The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifies that euthanasia must be painless. Most states have laws regulating the administration and methods of animal euthanasia.

•  As recently as 2019, 25% of shelter animals were confirmed euthanized.
  
• 35 states have laws about how long a shelter must hold an animal before authorizing euthanasia.
• In states with holding laws, the minimums range from 48 hours to 10 days.
• 5 states are responsible for half of all euthanized shelter animals.
• Animal rights groups estimate that 99% of euthanized and deceased animals are adoptable.
  
• As many as 57% of euthanized and deceased animals are unweaned kittens.
• Since 2011, euthanizations in shelters are down roughly 42%.
• Specialized spay and neuter clinics offer low-cost surgeries, which reduced the population of unwanted pets in one California town by 70%.
• Shelters that sterilize prior to release reduce intake by 10% over five years.
• Almost 90% of people surveyed believe euthanasia rates are less than half of what they actually are.
• Up to 10% of animals in no-kill shelters are euthanized due to health or behavioral reasons.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifies that euthanasia must be painless. Most states have laws regulating the administration and methods of animal euthanasia.

•  As recently as 2019, 25% of shelter animals were confirmed euthanized.
• 35 states have laws about how long a shelter must hold an animal before authorizing euthanasia.
• In states with holding laws, the minimums range from 48 hours to 10 days.
• 5 states are responsible for half of all euthanized shelter animals.
• Animal rights groups estimate that 99% of euthanized and deceased animals are adoptable.
• As many as 57% of euthanized and deceased animals are unweaned kittens.
• Since 2011, euthanizations in shelters are down roughly 42%.
• Specialized spay and neuter clinics offer low-cost surgeries, which reduced the population of unwanted pets in one California town by 70%.
• Shelters that sterilize prior to release reduce intake by 10% over five years.
• Almost 90% of people surveyed believe euthanasia rates are less than half of what they actually are.
• Up to 10% of animals in no-kill shelters are euthanized due to health or behavioral reasons.

One out of every three family pets gets lost at some point in their lifetime. Lost pet numbers are caretaker estimates based on certain clues, such as whether a cat has been sterilized or shows evidence of human care.

•  Among shelter animals reunited with an owner, 87.0% are dogs and 13.0% are cats.
• 10% of animals entering shelters are spayed or neutered (indicating they could be a pet).
• 20% of animals adopted from shelters are returned again.
• Pets outnumber shelter animals 100-to-1.
• 31% of pet cats, or about 26.5 million, were adopted from a shelter.
• 23% of pet dogs, or about 17.9 million, were adopted from a shelter.
• 42% of non-pet owners who express interest in getting a companion animal say they would not consider adopting from a shelter.
• Cat owners are 40% more likely to adopt their pet from a shelter than dog owners.
• 36% of Americans who choose to rehome their dog take it to a shelter.
• 8.9% of owners who relinquish pets do so intending to have the animal euthanized.

In the last 50 years, animal shelters across the U.S. have diminished their intake numbers. Some of the decrease may be due to budget cuts. Experts, however, mainly credit reformed public opinion about stray animals and adoptions as well as improved practices, such as population control through sterilization.

• Shelter intake declined 21.8% from 2019 to 2020.
• Adoption rates increased 7.4% in 2020.
• The rate of owner-relinquished intakes increased 10.5% from 2020 to 2021.
• Owner relinquishment rates declined 0.1% from 2019 to 2020.
• The rate of strays entering shelters declined 5.8% from 2019 to 2020.
• In 1973, shelters took in over 20 million dogs and cats.
• At that time, it wasn’t uncommon for 90% of shelter animals to be euthanized.
• By 2020, shelter intake nationwide was down 68%.
• In the last decade, the number of animals entering shelters has declined by at least 10%.