CatAdoptionSeattle.com

Black Cat Syndrome in Seattle: The Data

Does the "black cat syndrome" hold up in Washington? We track thousands of cats at Seattle-area shelters, and this page recomputes the answer from our live data every hour.

Black cats waited an average of 6.3 days to be adopted, versus 6.2 days for non-black cats — roughly 0.1 days longer.

Black cats — avg days to adopt
6.3 days
n = 1,063 cats
Non-black cats — avg days to adopt
6.2 days
n = 1,826 cats
% of available cats that are black
31.7%
137 of 432 with known color
Cats in this study
2,889
removed cats with usable color data

Days to adopt by coat color

Color Adopted (sample) Avg days Median days Currently available
Black (incl. black bicolor / tuxedo) 1,063 6.3 days 2.7 days 137
Orange (incl. ginger, buff, cream) 261 5.7 days 1.9 days 40
Calico / Tortie 94 5 days 1.2 days 19
Gray (incl. blue, silver) 504 6.6 days 2 days 92
White 188 9.3 days 2 days 26
Other (brown, tabby, colorpoint, etc.) 779 5.4 days 1.9 days 118

Averages are shown only for color groups with at least 10 tracked cats. Median is the middle value, which is less sensitive to a few unusually long stays than the average.

Methodology

What is measured. "Days to adopt" is the time between when a cat first appeared on a tracked shelter listing and when it disappeared. A cat that leaves a listing is treated as adopted; this is a proxy — the cat could have been adopted, transferred, or otherwise removed. Records are limited to cats whose shelter publishes a coat color.

Data window. 2026-03-27 through 2026-08-24 Figures are recomputed on every page load from current database state.

Color coverage by source. Coat color is free text that shelters describe differently. Bicolor cats are assigned by their first-listed (dominant) color, so a "Black / White" tuxedo counts as black while "White / Black" counts as white. Sources with color data and their coverage:

  • Tacoma Humane — 0% of removed cats have color data
  • Seattle Humane — 99.6% of removed cats have color data
  • Raskc — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Kitsap Humane — 0% of removed cats have color data
  • Auburn Valley Humane — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Seattle Animal Shelter — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Burien Cares — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Rescuegroups — 70.9% of removed cats have color data
  • Paws Cat City — 0% of removed cats have color data
  • Seattle Area Feline Rescue — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Noah Center — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Everett Animal Shelter — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • West Sound Paws — 0% of removed cats have color data
  • Meow Cat Rescue — 85.7% of removed cats have color data
  • Whatcom Humane Society — 38.5% of removed cats have color data
  • Purrfect Pals — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Main Street Mutt Rescue — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Oakbrook Cat Rescue — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Homeward Pet — 100% of removed cats have color data
  • Sunny Skys Animal Rescue — 100% of removed cats have color data

Excluded sources. Tacoma Humane and Kitsap Humane list no coat color, so their cats cannot be classified and are omitted rather than mislabeled. RescueGroups adoptions are also excluded: its removed history comes entirely from an April-August 2026 feed outage (the RescueGroups listing sync went silent in production for about three months), so those records' removal dates are not real adoptions and would fake impossibly fast results.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is black cat syndrome? +
Black cat syndrome is the belief that black cats are adopted more slowly than cats of other colors — often blamed on lingering superstition and on black cats photographing poorly in shelter listings. Whether that holds up varies a lot by region and shelter, which is why we track the actual numbers for the Seattle area.
Do black cats take longer to get adopted in Seattle? +
Based on 2,889 cats that left tracked Seattle-area shelters between 2026-03-27 and 2026-08-24, black cats took an average of 6.3 days to be adopted versus 6.2 days for non-black cats. These figures are recomputed hourly and cover the shelters that publish coat color.
How is 'days to adopt' calculated? +
We measure the time between when a cat first appeared on a tracked shelter listing (first_seen) and when it disappeared (last_seen), assuming a cat that leaves a listing was adopted. This is a proxy: a cat may have been adopted, transferred, or otherwise removed. Only cats with usable color data are included.