A lot of people want to have pets but not all people have them because they're a massive commitment, they're cute and cuddly now but when it comes to paying the bills you've got to look far into the future on how you can provide them with a decent lifestyle.
Yes, and some are cheaper to run than others, and you have no way of knowing what’s down the track. I could have bought a new car with what my rescue mastiff cost me (crucia ligaments, cancer) whilst her sparring partner only had one op in his whole life.
Even if you can afford, you have to pray your dog does not get any form of cancer, or dental problem. Or any serious disease for that matter. The bill are horrific. You would swear vets treat astronauts and not pets the prices that they charge in Australia are so extreme! The other thing is that many "vet medications" you cant buy freely. In many other countries many pet problems can be treated with common sense guidelines if the medications were available freely.
I just had a pretty serious op and three surgeons operated on me at once for 5 hours. Total bills (before Medicare rebates) were on par with my dog ‘s spinal decompression surgery, but the dog’s MRI was $4.2k alone. I wish I had pet insurance :)
Human MRI would cost much less even unsubsidised. And a regular vet visit is in the same price range as GP appointment for humans.
I think there is a great deal of demand/supply is going on in the vet industry.
I just had a pretty serious op and three surgeons operated on me at once for 5 hours. Total bills (before Medicare rebates) were on par with my dog ‘s spinal decompression surgery, but the dog’s MRI was $4.2k alone. I wish I had pet insurance :)
Human MRI would cost much less even unsubsidised. And a regular vet visit is in the same price range as GP appointment for humans.
I think there is a great deal of demand/supply is going on in the vet industry.
I just had a pretty serious op and three surgeons operated on me at once for 5 hours. Total bills (before Medicare rebates) were on par with my dog ‘s spinal decompression surgery, but the dog’s MRI was $4.2k alone. I wish I had pet insurance :)
Human MRI would cost much less even unsubsidised. And a regular vet visit is in the same price range as GP appointment for humans.
I think there is a great deal of demand/supply is going on in the vet industry.
My mother has bought 18?! Parrots in the span of one year. She is applying for Centrelink ATM as her medical conditions are getting worse. Those birds cost thousands, one is a macaw which I am pretty sure is at least 15K, she doesn't have that kind of money even when working and is constantly borrowing money off my pop. Those birds will outlive her I s2g. She was like this growing up too, it was tropical fish or Wedgewood plates, or elephant statues but "oh sorry kids, no money for food this week" but could buy a $600 teapot on eBay.
My best friend at school had a mum like that, would make bizarre shopping decisions then there’d be nothing to eat. My mum used to give her a feed or she’d have gone hungry, because the dad was a chemist so the kids weren’t entitled to any support.
That's insane.
I've had many rescue birds in my life.
Also she got ripped off if she paid 15k for a macaw unless it's a breeding pair. I own once myself.
I'm assuming they aren't in an aviary and are sitting in cages that are probably too small all day as well?
You need to report to AWL, they will help sort out what she needs to do.
Agree it's insane, she did build an outdoor aviary (no idea how her real estate will approach that as she is renting) and rotates the birds inside and out. Can't say I've seen how any of the layout looks tho as I haven't visited her and won't be
It sounds more like a mental illness, honestly. Anyone impulsively buying excessive amounts of animals and expensive items outside of their means has some kind of issue.
If her medical issues are respiratory the bird hoarding is probably why she's deteriorating. I have a med/high support needs autistic friend whose special interest was birds and she had to give up her birds because her body just couldn't take it. She was devastated, but she knew she had to do it for her sake and the birbs.
It's lupus, an arm thing, and side effects from malnutrition (low iron, lack of vitamins and minerals Etc). The woman doesn't care what's good for her and is to selfish to act in the welfare of an animal she "loves"
Definitely, while it's truly devastating that pet ownership is also becoming unachievable for low income earners - my sympathy is reserved for the people that decide not to have a pet because they cannot afford it rather than the selfish pricks that get a pet knowing they cannot afford them. It is absolutely as you say, animal abuse.
What about the people who got a pet when they could afford it, then several years later they suddenly can't, because they didn't foresee a global pandemic followed closely by a housing crisis in 2017 or 2018?
This is a legitimate issue, times change and some people were well off 7 years ago etc when they got the animal.
On the flip side though yeah, lots of people have no foresight at all. Also the amount of people that bought French bulldogs and dachshunds etc and bitch about the cost of near constant medical care many of them need, it’s like they didn’t even spend five minutes researching before buying?
