The UK pet welfare crisis

Although the UK lockdown saw a growth in pet ownership, in recent months, there has been an influx of pets being given up to shelters in what is being labelled as the UK’s pet welfare crisis.

 Due to the rising cost of living, which hit the UK late 2021, many pet owners have been unable to cope with the financial responsibility and time that having a pet comes with. Around 33% of pet owners have claimed to have experienced unexpected issues with their pets, such as frequent vet visits and behavioural support which they are unable to afford.

 Subsequently, many local charities and rescue shelters have reported a high number of pets being brought into their care, in which they are struggling to accommodate. In some cases, these institutions have had to call on foster homes and other kennels to support.

Ultimately it is the responsibility of pet owners to ensure the welfare of their animals; therefore, this current crisis has re-sparked the conversation about things to consider before becoming a pet owner, to hopefully encourage people to understand the realities before committing to becoming a pet parent.

Things to consider before becoming a pet owner:

Vet bills and regular vaccinations

The initial cost of buying a pet, if any, is just a small fraction of the costs to come in their lifetime. Vet bills and regular vaccinations are reportedly the most significant cost associated with owning a pet. Roughly two sets of vaccinations are needed in your pet’s first year, and booster vaccinations once a year thereafter, which costs between £50-£100. As well as this, they will need to be treated for fleas, worms and seasonal ticks roughly every 3 months, which can vary in cost depending on vet practice and healthcare plans.

There are some great plans available that can help owners to split the cost of these treatments. Vets for Pets complete care health plan is a great example.

Food 

Before becoming a pet owner, it is important to do research on the types of foods that you’ll likely be feeding your pet, to get a rough estimate of costs and work out whether it is a sustainable expense. 

 Although this will vary depending on your pet’s size and diet, they should roughly be eating twice per day. Food, as an absolute essential can become extremely expensive, and it doesn’t help that supermarkets are steadily increasing prices of pet food, especially for dogs and cats.  

 The types of foods that you feed your dog, are of course, important for their health and quality of life. Raw diets are great for pets as they provide high amounts of nutrition to keep them happy and healthy. However, fully raw diets can be quite expensive. Some alternatives to minimise the costs can be feeding raw food as treats rather than full meals to allow the quantities to last for longer and purchased less frequently. You can also reduce costs by feeding your dog a part raw diet, where 1 out of their 2 meals a day is raw food. 

 You can also prepare pet’s food from scratch, using healthy ingredients such as vegetables, meat and fish, and grains. This may help to balance costs of pet food, whilst still providing the necessary nutrients. 

Rescue shelters and kennels

As I’m sure you can imagine, puppies and kittens were in high demand over the lockdown period, meaning that older dogs and cats were not and are still not so high in demand.

As well as this, French bulldogs, Dachshunds, Cockapoos and Cavapoos were especially popular, being labelled as ‘The top five most desirable Dogs during lockdown’, and although it’s great that these pups and dogs were finding their (hopefully) forever homes, this means that several other dog breeds haven’t been quite so lucky.

These factors, coupled with the wave of pets being brought into shelters due to owners giving them up, there is a serious overcrowding issue. As a result of this, several shelters are faced with the unfortunate reality of having to turn animals away. With that being said, if you are looking to become a pet owner, we would urge you to consider rescuing rather than buying, so that we can all hopefully help to reduce the number of animals in shelters and into loving homes.

Ways that we can help

There are several ways that we can help this crisis, including donations to shelters and charities to allow them to purchase the resources needed to care for these animals. It is also great to share information about this crisis with friends and family, especially those who are looking to become a pet owner.

StreetVet

We’ve partnered up with Streetvet, a local charity that offers essential care and support to dogs and their owners experiencing homelessness in the UK. You can find out more about the amazing work they do here.

Some other great charities and shelters include: RSPCA, DogsTrust, Mayhew and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Also, for more information regarding the crisis, and to find out ways to donate and/or rescue, visit muthapuppa.com – a UK pet shop whose profit go to helping rescue dogs. They are on a mission to build the first muthapuppa rescue and rehoming centre for dogs in the UK.