://actavet.vfu.cz/ so that government policy can be informed by factors affecting shelter demographics (Marston et al. 2005). Furthermore, understanding the traits of dogs in a specific shelter and the characteristics of these nonhuman animals desired by adopters are critical to improving the welfare of animals served by that shelter (Brown et al. 2013). The aim of this study was to assess the numbers of incoming and outgoing dogs in selected shelters in the Czech Republic over a period of four years (2010–2013), dividing the outgoing dogs into those reclaimed by their original owner and those adopted by new owners, and sorting them further according to sex, age, and size in order to assess the influence of the selected factors on the length of stay in Czech shelters. Our expectation was to identify some important factors in relation to dogs that can influence the length of stay (LOS) in Czech shelters, with the intention to help to improve the adoption process itself as well as the welfare of dogs in Czech shelters. Materials and Methods Records on sheltered dogs were collected from three municipal dog shelters situated in different regions of the Czech Republic. These shelters are situated in the towns of Haviřov, Jihlava, and Kolin. The subjects of this retrospective study were all impounded dogs housed by the shelters from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2013. For the purposes of this study, dogs were divided into two groups. One group was comprised of dogs that were reclaimed from the shelters by their owners (lost dogs). The second group was comprised of dogs that were abandoned and subsequently adopted. Dogs that were neither reclaimed nor rehomed within the monitored period and remained in the shelters after 31 December 2013 were not included in the analysis. Sex, age and size were monitored in all dogs in both groups. The length of stay (LOS) of each dog was examined to determine how sex, age, and size influenced the probability of the dog being adopted or reclaimed by its owner and the duration of time spent in the shelter. The length of stay was defined as the number of days from the intake date to the date when the dog was adopted or returned to its owner. The results were analysed using the statistical package Unistat 5.6. (Unistat Ltd., London, UK). Four independent variables were constructed from the shelter’s original information: reason for admission (2 levels: abandoned, lost), sex (2 levels: male, female), age (5 levels: 9 years), and size at the withers (4 levels: 65 cm). The size at the withers of sheltered dogs was measured by authorized shelter personal (veterinarian or shelter keeper) using a tape meter. Dogs were placed at the examination table or stood on the floor and their size at withers was taken. The effects of these independent variables on LOS as a dependent variable were analysed. For LOS, normality was checked using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (Zar 1999). As data were not distributed normally, non-parametric methods were used for testing. First of all, a median for LOS was calculated for each level of the monitored independent variable in abandoned and lost dogs. The effects of the variables reason-for-admission and sex were analysed by two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test. The effects of age and size were analysed using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and subsequently by non-parametric multisample median test (Zar 1999) as post hoc test for pairwise comparisons. We also calculated the actual and relative frequencies of lost and abandoned dogs in selected categories according to sex, age, and size, and analysed the differences among these categories. Frequencies were compared on the basis of chi-square analysis of 2 × 2 contingency tables (Zar 1999). P value < 0.05 was considered as significant. To assess correlations in the study, Spearman rank correlation coefficients were calculated between LOS and age, and LOS and size of dogs.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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