Thirty pets have been surrendered to the Bendigo Animal Relief Centre in the past seven days.
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The surrenders included cats, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs.
The increase of surrendered animals is seeing BARC urge potential pet owners to seriously consider if they want the responsibility of a pet.
BARC operations manager Fra Atyeo said the centre's research showed the rise in surrenders was coming from people who were getting pets from friends and family.
"We have found common themes," she said. "We discovered the surrenders we are seeing have been obtained from family and friends whose own pet has had a litter.
"That means people are potentially taking animals without thought, as opposed to going out and researching. They're seeing the dog had puppies and are saying 'I'll have one'.
"From there the animal is surrendered because owners cant meet the animal's needs. They have no time to train them or they get to big and boisterous.
"It can be a great opportunity to get pets from friends and family but you still need to research."
Ms Atyeo said staff are always happy to help people do research into pet ownership.
"We don't care if you adopt from us or not but if you're thinking of it, it can help to talk through what is the best pet for you," she said.
"We want to prevent (adopted animals) coming back to us."
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Currently, BARC is caring for 75 animals and is focused on ensuring the length of stay for animals is as short as possible.
"We're not bursting at the seams but we feel the strain in trying to get animals to a home," Ms Atyeo said.
"Thirty came in, now need to get 30 animals out. That's a challenge for us.
"The shorter time an animal spends in the shelter, the better."
Ms Atyeo said if a pet has to be surrendered, owners can contact BARC to do it in the best way possible rather than just "dumping and running".
"It does happen. Situations change and people need to surrender pets," she said. "We want to work with people to see how we can best support them.
"It might mean having a quarantine period at their home rather than the shelter. So we can vaccinate the pet and send home for quarantine.
"We can work with owners to make it best outcome for the pet. We are trying to get away from the drop and run situation."
Ms Atyeo said pet owners should also ensure their animals are desexed to prevent unwanted litters.
"July is national desexing month and we are offering discounted desexing of pets for eligible residents," she said.
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