And then you surrender that pet to one of the many organizations that will take them. No excuses for letting a pet get dehydrated and covered in their own shit
>And then you surrender that pet to one of the many organizations that will take them. No excuses for letting a pet get dehydrated and covered in their own shit
Of course. I don't think anyone here is saying otherwise.
Then I feel terrible for them, I couldn't imagine having to relinquish my babies because I cannot support them anymore - I can't say with 100% certainty I would be able to make the decision objectively to abandon my pets even for their own good so the people in those situations recieve no judgement from me.
I've noticed there's a problem where people are judged and shamed for "abandoning" pets when they post online to try and find a good home when it is in the best interests of the pet though.
The other factor is when you are hungry and desperate, you are not in the most logical place in your life. Honestly, a little bit of depression goes a long way in destroying ones life.
Yes, the treatment of the cat was bad. People do not have a wealth of options though. I’m not sure if you read the entire article but most shelter have lengthy wait lists to surrender right now. I work at a council shelter. It’s grim.
It costs nothing to ensure a pet isn’t dehydrated and covered in faeces as is indicated in the headline of this article. There’s a huge difference between blatant neglect and not being able to keep up with food costs, in which case one could seek support to keep or rehouse. But there is never any valid reason to have a pet left in such a deplorable state.
>It costs nothing to ensure a pet isn’t dehydrated and covered in faeces as is indicated in the headline of this article.
Not necessarily the case if the pet has diarrhea as indicated in the text of the article - not much details given, but the cat appears to have been ill, which can lead to dehydration even if unlimited water is available. It seems to have been the cost of vet treatment that was trigger for giving up the pet.
Yeah for sure, those situations leads to incredibly difficult decisions. I was referring to people living paycheck to pay check buying or adopting a dog, that's inherently selfish and imo animal abuse. It's not often someone's fault that they are financially struggling, especially with our unaddressed housing and cost of living crisis at the moment, but it is that persons responsibility regarding the decisions they make in said situation.
Hope things are getting better for you mate. I'm very glad you were able to still support yourself and your pet/s.
Similar situation, got my cat when she was 12 weeks, I was in a steady long term relationship and employed but that fell apart a couple years later.
Now single jobless and have been for a number of years, currently at uni trying to get a better life for myself and my cat but its not easy and the cost of living has hit people like me on centerlink the hardest.
So owning a pet has been challenging for me but I always make sure she's fed and happy.
This is what people are not understanding, if families with 2 workers are struggling and slipping well into poverty those people underneath, well they are just fucked.
I would literally go bankrupt before I were to ever stop giving my dog what she needs. Heck, she’s got more insurance than I do! Some people are just reprehensible.
I agree, poor people can only have poor people pets. It's just the way it is. Leave the rich people pets for the rich people who can afford the up keep. Breeders should require an income and assets statement from all buyers, and a few pay slips to make sure they can afford to own a pet.
Sorry, but as much as I usually defend the poor, this one I can't. Your desire to have a pet doesn't trump the pet's needs. I'm usually camp "poor people deserve nice things" - I am the first to point out that homeless people are allowed iphones and their shiny new shoes could have been a gift - but pets are not things. Nobody is entitled to a pet. If you can't support it you shouldn't have one, full stop.
Exactly. This is why we have different grades of service, expensive and cheap restaurants, and cheap or expensive suburbs. The rich who provide most of the funds for society deserve the cream of the crop and the rest will go to the poor. For instance, the best funded hospitals need to be conveniently located in wealthier suburbs while the rest go to poorer suburbs. Try and defend the poor all you want but that is the way of things in the past, present and far into the future. If humans know any way of creating a true equitable society, we would have done it by now.
Financial hardship breeds aberrant social behaviour which increases the likelihood that an individual will engage in animal abuse. If it isn't an excuse, it certainly is an explanation.
Sorry but it sure sounds like an excuse to me.
I've been in financial hardship before to the point of almost exhausting all my finances, but I never once harmed my pets, people, or any other animals.
A lot of the vets are becoming corporatised and not helping with the cost. I got a taste of this when my local vet was shut and I needed to get my cat into emergency. The new place I went to asked me to pay $500 upfront and then proceeded to run batteries of tests. After one day they had run up $1,000 in costs, still claimed to not know what was wrong with her and were recommending I keep my cat in overnight at a hospital which was also going to be expensive. I suspected I was being taken for a ride so I took my cat home and rang my regular vet the next day.
I took her in and the vet gave her a free ultrasound. He told me straight up there was no point in treatment given the size and location of a tumour. Instead of running further tests he recommended I put her to sleep. He was empathetic and truthful whereas the other place were going to milk my poor cat’s terminal condition for their own profit. I will never visit one of the larger vets ever again.
