Sometimes people wonder how we can be at capacity when there are cages or kennels open in the public viewing area. The answer to this is that we have a three-stage health assurance process in order to ensure that healthy pets are not exposed to any conditions or diseases new pets may bring in.
While the shelter is very small to begin with, it is divided into the public area where healthy and adoptable pets eventually are housed; a back-office intermediate area for staff only for pets who are out of quarantine but not finished all vaccinations or treatments in order to move up, and another separate quarantine area for pets new to the shelter. This quarantine area is generally limited to staff only and it is the place we hold any pets we feel need to have tests, immediate treatment or observation before interacting with other animals.
So, if our quarantine area happens to be full even though our front cages are not, we may be in a “full” status because we have no room to safely take more pets.