Is your pet in debt?
Sponsored linksWhat we know as pet ownership has evolved over the years. Gone are the days when the Britney Spears of the world would go into a LA pet shop and spend $3000 on a designer dog. 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 can’t simply enter a pet store and 30 minutes later exit with a new family member. The president has stated 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 tough times we should think of the needs of all the family members and wait until everyone is ready before welcoming a new family member. He is also showing setting a good example by getting a pet from a shelter or breed rescue.
Although the president’s decision 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 news is the uncertain future of pets during a time when people are struggling to pay for grocery bills.
In our nation’s hayday, it was not un-common to see stories that made us chuckle and shake our heads about how people would spend tremendious amounts of money on their dogs. They thought 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 examples of doggie decadence covered the newspapers daily.
Now that our economy has sunken to new depths, stories about our beloved pets have changed and have become much more daunting and deeply troubling. The media all across our country have been reporting about local animal shelters becoming filled far beyond 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 die of starvation, often times inable to reach food and water slowly 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 into the luxury that can no longer be afforded.
This downslide comes on the heels of a previous upswing in adoption rates. For nearly a decade shelters and rescues have been seeing a steady rise in the rate of adoptions a 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 sure, it is not getting any better.
Any progress made in the past of educating the public on the need to adopt from shelters instead of purchasing from a puppy store means nothing if our hurting 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 costs 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 noteworthy to say that our pets have numerious 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. Filing for bankruptcy is often not the best choice 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 credit for up to ten years. Often times credit card counseling, which is run by the creditors, is not a realistic 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 program you may decide, should you need credit card debt relief, ensure that you educate yourself on the differences between the programs and fully know the pitfalls. In most cases speaking to someone who can assist you in reducing your debt can be helpful and is suggested over doing it by yourself.
This debate over pets and the economy will likely go on for as long as there is an economic crunch in our nation. The underlying issue is that we either need to deal with the credit card debt we have and survive this recession, or resort to what many have and give up the family dog. Where will this trend end? Will the next crisis force us to decide whether to buy food for our kids and pay for medical insurance or leave them on the side of the street to go it alone.
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Tags: credit card debt, debt relief, debt settlement, dog, dog rescue, pet