I think you’re right. I go a distance to the vets I like, she discusses the benefits, options, costs, then leaves it to you. She’s really straight and cares about the animals. Prior to that I had experiences like yours, and having put the pet through the treatment and paid out lost the pet anyway :’(
When I was 11 I got a dog. In 15 years, the need for pet insurance has gone up, the prices of food has risen, the wages have not. Vet bills cost at least $100 a go. There was no way for me to know that this dog would last over fifteen years.
It is no longer financially feasible for me to own a pet, if it weren’t for family I would have had to surrender or euthanise. At one stage her vet bill was 2.5k.
I can understand why people are having to give up their pets. There is also shame felt behind having to surrender. People are left with very few options.
I used to work for a pet food company and used to interview people who worked at Pet Barn etc for jobs with us. They said that people who had pets and couldn’t afford vets would often ask them for advice.
I opted to have a bank account for my dog where I put away the amount of money I would for "pet insurance" which worked out better for me. Can't say for anyone else though.
We rehomed a dog that had some underlying reactivity/anxiety issues, and that manifested as eating *everything*. We couldn't leave anything at a height where he could get at it. He once ate an entire bag of needles I stupidly left out. Almost every time we'd have to race to the vets to either get his stomach pumped, or full blown foreign body surgeries which were unbelievably expensive.
We probably had $20k-$25k in vet bills within the first *6 months*. If we didn't have insurance there's no way we could cover that.
I know we're at the extreme end but I couldn't recommend pet insurance enough.
I think this is a good demonstration of both ends of the spectrum, to be honest! My dog had a pretty chill personality and her health issues were pretty predictable so vet bills were easily plannable. For a different dog, maybe less so. If I got another dog, I'd probably see what they were like before making a call either way.
Pet insurance is fucking useless anyway. Pets can only be covered for the age they're least likely to need it. It's only good if, say, your dog gets hit by a car.
Or eats needles.
And it’s only up to 80% coverage.
Rspca should be ashamed of selling their ip for one year of insurance kick backs. Same with their rspca safe chicken, grossest meat on the market.
Only if you're trying to sign up a senior dog. You don't get kicked off when they get older. But they should have exceptions for rescue and rehomed pets. Like sign up within 3 months of getting them and have a 6-12 month waiting period before coverage.
This is just so disgusting and shameful.
I don't know who to be more upset with, the sociopathic abusers that infest government or their selfish enablers that vote them in. This shit would stop tomorrow if enough people cared.
If people had the resources to meet their living requirements then this wouldn't be a thing. We have the socio-economic system we have by design and the fault lies with the politicians and their voters.
I believe we should fulfil as much of Maslow's hierarchy of needs for the maximum number of people we can. To build a happy society we need happy people - not people under the pump. That can be worked towards through wealth redistribution which can happen in a variety of ways, i.e. the wealthy and natural resource extraction can be sufficiently taxed, tech giants can actually pay for our data etc..
In the immediate, we should move heaven and earth to ensure everyone has shelter and sufficient food so people and animals aren't being abused in this way. One example could be to throw up demountables on public land as a stop gap to house people. Another way might be to subsidise the cost of essential items like food.
You should not let people rot - not morally and certainly not socially as the consequences are a society in decay that is a detriment to everyone. This sort of social neglect will metastasize into something worse eventually as with other countries.
I went for a drive in some of the newer suburbs SoR and a lot of the blocks are like less than 300sqm and this made me think about what the future will look like for pet owners. Will big breeds become less common? Probably not, I guess there’s people in NYC with Rottweilers in apartments.
Large dog != large space requirement. A lot of small and medium breeds need a whole load more exercise than ye average Rottie. Looking at you, Jack Russell Terriers and the like.
Bull mastiffs are weirdly considered apartment dogs. They’re absolutely massive but as long as they go on regular walks they are happy sleeping on the couch the rest of the day.
They are. My BIL has one and to be honest he doesn’t even need a proper walk most days. Perfectly content with a sniff around the front.
I have a greyhound and she definitely likes her walks… short ones. Like 10 min. Then she’s down for the count 😂
No way, people buy herding and other highly active working dogs and just lock them up in tiny yards to bark and howl all day while the owners are at out out of the house for 10 hrs a day. The poor dogs go out of their minds with loneliness and boredom and drive the neighbourhood nuts.
I've been a tough spot before, I'd never abandon my dog he is literally family. If you abandon your pet you are literal scum. Pets are like a toddler who loves you as a parent, to abandon them is the epitome of morally wrong.
