Shelter Animals Count Animal-Level Data Pilot Study

Christina Forker
Christina Forker
  • Updated

Shelter Animals Count and The Tufts' Center for Shelter Dogs are doing a pilot study on animal-level data collection. They aim to collaborate with 100 animal shelter organizations across the United States in order to understand what is needed to successfully accomplish and sustain animal-level data collection.

The research team has identified a list of data points (see below) that will provide useful information on the animal level. Participating organizations must have the ability to report animal-level data once monthly for 12 - 18 months, and be willing to answer questions about their data management methods in order to ensure that it will align this project. 

To help streamline the data collection process each month, we created a report template to combine the Custom Events Intake report (includes outcome information) with the Custom Entities Animals report so you can view all of the data in a single report. To use this template, navigate to File > Make a Copy. At the moment, medical and behavioral information is not included in the template.  

 

What information is being collected? 

Animal Level Data Points

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Organization must serve cats and/or dogs
  • Person most knowledgeable about org’s data

Animal-level data points:

  • Animal ID
  • Animal name
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Reproductive status
  • Declawed
  • Species
  • Weight
  • Breed
  • Intake date
  • Intake type
    • If transfer, source
    • If owner surrender, reason
    • Services may or may not be included (medical services, owner-requested euthanasia, etc.)
    • Return to owner/field may or may not be included
    • Intake subtype
  • Coat color and/or pattern
  • Adoptability status
  • Outcome date
  • Outcome type
    • Outcome subtype
  • Medical care in shelter – high-level summary data fields, ex: diagnosis, treatment, vaccinations
  • Behavioral care in shelter – high-level summary data fields, if any
  • Length of Stay

How do I use the template?

Request access to the template, and email help@shelterluv.com to let us know which organization you are with. Then, pull the reports below: 

Custom Entities Animals Report: 

  1. In Analysis & Reports, create a Custom Entities Animals report for the date range you are reporting on. 
  2. Click on "Add Rule" (but don't enter any report rules), customize your report columns to include only the columns below, then click Run Report. (video)
      • Intake Date
      • Animal ID
      • Name
      • Species
      • Primary Breed
      • Secondary Breed
      • Sex
      • Age (Y/M/D)
      • Age (Months)
      • Age Group
      • Date of Birth
      • Primary Color
      • Secondary Color
      • Pattern
      • Altered in Care
      • Altered Before Arrival
      • Days in Custody
      • Status
      • Adoptable
      • Current Weight
      • Attributes
      • Transfer From
      • Original Source  
  3. Click back to the first report tab where you entered your report criteria, then save a copy of the report criteria for future use. You can now run this report at any time with any date range from My Saved Reports and it will have the same report criteria as you've just saved. (video)
  4. After saving the report, go back to the tab with your report results and sort the intake date column to find the oldest intake in the report results (to be used in step 1 below). After you have done this, go back to the tab with your report results, then export the data to Excel. (video)
  5. Copy everything except the column headings, paste into the Entities Report tab in the template starting in cell B3. (video) 
      • Note: This report always pastes an additional row before the first row of actual report data. Deleting the extra row will impact formulas in the template, so after you paste the report data in, re-copy everything except the additional row and paste again directly over it. 

Custom Events Intake Report (with outcome data): 

  1. Create a Custom Events Intake report with the columns listed below. Enter the oldest intake date from step 4 in the Entities Report instructions above as your beginning date, then enter the last day of your date range from step 1 (above) as your end date. (video) 
      • Animal Information (unselect all, then include these columns only)
          • Animal ID
          • Age (Months)
          • Age Group
          • Size Group
      • Intake Information (unselect all, then include these columns only)
          • Intake Date
          • Intake Type
          • Intake Sub-type
          • Jurisdiction
          • Intake From (City)
          • Intake From (State) 
      • Outcome Information (unselect all, then include these columns only)
          • Outcome Date
          • Outcome Type
          • Outcome Sub-type
          • Transfer To
  2. Click back to the first report tab where you entered your report criteria, then save a copy of the report for future use. After you have done this, go back to the tab with your report results, then export the data to Excel. (video)
  3. Copy everything except the column headings, paste into the Intake Report tab in the template starting in cell B2. (video)
      • Note: This report will also paste an additional row into the template. Copy and paste the report data over this additional row in the same way as you did in step 4 above. 

The Entities Report tab will now also include all of the report columns from your intake report:

Columns B - Y = Animals in Custody data

Columns Z - AG = Intake data

Columns AH - AK = Outcome data

 

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our support team: help@shelterluv.com