On a variation on "If you can't afford it, don't buy it", I read an article today about how if you don't have $8,000 laying around, don't get a dog. Oddly, the number jumps to $10,000 if you have a cat. And I'm going to guess that the reason why the cats are higher is because they do stupid shit like get in cat fights and then get abscesses and since cats have an amazingly high pain tolerance, you don't know something's wrong until it's at the point where you're going to be paying twice the amount of what you would have if you had known when it happened that the cat got in a cat fight.
But I digress.
The article states it much more eloquently than I ever could, and while I do think that homeless people tend to take very good care of their dogs, I do understand how it seems to work out better that homeless people get a dog, not a person with a dog becomes homeless.
So, that article is here: Why you can't afford a dog.
And just for the record, I have two cats, and I'd like to adopt a dog.
After thinking about it, I just realized that I always figured pets are expensive (just like kids--except with kids, it's more like $10,000 in the first year alone). I made sure I had enough money in the bank to pay for spay/neuter surgeries, and I start saving for the yearly vet appointment right after the one we just had. Of course we had a couple of curve balls, like the one cat suffers from flea allergies and the other thinks it's fun to get in cat fights. But this is all stuff I knew going into it.
That's why it makes me so sad to see people adopting pets when it's obvious that they aren't going to be able to afford to keep them if something happens. As the article says: There's services for a child if you need them, but there are very few services for pet care without you relinquishing the pet. So, if your pet needs help, and it requires that you give up your pet in order for it to get the services it needs, then man up and relinquish the pet. It's better than letting the poor animal die from liver failure or kidney failure or have to hobble around with a broken leg just because you didn't think ahead about the fact that animals cost money.
Animals are EXPENSIVE. It doesn't cost much to get a dog, neuter him, and feed him store brand food. What costs a lot is taking care of a dog WELL. For example, dogs need stimulation in the form of new toys, chewies, and LOTS of human interaction. If people aren't home during the day, then the dog needs to be taken to daycare or paired up with a buddy to play with. Leaving a dog for 8-10 hours per day, alone in the yard or house, is tantamount to animal cruelty. It makes me physically ill to see the people whose dogs are sentenced to hanging out in the backyard completely alone, barking their frustration and loneliness. We wouldn't leave a child alone in a box for 8 hours, but we feel totally comfortable doing it to a dog, who is by nature a pack animal. So daycare? Yeah, it costs about $20 per day. Boarding? Close to $30. High-quality dog food that will leave your dog healthier? $50/month. Toys? $20/month. Flea and tick preventative? $25/month. Heartworm preventative? $12/month. Carpet cleaning (because you'll need it) $200/6 months. Vaccinations? $80/year. And then there are "surprise" medical costs, like when your dog swallows something dangerous, or developes a flea allergy, or steps on something sharp and needs his paw stitched up. All-in-all, it's absurd how much they cost.
ReplyDeleteI love my dog like crazy, and I think I made the absolute right decision in adopting him, but it's inconvenient to find care for him if I'm going to be gone (either for a vacation, or just for a long day away from home). And sometimes when I just want to sit or play on the computer, I have to go play tug of war or fetch or go for a walk, because that's what my dog needs to be happy and healthy. By choosing to only have one dog, I'm making the choice to be his sole companion, and that's a LOT of time invested.
Anyway, I'm kinda easy to provoke on the subject of pets, given the years I worked in a pet shelter, seeing people treat their animals like fucking commodities, who can be traded, ignored, sold at will. Actually, thinking about it is making me cranky, so I'm going to sign off. But if you decide to get a dog, then I know you and Shawn will take good care of him or her, because you're doing the appopriate research ahead of time to know what will be expected of you.
Honestly, people should think the same way (fiscally speaking) about having children.
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