Abstract

Many stray animals throughout the world unfortunately do not get the opportunity to find the loving home that they deserve. In this classification task, we look to develop an algorithm to predict the speed of pet adoptions. The input to our algorithm includes animal type (dog or cat), breed, gender, colour, profile picture online and the descriptions about the pet, etc. We then use both traditional machine learning techniques (Logistic Regression, Naive Bayes, SVM, Decision Tree, Random Forest and Gradient Boosting) and neural networks (fully connected neural networks and long short-term memory Model) to predict the adoption rate. In particular, we build feature vectors using information extracted from description scripts and feed them into neural network models. We are hoping to examine the results to develop strategies to help improve the overall adoption rate (i.e. what features lead to faster adoption). Every year, 3.3 million canines visit animal shelters, out of a total population of 200 million. Only 2% to 17% of pets are returned to their owners. The remaining animals are euthanized due to a shortage of room in shelters (killed). The present procedures for adapting or finding a pet are inefficient and haphazard. People disseminated leaflets to the general public and spread the word to others in the vicinity of the pet's disappearance. When individuals print fliers, they waste paper and money since there is no good impact. People also share their tales on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook. There are also several fraudsters who attempt to fraudulently claim the incentive for returning the pet to its legitimate owner. We want to provide an analysis on how fast pets(cats and dogs) can be adopted based on various factors like their health conditions, age, colour, breed etc