Best Friends Animal Society’s Adoption Barrier Study examined why people who say they are open to adopting a cat or dog may ultimately acquire a pet another way. Its central finding is a gap between favorable attitudes and action: barriers can arise while searching for an animal, contacting a shelter or rescue, and completing an application.
What the Adoption Barrier Study examined
Best Friends describes the Adoption Barrier Study as research into how people acquire pets, what they see as obstacles to adoption, and how those obstacles might be reduced. The project had two parts in 2016: qualitative research in July and a quantitative study in October. It was designed to understand why positive views of adoption did not always translate into adopting. Best Friends’ study page links the executive summary and a companion resource on barriers and solutions.
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The executive summary says the online survey included people who had adopted or purchased a cat or dog in the preceding year, while the experience was still relatively fresh. It also cautions that respondent snapshots should not be treated as profiles of adopters or purchasers. The findings describe that study and its respondents, not current national rates or the experience of every shelter adopter. The 2016 executive summary frames the central challenge this way: “The biggest issue was converting those people interested in adoption into actual adopters.”
Interest in adoption did not always become adoption
The executive summary reports three figures from Best Friends’ 2014 Brand Awareness Study: 85% said they would consider adopting their next cat or dog, 66% said adoption was their most likely option when getting a new pet, and 40% had adopted their most recent cat or dog. These historical figures were cited in the 2016 study summary; they are not current adoption estimates. Best Friends used the contrast to illustrate that expressed interest and preference did not reliably predict what people did when acquiring a pet.
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Where people can encounter barriers
Best Friends’ companion resource organizes reported obstacles around the stages of finding and adopting a pet. A person may be motivated to adopt and still lose momentum when information is hard to find, communication is slow, or the process feels difficult to navigate. The resource is based on the 2016 study and turns its findings into practical suggestions. Read Best Friends’ barriers-and-solutions resource.
Searching for a pet
People may not find a pet they want nearby, or may not see enough information to decide whether to inquire. Missing or limited photos and details about health or behavior can leave prospective adopters unsure whether an animal could be a good fit.
Making an inquiry
A slow response can interrupt the search. Other reported friction points include being unable to get details until an application is approved, or being told that an organization will not place an animal outside its service area.
Completing an application
Lengthy or strict requirements can make an application feel like a test rather than a way to find a suitable match. The resource describes rejections tied to factors such as a yard or work hours, as well as extra steps including references, background checks, or home checks. Requirements can also create uncertainty about whether a person will be considered at all.
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Uncertainty about an animal’s background, health, and behavior can make it harder to decide. The study’s overview also highlights difficult experiences around paperwork, rejection, intrusive requirements, and overcrowding. These are reported concerns, not a claim that every organization uses the same process or that every adopter experiences these problems.
What Best Friends recommends shelters change
Best Friends’ recommendations focus on making information easier to access, reducing avoidable delays, and shifting from rigid screening toward conversations about fit. They are practical guidance—not controlled evidence that any single change will produce a particular adoption outcome.
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- Publish upbeat, informative pet profiles in multiple places, including useful photos and health or behavior details.
- Respond to inquiries promptly and make relevant pet information available before an application is approved.
- Ask for only the application information needed to start a conversation; remove elimination questions that can rule out a potential adopter before a match is discussed.
- Use a conversation to understand a person’s home, schedule, and expectations, then help identify an appropriate pet.
- Where the organization can support it, offer faster ways to meet or take home an animal, such as same-day placement, foster-to-adopt, or outings.
Best Friends’ 2022 guidance describes conversation-based adoption as a nonjudgmental alternative to lengthy applications. It also recommends inclusion-oriented changes such as removing selected restrictions related to homes, veterinarians, landlords, fenced yards, and age while helping people find a suitable match. Other examples include reduced or waived fees, hours outside standard business times, making pets available earlier, same-day adoptions, and foster-to-adopt or conditional release when access to surgery is limited. These are recommendations for organizations to adapt, not universal rules for every shelter. See Best Friends’ open-adoption guidance.
