Australia: Pets pay as household costs soar

[phantom power]

Many pets are given away by owners who say they have had to make a choice between paying rising interest rates, petrol and grocery bills or keeping their pets, according to the Animal Welfare League.

The squeeze on family budgets has seen 3832 dogs and 6147 cats surrendered to the league in the past six months.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23678111-2682,00.html

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. Its hitting hard here too, in America.....

people have to choose between taking their pet to the vet or eating or putting gas in their cars. Unfortunately, in many cases, the pets lose. We are still taking our rescues to the doctor, but damn, its not easy. Two jobs and we are still barely making ends meet.

[Warpy]

2. I had to suspend vet visits when I was poor

but the cats were already living on the cheapest kibble I could find and thriving on it.

These animals in the story are the lucky ones. They've been turned in to an agency and given the chance of finding new homes. It's not much of a chance, but it's a better one than just abandoning them would have been.

[kestrel91316]

3. About the only money coming in here right now is folks who just

got their tax refund and their extra rebate.

Had a client drop $500 yesterday and she'll be back next week for more of the same (dentistries). But she had seven cats, one with a serious heart problem. So even she is having to hold off on lab tests right now.

[Dead_Parrot]

4. ...