Animals & intake
Pipeline & status
The pipeline is the backbone of your rescue's workflow. Every animal has a status that tells your team where it is and what needs to happen next. Here's how status works and how to move animals through it.
Status overview
The tracking board has nine columns, in order. A case starts at Requested -- a surrender request or stray report -- before an animal record even exists. Follow-up is derived automatically for recently adopted animals still in their post-adoption follow-up window, and Closed is a recorded outcome (adopted-closed, transferred, returned-to-owner, or memorial) rather than a single status field. Cards move forward automatically when you take certain actions (assigning a foster, closing an adoption), or you can drag a card to a different column.
| Stage | Set when | Typical next step |
|---|---|---|
| Requested | Surrender request or stray report submitted -- before an animal record even exists | Intake |
| Intake | Animal record created from a requested case, or a fresh intake | Medical / eval |
| Medical / eval | Vet check and behavioral eval in progress | Available |
| Available | Ready for placement (includes animals flagged as needing a foster) | In foster or Adoption pending |
| In foster | Foster placement confirmed | Adoption pending or back to Available |
| Adoption pending | Adoption application approved, contract in progress | Adopted or back to Available |
| Adopted | Adoption marked complete | Follow-up |
| Follow-up | Derived automatically for recently adopted animals, for their post-adoption follow-up window | Closed |
| Closed | A recorded outcome -- adopted-closed, transferred, returned-to-owner, or memorial | -- (terminal) |
Changing status manually
On the tracking board, drag a card to the column you want -- the board allows backward moves as well as forward ones, so if a card lands in the wrong place, just drag it back. You can also open an animal's record and change status from the Profile tab: click the status chip (the colored badge near the animal's name), and a dropdown shows valid next statuses.
Filtering by status
On the Animals page, use the Status filter at the top to show only animals in a specific stage. You can also combine filters -- for example, "In foster" + species "Dog" shows all dogs currently in foster.
The Animals page has two tabs: In our care (the default) and Alumni, which lists every adopted, transferred, or deceased animal. From In our care, a Show departed (N) toggle next to the filters lets you peek at departed animals without leaving the tab. Sanctuary residents are not treated as departed -- they stay in the regular roster alongside every other in-care animal.
Days in status
Each animal card shows how many days the animal has been in its current status. This helps you spot animals that may have slipped through the cracks.
Bulk status changes
On the Animals page, check the boxes next to multiple animals to enable bulk actions. You can bulk-set status, bulk-assign to a foster home, or bulk-export to CSV.
Bulk status is deliberately limited to four stages: Available, Intake, Adopted, and Medical hold. You can't bulk-set Fostered, Application hold, or Needs foster, and bulk actions can't record a Closed outcome like a transfer or memorial -- those go through the outcome flow on the animal's own record.
Pipeline metrics
Your dashboard shows pipeline summary cards: total in care, in foster, available, and pending adoption. The Operations Reports hub (under Reports in the nav) has deeper breakdowns, including your live release rate.
- Can I add custom statuses?
- Not yet -- the board's columns are fixed. For custom tracking, use animal Notes. Custom stages are on our roadmap.
- There's no 'Returned' status. How do I record an animal coming back?
- There isn't a status called Returned -- a return is either dragging the card backward to Available (if it's coming back from a foster placement), or logging a returned-to-owner outcome in Closed (if it's coming back from an adoption). Either way the original record is preserved, including medical history, so you avoid duplicates and retain the full history.
- An animal was mistakenly marked Adopted. Can I undo it?
- Yes -- the board explicitly allows backward moves. Open the tracking board and drag the card back to Available (or whichever stage is correct). The adoption event stays logged in the animal's history even after the card moves back.
- How do I see all animals ever in my system, including adopted and deceased?
- Adopted, transferred, and deceased animals are hidden from the default Animals roster and live in the Alumni view instead. Click the 'Show departed' toggle next to the filters to bring them back into the main list, or use the Status filter to pick a specific closed status directly.