ABSTRACT

Capacity for Care (C4C) is a shelter management strategy which utilizes managed intake to optimize in-shelter populations based on housing capacity and available resources. The purpose of this study was to 1) understand staff experiences using managed intake, 2) explore staff perceptions of how the C4C model has been regarded by other staff at their facility, and 3) explore the response of community members who are attempting to relinquish their cats, as perceived by the staff who are communicating with cat owners and scheduling relinquishment. Participants recruited from shelters who practiced C4C participated in a semi-structured interview and completed a written survey to share their experiences and perceptions of C4C. Based on the perceptions of the participants, evidence suggests the waitlist may decrease the admission of owned cats to the shelter as a result of advising cat owners about alternatives to relinquishment. The findings suggest that more research is needed to understand the potential impacts of managed intake, as an element of C4C, on the welfare of cats in the community who are waiting to be admitted to a shelter.

摘要

照料能力 (C4C) 是一种庇护所管理策略，它利用受管理的摄入量来根据住房容量和可用资源优化庇护所内的人口。本研究的目的是 1) 了解员工使用管理摄入量的经验，2) 探索员工对其设施中其他员工如何看待 C4C 模型的看法，以及 3) 探索试图放弃的社区成员的反应他们的猫，正如正在与猫主人沟通并安排放弃的工作人员所感知的那样。从收容所招募的实施 C4C 的参与者参加了半结构化访谈并完成了书面调查，以分享他们对 C4C 的经验和看法。根据与会者的看法，证据表明，候补名单可能会减少收容所拥有的猫的数量，因为它会向猫主人建议放弃的替代方案。研究结果表明，需要进行更多研究来了解管理摄入量作为 C4C 的一个要素对社区中等待被收容所的猫的福利的潜在影响。