Having a pet in the house is diffrent now then it was just a few years ago.Gone are the high profile people of the world walking in a LA pet shop and dropping $3000 on a teacup puppy. Do something like that now and suffer the ire of PETA. Even our new president is being affected by the recent developments in the economy. He has realized that you can’t simply enter a pet store and 30 minutes later exit with a new pet. The president has stated that trying to find a new dog for his children is tougher than finding a Commerce secretary. He has been trying to model what a responsible new potential pet owner should be like during a recession, or any other time for that matter. While the nation is going through this, we need to consider the needs of the entire family and hold off until the household is settled before taking on the responsibility of a pet. He is also showing setting a good example by getting a pet from a shelter or breed rescue.
Although the president’s decision of a new family dog, and whether it will be a labradoodle or a Portuguese water dog has been all over the media, the biggest topic is the uncertain future of pets in a period when some are having a hard time paying for grocery bills.In our nation’s hayday, it was common to see stories that made us chuckle and shake our heads about how people would spend exorbitant amounts of money on their dogs. They believed that their dogs actually loved the posh bottled water that was served to them in a crystal doggie glass. Stories of million dollar doggie trust funds, thousand dollar doggie hotels, pearl necklaces, and other examples of doggie decadence covered the news stands daily.
Now that the economy has taken a nose dive, stories about pets have transformed and have become much more daunting and deeply depressing. The media all across our nation have been reporting about local animal shelters becoming filled far over their capacity, often times being forced to euthanize a greater number of otherwise healthy pets simply because of space constraints. Still others have abandoned their pets in foreclosed houses or chained up in back yards of abandoned properties, left to fend for themselves, often times not able to reach food and water slowly starving to death at the end of a cable. The LA times even made pets and the economy their features story of the New Year. Pets are quickly turning into the luxury that can no longer be afforded.
The current downslide follows a previous upswing seen in adoption rates of the recient past. For nearly a decade shelters and rescues have been seeing a consistant rise in the rate of pet adoptions a starke difference from the overwhelming intake and decline in new adoption applications. There is no real way of knowing if we have seen the bottom of this staggering trend or if there is more despair to come. There is one certain thing, it is not getting any better.
Any progress made in the past of educating the public on the need to adopt from rescue organizations instead of purchasing from a puppy store means nothing if our falling economy causes people to not be able to afford to own a pet or take care of the pets that they already have in their home. Vet bills alone have been a major factor in family’s decisions to give up their beloved pets. With the average vet visit costing in the range of $200 a visit, people often have to decide whether they can spend this month’s credit card payment and unless they find a way to reduce their credit card debt, they often have no choice but to give up their pet.
Another sign of the rapid decline of the luxury pet market was the cancelation New York’s Pet Fashion Week. With all this negative news on the pet industry it is noteworthy to mention that pets have all kind of benefits. Vets across the nation have said that pets are an excellent way to lower blood pressure which helps justify spending the money spent on them.
The only way for many people to avoid having to make tough decisions such as of paying bills of buying food for Fido, is to get themselves in a position to weather the economic storm. For many people this could mean entering into a debt settlement program or other ways of lowering their household expenses. Bankruptcy is not always an option for these embattled pet owners who do not want to deal with the court system, paying attorney fees nor having the black mark on their credit for up to ten years. Often times credit card counseling, which is run by the creditors, is not a viable option since in most cases the payments are no less and sometimes more then what they are paying at the moment. Again this makes the owner struggle with pet food not to mention vet bills as mentioned earlier.
Whatever solution you may decide, should you need debt relief, ensure that you educate yourself on the differences between the programs and fully understand the pitfalls. In most cases talking to someone who can help you in settling your credit card debt can be helpful and is suggested over going it alone.
This discussion over pets and the economy will likely go on for as long as there is an economic crunch in our country. The underlying issue is that we either need to deal with the debt we have and make it through this recession, or resort to what many have and give up the family pet. Where will this trend end? Will the next crisis make us to decide whether to buy food for our kids and pay for medical insurance or leave them on the side of the street to survive on their own.
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