As others have said, getting a pet is a promise to care for it. Dumping it because the cost is more than you expected or planned for is cruel and inhumane.

There are other options for cutting costs as mentioned by others, but you MUST keep up with shots, and; especially in the south; with parasite prevention.

Should your own situation really makes it impossible to keep your pet, finding it a good home is an absolute must, No Excuses!

Boy, you opened a can of worms with this one! You sure are brave to keep the topic posted. I agree that one should carefully consider whether to initially take on a pet as there are many costs involved and ideally one should take responsibility for that pet for a lifetime.

I think where I and other readers disagree with you is in giving up an already beloved pet to save a few bucks. I think most of us would rather work an extra job or give up something else before we removed a member of our families in this way.

I realize not everyone thinks of their pets as family, but we do and I just can’t imagine this. I’d rather be broke than give up my precious babies.

Lori

We have been trying to cut down the budget, and I know that A) the dog’s unexpected vet bills are one of the 5-6 things that sent us over our monthly budget over the past 2 years. (list also includes “cheap” 3-day vacations, car repairs, birthday parties/christmas.)
B) If we were in really dire straights, finding him a new home would have to be something to consider, but definitely one of the last things on the list to consider.

I think people are feeling insulted thinking that pet expenses rank with cable and new clothes. I do think that when you adopt an animal, you do it for life, and you make caring for them a priority in your budget. I also don’t buy that you have toprovide a stress-free enironment- I think an animal is better off staying with one owner as long as basic food, sanitary and health needs are met.

In short- it should be a top priority, but it is something to consider if you’re really sinking finacially.

Honestly even if i was undergoing financial difficulties it would be very hard to get rid of my pets. I have a cat and a dog…Both of which it would break my heart to lose. They are my companions friends and very much a part of my family. Of course my dog is a very small dog (the cat out weighs her by a good 10 pounds) and doesnt cost as much per month in food as say a german shepard would.

I would make an effort to find ways to make keeping them less expensive…such as…finding somewhere to get sand in place of litter, purchasing a set of clippers instead of taking the dog to a groomer, getting coupons for canned or dry food. Purchasing toys for them from say a dollar store or making toys from old materials at home, when you travel take the pet to a friend or family member to care for rather than a kennel. take your pet to a vet in a rural area rather than the city. Our vet makes house calls for the cattle and horses and if the family pets need to be seen while hes there he sees them as well and makes it all one bill…he also shares out the mileage between farms by seeing 3 or 4 farms on a trip out.

Theres all sorts of ways to lessen the cost of a pet without causing them serious stress by uprooting them from a home and family they trust know and feel safe with. Moving to a new home with the same family is stressful enough for a pet.

Unless you earn a LOT of money–I would estimate a household income of $80,000 to $120,000–you should not take on a pet. If you are single and a teacher or a state employee with no source of income but your job, you cannot afford a pet.

And no, I would not farm my pals out to someone else, even if someone out there would take on two 12-year-old dogs, one of them going blind and lame and the other plagued with allergies that can cause him to emit so much methane I cannot have my friends over to my home, and both of which have to live INSIDE and not be turned out into the yard. Would you like to take in such an animal? Can you afford it?

If during the interview process, I find that someone moved to the city and left their dog behind because their new apartment wouldn’t allow pets, I smile and say, “Nice to meet you. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” Then as they walk out, I think to myself, “Find an apartment that will allow pets you insensitive jerk.” The so-called “small talk” during interviews is not just small talk. What the interviewer is actually doing is finding out more about you in a less formal sort of way. Almost all of my colleagues nationwide ask about pets in interviews. The person’s response to the pet question is a huge indicator of their personality.

If I found out someone gave up a pet for finances, I wouldn’t hire them. That’s telling me they’re more loyal to their wallet than anything else including moral responsibility and I don’t want those types of employees working for me. I simply find it absurd.

When you get to the level of work that I hire people for, integrity is the most important thing I look for. Giving up your pet for your wallet is the opposite of integrity. So Trent, giving up your pet just may be the most expensive thing someone could do, because they’re not gonna get a job at my firm if they take your advice.

I seriously can’t trust people who have such small regard for animals. I won’t do business with them, I won’t befriend them – they’re usually shady people.

My two ninety-pound dogs–one an adopted greyhound, pace pet-lovers–cost way more than I can afford in vet bills, medications, and food (especially after the recent pet-food flap, which has led me to cook 28 pounds of homemade dog food a week in my kitchen and on my grill). The veterinary industry (yes–that’s what one veterinary trade group’s online site calls it!) has got pet-lovers by the proverbial cojones: shots, annual checkups, and a whole rainbow of drugs to give your dog for the rest of its life for this or that chronic ailment…and to get permission to pony up 80 to 150 bucks per Rx for those drugs, you schlep the dog in every six months for a $200 checkup. My German shepherd, in theory, should be medicated six times a day with pricey pills and amazingly expensive eyedrops that require me to take her in for $800 worth of routine checks a year. When my employer saw fit to cut my pay along with everyone else’s, I cut the meds back by about 30%, and interestingly the dog doesn’t seem to be much the worse. Feeding her real food instead of kibble & canned gunk made such a huge improvement in her health, maybe she just doesn’t need all those meds…who knows?

I love my sidekicks and would never put them down just because they’re 12 years old, ailing, and costing me out of house and home. But assuredly, oh so assuredly: I will NEVER get another dog. Or cat. After these two pass through the Doggy Veil, a bird feeder in the backyard will provide animal companionship around my house.

It’s not that I don’t love my pets. It’s that owning a dog (and this probably applies to cats, too) is now beyond the means of a single middle-class American wage earner.

Some of the tips are for people trying to get 80% lean, others for 99% lean. But we all know a little fat can increase satiety. (8

I also want to emphasize how expensive pet care becomes as the animal ages. We currently spend about $350/month in maintenance (mostly drugs, but also prescription food and chiropractic care) to keep our 14-year-old dog in fine form. (This is on top of the thousands of dollars we already spent to repair his torn ACL and rehabilitate him when he was 11 years old.) People often mistake him for a 2-year-old dog, and we’re happy to pay for such quality of life–even though it has become a large financial burden–because we made a commitment to him long ago. That said, we have also had long discussions about his end of life care–what we are willing to pay for (and put him through) and what we’re not. These are conversations everyone should have BEFORE adopting a pet.

Actually, if you have a male cat, plain old dry kibble may NOT be good for him, even if it saves money for you. I researched this on the Net one time, and don’t remember the details so you’ll have to check for yourself, but an exclusively dry food diet is not good for cats, esp. males. I also don’t advocate spending a lot on pet food, and sometimes make it myself. More work, but cheaper.

I agree that pets are a commitment, but still believe at some point it is more responsible to find another place for them. And it’s an elitist red herring to say that you would never do the same with your children: people who are not as solidly middle class, who are visited by crisis that plunges them into circumstances more dire than we are discussing here are, indeed, forced to put their children into foster care or the homes of relatives to be able to feed them and send them to school. It’s more of a question of at what point do you split up your household (children, pets, spouses–many shelters separate men from women and children).