The State of Animal Welfare Today

• Animals in US Households
• Animals in US Shelters
• No-Kill Shelters
• Getting Animals Into Homes
• Why Do Pets End Up In Shelters?
• Prevent Animals From Going Into Shelters

Current number of Animals in US Households¹

2/3 of US households share their homes with cats and dogs

173 million cats and dogs live in 81 million households

29% of households are multi-pet and have cats and dogs

Key Stats About Cats in US Households

76 million

cats owned in the US

1.78

average cats per household

19%

fewer cats owned in the US since 2016

42.7 million (34%)

US households have a cat

12%

Increase in households with cats in past 10 years

15%

increase in households with cats in the past 20 years

 

Key Stats About Dogs in US Households

97 million

dogs owned in the US

1.53

average dogs per household

8%

more dogs owned in the US since 2016

63.4 million (50%)

US households have a dog

39%

Increase in households with dogs in past 10 years

62%

increase in households with dogs in the past 20 years

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Current Number of Animals in US Shelters²

79% of the 5.4 million cats and dogs that entered US shelters were saved in 2019

Sadly, 625,000 cats and dogs were killed.

52% of animals entering shelters are dogs, 48% are cats.

Five states account for more than 50% of all the cats and dogs killed in the US:

CA – 100,239
TX – 96,707
NC – 47,652
FL – 45,503
LA – 32,150

Click here to see all the states.

Lifesaving progress around the country

For more on lifesaving progress, see our printable infographic or the pet lifesaving dashboard.

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No-kill shelters

A 90% save rate for the animals entering a shelter is the common sense benchmark for measuring no-kill. Learn what no-kill means.

2,126 (44%) of shelters meet the no-kill benchmark, accounting for 5,460 (35%) communities with sheltering services.²

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Getting animals into homes

Most important considerations when looking for a new pet: ⁴

While intent to adopt is strong, there is a significant drop off in adoption behavior.

Why the difference? Barriers to adoption revolve around uncertainty and lack of ease in the process.

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Why do pets end up in shelters? It’s not them, it’s us.⁵

Pets are relinquished to shelters for reasons related to the owner’s circumstances at roughly a ratio of 2 to 1 as compared to reasons specific to the animal. Unlike what many may believe, the animal’s behavior is not a leading reason for surrender.

While euthanasia* is the most frequently cited reason for surrendering a pet, three other human-related reasons—housing (specifically moving), financial and owner health/death—account for 37% of all shelter surrenders.

12% of cats are surrendered due to the owner having too many animals, ranking 4th, ahead of financial factors.

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Top initiatives to prevent animals from going into shelters

Community Cats/Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)

While dog intakes are higher than cat intakes, twice as many cats are dying in shelters. 69% of the animals killed in shelters are cats (the remaining 31% are dogs).⁶

Most significant concerns about free roaming cats:

These concerns can be remedied through TNR and community cat programs. 72% of survey respondents support and prefer TNR, compared to just 18% favoring impoundment and lethal injection.⁷

Trap-neuter-return (TNR) entails trapping, neutering, vaccinating, and returning community cats to their original outdoor locations

Ending Breed Discrimination

84% of Americans believe that federal, state or local government should not tell citizens what breeds of dog they cannot own.⁸

22 states have passed provisions against breed discriminatory legislation⁹, but only two states (Pennsylvania and Michigan) have laws prohibiting breed-based discrimination in the homeowner’s insurance market.¹⁰

Sadly, legislation in seven states currently discriminates against dogs seized in dogfighting cases, stigmatizing them as damaged and unadoptable and denying them an opportunity to prove otherwise.¹¹

Breed-specific legislation (BSL) bans or restricts certain types of dogs based on their appearance — usually because they are perceived as dangerous.

Stopping Puppy Mills

Three states (Maine, Maryland, California) and more than 360 municipalities have retail pet store bans, that prohibit the sale of animals from breeding mills.¹²

Since 2002, the percentage of households with purebred dogs has seen a decrease and households with mixed-breed dogs has seen an increase.¹

Puppy mills are “factory farms” for dogs. Dogs live in small cages, often only six inches larger than the dog on all sides, and are bred as frequently as possible.

Spay/Neuter Programs and Education

Despite the increases seen since 2000 in the rate of dogs and cats spayed and neutered, there has been a more recent downward trend.¹³

Cats can get pregnant as early as 4 months¹⁴

Spaying and neutering reduces the number of animals who enter shelters and may also prevent medical and behavioral problems

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