The animal protection organization TASSO looks back to 2025
Eschborn. Around 120,000 dogs and cats were separated from their people at least temporarily in 2025. This is shown by the annual evaluation by the animal protection organization TASSO e. V., which operates Europe's largest free pet registry. During the same period, TASSO recorded around 96,600 rehomings, i.e. cases in which the animals returned home or their people were informed about their whereabouts.
The 120,000 animals are not evenly distributed between dogs and cats. While around 26,400 dogs were missing last year, around 93,500 cats were missing. “Cats disappear much more often than dogs,” says Heike Wempen-Dany, head of the emergency call center at TASSO. This is in the nature of things, as many cats can enjoy freedom without being accompanied by humans and their risk of getting lost, being locked up or having an accident is therefore significantly increased. Wempen-Dany: “It's also not unusual to see a cat running loose. However, anyone who sees a dog without people often informs TASSO or a surrounding animal shelter about the sighting.”
Between January and December 2025, more than 23,400 dogs were able to return to their two-legged friends. When it comes to cats, TASSO records around 73,200 successful rehomings, including animals that have been sorely missed by their people for several years. “Whether it’s thirty minutes or three years – it’s always an exceptional situation that is very stressful for animals and people,” says Wempen-Dany. To ensure that things happen as quickly as possible in the event of a discovery, it is important that pet owners ensure that they always keep their data up to date and remain reachable in an emergency so that they can receive the hopefully relieving call from TASSO.
2025 at a glance*
- Missing dogs: 26,400
- Missing cats: 93,500
- Returned dogs: 23,400
- Rehomed cats: 73,200
- New registrations of dogs and cats: around 710,000
- Total pet owners: 7.9 million
- New Year (New Year's Eve and New Year's Day): 376 lost dogs and 507 lost cats
* The numbers refer exclusively to the animals registered with TASSO. Only the cases that have been reported to us are included. The numbers are rounded. The statistics only look at how many animals were rehomed in the respective period, but not when they escaped. It is therefore incorrect to count the number of animals that escaped minus the animals that were rehomed and to draw the conclusion from this how many animals are still missing, since the number of animals rehomed could also include some that had already escaped at an earlier point in time.