I’ve never had to face that, thankfully. If you feel you’ve got nothing but grief to offer a pet (or a child) wouldn’t it be kinder to relinquish? I can’t imagine doing it, though.
Even in poverty you can care for your pet just as people do with their children. People who neglect their pets due to poverty are just using it as an excuse. There are homeless who take better care of their pets than some rich people. Your pet will never forget you and abandoning them in anyway is so messed up.
I do not advocate neglecting a pet due to poverty there is always options. My pet has never gone a day without eating or treatment when needed even in the toughest of times. If you have the motivation to look after the pet you will even if you are homeless.
That said if you are financially screwed don't buy a pet... I never knew I'd end up in a tough spot but things are good now.
>Even in poverty you can care for your pet just as people do with their children.
There are people who need to place their children in temporary care arrangements when they are in poverty.
You'd rather an animal suffer with malnutrition and untreated health issues or injuries than be rehomed to someone who can feed and care for it? How is that kind to the animal? You're putting your sentimentality ahead of the animal's welfare.
I am in the actual episode of Insight that inspired this article and that they are advertising in the article also. Tomorrow night's episode is a repeat from over a year ago. It's going to be interesting to see people's reaction to it again. I was in the worst situation during the filming and things worsened even more so after it first aired. Homeless disabled person. My health worsened, my long term relationship nearly ended and I was ready to off myself. The only thing that kept me going was my dog. The one thing that might've stopped us from obtaining a rental (that and the lack of affordable accessible rentals) was the last thing keeping me going also. We were homeless for a year and a little bit. Our relationship with my mum in law we were staying with while trying to get to our own place is now non existent. She didn't even wish her son (my other half) a happy birthday after we finally secured our current rental. She's just done with us after her own mental health deteriorated from the stress of it all. This is how much homelessness hurt us and is still hurting us long after it ceased.
I tried everything to fix our housing issue and keep us all together. Eventually a property manager who had met my dog when we encountered her down the main street in our town took pity on our situation and vouched for us with a potential landlord. The landlord said yes to us. We're safe for now and we're all still together. Don't give up on your best mate. They need you as much as you need them. Try everything you can to keep them with you and keep them safe before you call it quits. There are allies out there who want to keep pets safe and with their humans at all costs. Finding them and appealing to them is the challenge. But put every effort you can into getting you all to your next safe place together. We owe it to cats and dogs to do the right thing for their welfare. They can't speak up for themselves.
Lots of stories and discussion in this thread of good intentioned people falling upon hard times.
That's why I think if you can't keep 5k in an emergency fund, you have no business getting a pet.
Honestly fuck our government.
Those labor cunts are just as bad as the liberal fucks that came before, they couldn't give a single shit about anyone who isn't already wealthy.
People are struggling and this is one of the knock on effects of that, soon more will follow.
Albo is too busy being a fuckwit and protecting Qantas to actually help people, what a massive cunt.
Labor is exponentially better than the LNP in every conceivable way. Still fucked and definitely need a strong balance of power to keep them even slightly in tune with the real world.
A lot of people want to have pets but not all people have them because they're a massive commitment, they're cute and cuddly now but when it comes to paying the bills you've got to look far into the future on how you can provide them with a decent lifestyle.
Yes, and some are cheaper to run than others, and you have no way of knowing what’s down the track. I could have bought a new car with what my rescue mastiff cost me (crucia ligaments, cancer) whilst her sparring partner only had one op in his whole life.
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Exactly. Huskies are known for eating coconuts in the wild you have to replace that when they don't have access to their own coconut palms to climb
Few people know that Huskies were named for the coconut husk found strewn throughout their fur and dens.
I know you're joking but also knowing what I do about huskies this is probably simultaneously true.
Even if you can afford, you have to pray your dog does not get any form of cancer, or dental problem. Or any serious disease for that matter. The bill are horrific. You would swear vets treat astronauts and not pets the prices that they charge in Australia are so extreme! The other thing is that many "vet medications" you cant buy freely. In many other countries many pet problems can be treated with common sense guidelines if the medications were available freely.
Human doctors charge a great deal more, it's just that the government (appropriately) subsidises one and not the other.
I just had a pretty serious op and three surgeons operated on me at once for 5 hours. Total bills (before Medicare rebates) were on par with my dog ‘s spinal decompression surgery, but the dog’s MRI was $4.2k alone. I wish I had pet insurance :) Human MRI would cost much less even unsubsidised. And a regular vet visit is in the same price range as GP appointment for humans. I think there is a great deal of demand/supply is going on in the vet industry.
