More than Half of Russian Households have a Cat and a Fifth a Dog but All Too Often Lose These Pets to the Streets, Russian Experts Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 19 – Russians are very proud of the fact that their country is a world leader in terms of the number of families which have cats. Some 59 percent of households there have at least one cat. At the same time, just over 20 percent of Russian households have dogs.

            But experts are concerned that far from all families are taking adequate care of their animals and often dispose of them by turning them lose on the streets. The experts say 98 percent of dogs and cats on Russian streets are former pets, creating an issue tha divides the country (petcarecenter.ru/docs/vserossijskaya_perepis_bezdomnykh_zhivotnykh_2025 and svoboda.org/a/rossiya-stala-mirovym-liderom-po-chislu-semey-gde-zhivut-koshki/33859491.html).

            Homeless animals have become an explosive issue in many parts of the country, with some politicians now calling for a massive euthanasian campaign and others demanding that the government put more money into refuges for these animals and increase the share of Russia’s pets who are neutered so as to bring the population down without killing the animals.