Why More Australians Are Giving Up Their Pets BBC News 23/10/22

[Deeds]

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63071930

 

 

 

 

[_PL_]

This also explains the amount of vetwork we're doing. It's not that much dearer than before, but times are really tough.

 

Supplies and food, even online has leapt up significantly almost overnight. You used to be able to grab a bargain. I guess the new online prices are the new bargains.

 

The number of contacts I get from people who can't keep their dog is heartbreaking. And pounds ... 30 dogs in just one email.  

[Amazetl]

I know that some people genuinely are struggling and I know that the price of dog food has gone up. I know also that circumstances change from having a stable income when you get your dog to perhaps losing your job etc. However, if you have only one dog or pet I think you would have to be very very broke to be able to not still feed it. I know there are true desperate people out there but I think there are also many who weigh up all their financial commitments and decide what it is and isn’t that they can go without. May be cynical but if you really tighten the belt dog food is still affordable and they are your family member that you promised a life time commitment to, they are helpless without you. Again, I think there are true circumstances where pets need to be rehomed but I think a lot of the time it’s a cop out. Maybe I’m wrong. 

 

Also if people bought their pets from reputable breeders those breeders would take them back and there would be no risk of them ending up in shelters. 

 

Sorry if I’m wrong for anyone truly struggling. 

[Amazetl]

More news showing the record numbers of pets being surrendered due to lack of socialisation due to covid isolation and behaviour issues and now people going back to work and not needing them. I’ve come to the conclusion that many people are just horribly selfish, get the animal when they are lonely and then just dump it when it’s not convenient anymore. That’s not what pets are about. So many of these didn’t get the right dog for them, and so many got them from so and so who decided to breed or from a shelter and now don’t want them. If only people would get them from proper breeders who take them back and who care to begin with or who they first go with. 

 

I feel so sad for these animals. It really breaks me at the thought of their whole world abandoning them like this. 

[Redsonic]

Important to note that one of the examples linked to in the article is a Neapolitan Mastiff that needed surgery. Easy to see the vet bills (plus the dog's regular outlays) costing more than someone hard on their luck can afford. The cat owner lost her job and home, so rental difficulties (landlords biased against pets) probably was a factor there. The Mastiff owners should have considered increased costs in owning a giant breed before they acquired Charcoal, but they perhaps never thought to find themselves in such financial straights?

Having said all this, I would live out of my car before giving up my dogs, but I don't have any other dependents.

[tdierikx]

I'm of the opinion that while there may well be a number of people surrendering their pets due to the rental crisis, I really think that for a relatively equal (or possibly larger) number of surrenders, the rental crisis has become a convenient - and more palatable - excuse to use to give up an unwanted pet. Who is going to say they just don't want their pet any more when they can say they have to move house and can't find a rental that allows pets? One doesn't actually have to prove that their reason is true, do they?

 

I'm also very suss that RSPCA NSW (specifically Sydney) are the ONLY shelter in the country that is NOT reporting high surrender numbers... there was a rumour that they simply weren't taking any, but I can't verify that, so not sure of the veracity of that rumour - but it would certainly explain why they are not swamped with surrenders like every other shelter in the country. Why the AWL has an 8-9 month waiting list to surrender a pet, but RSPCA - which is definitely going to be the FIRST place most people think of to surrender to - does not, just sounds way too suss, don't you think?

 

T.

[Amazetl]

While that is a good point about the mastiff, did they get him through an ethical breeder who would help in a time like this? There are financial ways around it too such as vet pay and other payment methods. I understand the cost of such a large dog to go through surgery would be a lot but yes before getting one people need to have that money in reserve for if a time comes. I know it’s hard and awful when financial difficulty happens but pets are meant to be for life. At least the mastiff is now in a good foster home but it shouldn’t had had to come to that.