It's becoming a well-documented fact south of the border that when pet owners take a financial hit, their beloved pets take a hit as well. In New York, Animal Care and Control's Safety Net program has seen the number of applicants double for low cost vet care, pet food and foster care for pets whose owners have become homeless due to financial hardship. The program operates throughout New York's five boroughs and helps street people with their pet care, too.
The good news is that New York has such a program. If Canadians were hit with similar hardship, such an extensive and organized program to help pets would be nearly impossible to find.
The economic downturn hasn't impacted Canadians as severely, but with thousands of expected job losses this year, there is sure to be some kind of impact felt.
Animal shelters could feel the pressure, and it doesn't help that donations will drop off as people cut back.
"We have noticed some regular donors are saying they are not going to be able to give as much support as they usually do, which is across the board for charities," says Peter Fricker, projects and communications director for
the Vancouver Humane Society.
Like a lot of animal support groups, the Humane Society is a non-profit organization completely dependent on donations and the kindness of animal lovers.
Fricker says that the Humane Society does not run a shelter but is intended to educate and offer limited support services to the public. He cautions that his organization cannot support the vast majority of applicants who seek help because they simply do not have the funds.
"It's usually the case where somebody's cat or dog has been hit by a car and they are facing a vet bill of several hundred or even over a thousand dollars, something like that, then we will try to help out," says Fricker. "It's not a matter of [funding] routine vet care all the time because, as you can imagine, it's a bottomless pit."
If the society doesn't have the funds, it will appeal the public for help. On the website currently is a plea to help Brody, a 6-month-old Chihuahua that badly broke its leg when it got stuck in a door. A graph shows that $11,756 of the $15,000 needed to help Brody has been raised.
Another year-old Chihuahua named Buddy that is recovering from hip surgery needs financial help. Buddy is also up for adoption. A 15-year-old cat named Samantha has a tumor on her nose that needs to be removed if she is to survive. Her owners can't afford the surgery.
Advertising their pleas for help is the most the society can do for these pets whose owners are financially strapped. Most recipients of aid came to the Humane Society through a veterinarian who knew their case well, says Fricker. Because the Society has no way of determining an applicant's true financial need, it's a system based on vet referrals and trust, he adds. He's discovered that not everybody understands their scarcity of funds, however.
"We had a case of somebody who owned a computer business in [expensive] Yaletown and he had a big bill $2,000 for an animal and was expecting to get help from us," says Fricker, laughing. "It's hard when you get a big bill, yes."
"But what we would advise people is to take out pet insurance. The other advice that we would give generally is if people take on the ownership of an animal, it's a huge responsibility and you have to realize there are going to be significant costs and the risk of unexpected vet bills due to injury or illness. And people should try and ensure
they have resources to deal with that - either by having insurance or being aware that you cannot take on the care of an animal when you don't have the income to support it."
He gets many calls however from people on disability insurance or seniors pensions who are facing unexpected vet bills. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of support for these pet owners, as there is in the U.K. and the U.S., where groups try to keep pet owners and pets together through dire circumstances.
"There's nothing like that in Canada to help people who are on low incomes and dealing with veterinarian bills - it's a real gap here," he says. "All there really is in Canada is small organizations like ourselves who will help when they can."
"But it's pretty thin on the ground."
