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. 2020 Jun 19;10(6):1064.
doi: 10.3390/ani10061064.

Owner-Related Reasons Matter more than Behavioural Problems-A Study of Why Owners Relinquished Dogs and Cats to a Danish Animal Shelter from 1996 to 2017

Janne B H Jensen  1 , Peter Sandøe  1   2 , Søren Saxmose Nielsen  1
Affiliations

Owner-Related Reasons Matter more than Behavioural Problems-A Study of Why Owners Relinquished Dogs and Cats to a Danish Animal Shelter from 1996 to 2017

Janne B H Jensen et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Every year, dogs and cats are relinquished to animal shelters by their owners in large numbers. Reasons for relinquishment of dogs and cats to a large Danish shelter from 1996 to 2017 were obtained and characterised. The reasons were available for 86% of the owner-relinquished animals, including 3204 dog relinquishments (90%) and 2755 cat relinquishments (82%). They were allocated to 59 categories, which were further merged into four owner-related and three animal-related reasons. The most commonly reported of these seven reasons for relinquishment of dogs were owner health (29%), animal behavioural problems (23%), housing issues (21%) and lack of time (14%). For cats, the figures were: owner health (32%), housing issues (26%), and animal behavioural problems (25%). No systematic changes in these patterns were found over time. The number of relinquished cats was roughly stable, whereas the number of relinquished dogs decreased on average by 3% per annum. Owner issues were the primary reason for relinquishment in both species, but nearly one-quarter of the animals were relinquished as a result of behavioural problems. As the latter are often connected with the owner in some way, the results emphasise the importance of a focus on owners when addressing pet relinquishment challenges.

Keywords: Denmark; animal shelter; canine; cat; dog; feline; owner; relinquishment; relinquishment reasons.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annual number of owner-relinquished dogs and cats at a large Danish shelter from 1996 to 2017.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Reasons for relinquishment related to the owner from 1996 to 2017. Illustration of the merging and characterisation of owner-related reasons for relinquishment of dogs and cats. NSF: not specified further.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Reasons for relinquishment related to the animal from 1996 to 2017. Illustration of the merging and characterisation of animal-related reasons for relinquishment. NSF: not specified further.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Owner-related reasons for relinquishment (dogs). Proportional distribution of reported owner-related reasons for the relinquishment of dogs in a Danish animal shelter from 1996 to 2017.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Animal-related reasons for relinquishment (dogs). Proportional distribution of reported animal-related reasons for the relinquishment of dogs in a Danish animal shelter from 1996 to 2017.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Owner-related reasons for relinquishment (cats). Proportional distribution of reported owner-related reasons for the relinquishment of cats in a Danish animal shelter from 1996 to 2017.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Animal-related reasons for relinquishment (cats). Proportional distribution of reported animal-related reasons for the relinquishment of cats in a Danish animal shelter from 1996 to 2017.
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