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Fast Track management involves identifying those animals that, as noted above, have the potential to move rapidly through the shelter to adoption. While each shelter should identify what makes an animal “fast track” based on their own records and experience, for most shelters, this will include puppies, kittens, and friendly, healthy, non‐geriatric animals, especially those with an unusual breed/appearance, a compelling story, or physical features such as one eye or extra toes that make them appear to be most adoptable.

At its most basic, Fast Track management simply means that these animals “skip to the head of the line” to be processed first. In other words, rather than processing animals in order of intake date, the most adoptable animals get the first spot available in surgery or on the adoption floor. While this may initially seem unfair, Fast Track management tends to benefit “slow track” animals equally, if not more. By moving the fast trackers through quickly, population density is reduced, leaving more space and time to care for, enrich and promote the slow trackers; all of which also helps them move through the shelter more quickly. In fact, some shelters have reported greater decreases in LOS for slow trackers than for fast trackers following a shift to this management method. Additional resources on this subject can be found in the textbook “Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians and Staff” and by searching online for the term Fast Track management in animal shelters (Newbury and Hurley 2012). At the time of publication, two excellent resources on this subject could be found at (https://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/articles/life‐fast‐lane) and https://www.sheltermedicine.com/library/resources/?r=fast‐track‐slow‐track‐flow‐through‐planning.