A section with key insights from PetRescue's 2025 guardian-assisted rehoming program report: Finding another way home
Source of pet and length of ownership
We also examined sources of pets and the length of time these pets were in the home prior to guardians seeking rehoming help, to determine if case characteristics or reasons for rehoming varied according to either factor.
The majority of guardians seeking support with rehoming their pets through Home2Home, had owned their pet for at least 2 years prior to applying.
As expected, as the length of ownership increased beyond 6 months, the percent of guardians initially open to receiving additional support to keep their pets increased. Conversely, the majority of guardians that applied for Home2Home to find new families for pets they took on with the intention of rehoming had the pet in their care for less than 6 months. Interestingly, 74 guardians in total had retained these pets for at least two years prior to applying, of which 18 had owned the pet for more than 5 years.
The reason “Always intended to rehome (e.g., litter, pet in temporary care)” and descriptions like “I have been looking after this cat to help the guardian who was moving house... It has now been 16 months and the guardian cannot take the cat back” shed light on a specific pathway to rehoming.
Comparison of Home2Home applications with the Animal Medicines Australia (AMA) 2025 report: Australia's most comprehensive pet survey shows nearly three quarters of Australian homes now have a pet « Animal Medicines Australia
Further detail is provided in Appendix Table A10: Comparison between AMA 2025 and Home2Home application data (%).
Under-represented in Home2Home:
- Dogs and cats obtained from family, friends, or colleagues
- Dogs and cats purchased from pet shops
Over-represented in Home2Home:
- Cats purchased from breeders (~1.3× greater than AMA)
- Dogs adopted from rescues, shelters, councils, or vets (~2× greater than AMA)
- Cats adopted from rescues, shelters, councils, or vets (~1.6× greater than AMA)
Equally represented in both datasets:
- Dogs purchased from breeders or private sellers
All sources of pets were represented across every category. Pets adopted from rescues, shelters, councils, or vets were the most common and featured prominently across all lengths of ownership.
The relationship between length of ownership and source indicates that passively acquired pets, such as found strays or those obtained from family and friends, were more likely to be rehomed after shorter periods, whereas pets acquired purposefully, like those purchased from breeders or adopted from shelters, were typically retained longer before seeking help.
Further detail is provided in Appendix Table A11: Challenges Meeting Pet Needs by Length of Ownership.
Issues more common for newer pets:
Factors that increased as length of ownership increased:
Factors relating to changes in the guardian’s lifestyle were significantly less commonly reported by newer guardians, although the exact pattern varied:
Other patterns based on length of ownership:
To download the full PDF boop here.
Jump to specific insights from the report: