Our look at the 2025 VIC Pound & Shelter data from AWL.

Victoria is the only state or territory in Australia with mandatory pound and shelter reporting. It's a big deal, and it matters. It's how we keep our finger on the pulse of what's actually happening in animal welfare, so we can stay science-backed, use up-to-date research, and support the people and pets who need it most.

It's worth being clear about what this data does and doesn't cover: it's limited to registered pounds and shelters with a physical premise. Animal rescues are not included - they're largely unregulated in Victoria and have no mandatory reporting requirement.

With that scope in mind, here's what three years of data — 2023, 2024, and 2025 — tell us.

How many cats and dogs are coming through the system? (Cats and dogs admitted to pounds & shelters in VIC)

Year	Dogs admitted	Cats admitted	Total
2023	29,232	46,280	75,512
2024	27,916	45,119	73,035
2025	27,859	47,581	75,440

Dog intake has been trending down each year. Cats dipped in 2024, then rebounded above 2023 levels in 2025.

It's great to see a continued decline in dogs entering pounds and shelters — though that decline is slowing, with dog intake falling only 0.2% from 2024 to 2025. Cats are heading the other way: intake climbed 5.4% year-on-year over the same period.

Where do they go? Reclaimed, re-homed, and transferred

Dogs

Year	Admitted	Reclaimed	Re-homed (adopted)	Transferred out	Total out	% out
2023	29,232	14,672	7,749	3,335	25,756	88.1%
2024	27,916	13,498	7,671	3,552	24,721	88.6%
2025	27,859	13,009	7,261	4,201	24,471	87.8%

Cats

Year	Admitted	Reclaimed	Re-homed (adopted)	Transferred out	Total out	% out
2023	46,280	3,355	21,056	9,232	33,643	72.7%
2024	45,119	3,170	19,429	7,794	30,393	67.4%
2025	47,581	3,050	20,429	9,466	32,945	69.2%

The gap between the two species is stark. Roughly half of admitted dogs are reclaimed by their original owner — but only around 6–7% of cats are. Cats rely far more heavily on re-homing to find a way out of the system.

Euthanasia: the numbers we can't look away from

Year	Dogs euthanised	Cats euthanised	Total	Dog euth. rate	Cat euth. rate
2023	2,465	11,570	14,035	8.4%	25.0%
2024	3,039	12,666	15,705	10.9%	28.1%
2025	2,907	12,677	15,584	10.4%	26.7%

Cats are euthanised at roughly three times the rate of dogs, every single year. Both species saw euthanasia numbers jump from 2023 to 2024, and have held roughly steady since — even as dog intake kept falling. That combination means a growing share of the dogs coming through the system are being euthanised, not just a growing number.

Euthanised due to behaviour

Year	Dogs	Cats
2023	1,421	1,608
2024	1,665	2,024
2025	1,148	2,606

Dog behaviour euthanasia rose in 2024, then dropped back below 2023 levels in 2025. Cats moved in the opposite direction entirely — a steady climb every year, up 62% from 2023 to 2025.

Euthanised due to "unsuitability for sale"

Year	Dogs	Cats
2023	525	790
2024	811	755
2025	1,130	603

This is a striking crossover. Dog euthanasia under "unsuitability for sale" has more than doubled since 2023 — 525 up to 1,130. Cats have fallen steadily over the same period, 790 down to 603. By 2025, more dogs than cats were being euthanised for this reason — the exact reverse of where things stood in 2023.

What does "unsuitability for sale" actually mean?

It's one of the legally permitted euthanasia reason codes under the Code of Practice for the Management of Dogs and Cats in Shelters and Pounds. It's assessed after an animal completes its mandatory 8-day quarantine period, when a vet or experienced staff member examines the animal specifically to assess its suitability for sale.

The Code spells out part of what this means in practice: "Aggressive, anti-social animals or an animal with known vices such as excessive barking, or habitual escapees must not be made available for sale." Animals with a health defect can still be sold if a vet judges it doesn't significantly affect quality of life — but if it does, that counts against suitability too.

In effect, "unsuitability for sale" is a catch-all category, distinct from the specific "behaviour" and "disease" codes. It can cover:

• Habitual escaping

• Known nuisance vices, like persistent excessive barking

• General temperament or sociability assessments that don't meet the bar for the specific "significant behaviour" code

• Broader suitability judgement calls left to shelter staff discretion — the Code doesn't mandate a strict checklist here

  
  

Our take: looking at the data, it's hard not to conclude that pounds and shelters are increasingly using the "unsuitability for sale" category in their mandatory reporting instead of the behavioural code. Between the two categories combined, behavioural and unsuitability reasons are consistently the leading drivers of euthanasia in Victorian pounds.

The Lost Dogs' Home, and the Cat Crisis

Cat euthanasia overall has continued to climb, and the two largest facilities in the state show why.

• The Lost Dogs' Home, North Melbourne admitted 7,958 cats in 2025 and euthanised 2,996 — a 37% euthanasia rate.

• The Lost Dogs' Home, Cranbourne admitted 5,154 cats and euthanised 2,086 — a 40.5% euthanasia rate.

Between just these two sites, over 5,000 cats were euthanised in 2025 alone.

Our thoughts

Behavioural reasons — and animals being surrendered because of behavioural challenges — continue to be a major driver of what's happening in pounds and shelters. And cats, in particular, are bearing the brunt of it.

A few things feel true to us, looking at this data:

• We need more legislation to protect cats. The gap in outcomes between dogs and cats — in reclaim rates, in euthanasia rates, in trend direction — is too wide to ignore.

• Cats and dogs can't be rehabilitated in a pound or shelter environment. It's a stressful setting, and it's not designed for behavioural rehabilitation.

• The people working in these facilities are often overworked, understaffed, and not always equipped to make the kinds of difficult, high-stakes calls this data reflects.

  
  

None of this is a criticism of pounds themselves — they're a crucial, important service. Our tax contributions fund them, and they exist to reunite lost animals with their owners and give surrendered animals a path to a new home. The pressures they're working under, though, are real and showing up in the numbers.

What needs to happen:

• Proactive care. If you're struggling with behavioural challenges with your pet, get in touch before it's too late. https://www.humaneanimalrescueaus.org/animal-support

• Keep people with their pets. If someone is struggling to afford care, find out what support services are available. https://www.humaneanimalrescueaus.org/finding-support

• Support animal welfare organisations like ours. We need more funding and support to keep doing this work.

• Register, microchip, and de-sex your pet. It's one of the simplest things every owner can do.

These views are the writer's own. They're not intended to be disrespectful of the people and organisations doing this work every day — they're offered in the spirit of looking openly at animal welfare in Victoria, and figuring out, together, how we solve it.

Source: Animal Welfare Victoria — Shelter and pound data