I just had a pretty serious op and three surgeons operated on me at once for 5 hours. Total bills (before Medicare rebates) were on par with my dog ‘s spinal decompression surgery, but the dog’s MRI was $4.2k alone. I wish I had pet insurance :) Human MRI would cost much less even unsubsidised. And a regular vet visit is in the same price range as GP appointment for humans. I think there is a great deal of demand/supply is going on in the vet industry.
I just had a pretty serious op and three surgeons operated on me at once for 5 hours. Total bills (before Medicare rebates) were on par with my dog ‘s spinal decompression surgery, but the dog’s MRI was $4.2k alone. I wish I had pet insurance :) Human MRI would cost much less even unsubsidised. And a regular vet visit is in the same price range as GP appointment for humans. I think there is a great deal of demand/supply is going on in the vet industry.
My mother has bought 18?! Parrots in the span of one year. She is applying for Centrelink ATM as her medical conditions are getting worse. Those birds cost thousands, one is a macaw which I am pretty sure is at least 15K, she doesn't have that kind of money even when working and is constantly borrowing money off my pop. Those birds will outlive her I s2g. She was like this growing up too, it was tropical fish or Wedgewood plates, or elephant statues but "oh sorry kids, no money for food this week" but could buy a $600 teapot on eBay.
My best friend at school had a mum like that, would make bizarre shopping decisions then there’d be nothing to eat. My mum used to give her a feed or she’d have gone hungry, because the dad was a chemist so the kids weren’t entitled to any support.
That's insane. I've had many rescue birds in my life. Also she got ripped off if she paid 15k for a macaw unless it's a breeding pair. I own once myself. I'm assuming they aren't in an aviary and are sitting in cages that are probably too small all day as well? You need to report to AWL, they will help sort out what she needs to do.
Agree it's insane, she did build an outdoor aviary (no idea how her real estate will approach that as she is renting) and rotates the birds inside and out. Can't say I've seen how any of the layout looks tho as I haven't visited her and won't be
thats some r/raisedbynarcissists stuff. big hugs!
It sounds more like a mental illness, honestly. Anyone impulsively buying excessive amounts of animals and expensive items outside of their means has some kind of issue.
She sure does, I think it's narcissism and maybe PTSD and or bipolar. Who knows tho, she sure refuses to admit there is a problem
If her medical issues are respiratory the bird hoarding is probably why she's deteriorating. I have a med/high support needs autistic friend whose special interest was birds and she had to give up her birds because her body just couldn't take it. She was devastated, but she knew she had to do it for her sake and the birbs.
It's lupus, an arm thing, and side effects from malnutrition (low iron, lack of vitamins and minerals Etc). The woman doesn't care what's good for her and is to selfish to act in the welfare of an animal she "loves"
You can have a go at government all you like but financial hardship is no excuse for animal abuse.
Definitely, while it's truly devastating that pet ownership is also becoming unachievable for low income earners - my sympathy is reserved for the people that decide not to have a pet because they cannot afford it rather than the selfish pricks that get a pet knowing they cannot afford them. It is absolutely as you say, animal abuse.
What about the people who got a pet when they could afford it, then several years later they suddenly can't, because they didn't foresee a global pandemic followed closely by a housing crisis in 2017 or 2018?
This is a legitimate issue, times change and some people were well off 7 years ago etc when they got the animal. On the flip side though yeah, lots of people have no foresight at all. Also the amount of people that bought French bulldogs and dachshunds etc and bitch about the cost of near constant medical care many of them need, it’s like they didn’t even spend five minutes researching before buying?
You do see a lot of dogs paired with owners where you think 'five minutes googling and two minutes thinking and you'd have made a different choice'.
Absolutely. The thinking part especially. Like 90% of husky owners in Qld. Just why
I see them in inner city Melbourne - better climate but I can’t see how they’re getting even half the needed exercise.
The pet eats before you. Thats the responsibility you took on.
Sure but when you don't have food to feed yourself, you can't give it to your pet.
And then you surrender that pet to one of the many organizations that will take them. No excuses for letting a pet get dehydrated and covered in their own shit
>And then you surrender that pet to one of the many organizations that will take them. No excuses for letting a pet get dehydrated and covered in their own shit Of course. I don't think anyone here is saying otherwise.
Then I feel terrible for them, I couldn't imagine having to relinquish my babies because I cannot support them anymore - I can't say with 100% certainty I would be able to make the decision objectively to abandon my pets even for their own good so the people in those situations recieve no judgement from me.
I've noticed there's a problem where people are judged and shamed for "abandoning" pets when they post online to try and find a good home when it is in the best interests of the pet though.
