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January 1, 2009

Will recession impact pets?

By Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com

Don Allen Garrett says this week began like many weeks recently a man brought a dog to the Whitfield County animal shelter.

“He said he and his wife had both been laid off and they just couldn’t afford to keep it,” said Garrett, who is director of the shelter.

“They say ‘I just can’t afford it. My hours have been cut. I’ve been laid off,” he said.

Garrett says that” give ups” are up 40 percent so far this year to about 1,900, mostly dogs but some cats.

“We’ve been seeing an increase in animal give ups since the middle of summer,” he said. “It’s not anything new. It has been going on for a while.”

Garrett calls the situation “terrible.”

“We’ve been seeing more and more good dogs (healthy, trained and with their shots) come through, simply because people can’t afford to keep them, and they can’t find anyone to take them because everyone is in the same board,” he said.

Newspaper reports indicate this is a trend nationwide. But Murray County animal shelter director Pauline Davis says she hasn’t seen any increase in people giving up their pets.

“Our surrenders are actually down. Last year, we had turned in 1,588. This year, our surrenders was 990,” she said.

But that may be changing, she added.

She said on Monday a man turned in four puppies and their mother, saying he couldn’t afford to feed them.

“Recently, just the past few weeks, I’ve heard more people say the reason they are bringing them in is because jobs are down and they can’t afford to feed them” she said. “Usually, you hear ‘I’m tired of it.’ ‘I don’t want it.’ ‘The kids won’t take care of it.’”

Garrett says this was also the only Christmas he can remember where people weren’t calling to adopt animals.

Rita Burrows, kennel manager for the Humane Society of Northwest Georgia, says adoptions from that group have plunged since April or May.

“We’ve also seen a big increase in calls from people asking us to take their pets,” she said.

The Humane Society doesn’t take pets, she says, because there are so many at the animal shelter that can be adopted.

But many people continue to care for their pets.

Patricia Ferrarini, of Dalton’s Patricia’s Grooming & More, says she hasn’t heard of any of her customers giving up pets.

“For some people, they are like their children, and they need to be fed and loved and cared for just like human beings do,” she said.

Robert Wright, manager of Petland of Dalton, says he hasn’t heard of any of that store’s customers giving up pets.

There are programs in both Whitfield and Murray counties that can help cut some costs of owning pets.

“We have a low-cost spay/neuter vet that comes here twice a week. That’s available to both Whitfield and Murray,” Davis said. “We have a program called Puppy Promises for Murray only. If they’ve got a litter of puppies they want to turn in, we ask them to enter this program, If they do we find homes for the puppies for them, and all those dogs get fixed and all the dogs and cats in their household.”

Also, Murray County residents on Medicaid can get two pets spayed or neutered for free, she said.

Garrett says that Leftover Pets offers low-cost spaying or neutering at its Dalton offices next to the post office on Thornton Avenue.

Burrows says the Humane Society sells vouchers for varying amounts that owners can take to local veterinarians to have their cats and dogs spayed and neutered at low cost.

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