High inflation driving local pet owners to give up their animals

Karen Reichheld cannot keep up with the calls.

It is a rare day that passes without a pet owner calling the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA, where Reichheld works as the director of animal care, to ask for help with a heartbreaking decision.

They have to give up their dog or cat and hope the SPCA will find a new home for them.

We've had a huge increase in the amount of surrenders that we've been receiving," said Reichheld. We just added our surrender form to our website because just the calls are just coming in at a rate we can't keep up with."

Taking in surrendered pets is nothing new for the SPCA. It's the sharp and sudden volume of requests that is different. And at the heart of many of those requests is the financial reality everyone is living with due to skyrocketing inflation.

The cost of everything, from gas to pet food, is on the rise with inflation climbing close to eight per cent. Belt tightening means giving up beloved pets, Reichheld said. But the reasons for the spike in owners surrendering their pets are kind of all over the board," Reichheld said even if high costs are at the root of many of them.

In some cases, rising prices are complicating a pandemic explosion in people bringing home new pets.

Many people got new pets. And when you get a new puppy or a kitten, it's not one vet visit a year. There are four or five visits in the first six months. They're going for first, second, third vaccines, then spay/neuter," she said.

At the same time, veterinary clinics are overwhelmed, she said. Staffing levels were reduced because of COVID-19, which in turn reduced access to vet care. Regular visits, like those for heartworm treatment, were delayed, sometimes complicating the health needs of pets - which can be more than some owners can afford.

We just got another dog that tested positive for heartworm and Lyme disease and she's got a litter of 10, four-week-old puppies. So she'll be with us for a minimum of four months before she can be adopted," she said.

In still other cases, pets are surrendered when people blend households.

We are seeing a few new trends and I think a lot of people are being forced to combine households," said Reichheld. Say you have a dog and a cat and you're merging a household with me. And I have a dog and a cat and maybe there's enough room for the people to merge the household, but those animals may not get along. So there may be some conflict with the animals."

While the rate of surrendering pets is up, the rate of animal adoption is also on the rise, said Reichheld. Nevertheless, some animals end up staying at the shelter for months at a time before they are adopted.

She said the SPCA does what it can to help people keep their animals, including providing advice on how to manage merging households. However, Reichheld said the SPCA is not a boarding program, where animals can be left until an owner has the means to care for them.

If someone surrenders a pet, she said, the SPCA will work to adopt that animal to a good home.

For more information, call the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA at 905-574-7722 or go online to www.hbspca.com.

Grant LaFleche is an investigative reporter with The Spectator. Reach him via email: glafleche@torstar.ca