Economic downturn hurts pets
May 30th, 2008 Posted in Pet SupplyDiana Bardsley wiped tears from her eyes as she recalled taking food off her plate to feed her beloved spaniel Hunter and two Siamese cats.
Her greatest fear: that she could be forced to surrender the animals as she struggled to stretch her food stamps and Social Security income to meet the escalating cost of living.
Some hope was restored after she visited a local food pantry, which has started offering free pet food to help owners keep their animals out of shelters.
But, “Just because financially you may go downhill a little or a lot, doesn’t necessarily mean you have give the part of your family that you love,” she said.
The rising costs of fuel, food and housing - and the rising tide of foreclosures - have generated a surge in requests for pet food from traditional food pantries and prompted some pet owners to give up their animals. Others are trying to save money by forgoing veterinary care.
The deepening foreclosure crisis also is having an effect. A growing number of pet owners are abandoning their pets or surrendering them to shelters after losing their homes or being forced into housing that doesn’t allow animals, said Brian Adams, spokesman for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell Animal Medical Center.
“We’ve where people have abandoned dogs in the house, we’ve seen dogs that have been surviving for weeks on toilet water, we’ve seen dogs that have either been chained up outside or left in the yard when the people have left, we’ve seen cats who are just set free,” Adams said.
“When we first started, people couldn’t believe there’d actually be pet food because often times they’d take six or eight cans of tuna and we’d find out they weren’t actually eating it themselves - they were feeding the cats because they couldn’t afford pet food,” she said.
And some veterinarians have noted more pet owners trying to save money on medical treatments by passing up some options, including diagnostic tests.
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