On Moving Day, Don't Forget To Pack Your Pet.

[Catherine]

Pet abandonment is a real problem. When people move they pack up all their things and that them with them, but they leave their pets behind. Two of my guinea pigs were left behind in an apartment when people moved out.
Home Hardware has partnered with the SPCA to produce and ad campaign to address the issue. It is a well done ad and hopefully it  will make people think.

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

I love the cat/dog shaped moving boxes. They send a message. Don't move out and leave your pet behind. If you really can't take your pet with you at least take it to a shelter where it can be cared for. My two guinea pigs were lucky they were found in time. A few more days and they might have died. Animals need food and water daily. Abandoning an animal leaves it to chance that someone will find it in time. Sometimes no one comes in time and the animal dies. They certainly are left scared and uncertain for the rest of their lives. No pet should go through that.

Let us hope the campaign in a great success.

[LPC]

A great idea. My pets would be the first consideration, not the last....

[Tobi]

I find this sort of behaviour surreal and astounding!
How can ANYONE "forget" their animal companion/s?? I would seriously worry about the mental state of anyone who could do that. Additionally I have absolutely no patience with them or their so-called excuses.

[Catherine]

When I first moved into my place the people upstairs brought home a kitten. When they moved out, they came out on to the veranda carrying the cat. They put him down, got in a taxi and drove away leaving him just sitting there.

The other tenant and I were standing right there and they said nothing to us. They just left the cat and were gone. He was sweet and I knew someone who wanted a cat so she took him. I have never understood how they could act that way. They didn't even ask us to feed him. He was so confused. He was a kitten when they brought him home and he couldn't remember any other home.

People seem to be doing this all over. Pets of all kinds are left behind in homes/apartments or they are left out side the home. They can't even bother to take the animal to a shelter or at least tell someone that they have left it behind.
They clearly have very little attachment to the pet.

I hope the ads make people think.

[Tobi]

Yes it is very good to have this advertising campaign. Just to hopefully reach those who are capable of such a thing. But I'm afraid I see it as psychotic behaviour.
There are those who believe an animal will be okay abandoned in the wild. Sometimes those people don't mean any real harm, they are just ignorant. But what they don't understand is domestic animals are genetically pre-disposed to a 'domestic life'. They rarely survive in the wild, and have very little in common with their wild cousins. So turning out a Rabbit, domestic Hen, or Guinea Pig is just cruel.
Some people also wrongly believe that cats are basically able to fend for themselves in the wild. Well....they will do their best, as all are hunters at heart. But they are bred for human companionship. They are not 'feral'. The would be most unhappy, and may not live for very long.

[Catherine]

A lot of times they are abandoning the pets inside the house or apartment. The poor pets don't even have a way to get food or water. Whatever was left out for them will only last a few days. If no one checks on the place in time the pet will die.

I know of a case where people left a dog behind in a house they had rented. After several days a concerned neighbour called the police. They broke into the house and rescued the dog. It had been desperately barking at the window. If the neighbour hadn't called the dog would have died. The house sat empty for a while before anyone came to check on it.

Leaving a pet outside is cruel. Leaving a pet locked in a house is almost a death sentence.

[Ruth]

When I lived at another address one of my neighbors moved and left a cat. She left me a note telling me to take it to the APL. That's the animal shelter here. The landlord saw the cat and called a friend of his who took it into his home, thankfully!

[Catherine]

At least she left a note so that the cat could be found before it ran out of food and water.

That was unfair to leave you to be responsible for her cat. I am glad the cat found a home. No animal should be left behind like that. I am sure animals feel the abandonment very deeply. It must take them years to get over their fears.

I just hope a public ad campaign will be enough to get people thinking before they move.