Holiday Pet Dumping.

[Catherine]

Most shelters and rescue groups are aware of this. When it comes time for the holidays, people want to travel or they want to entertain. So they dump the family pet at a shelter(or worse). It would be cheaper to get a new one later than to pay for proper care for the pet. But doesn't the love and loyalty of the pet mean anything to them.

This is the worst kind of pet ownership. Some people do it over and over again.
Clearly they do not care about their pet. How could they care and then just dump the animal.


http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

Years ago I boarded a pair of hamsters for someone I knew. I wasn't even charging them. They didn't come back. After a month I finally called them. They had bought a puppy while on holiday and didn't need the hamsters any more. I ended up keeping them. What else could I do, but keep them.  I lost all respect for those people. What kind of lesson was that for their children.

[cathie]

It's sad that this happens, and hard for caring people like us to understand.

[Ruth]

That's great that you kept them. Sounds like some dim witted people who didn't want them anymore!

[Tobi]

I have never understood anyone who can just dump an animal who has presumably bonded with them, and loves them!
That's like adopting a child and then leaving it at the side of the road and driving away!

My head and heart can not get it.

In the case of those two hamsters Catherine, I can understand how you feel. But look at it this way...those two were definitely meant to come to you for love and care. A rocky road brought them there, but they got there in the end.
That however, does not excuse the behaviour of their previous humans. I hope those people will learn a little more about the value of a bond and a life in their care.

[Catherine]

The hamsters were definitely safer with me. If they could leave them behind like that, who knows what else they might have done.
Sometimes animals come to us for a reason. They were no trouble and they were older hamsters, so they lived out their lives in peace. I doubt they would have had peace where they were. If they were careless the dog might have gotten at them. They were definitely safer with me.

So what excuse do all the other people have for dumping their pets.

[Tobi]

(11-26-2015, 04:57 PM)Catherine Wrote: The hamsters were definitely safer with me. If they could leave them behind like that, who knows what else they might have done.
Sometimes animals come to us for a reason. They were no trouble and they were older hamsters, so they lived out their lives in peace. I doubt they would have had peace where they were. If they were careless the dog might have gotten at them. They were definitely safer with me.

So what excuse do all the other people have for dumping their pets.

Personally, I think there is never an excuse. That is a life, someONE who loves the person and calls their home its home. There is no excuse just as there wouldn't be for 'dumping' a child when finances or other things got tough along the way.

It is quite widespread. Even a local animal Rescue where I live, gets pets abandoned there for various different reasons. Now, that is the kinder form of abandoning a loved one! Though no comfort of course to the animal who is grieving.... knows it has been left and its loved ones have walked away....will hang on and wait to the point of obsession, for them to come back....will sometimes suffer deep depression and withdrawal.

And the humans' reasons?
They are getting divorced...they are having a baby and are scared about the animal's interactions with their new fur-less one....they are moving house....they got a new job....their older mother needs care....they are going on holiday....the dog/cat poops or peeseverywhere....their dog hasn't been trained properly and may jump on people or growl at them....the list is endless.

Not good enough reasons. There never would be a good enough reason.

It has become a throw-away society in many ways. Something doesn't work? Get a new one. No don't bother getting it mended or managing with it (as we all used to do in the old days) but throw it out and get a new one.
That can include spouses, too! So is there any surprise that some people treat their animals the same way?

[Ruth]

It makes me so mad when people dump their pets. I see this a lot on Facebook. I will never do that to my pets!!

[Catherine]

There is no excuse good enough for dumping a pet.

There are sometimes reasons for rehoming a pet. We did take a cat once many years ago. All the other cats in the house had turned on her. They were friends of ours and they tried to make it work. They felt really bad about it and they brought her to us and she fit in with our cats. I know she missed her people, but she settled in with us and we made it up to her in so many ways.
So they had a reason that had to do with the happiness of the cat. She was so unhappy that the other cats turned on her and we could at least give her a peaceful life.

All the other "reasons" I hear are excuses. If you really can't keep a pet then surely you could place it in a home with a friend and visit enough to help with the transition. Animals who end up in shelters know they have been left there. Even a really good shelter is still a shelter.

An 8 year old guinea pig ended up at the shelter. I saw it on the web site. I wouldn't leave an old guinea pig like that at a shelter. I went right away to adopt it. Someone beat me to it. No one who loves animals likes to see an old pet like that end up at a shelter.