Kate Hurley's Embarassingly Corny Shelter Math Project

We talk a lot about numbers in sheltering and shelter medicine - intake, outcomes, cost and disease rates, to name just a few. Elsewhere on this website, you can find lots of information about the importance of tracking various numbers. Underlying my passion for all these other numbers - that is, for guarding shelter resources very carefully - is my constant awareness of the shelter math ratio. This refers to the miraculous way a few well-spent days of care in an animal shelter can "buy" a lifetime of happiness for animal and adopter. As I'm reminded by some of the stories we've gathered on this website , the benefit of just one successful adoption can extend far beyond even the animal and adopter. For every animal that successfully makes it through our care, countless lives may be touched, changed or even saved. For more on the shelter math ratio, please see the shelter medicine news section.