Setting the record straight on managed intake

Intake Diversion, Managed Intake, Strategic Intake – this animal shelter operations strategy has many names and is often confusing, but has incredible benefits for operational efficiency and lifesaving.

Managed intake programs are rooted in the understanding of two key realities:

For most animals, being taken to and housed in an animal shelter can be stressful, and subject those animals to illness, stress and eventually, euthanasia.
All shelters have finite resources that should be strategically utilized for the greatest benefit to the community. In many communities, shelter staff struggle to provide adequate care to animals when there is not a thoughtful, strategic plan for intakes, resulting in crowding and increased illness as well as staff burnout and turnover.

Due to these realities, it’s often not in the best interests of the shelter’s staff, its budget, and other resources, for animals to enter without a triage process – often described as managed intake.

At their core, managed intake programs provide options for animals to be kept in their homes, returned to their homes, or find them new homes, without having to enter the shelter at all. It’s a win-win for everyone.

If your community or shelter leadership has concerns about implementing managed intake, here are some tips to talk about, or develop a successful managed intake plan:

What managed intake is:

Managed intake is: Triaging animals that need immediate or urgent help to be accepted into the shelter, while healthy animals are first provided with other options.
Managed intake is: Facilitating rehoming pets, assisting with writing bios, sharing rehoming resources, and even helping get pets ready for rehoming with vaccinations or sterilization.
Managed intake is: Scheduling owner surrenders to ensure one-on-one conversations can happen to learn about the needs of the pet and the owner’s situation, potentially finding solutions to keep the pet in a home.
Managed intake is: Utilizing “friendly finder” or “foster finder” programs to allow members of the community who find a lost pet to participate in caring for that pet at home until the owner can be located if they are able
Managed intake is: Leaving healthy outdoor cats and kittens in their home territory. Healthy outdoor cats very likely have people in the community who care for them, will miss them if they are taken away, and are unlikely to look for them in a shelter. Shelters supporting or providing TNVR programs.
Managed intake is: Implementing return-to-home techniques in the field. Scanning for microchips in the field, knocking on doors to locate owners, or even “chasing” a dog home to identify an owner and secure the dog and other proven practices, are all more cost and resource efficient, as well as humane, compared to intake into the shelter.
Managed intake allows precious shelter staff time and resources to be dedicated to the animals and people who need help most urgently while providing options and other pathways for support for non-urgent needs.

What managed intake is NOT:

Managed intake is not: Allowing stray or loose dogs to roam the streets without intervention.
Managed intake is not: Turning away animals without support, alternatives, or in the case of healthy cats in the community, techniques for preventing nuisance behavior if it is a concern.
Managed intake is not: "Closing” intake to community Good Samaritans trying to help loose animals in the community.
Managed intake is not: Forcing the community to solve stray, loose, or free-roaming pet issues on their own.

By implementing managed intake techniques, shelters can use resources wisely, help keep more pets homes, avoid stress and crowding, and build positive relationships with the community.

Download the PDF (English)

Download the PDF (Spanish)

Resources: