Pet abandonment on the rise as caring costs claw into bottom line
The New Brunswick SPCA is seeing a significant increase in the number of abandoned pets being left behind by pet owners.
In Oromocto, they say many don't want to give up their pet but difficult circumstances have left them no choice.
"The most common thing we're seeing is financial reasons,” said Beth Anne White, with the Oromocto SPCA.
“A lot of people can no longer afford to have a pet or the housing situation they have doesn't allow a pet, and seniors as well moving into care can't take their pets,” White added.
"Abandonment calls are up nearly twice as much as last year,” said Tony Porter, chief animal protection officer with New Brunswick SPCA.
“They're up to roughly 312 opposed to 141 last year,” Porter said.
At the pet store, the inflation factor has folks experiencing sticker shock on pet food and products.
"Pets are really a lot of money and it's something you really have to consider before having a pet,” said pet owner Sharon Saunders. “Vet costs, food, when they're sick it's really expensive.”
"We have two cats and a dog and the dog has to have special food so you're looking at at least $100 a month in food,” said Colleen Belanger. “The cats’ food because we do wet and dry the cost of cat food has gone up to like $40 for a case of 24 and that doesn't even do the two cats a whole month.”
The SPCA says they will do their best to help people keep their pets in their homes if it becomes necessary to reach out for assistance.
"It's going to keep putting us over capacity I know our officers have been straight out since the beginning of the year,” Porter said.
“Besides domestic animals we do agricultural animals and it's been a tough, tough year” he said.
"Basically as soon as a cage is empty we are bringing another animal in,” White said.
The Oromocto SPCA alone has more than 50 cats who are or will soon be available for adoption.
For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus
Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.