Length of Stay FAQs

What Length of Stay is ideal?
There isn’t one average or median length of stay that’s right for every sheltering organization or for every animal. The idea is that every animal should stay just as long as they need to in order to get the care they need and the best outcome that’s possible without delays. For a kitten or a puppy who is old enough for adoption that could even be just a few minutes but for an injured or sick dog or cat that might be a lot longer.

What do we mean by efficiency?
Efficiency means paying attention to every step of the process and planning for the best possible outcome. It doesn’t mean rushing animals through a system carelessly. The main idea behind efficiency for shelter animals is that every day counts. Each animal should get just the number of days they need for the best possible outcome without wasting time.

Do all the stays need to be average?
An average is a way of talking about the number that represents or typifies a group of numbers. Mathematically it is the sum of a list of numbers divided by the size of the list. An average of 4 can mean that all the numbers in the list had a value of 4 but more commonly it means that some numbers were greater than four and some were less.

If you think about the number of days you have to spend like you think about your bank account it can really help. If you save two days on a kitten who gets adopted in a flash, then you can bank those days and “spend” them later without your average going up.

When you see an average, it usually means that some stayed longer and some left more quickly. If the balance is below the average the average length of stay goes down; if the balance is above the average then the average length of stay gets longer.

What about time for medical treatment?
Time for medical treatment is an important component of the life-saving work shelters do. Starting and completing treatments efficiently though prompt diagnostics and treatment plans – as well as monitoring for efficacy of treatment – helps animals get the care they need when they need it, and works better for the whole population.

What role does behavioral modification and training play in using LOS principles?
Everything that’s true about waiting time for medical evaluation and treatment is also true for behavioral care. Identifying problems, starting at intake, means animals who need help have the chance to get what they need right from the start.

How about time for adoption?
A number of factors all play into how long it will take for each animal to find their new home. Again, the basic idea is that animals get the time they need, within the resources of the organization, to find the best possible outcome.

How can I calculate average length of stay?
The simplest way to calculate average length of stay is to simply add up all the days that animals remain in the shelter’s care and then divide by the number of animals. To do this, you will need both the intake date and outcome date for each animal. The sample chart below shows how to set that up in a spreadsheet. In some cases, shelter software will report either the average length of stay (so you don’t need to do any calculations) or the number of care days for each animal. This snippet of sample data calculates the length of stay from intake to outcome..

Identification

Intake date

Outcome date

Length of Stay

 

1

4/2/13

4/20/13

18

 

2

4/12/13

4/25/13

13

 

3

4/12/13

4/17/13

5

 

4

4/15/13

4/20/13

5

 

5

4/24/13

4/25/13

1

 

6

4/25/13

4/29/13

4

 

7

4/26/13

4/29/13

3

 

 
 
 

49

Total Days in Care

 
 
 

7

Number of Animals

 
 
 

7

Average LOS

Can I calculate length of stay for just a part of the time animals are in the shelter?
Absolutely and we hope you will! If you’d like to calculate length of stay for just a particular part of overall shelter stay you just need to add up those numbers as above and divide by the number of animals. For example, if you’d like to calculate the average length of time waiting for foster care, you can use the intake date as your starting point. Rather than using the outcome date, use the date the animal is picked up by the fosterer as the end point. For other sections of time pick a different start and ending point.

Identification

Intake date

Date to foster care

Days waiting for foster care

1

4/2/13

4/2/13

0

2

4/3/13

4/6/13

2

3

4/5/13

4/9/13

4

Some shelter software systems can give you length of stay data for particular “stages”. You just need to define what the “stages” are, make sure stage is re-set reliably on the day it changes, and learn to run the report.

Why would I use median length of stay instead of average?Finding the median length of stay rather than the average helps give a picture of the “middle” value, which is less affected by extreme values that may not really be individual outliers. Finding the median is actually finding the number in the middle. In the sample below the first value represents the longest stay and would pull the average up. The median is found by lining up all the numbers in order and finding the one in the middle. If there is an even number of values in the list then two will be in the middle. In that case, the median is found by adding those two together and dividing by two. So for the sample below we would write: 1,3,4,5,5,13,18. The number in the middle is 5, so that is the median. Not surprisingly, it is shorter than the average, which is 7. You can use an Excel spreadsheet to help you find the median.

Identification

Intake date

Outcome date

Length of Stay

 

1

4/2/13

4/20/13

18

 

2

4/12/13

4/25/13

13

 

3

4/12/13

4/17/13

5

 

4

4/15/13

4/20/13

5

 

5

4/24/13

4/25/13

1

 

6

4/25/13

4/29/13

4

 

7

4/26/13

4/29/13

3

 

 
 
 

49

Total Days in care

 
 
 

7

Number of Animals

 
 
 

7

Average LOS

 
 
 

5

Median LOS

This material generously provided by UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program