Pandemic Pets

~ beetleypete

My blogging friend David Miller from https://millerswindmill.wordpress.com/ sent me this article from America. He thought that I might be interested in it, and I was.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/inflation-hitting-americas-90-million-pet-owners-hard-need-help

That got me thinking about the recent issue of ‘Pandemic Pets’ here in Britain. From the Spring of 2020 until the end of 2021, pet ownership exploded in the UK. People forced to stay at home because of lockdowns, or working from home permanently due to changes in working practices decided that what they needed in their lives was a pet.

But they didn’t think it through.

Pets need a lot of attention.
Dogs need regular exercise.
All pets need food, beds, leads, collars, toys, and some need cages and straw.
They also need to have innoculations, worming, regular health checks, and in some cases, medication or surgery.

The bills start to mount up, and even if you have Pet Insurance, that doesn’t cover everything. The weather puts people off of walking dogs. They make a mess in the house before they are trained, leave fur all over the place, chew things up, and generally impart their odours into the once clean and fragrant house.

Even a non-pedigree animal has to have a lot of money spent on it on a monthly basis. Some need grooming regularly too.

Meanwhile, the once-excited new pet owners are busy on Zoom calls, or have been summoned back to their former office or workplace once the Pandemic restrictions ceased to operate. That cuddly pup, cute cat, or fluffy rabbit has become a money pit that has to be left to its own devices for eight to ten hours a day, and those new owners begin to resent their new pet, wondering why the hell they thought it was a good idea to get one.

Then comes the war in Ukraine, the global financial crisis, increased fuel bills, rampant inflation, and huge hikes in the price of petrol and diesel. Mortgage rates are set to increase, and money is tight even for those with well-paid jobs.

What happens next is that animal shelters and rescue centres are inundated with unwanted dogs, cats, rabbits, and other animals. The Pandemic Pet owners are even resorting to giving away their supposedly beloved pets via Facebook, or selling them cheap to anyone with the cash who will collect them. Some owners are crowdfunding to cover the cost of operations on their pets, or in the worse case scenario having perfectly healthy animals put to sleep because they can’t be bothered with them any longer.

I know this doesn’t apply to everyone who bought a pet during this period, but you only have to look at animal shelter websites to realise there is a huge issue to deal with.

Let’s hope if we have another pandemic, people who didn’t want a pet before don’t go rushing into thinking having one will change their lives.

Because ultimately, it is the poor animals who will suffer.

42 thoughts on “Pandemic Pets”

  1. I know those spur of moment decisions made out of loneliness. But we must stop to remember there is a life at risk. The worst part is that once the number of adoptions goes up, professional breeding goes up to and when there is no one to adopt the animals, were do they go? Animal testing labs, streets, landfills…

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  2. A very sad situation, and if they do not stop this horrible war it will become much more worse. In my humble opinion one cannot put down Russia without putting down whole Europe. Germany has played a game with the devil, and the others had not done anything against this. Best wishes, Michael

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  4. This is so sad, but not surprising. I thought it was bound to happen when I heard about the number of people acquiring or adopting pets during the pandemic (although adoptions tend to be looked up pretty closely, so less likely to happen for the wrong reasons, I imagine). A pet is not an accessory or something to keep us entertained. Thanks for bringing our attention to this, Pete.

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  5. It absolutely breaks my heart that people don’t consider everything required to be a good pet parent. In America especially, unwanted shelter animals are generally euthanized. We also adopted a Pandemic Pet, a lovely dog who was saved from death row in Kentucky by a Canadian rescue organization. Mind you, my experience with dogs is lifelong and I knew what I was getting into.

    P.S. I have just published a Soul Music post especially for you, Pete. Have a look, when you get a chance. 🙂
    https://thedogladysden.com/sweet-soul-music-of-the-1960s/

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      1. There are many photos of him on this blog. Here are some links.

        Ollie’s Holiday: The Porch

        Ollie’s Holiday: Ice Cream For Dogs

        About

        New Photos Of Ollie

        The Lakes: Pete and Ollie

        More photos of Ollie

        Young Ollie and me

        Baby Ollie


        This is just a selection, I hope you enjoy them.
        There are also video clips of him.

        Ollie: Moving on video!

        Video: More Heavy Snow, and Hoe Rough

        Video Clips: A Very Snowy Dog Walk


        Best wishes, Pete.

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