Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi! I'm looking for some input on how different shelters operate their intake teams. For limited intake shelters specifically, do you have specialized intake teams (canine intake, feline intake, foster intake), OR do you have centralized intake where all intakes are done by one team trained on each species? 

#AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)

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Jenna Hacker
Arizona Animal Welfare League
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We're a rescue that gets transports in as our intake. We have a team that takes care of all of the intake animals, and when they are ready to be adopted they are moved from the intake building to the adoption center. The intake team is full of staffers that also wear many different hats. We don't have a dedicated medical staff, so our staffers coordinate with vets when necessary, such as for CVIs.

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Drew Domalick
Volunteer
N/A
WI

Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2025 02:15 PM
From: Jenna Hacker
Subject: Centralized Intake vs Specialized Intake - Limited intake shelters

Hi! I'm looking for some input on how different shelters operate their intake teams. For limited intake shelters specifically, do you have specialized intake teams (canine intake, feline intake, foster intake), OR do you have centralized intake where all intakes are done by one team trained on each species? 

#AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)

------------------------------
Jenna Hacker
Arizona Animal Welfare League
------------------------------

Hi! I'm looking for some input on how different shelters operate their intake teams. For limited intake shelters specifically, do you have specialized intake teams (canine intake, feline intake, foster intake), OR do you have centralized intake where all intakes are done by one team trained on each species? 

Jenna, 

I work at a municipal shelter so we are responsible for taking in strays, surrenders, bite cases, and court cases. All staff is trained on how to intake an animal, regardless of the circumstance. Our shelter staff is small ( 5 people total) so if someone misses a day, it is important everyone else can fill in.  We try to have managed intake when it comes to surrenders since our shelter is so small and we typically fill up with strays quickly. 

Hi! I'm looking for some input on how different shelters operate their intake teams. For limited intake shelters specifically, do you have specialized intake teams (canine intake, feline intake, foster intake), OR do you have centralized intake where all intakes are done by one team trained on each species? 

Hi! I'm looking for some input on how different shelters operate their intake teams. For limited intake shelters specifically, do you have specialized intake teams (canine intake, feline intake, foster intake), OR do you have centralized intake where all intakes are done by one team trained on each species?