For Poor Families, an Added Burden of Too Many Pets

I came across an interesting article today on NYTimes.com - on the problem of lower income families who take on more than they can handle with multiple pets. This article addresses a problem in rural America, yet I've witnessed the same in northern NJ. I often wonder "what makes people tick" when they're working hard in multiple jobs to make ends meet, yet they'll take in 3 dogs, and or 6 plus cats, all of which not only need food, but serious medical help. We all know the costs of owning a pet can sometimes compare to a small family. Thousands of dollars can go into check-ups, testing and surgeries. Here's a snippet from the articles and you can read more here:

"Excess animals, dropped on dark roads that wind through oak and pine forests and cornfields here, tend to end up in the care of people with bigger hearts than bank accounts. People like Mr. Swetman and his wife, Alicia, who have a hard enough time paying their own mortgage and gasoline bills on what Mr. Swetman earns as a machinist at a bathtub factory but have ended up with a large menagerie nonetheless, mostly because of abandoned animals and unplanned births.

The Swetmans live on a back-country road near Finger. They keep two dogs in their cluttered concrete-block house, two tethered to trees and the rest in three wire pens. They somehow eke out $26 a week to buy two 50-pound sacks of dog food.

“I’d do without food myself before they do,” Ms. Swetman said. But they say with some despair that veterinary care, which can run $100 a year per animal for vaccines and $100 or more for spaying or neutering, is far beyond their reach.

“A lot of poor people here end up with lots of dogs and they get a feeling of hopelessness, they don’t know what to do,” said Sherrye McKinney, who works for pet-rescue groups in the region.

So the Swetmans were grateful to get an appointment at a temporary free clinic for their latest two puppies, even if there were no slots left in the oversubscribed five-day program for their eight older unspayed females.

The clinic was set up in Selmer’s National Guard armory in mid-June by Rural Area Veterinary Services, a program of the Humane Society of the United States that sends volunteer veterinarians and students to Appalachia, Indian reservations and other areas to sterilize and treat pets whose owners live in poverty.

“With every animal we prevent from having a litter, we’re making a difference,” said Tammy Rouse, Appalachian coordinator for the volunteer service. Inside the hall, three veterinarians and 28 veterinary students spent 15-hour days sterilizing up to 50 dogs and cats a day and provided vaccinations, deworming and other treatments.

But the volunteer service faces a Sisyphean task, Ms. Rouse said.

“It’s like putting a Band-Aid on a gushing artery,” she said. “Spay-neuter has to go hand in hand with education and legislation.”

Comments

[Cathy]

Please folks keep this story alive. I am a volunteer at MCHS and the community and government does not care. Their solution is either let the stray dogs starve or shoot them Our hot line number is 731-632-1864 for any info on how to get our HS off the ground and how we can change the community. Thx, Cathy