How Long Do Animal Shelters Keep Animals Before Putting Them to Sleep? (2024)

FAQs

How long do animals have in a shelter? ›

Any animal brought in as a stray, where the owner is unknown, must be kept for 7 days to allow the owner a chance to find the dog. After that time, the dog becomes the property of the shelter, and they can determine what will happen to the dog. Animals surrendered by their owners become shelter property immediately.

The euthanasia medication most vets use is pentobarbital, a seizure medication. In large doses, it quickly renders the pet unconscious. It shuts down their heart and brain functions usually within one or two minutes. It is usually given by an IV injection in one of their legs.

These animals may have been euthanized due to overcrowding, but may also have been sick, aggressive, injured or suffering from something else. 56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized.

The actual process of putting an animal to sleep is painless and involves the injection of an anaesthetic overdose. This is usually given into a vein, just as a normal anaesthetic would be. Animals quickly fall asleep and usually pass away while the injection is still being given.

Shelter workers or volunteers will look for a tag or a microchip. If a dog can't be identified, he or she will be held for a certain amount of time before becoming the “property” of the shelter. If a dog can be identified, shelter workers will try to contact the owner.

On average, an animal may be in foster care for up to two months before being adopted, but many factors affect this time frame, such as breed, disposition, temperament, training and medical needs.

Pets cannot wake up after euthanasia, but owners might be confused when they see their pet's legs move or appear to take a breath after the drug is in their system.

As the solution is injected, the animal loses consciousness and within minutes the heart and lungs stop functioning. Since the pet is not conscious, they do not feel anything. Most times, the animal passes away so smoothly, that it is difficult to tell until the veterinarian listens for absence of a heartbeat.

The heart and lungs will stop functioning within minutes after injecting the euthanasia solution, so dogs generally won't feel pain because they are unconscious. They may react to the procedure by having muscle spasms or crying out due to underlying sickness, yet the whole process is quick, simple, and painless.

They may feel aware of their sickness or injury, yet they aren't fully aware that their suffering is about to end. This is also why euthanasia is deemed a peaceful passing. The euthanasia process involves depressing the central nervous system and removing a dog's awareness until it stops breathing.

Are animals scared when euthanized? ›

Your vet will always make sure your pet isn't scared, nervous, or unsettled during euthanasia by using as much sedative medication as is necessary to help them relax.

First, unlike humans, animals cannot express a desire to die, making “voluntary euthanasia” not meaningful for animals. Secondly, as Bernard Rollin, a professor at Colorado State University, points out, pets do not have the capacity to imagine how the suffering that they experience can give way at some point to relief.

Organs like the liver and kidneys may slowly shut down, which makes your dog lose digestive functions. In the final 2-3 days, your dog is likely to completely refuse food. Your dog may develop a dry and sticky mouth due to dehydration. You may also notice vomiting.

Will my dog know that they're being put to sleep? Not really. Dogs have a keen sense of what's going on, and they usually understand that it's the end. But once we give the first injection, they become semi-to-nonconscious, and so they don't really know what's happening at the time it happens.

Many pet owners choose to have their pets cremated or buried after the pet is euthanized, and there are pet funeral homes that specialize in animal burial or cremation. Otherwise, the animal facility will often freeze the body and subsequently send it to the local landfill.

When confined in a shelter, cats and dogs may suffer from chronic anxiety, social isolation, inadequate mental stimulation, and lack of exercise, all of which adversely affect their physical and emotional health—both in the short- and long-term.

Many animals that end up at the shelter are picked up by animal control or found by a stranger and we cannot say why their owner abandoned them. For cats, the reasons they found were the same, with the addition of: Cat allergies in the family. House soiling.

This is easy to calculate: LOS = daily population/outcomes per day. So for Shelter A, the average LOS will be 100 animals on site per day/10 adoptions per day = 10 days.

Approximately 6.3 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.1 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats.