Economy is hurting your pet

Owning pets is much diffrent than it was in the past.You will not see the Britney Spears of the world entering a LA pet store and paying thousands for a Yorkie. 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 cannot simply enter a pet store and 30 minutes later walk out with a new pet. The president has said 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. When times are rough, we have to pay attention to the needs of all the members of the family and consider waiting until the family is settled before taking home a new pet . He is also showing setting a good example by getting a pet from a shelter or rescue group.

Although the president’s choice of a new family dog, and whether it will be a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound has been all over the media, more importantly is the unstable future of our natin’s pets in a time when there are those who can not pay for their 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 pets. 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 instances of doggie decadence covered the news stands daily.

Now that our economy has sunken to new depths, stories about our beloved pets have changed and have become much more daunting and deeply troubling. The media all across our nation have been reporting about local animal shelters becoming filled far beyond their capacity, often times being forced to euthanize a greater number of otherwise healthy pets simply because of space constraints. Still others have left their pets in foreclosed homes or tied up in back yards of abandoned properties, left to die of starvation, often times in able to reach food and water painfully starving to death at the end of a lead. 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.

This downward spiral comes on the heels of a recent upswing in adoptions. For nearly a decade shelters and rescues have been seeing a consistent rise in the rate of pet adoptions a stark 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 teaching the public on the need to adopt from rescue organizations instead of purchasing from a pet 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 little choice but to give up their pet.

Another sign of the rapid decline of the luxury pet market was the cancellation New York’s Pet Fashion Week. With all this negative news on the pet industry it should be mentioned that pets have a lot of good affects. 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.

For many people the only way to avoid having to make the decision of paying bills of feeding Fido, is to get themselves in a position to weather the economic storm. For many people this could mean entering into a credit card debt settlement program or other ways of lowering their household expenses. Often time’s bankruptcy is not 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 report 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 program you may decide, should you need debt relief, ensure that you educate yourself on the differences between the programs and fully aware of the pitfalls. In most cases speaking to someone who can assist you in settling your 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 credit card debt we have and survive this recession, or resort to what many have and abandon the family dog. Where will this trend end? Will the next crisis make us to decide whether to take care of our kids and pay for medical insurance or leave them on the side of the street to go it alone.