Oh Lord ... (Joyce)

We have a program at our shelter where people can come and pick up food for their pets, a weeks worth. We use donated food that we don't feed, and portion it out. It's not meant to be a 'food bank' for pets, but a help for those tough times.

We are getting a lot more pets turned in due to forclosure, job loss, and money issues. Many people cannot afford vet care right now. Many people are also downsizing from houses to apartments, and cannot take their pets with. It's a very sad situation. We are so overcrowded right now.... More coming in than is going out. Adoptions aren't doing TOO bad, we are just getting so many more surrenders, it's really starting to back up. Plus it's 'baby' season, and we are overloaded with kittens and puppies.

Joyce it is not as simple as not feeding them.  There are vet bills, equipment and crud when you can't feed the dog what are you trying to feed your KIDS ???? 

I have 9 dogs and the 5 grands. If I had to compromise on the qaulity of dog food I would , no brainer....but what happens if I have to choose between Old Roy and grilled cheese for the kids???   It can be just that simple... what if they are now sweating enough gas to get to work and then they need to buy a 10.00 bag of food?  People can only take so much and sad as it is IF you have to make a choice as hard as the ones people everywhere are making then sure having a program that gave you a bag of dog food for a month or two would help.... what then??? We have donated dog food to our local food banks for nearly a decade. they really did not want to take them at first... it was the old We are here for people thing.... then they saw families able to hang on a bit longer Because they were not being picked off a bit at a time, first the pets then what the kids? Dad? So a welfare check can be obtained lets break up the family ?????  NO NO NO NO...... we all have to help each other, we all have to reach out and when it gets beyond the ability for the family to keep trying lets try to understand and not ake all of them feel even worse that our world has let them down so miserably.

Paws for Peace

Bonita of Bwana

Joyce - I probably watched the exact same news that you did and oddly enough, I said the exact same thing about buying Ol' Roy vs. turning your dog into the shelter. I don't believe it for a minute. Maybe I'm too cynical, but there are homeless people that manage to keep their dogs and feed them.

I could certainly understand about vet bills, but the story was specifically about the cost of food and even showed a chart of food sources and the % they'd gone up. They happened to show a pet store selling premium pet food which you wouldn't expect someone struggling to get by to be frequenting.

I just can't understand the dogs are family mentality but then it's OK to get rid of them at any sign of trouble.  What if the person had one more child than what they've got?  They'd find a way right?? 

I live in a small rural town in a farming state so it is not a problem here. There is plenty of game out there if things get tight for families around here. May not be totally legal but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to keep your pets and around here they will do what they have  to keep their pets one way or another. Even road kill works here. DH and I thank the Lord we don`t have that problem so Molly and Bella still get the best. I would buy food for someone that couldn`t before I would l want they to give up their dog to a shelter.

Wouldn't it be nice if more foster homes could open up while folks go through a hard time and then they can reunite with their dogs?  Yeah... it just never works like that...

willowchow

I just can't understand the dogs are family mentality but then it's OK to get rid of them at any sign of trouble.  What if the person had one more child than what they've got?  They'd find a way right??

My thoughts exactly. I would starve to death myself before I got rid of my dog, just like I would starve to feed my kids (if I had kids, that is).

My sister and her family are looking for a new place to live, and I was with her earlier when she called this one rental. She asked if they allowed pets, and when the woman said no, she said "Okay, nevermind. Thanks!" and the woman was SHOCKED that she wasn't interested anymore. She said something like "Well don't you want to come see it??" and Colleen says "Well, no...we HAVE pets." The woman just couldn't understand... I guess most people around here would have no qualms about giving up their pets for a good enough house.

chelsea_b

My sister and her family are looking for a new place to live, and I was with her earlier when she called this one rental. She asked if they allowed pets, and when the woman said no, she said "Okay, nevermind. Thanks!" and the woman was SHOCKED that she wasn't interested anymore. She said something like "Well don't you want to come see it??" and Colleen says "Well, no...we HAVE pets." The woman just couldn't understand... I guess most people around here would have no qualms about giving up their pets for a good enough house.

We were looking for a rental in MI before we bought our condo and experienced the same thing.  In fact, there was a great place but at the last minute they said they decided we couldn't have a dog and were shocked when we backed out.  It worked out since we found a place to buy anyway, but what else would we do, give up Charlie...NEVER.  There are plently of places to live that do allow pets, you just have to search.  Your choices might be limited, but they are out there.

There was a story about this on ABC World News about a month or so ago.  They interviewed a woman who was giving her 7 year old dog to the shelter because she couldn't afford to feed/vet her any more.  I think the lady was in Chicago.  I really really wanted to go get that dog, but right now I am at the limit of what I can afford with Bear, two cats, and regular living expenses.

During a three-month period this past winter, things were very tight for me.  I am single, work full time, but haven't had a raise in nearly 3 years despite the fact that everything else has increased in price.  I cut corners in every way imagineable, but my pets do not go without good food and care.  They have the same priority as my son.  I, however, will do without if one of them needs something.  I couldn't imagine giving any of them up.

I think people just dump them at the first sign of inconvenience- it's not really about "can't afford", it's "don't want to afford". Maybe they can't afford some whopping vet bill, but how expensive is it to feed some cheap kibble?

willowchow

I just can't understand the dogs are family mentality but then it's OK to get rid of them at any sign of trouble.