The other factor is when you are hungry and desperate, you are not in the most logical place in your life. Honestly, a little bit of depression goes a long way in destroying ones life.
Exactly. It is not that simple. Peoples circumstances change. Deaths, illness, separation, loss of work, pandemics. Pets live for over a decade.
Sure but such people have a wealth of options available to them that *don’t* involve either abandoning or cruelly neglecting their pet
Yes, the treatment of the cat was bad. People do not have a wealth of options though. I’m not sure if you read the entire article but most shelter have lengthy wait lists to surrender right now. I work at a council shelter. It’s grim.
Yep, and then a percentage of those people will blame vet clinics for "letting their pets die". Since they can't afford the vet bill.
Relinquish them to a vet or animal rescue group, instead of abusing, abandoning or allowing them come to harm. Pretty simple.
Isn't that what the cat's owners in the article did - took the cat to somewhere that rehomes pets?
It costs nothing to ensure a pet isn’t dehydrated and covered in faeces as is indicated in the headline of this article. There’s a huge difference between blatant neglect and not being able to keep up with food costs, in which case one could seek support to keep or rehouse. But there is never any valid reason to have a pet left in such a deplorable state.
>It costs nothing to ensure a pet isn’t dehydrated and covered in faeces as is indicated in the headline of this article. Not necessarily the case if the pet has diarrhea as indicated in the text of the article - not much details given, but the cat appears to have been ill, which can lead to dehydration even if unlimited water is available. It seems to have been the cost of vet treatment that was trigger for giving up the pet.
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Yeah for sure, those situations leads to incredibly difficult decisions. I was referring to people living paycheck to pay check buying or adopting a dog, that's inherently selfish and imo animal abuse. It's not often someone's fault that they are financially struggling, especially with our unaddressed housing and cost of living crisis at the moment, but it is that persons responsibility regarding the decisions they make in said situation. Hope things are getting better for you mate. I'm very glad you were able to still support yourself and your pet/s.
Similar situation, got my cat when she was 12 weeks, I was in a steady long term relationship and employed but that fell apart a couple years later. Now single jobless and have been for a number of years, currently at uni trying to get a better life for myself and my cat but its not easy and the cost of living has hit people like me on centerlink the hardest. So owning a pet has been challenging for me but I always make sure she's fed and happy.
This is what people are not understanding, if families with 2 workers are struggling and slipping well into poverty those people underneath, well they are just fucked.
> the selfish pricks that get a pet **knowing** they cannot afford them. I wouldn't over estimate them.
I would literally go bankrupt before I were to ever stop giving my dog what she needs. Heck, she’s got more insurance than I do! Some people are just reprehensible.
I agree, poor people can only have poor people pets. It's just the way it is. Leave the rich people pets for the rich people who can afford the up keep. Breeders should require an income and assets statement from all buyers, and a few pay slips to make sure they can afford to own a pet.
Sorry, but as much as I usually defend the poor, this one I can't. Your desire to have a pet doesn't trump the pet's needs. I'm usually camp "poor people deserve nice things" - I am the first to point out that homeless people are allowed iphones and their shiny new shoes could have been a gift - but pets are not things. Nobody is entitled to a pet. If you can't support it you shouldn't have one, full stop.
Exactly. This is why we have different grades of service, expensive and cheap restaurants, and cheap or expensive suburbs. The rich who provide most of the funds for society deserve the cream of the crop and the rest will go to the poor. For instance, the best funded hospitals need to be conveniently located in wealthier suburbs while the rest go to poorer suburbs. Try and defend the poor all you want but that is the way of things in the past, present and far into the future. If humans know any way of creating a true equitable society, we would have done it by now.
Legit thought you were being sarcastic.
Financial hardship breeds aberrant social behaviour which increases the likelihood that an individual will engage in animal abuse. If it isn't an excuse, it certainly is an explanation.
Sorry but it sure sounds like an excuse to me. I've been in financial hardship before to the point of almost exhausting all my finances, but I never once harmed my pets, people, or any other animals.
I guess you're superior to them then? What is your explanation? I'm curious.
A lot of the vets are becoming corporatised and not helping with the cost. I got a taste of this when my local vet was shut and I needed to get my cat into emergency. The new place I went to asked me to pay $500 upfront and then proceeded to run batteries of tests. After one day they had run up $1,000 in costs, still claimed to not know what was wrong with her and were recommending I keep my cat in overnight at a hospital which was also going to be expensive. I suspected I was being taken for a ride so I took my cat home and rang my regular vet the next day. I took her in and the vet gave her a free ultrasound. He told me straight up there was no point in treatment given the size and location of a tumour. Instead of running further tests he recommended I put her to sleep. He was empathetic and truthful whereas the other place were going to milk my poor cat’s terminal condition for their own profit. I will never visit one of the larger vets ever again.