How to weigh faster, more flexible adoption options
The executive summary discusses respondent ratings of possible improvements alongside perceived advantages and drawbacks. The options address different problems, so shelters can weigh them against four practical questions: how much they reduce friction, how well they support an informed match, what staff and resources they require, and whether they help adopters feel confident.
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| Option discussed | Potential benefit | Concern or trade-off identified |
|---|---|---|
| Private time with the animal | Lets prospective adopters spend time with a pet before deciding. | Staff time and operational capacity may limit availability. |
| Standardized behavioral and medical information | Gives adopters a more consistent basis for evaluating a pet. | Information must be accurate; the study summary notes concern about its reliability. |
| Taking a pet home the same day | Can shorten the process between choosing a pet and placement. | Speed may prompt rushed decisions or returns if the match is not well considered. |
| A comprehensive available-pet database | Can make it easier to discover animals across organizations or locations. | The summary identifies the idea but does not establish a quantified effect or implementation cost. |
| Access to a veterinarian | May help address questions about an animal’s medical needs. | The executive summary lists it as an opportunity but does not quantify staffing, cost, or outcomes. |
| A trial period | Can give an adopter time to assess how a pet fits at home. | The summary notes concern that a trial period could be emotionally difficult. |
These are options considered in the study, not a ranking of proven interventions. Their usefulness depends on whether an organization can provide reliable information, staff support, and follow-up. Reducing paperwork or decision time without addressing animal readiness and adopter support may not solve the uncertainty that made the process difficult in the first place.
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Putting process changes into practice
Best Friends’ 2025 operational guide recommends adapting changes to the organization rather than applying one rigid model. Its examples include piloting a change and seeking stakeholder buy-in, telling the public about adjusted hours, reviewing past adoption and foster data, simplifying application questions, building foster capacity, and providing multilingual support or accepting additional forms of identification. It also suggests considering same-day placement and reduced fees, and reviewing when adoptions happen before deciding whether extended hours are practical. See the 2025 operational guide.
A shelter can use these ideas as a staged improvement effort: identify where prospective adopters are getting stuck, test a focused change, and review whether it improves access without undermining good matching or the team’s ability to support placements. The guide stresses that its recommended steps can be adapted to each organization.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What later examples can—and cannot—show
Some later accounts offer illustrations, but they should not be mistaken for a controlled test of the 2016 study’s recommendations. Cat Care Society reported that, between FY2022 and FY2025, its average time in care declined from 58 to 32 days, annual intake rose from 716 to 1,280 cats, return rate fell from 6.3% to 3.3%, and adoptions increased from 743 to 1,105. Those figures belong to that organization. It also reported changes to readiness decisions and adopter communication, so the before-and-after comparisons do not isolate the effect of open-adoption practices. Cat Care Society’s 2026 account.
A reduced-fee resource quotes Kerry Ann May, president of Animal Outreach of Shelby County, describing a “nearly 10-fold increase in pulls from the shelter in one year” after cats were adopted more quickly. That is one organization’s anecdote, not a general estimate of what fee reductions will do elsewhere. Best Friends’ reduced-fee resource.
What the study means for someone hoping to adopt
The study’s main lesson for prospective adopters is that a difficult search or application does not necessarily mean adoption is out of reach. Ask for the information you need about a pet’s health and behavior, explain what kind of home and routine you can offer, and ask the organization what steps are required and whether there are alternative ways to meet or foster the animal. A shelter’s process varies, and the study does not establish that every listed barrier applies to every organization.
For shelters, the findings point toward an operational balance: make useful information and contact easier to access, avoid unnecessary screening friction, and preserve the time and support needed for an informed match. Faster, more flexible adoption can help address barriers, but confidence also depends on trustworthy animal information, realistic expectations, and an organization’s capacity to support the placement.
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