Any sign of trouble? I know some people do that, but I believe these are special times. We all say that our dogs are our family. And we love them dearly. But if it came down to making a choice between putting food in your baby's mouth or putting food in your dog's mouth, I don't think there would be a contest for any of us.  

We aren't hearing on the 6 o'clock news just how bad things are getting, economically, but in many households across the country, people ARE forced to make that choice. I wouldn't take my dogs to the shelter because I could send them out to hunt for rabbits, but a LOT of people who are losing their jobs and have families to feed (rising price of food and gas) don't have that luxury. I hope none of you are ever in the position to have to make that choice.

FourIsCompany

We aren't hearing on the 6 o'clock news just how bad things are getting, economically, but in many households across the country, people ARE forced to make that choice. I wouldn't take my dogs to the shelter because I could send them out to hunt for rabbits, but a LOT of people who are losing their jobs and have families to feed (rising price of food and gas) don't have that luxury. I hope none of you are ever in the position to have to make that choice.

I try very hard to be compassionate and although I've never been in the position that many of these people are in, I still don't accept it. Sure, there might be extreme circumstances that might cause someone to have to surrender their pet, but that's not how the news is playing it. The news story Joyce was referring to was strictly about the cost of feeding a pet, and I just don't believe that a family can't squeeze a few bucks together to get some off-brand dog/cat food to get by with. I agree that in many of these cases it's more a matter of convenience than hardship. Heck, the homeless people have pets and seem to be able to keep them fed.

It's easy to say "I would never ..." but honestly some of you just have NOT **BEEN** there.

It's never that cut and dried.  Yes, there are lots of folks out there who will give up the animals because they are inconvenient and it's just "one more thing" to deal with.  But please don't forget ... when you are in that dire of a situation there isn't just one choice to make.

You may have a husband who flies into rages because altho he's not trying hard to find work the "d*** dog eats FINE" and then he starts abusing, or maybe they just can't figure out how to walk the dog AND walk 50 blocks to work because they can no longer afford the bus. 

When my Prissy died, we were so financially strapped we were eating out of the church benevolence cupboard (to this day I can't look Campbells chicken rice soup in the label), and she died in my arms because I didn't have gas enough (at $1.29 a gallon) to get her to the vet AND get to work.  Even if the vet had been kind enough to euthanize her for me, I didn't have the gas to get her there.

Folks, when you are THAT poverty stricken it's not just a choice of picking kibble off the shelf or peanut butter for your kids.  ALL your choices are skewed ... nothing works.  Everything is harder, more stressful and tempers far far more frayed. 

If you have to leave your house, that's because you have dealt with months and months of bill collectors haranguing every move you make -- every time the phone rings you want to cry and hide.  Every word out of your mouth with your mate is likely an arguement ... and whether you have kids or not, the animals can mentally just be 'more' than some folks can handle.

We need food banks for pets too.  We need compassion.  I will never *ever* in my life forget what it was like to be THAT unbelievably poor and destitute.  To be that frustrated with life in general -- and often it's accompanied by someone in the family making bad, wrong, horrible choices at the same time. 

Just upping and "leaving" that spouse, or maybe its a child who is in trouble ... it's not an option because that puts you on the street.  Or living with family who may be no kinder than anyone else (or who also won't take the dogs).

Those years of h#ll on earth change my life forever -- it changed how I view others.  It changed how I view my choices today.  But please remember -- it's all wound up with a ton of every day things to deal with -- not just "this or this" or Ole Roy vs Canidae.  There are folks out there right now EATING dog food because it's still cheaper than human food and it's relatively "balanced". 

times THAT bad are so unbelievably ugly ... and so many of you really have not a clue how it goes.  A lot of families make horrible choices -- or one adult in the family makes BAD choices ... ***or*** no one makes bad choices but bad things happen to them. Jobs are lost for no reason ... but it's always so wound up with months of agony, it's so so so hard.

sorry -- I feel this too deeply.  Because I was there in far less 'bad' times than this.  I was lucky -- I had things to sell, and I was tough as nails to start with ... and others may just not have those qualities to start with.

And I can't even type about it without crying.

calliecritturs

When my Prissy died, we were so financially strapped we were eating out of the church benevolence cupboard (to this day I can't look Campbells chicken rice soup in the label), and she died in my arms because I didn't have gas enough (at $1.29 a gallon) to get her to the vet AND get to work.  Even if the vet had been kind enough to euthanize her for me, I didn't have the gas to get her there.

Folks, when you are THAT poverty stricken it's not just a choice of picking kibble off the shelf or peanut butter for your kids.  ALL your choices are skewed ... nothing works.  Everything is harder, more stressful and tempers far far more frayed. 

Yes, I understand what you're saying Callie BUT you didn't take Prissy to a shelter and drop her off. You could've. They'd have euthanized her for you - but you didn't because you were commited to taking care of her. Yep - there are probably some instances where there is no choice, but I was referring to the story Joyce saw and it wasn't about people losing their homes. I can understand if you've got nowhere to live, have to move in with a friend to keep a roof over your head and the friend says yes to you, but no to the pet. What I don't understand is the news story taking place in a premium pet store that sells only premium brand pet food and then a chart showing how the cost of this or than ingredient has risen x amount.

I guess what I'm really feeling is that other than a small minority of people, such as those on this forum, who are truly commited to caring for their pets, many (too many) people consider them disposable and that's what I got from the news story and it upset me.