Pet Neglect in the Netherlands Is Becoming More Severe, Inspectors Warn
Reports from veterinary practices have tripled in three years, with inspectors increasingly finding emaciated animals in heavily soiled homes. The trend has been worsening since the coronavirus pandemic.
Cases of dog and cat neglect in the Netherlands are becoming increasingly severe, the Landelijke Inspectiedienst Dierenwelzijn (LID), the Dutch animal welfare inspectorate, has warned. According to its 2025 annual figures, inspectors are finding more animals that are emaciated, living in heavily soiled homes, or being denied urgent medical care.
This is the third year in a row that the inspectorate has flagged a rise in the severity of dog and cat neglect cases. "I find this a worrying development," said Gabor van der Straten, head of the LID.
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Fewer reports, but more severe cases
The total number of reports to the LID actually fell slightly in 2025 compared with the year before. The change, the inspectorate says, is in the seriousness of what its inspectors are finding when they show up.
In previous years, complaints often concerned relatively mild forms of neglect, such as matted coats or overgrown nails. While these are still issues, inspectors are now more frequently confronted with animals that need urgent veterinary attention. "We used to mainly see overgrown nails and matted fur, which is still relatively mild," said Jelko de Ruijter of the LID. "Now, in the most serious cases, we even see animals that receive no medical care, or that have died because they never received medical care."
Vets sounding the alarm
The clearest signal of the trend, the LID says, comes from Dutch veterinary practices. Reports from vets to the inspectorate have tripled in three years, from around 100 in 2023 to 321 in 2025.
According to De Ruijter, by the time a vet contacts the inspectorate, the situation is often already advanced. "At the moment of such a report, medical care for an animal is actually already too late." The LID also says it sees a growing number of cases in which owners refuse to follow the care or treatment advice given by their vet, leading to repeated inspections, warnings, and enforcement.
In addition to neglect cases, vets are increasingly reporting suspicions of breeders producing animals with harmful hereditary traits, such as cats with folded ears or dogs with very short muzzles. Both are linked to chronic health problems and are subject to existing Dutch breeding rules.
A pandemic-era effect
The LID links the rise in serious neglect cases at least in part to the coronavirus pandemic. During lockdowns, many people in the Netherlands took on pets, often to combat loneliness or to fill time at home. "But these were often people who couldn't actually manage that care to begin with," said De Ruijter.
As lifestyles returned to normal and household budgets came under pressure from inflation, some of those animals ended up in situations that have become harder for owners to manage, particularly when illness, financial stress, mental health problems, or social isolation are involved.
More cooperation between authorities
Given the increasing complexity of the cases, the LID says it wants to work more closely with other authorities, including the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), the police, veterinarians, and municipalities. According to Van der Straten, "the problem is too big to tackle alone. The problems that vets and enforcement officers are seeing are becoming increasingly distressing."
The LID currently has around 25 inspectors operating across the country. They are special investigating officers (boa's), with the legal authority to seize animals in the most serious cases, in consultation with the Public Prosecution Service. In other situations, they can issue warnings, give compliance instructions, or work with the Dutch Enterprise Agency (RVO) to impose welfare-restoration measures.
Reporting neglect
In the Netherlands, anyone who suspects an animal is being neglected or mistreated can call the national reporting number 144. Reports can be made anonymously. Calls about pets and hobby animals are mostly handled directly by the LID, while the police step in for emergencies. The NVWA handles concerns involving professionally kept animals, such as those at breeders or commercial farms.
The LID's message, ahead of what it expects to be another challenging year, is straightforward: animals depend on their owners to look after them, and when that goes wrong, early intervention by neighbours, family members, or vets can make the difference between a fixable situation and one that ends in serious harm.
