Interesting Post On The Current State Of The Economy And The Effect On Pet Ownership

From: dogtrainingreviewblog.com

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 exit with a new family member. 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. During these times we should consider the needs of all the family members and hold offuntil the household is settled before inviting a new family member. He is also showing setting a good example by getting a pet from a shelter or rescue organization.

Although the president’s choice of a new family pet, and whether it will be a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound has been all over the media, the biggest topic is the uncertain future of pets in a period when some are having a hard time paying for grocery bills.In our nation’s hayday, it was commonto see stories that made usgiggle 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 ofdoggie decadence covered the news stands daily.

Now that the economy has taken a nose dive, stories about pets have transformed and have become much more daunting and deeply depressing. The media all across our nation have been reporting about local animal shelters becoming filled far over 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 dwellings or tied up in back yards of abandoned properties, left to survive on their own, often times incabableto reach food and water painfully starving to death at the end of a chain. The LA times even made pets and the economy their features story of the New Year. Pets are quickly turning intothe luxury that can no longer be afforded.

The current downslide follows a previous upswing seen in adoption rates of the recient past. For nearly a decade shelters and rescues have been seeing a steady rise in the rate of adoptionsa starke 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. One thing is for certain, it is not getting any better.

Any progress made in the past of teaching the public on the need to adopt from shelters instead of purchasing from a puppy storemeans nothing if our sinking 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 dogs. With the average vet visit costing in the range of $200 a visit, families 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 no choice but to give up their pet.

Another sign of the rapid decline of the luxury pet market was the cancelation New York’s Pet Fashion Week. With all this negative news on the pet industry it is woth mentioning that pets have many benefits. 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 of us the only solution to avoid having to make the choice of paying bills of feeding the family pet, is to get themselves in a position to weather the economic storm. For many people this could mean entering into a debt settlement program or other ways of lowering their household expenses. The best choise is not always bankruptcy 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 creditfor 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 solution you may decide, should you need debt relief, ensure that you educate yourself on the differences between the programs and fully understand the pitfalls. In most cases speaking to someone who can assist you in settling your debtcan be helpful and is suggested over going it alone.

This debate over pets and how they affect our economy will probably go on as long as people are struggling in this economic crunch our nation is experiencing. The main issue is that we either need to deal with the credit card debtwe have and pull ourselves out of this recession, or resort to what many have and abandon the family pet. Where will this trend end? Will the next crisis make us to decide whether to take care ofour kids and pay for medical insurance or leave them on the side of the street to survive on their own.