Our four-legged friends at city animal care centers suffer from respiratory disease, consume expired food and live in dirty kennels, according to a new audit by Comptroller Scott Stringer.

There are over 20,000 abandoned pets and strays housed in city-contracted shelters — over half have breathing problems, some were given food and treats past their “best by” date, and others lived in kennels with peeling paint and dirty water, according to the audit released Wednesday.

During the unannounced inspections of about 800 animals at all three borough locations, 15 didn’t have clean water, 48 were in dirty kennels, and 63 food items were expired.

“It appeared that shelter operations staff were not consistently adhering to the organization’s unwritten policy to check expiration dates of food and treats every two weeks while ordering supplies,” according to the audit.

City Comptroller's Office.

City Comptroller's Office.

City Comptroller's Office.

City Comptroller's Office.

Stringer recommended 21 steps the centers should take to improve care including by installing functional humidity monitors, adding a timeframe for repairs, and formalizing policies to discard of old food and medication.

The city pays the controversial nonprofit Animal Care Centers $20 million a year to operate three shelters in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island and two receiving centers in Queens and The Bronx?

From helping keep families together with their pets throughout the pandemic, to expanding our community of animal welfare advocates, we remain steadfast in our mission to end animal homelessness in NYC,” agency spokeswoman Katy Hansen said

A spokesman for the city’s Health Department, which oversees the animal shelters, responded to the audit by boasting about the 90 percent placement rate for animals in their care

“ACC is a national model in animal welfare, taking in more than 30,000 animals each year, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to ensure animals in our city find a loving home,” the rep said