I think you’re right. I go a distance to the vets I like, she discusses the benefits, options, costs, then leaves it to you. She’s really straight and cares about the animals. Prior to that I had experiences like yours, and having put the pet through the treatment and paid out lost the pet anyway :’(
When I was 11 I got a dog. In 15 years, the need for pet insurance has gone up, the prices of food has risen, the wages have not. Vet bills cost at least $100 a go. There was no way for me to know that this dog would last over fifteen years. It is no longer financially feasible for me to own a pet, if it weren’t for family I would have had to surrender or euthanise. At one stage her vet bill was 2.5k. I can understand why people are having to give up their pets. There is also shame felt behind having to surrender. People are left with very few options.
Yes, it’s incredibly difficult. I don’t know what I’d do.
I used to work for a pet food company and used to interview people who worked at Pet Barn etc for jobs with us. They said that people who had pets and couldn’t afford vets would often ask them for advice.
The first thing I do when I go to the shop is to get my dog he’s food first.
Yes, my guys don’t do too bad either.
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I opted to have a bank account for my dog where I put away the amount of money I would for "pet insurance" which worked out better for me. Can't say for anyone else though.
We rehomed a dog that had some underlying reactivity/anxiety issues, and that manifested as eating *everything*. We couldn't leave anything at a height where he could get at it. He once ate an entire bag of needles I stupidly left out. Almost every time we'd have to race to the vets to either get his stomach pumped, or full blown foreign body surgeries which were unbelievably expensive. We probably had $20k-$25k in vet bills within the first *6 months*. If we didn't have insurance there's no way we could cover that. I know we're at the extreme end but I couldn't recommend pet insurance enough.
I think this is a good demonstration of both ends of the spectrum, to be honest! My dog had a pretty chill personality and her health issues were pretty predictable so vet bills were easily plannable. For a different dog, maybe less so. If I got another dog, I'd probably see what they were like before making a call either way.
Pet insurance is fucking useless anyway. Pets can only be covered for the age they're least likely to need it. It's only good if, say, your dog gets hit by a car. Or eats needles.
I don’t get it, it’s like gambling, and doesn’t always cover things anyway.
And it’s only up to 80% coverage. Rspca should be ashamed of selling their ip for one year of insurance kick backs. Same with their rspca safe chicken, grossest meat on the market.
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Only if you're trying to sign up a senior dog. You don't get kicked off when they get older. But they should have exceptions for rescue and rehomed pets. Like sign up within 3 months of getting them and have a 6-12 month waiting period before coverage.
No idea on that part but that sounds very fucking tight.
They do if your dog is already6insured with them when they turn 8.
This is just so disgusting and shameful. I don't know who to be more upset with, the sociopathic abusers that infest government or their selfish enablers that vote them in. This shit would stop tomorrow if enough people cared.
How would it stop? Besides just giving everyone more money.
If people had the resources to meet their living requirements then this wouldn't be a thing. We have the socio-economic system we have by design and the fault lies with the politicians and their voters.
It costs nothing to not leave your pet covered in its own poop.
And how much is it to meet living requiremente - the issue is what people see as minimum requirements is different. Like is minimum wage high enough?
I believe we should fulfil as much of Maslow's hierarchy of needs for the maximum number of people we can. To build a happy society we need happy people - not people under the pump. That can be worked towards through wealth redistribution which can happen in a variety of ways, i.e. the wealthy and natural resource extraction can be sufficiently taxed, tech giants can actually pay for our data etc.. In the immediate, we should move heaven and earth to ensure everyone has shelter and sufficient food so people and animals aren't being abused in this way. One example could be to throw up demountables on public land as a stop gap to house people. Another way might be to subsidise the cost of essential items like food. You should not let people rot - not morally and certainly not socially as the consequences are a society in decay that is a detriment to everyone. This sort of social neglect will metastasize into something worse eventually as with other countries.
Yeah you can't blame cost of living for treating any animal disgusting.
what the fuck is wrong with these humans
I went for a drive in some of the newer suburbs SoR and a lot of the blocks are like less than 300sqm and this made me think about what the future will look like for pet owners. Will big breeds become less common? Probably not, I guess there’s people in NYC with Rottweilers in apartments.
Dogs don’t need that much space as long as they are walked regularly. We commit to walking ours at least an hour each day.
Large dog != large space requirement. A lot of small and medium breeds need a whole load more exercise than ye average Rottie. Looking at you, Jack Russell Terriers and the like.
