Shelter Insights

Cost-of-care calculator

A rough but useful number: what does a day of care cost, and what is a shorter stay worth? Defaults use about $13 a day per dog and $12 a day per cat, the per-day figures commonly cited from Maddie's Fund. Replace them with your own shelter's numbers for a sharper estimate.

Use the average (mean) stay here, not the median: costs add up across every day, including long stays. Our pooled data averages about 18 days for dogs and 21 for cats.

How it works: annual care cost = intakes × average stay × daily cost. Average daily population = intakes × average stay ÷ 365 (Little's law). Shorter stays don't automatically cut fixed costs like staff and buildings; the "freed" amount is mostly capacity you can use for more animals or better care.