Normally today would be a Five Dollar Friday post, but instead of promoting rescue donations today, I'm doing something different: I want to talk about supporting people to keep pets in good homes that have fallen on hard times.
If you live in the US or are keeping up on the news about the US, you are already aware that we are facing unprecedented cuts to essential social programs that help our most vulnerable demographics, at the same time as a skyrocketing cost of living and increasingly outlandish medical costs. The poor, disabled, and elderly are at greatest risk of losing what little financial aid they receive from our government, and homelessness is on the rise at an alarming rate (an 18% increase in just the past year). When people are being impacted this severely, that hardship not only hits them, but their companion animals as well. Animal shelters and rescues saw a sharp increase in surrenders beginning at the start of the Covid pandemic, and this phenomenon has only continued with increasing economic instability.
On Wednesday, a woman in her 60s who relies on disability for income posted to our local FB community page reluctantly seeking to rehome her three beloved cats. She wrote a heartbreaking introduction for each animal, then explained the reason she felt she needed to rehome (see image). The comments from our community that followed were positively heartwarming: virtually every reply was total strangers offering to help her with her pet care (and in some cases personal) expenses so the cats could remain with her. People offered emotional and monetary support, recommended resources, and many have donated food and litter for her. ACS personally contributed three jugs of litter, two large bags of cat food, and cat toys, and we are only one of many who stepped up to help. Many of those offers are sustained, meaning that there are people willing to continue providing ongoing support. The woman gave a tearful update thanking her community, and for now, the cats are remaining in her care.
I've seen an encouraging trend in the animal rescue community to increasingly address pet homelessness by prevention. There are plenty of responsible, loving homes that have done well by their pets for years only to fall on hard times and be forced to rehome. The number of animals needing home vastly outnumbers qualified adopters, so we need to be proactive rather than reactive to the factors that lead to surrenders. Often, all people need is a temporary solution until their own hardships have been resolved. That might look like needing a short term foster, help finding pet-friendly housing, support with vet bills, or being provided with supplemental food/litter/supplies.
With the time, money, and effort demanded to house pets in shelters and rescues, it often consumes fewer resources to contribute towards keeping them in their original homes. Rescues across the board are currently experiencing higher intakes, lower adoptions, and less funding, so working with owners to keep pets in homes benefits rescues as well. Obviously, these situations need to be monitored to ensure that conditions do not devolve into neglect, but frankly the same goes for rescues themselves; there are stories in the news every day about rescues going under in the worst possible way. One of the rescues we once partnered with, in fact, has recently been under scrutiny for criminal animal neglect, something we are quite broken-hearted about.
Now more than ever, people need a robust sense of community. It is not just rescues that can offer support, but private individuals, as was the case for this woman and her cats. Things are very difficult and uncertain right now, and our greatest resource is each other. If you need support, ask for it. If you can offer support, give it. Not just about pets, either; that is just the focus of this blog. We need each other and we are all in this together.