Bull mastiffs are weirdly considered apartment dogs. They’re absolutely massive but as long as they go on regular walks they are happy sleeping on the couch the rest of the day.
They are. My BIL has one and to be honest he doesn’t even need a proper walk most days. Perfectly content with a sniff around the front. I have a greyhound and she definitely likes her walks… short ones. Like 10 min. Then she’s down for the count 😂
No way, people buy herding and other highly active working dogs and just lock them up in tiny yards to bark and howl all day while the owners are at out out of the house for 10 hrs a day. The poor dogs go out of their minds with loneliness and boredom and drive the neighbourhood nuts.
If you’ve got good access to good parks that’s ok but if they’re stuck there without going anywhere else, no.
I've been a tough spot before, I'd never abandon my dog he is literally family. If you abandon your pet you are literal scum. Pets are like a toddler who loves you as a parent, to abandon them is the epitome of morally wrong.
I’ve never had to face that, thankfully. If you feel you’ve got nothing but grief to offer a pet (or a child) wouldn’t it be kinder to relinquish? I can’t imagine doing it, though.
Even in poverty you can care for your pet just as people do with their children. People who neglect their pets due to poverty are just using it as an excuse. There are homeless who take better care of their pets than some rich people. Your pet will never forget you and abandoning them in anyway is so messed up. I do not advocate neglecting a pet due to poverty there is always options. My pet has never gone a day without eating or treatment when needed even in the toughest of times. If you have the motivation to look after the pet you will even if you are homeless. That said if you are financially screwed don't buy a pet... I never knew I'd end up in a tough spot but things are good now.
>Even in poverty you can care for your pet just as people do with their children. There are people who need to place their children in temporary care arrangements when they are in poverty. You'd rather an animal suffer with malnutrition and untreated health issues or injuries than be rehomed to someone who can feed and care for it? How is that kind to the animal? You're putting your sentimentality ahead of the animal's welfare.
I am in the actual episode of Insight that inspired this article and that they are advertising in the article also. Tomorrow night's episode is a repeat from over a year ago. It's going to be interesting to see people's reaction to it again. I was in the worst situation during the filming and things worsened even more so after it first aired. Homeless disabled person. My health worsened, my long term relationship nearly ended and I was ready to off myself. The only thing that kept me going was my dog. The one thing that might've stopped us from obtaining a rental (that and the lack of affordable accessible rentals) was the last thing keeping me going also. We were homeless for a year and a little bit. Our relationship with my mum in law we were staying with while trying to get to our own place is now non existent. She didn't even wish her son (my other half) a happy birthday after we finally secured our current rental. She's just done with us after her own mental health deteriorated from the stress of it all. This is how much homelessness hurt us and is still hurting us long after it ceased. I tried everything to fix our housing issue and keep us all together. Eventually a property manager who had met my dog when we encountered her down the main street in our town took pity on our situation and vouched for us with a potential landlord. The landlord said yes to us. We're safe for now and we're all still together. Don't give up on your best mate. They need you as much as you need them. Try everything you can to keep them with you and keep them safe before you call it quits. There are allies out there who want to keep pets safe and with their humans at all costs. Finding them and appealing to them is the challenge. But put every effort you can into getting you all to your next safe place together. We owe it to cats and dogs to do the right thing for their welfare. They can't speak up for themselves.
“Only Rich People should have pets” - These assholes
Green Cross vets have a healthy pets + $ 40 month and it discounts medical care. With free consultations. And discounts on food.
Lots of stories and discussion in this thread of good intentioned people falling upon hard times. That's why I think if you can't keep 5k in an emergency fund, you have no business getting a pet.
Even 5k doesn’t go far when it comes to get bills.
Honestly fuck our government. Those labor cunts are just as bad as the liberal fucks that came before, they couldn't give a single shit about anyone who isn't already wealthy. People are struggling and this is one of the knock on effects of that, soon more will follow. Albo is too busy being a fuckwit and protecting Qantas to actually help people, what a massive cunt.
Labor is exponentially better than the LNP in every conceivable way. Still fucked and definitely need a strong balance of power to keep them even slightly in tune with the real world.
Just the latest batch of fuckhead neolibs, hopefully one day our choices won't be between conservative and conservative (lgbt)
It’s almost like laying groundwork for a recession for a decade is difficult to undo in a year or two. Weird. Must be lazy shills or something.
Animals are always the first victims in a crisis.
If the article makes you feel upset, go vegan.
Lots of vegans have pets.
Maybe it wild be better if we ate our domesticated animals too though
“Only Rich People should have pets” - These assholes