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As the months have gone by and I have been out walking, the neighborhood areas I walk through have become quieter. I do not think it happened all at once, rather it has been happening little by little. It was the housing loan crisis that sucked so many families into instant foreclosure. Now with gas prices going through the ceiling, everyone is feeling the pinch with every item they buy from apples to some overly expensive medicine that starts with the letter z.

I had not noticed that the neighborhood was becoming quieter all at once. In fact I had not realized it until recently that there are not as many dogs barking when I am out walking, and I do not see as many cats wandering around.  Cats are always iffy, as they frequently become food for hungry coyotes who are starving and have started hunting in the neighborhoods. Dogs though are another matter. They are behind a fence and many of them were just too big for a coyote to consider as dinner.
What I really noticed is on the walking trails. Even though the weather has been pretty nice, there is less dog crap on the trails. The fact I was not side stepping dog crap every twenty feet started me to wondering if the city had started ticketing people who do not clean up after their pets. I talked with one of the city workers who told me the city can not ticket people who do not clean up after their dogs, at least not yet. I knew people weren’t suddenly caring about their neighbors kids falling in their dog’s waste, so it must be something else.

I realized then that over the last few months the numbers of dogs barking had gone way down. I was curious as to possible reasons why and searched the net for some plausible answers. What I found is rather disturbing.  One lady blogger who describers herself as a DINK ( double income no kids (yet)) describes pets as a luxury item. I never looked at pet ownership that way, although as my two cats run about fifty dollars a month just for cat food and cat litter, I can see where that idea comes from.  If you want to check out her new blog, she is now located here.

So where are these pets going when their owners can no longer afford them because they find themselves struggling to pay most of the bills, or worse yet find themselves out on the street with no place to call home? Everywhere and nowhere according to lyricalcoder. According to what lyricalcoder found, pets are going everywhere, including being left inside of abandoned locked up homes, and left chained in back yards with little or no food and water. I read some other sources too that state what he writes.  lyricalcoder’s post also talks about how animal shelters are fairing with all the abandoned pets and the changes in the animals they receive now compared to the past.

Another blogger with an interesting perspective, Sabrina from the wheat fields of Kansas, has written a post about the effect of the forecasted rise in the price of corn and how it is going to effect pet ownership costs and our meat supply too, as corn prices rise. Because corn is a mainstay of many commodity store brand dog foods, I can see a new surge in more people not being able to afford their pets. I can understand why pet rentals made it into a segment of a program on life in Tokyo. Perhaps pet rental is coming to a future of someone you know?

Most people do not take on pet ownership lightly. I am sure for most pet owners it is a well thought and budgeted decision. Unfortunately with our economy sliding into the gutter, people are being forced to make decisions they never thought they would have to make. Some of those decisions are do they feed their pet, or feed their children?

It was once quiet knowledge that the poorest of retired people lived on cat food, but with cat food approaching one dollar a can, I doubt that is the case any longer.  I am guessing the numbers of cats eating cat food is on a sharp decline too.  The number of dogs and cats is way down in my neighborhood at least, and probably yours too.

Comments (0) Apr 25 2008