393 pets really need homes! (2025)

FAQs

Are pet adoptions really skyrocketing? ›

Pet adoptions skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 1 in 5 households adopted a pet during the pandemic, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Even President Biden adopted a dog, Commander, and a cat, Willow.

Make an in-kind donation of supplies and items needed in our shelter every day. We are always happy to accept items such as gently used towels, canned dog and cat food, dog and cat treats, toys, puppy pads, and timothy hay for our small animals. You can drop these off directly at the shelter!

The number of euthanized animals could be reduced dramatically if more people adopted pets instead of buying them. When you adopt, you save a loving animal by making them part of your family and open up shelter space for another animal who might desperately need it.

Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.4 million are cats. Each year, approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized (1.4 million cats). Approximately 2.7 million shelter animals are adopted each year (1.3 million cats).

Those dogs just don't get adopted. If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, though not for long.

Gen Z pet owners (ages 18 to 25) are far more likely than other age groups to have a variety of pets.

About 100,000 animals are euthanized at animal shelters in California each year, according to the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at the University of California-Davis.

You'll save money.

Many pets in the shelter system are already spayed or neutered and if not, shelters often receive a discount from their participating veterinarian and passes the savings on to the adoptive family. Also, adoption fees are much less expensive than buying from a breeder or pet store.

Over thirty states have what are termed "holding period" laws. These laws provide the minimum required period that an animal (usually a dog or cat) must be kept at a pound or public animal shelter before it is sold, adopted out, or euthanized. Typically, the holding period runs from five to seven days.

How many animals does the ASPCA euthanize a year? ›

Each year, approximately 920,000 animals are euthanized (390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats). Approximately 4.1 million shelter animals are adopted each year (2 million dogs and 2.1 million cats). About 810,000 animals who enter shelters as strays are returned to their owners (710,000 dogs and 100,000 cats).

After all, they're part of the family! But despite 66% of households having at least one pet in the home, pet abandonment is on the rise. Animal shelters and pet welfare organizations have reported increasing intake rates in recent years in both the US and Canada.

Pet adoptions are not keeping pace with the number of animals coming in Animal shelters and advocates say overcrowding at animal shelters is due to multiple factors, including a post-pandemic return to work and renewed popularity of "designer" pets from breeders.

The adoption of 4.1 million animals per year may seem like a lot. But when you consider that between 6.3 and 6.5 million animals enter shelters each year, that leaves around 2 million animals that aren't adopted, many of which get euthanized or die in the shelter due to sickness or old age.

The Creation of a National Crisis

About 7.6 million unwanted pets enter U.S. animal shelters every year, and about 2.7 million of them are euthanized—roughly 31 percent of dogs and 41 percent of cats, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (www.aspca.org).