How can some people be so heartless as to abandon the pets they've had for years/dump them in animal shelters

Sometimes life brings situations where people can no longer keep or care for their pets - and much to their dismay the animal shelter is the only option.

examples:

Being evicted from an apartment or foreclosure of a home & being unable to find housing afterwards that allows pets

Having a baby & discovering the child is allergic to animals

Being transferred at a well paying job & being unable to transport the animal by plane/train/long car ride without major health issues for the animal

Having a death or major illness in the family that causes distress & inability to care properly for a pet

I could go on - but generally speaking, people don't just 'give up' their pet of many years for no particular reason.

Animal shelters are sometimes the only option

We do not educate enough. We allow anyone anywhere to get pets. In the uk it used to be law that for each dog a person owned, a liciense was needed. To get that cost money.

It is also partly due to societies "throw away" culture.

But do not make the mistake of judging everyone as being heartless or evil. There are genuin reasons for some ppl giving up pets. Old peoples homes here in the uk do not allow pets. If a person living alone has an accident or needs hospitalisation, it may be that the only safe option is rehoming the pet.

Also owners who believe themselves to be good owners do not spay or castrate their pets allowing them to roam free thinking the owner of the females should have them done. We as a society need to step up and be counted. Responsible ownership needs to be just that and if it takes a law then we should ask for that.

Animals tend to live longer now just as we humans do and while here in the uk most people when asked will say a meduim sized dog has a life span of 10 - 11 yrs some do live beyond that and just like humans these animals develope all sorts of health problems often requiring very expensive treatments. Maybe we need to all consider how important education is. I have done some training with people with special needs and mental health problems who want animals as pets. i have stressed the problems as well as the pleasure and often suggest they work in shelters as volunteers rather then rushing out to buy/rehome pets.

There is no answer to this question, I'm afraid. There is absolutely no good reason to give up your pet, with the exception of the fact that YOU are irresponsible. Anyone permanently deciding to bring a pet into the family ought to be prepared to have food, shelter, professional care and love for that pet until the day they die.

I don't care if your apartment standards change. If you care about your animal, you will find a new apartment. If you don't have the money for that, then you shouldn't have taken in the pet in the first place.

If you have a child with allergies, then you ought to have thought of that before getting a pet, or try alternatives. There are allergy doctors out there that work miracles. I can say that firsthand, from getting a dog and then later, having a child with allergies. We are all happy and healthy here.

To sum it up, the majority of America's pet owners are stupid, because look at how many animals are left in shelters to die right now!

I foster dogs that have been abandoned through the Home from Home scheme with the Dog's Trust (www.dogstrust.org) and they are dumped for a variety of reasons - some are valid reasons (death of the owner, family illness etc) but others abandon dogs because 'they don't match the new sofa' or 'he's not a cute puppy any more...'. I don't know how they sleep at night, but I'd rather people send the dog to a shelter than abuse them as some sick people do.

The dogs I care for are classed as Special Needs dogs as they get so stressed out and scared in kennels they become ill, or they have been badly abused by their previous owners so they come and live with us until they learn that not all humans are horrible. In fact, a new dog arrived here on Monday and he is already a different dog - happy and confident and snuggled up on a warm bed as I type!

As you've considered interior the responses, there are a form of causes. some surely everyone appears to be like completely unaware that there are different places to get a puppy, highly at the same time as it contains animals except cats and dogs. some people imagine that a purebred dogs of a breed that has personality features they prefer will be undemanding to own and now require practise, and they fail comprehend that there is a huge distinction in high quality between animals from high quality breeders and those in puppy shops. some people imagine you won't be able to get a purebred animal from a guard. some people imagine that pets in undemanding words finally end up in shelters because they have serious habit issues. some people is also vaguely conscious of the subjects surrounding chain puppy keep promoting animals - which contains pup turbines and shortage of vet care - yet are surely fooled by skill of puppy shops deceptive reassurances and are presented about believe that this puppy keep isn't a topic. maximum sympathetic of all are the folk who only sense sorry for the animals and need to provide them reliable houses which the puppy keep and maximum of its shoppers received't provide. Their hearts are interior the right position, yet what they don't comprehend is they are interior the top giving extra money to the folk who've mistreated and undervalued this animal, permitting them to keep doing them same element to extra animals.

The animals that end up in shelters are the lucky ones - at least they get a chance at a new home. The real horror stories are these subhumans who abandon their pets along the roadside or leave them tied up in the yard to die when they move away. Watch the Animal Cops shows on Animal Planet for one week and you'll be sickened by the inhumane treatment these poor creatures suffer. The same thing ought to be done to the people who treated them like that.

Really, if someone was getting rid of a dog because it smelled or didn't match the sofa then do you really think that this animal was living wih the kind of people he would never get over. In comparison they were probably miserable pet owners. Now think about the people who adopt animals from shelters. Chances are the little pooch is getting an up-graded family. And if it's a really valid reason like death of the owner, new baby has allergies... (this is normally the reason behind surrendering elderly-dogs) can you really blame them.

I used to work at a no-kill shelter in pontiac. We had rigorous standards that you had to meet to adopt an animal. Our goal was never to see one come back in. We were only concerned about the welfare of that animal.

If you want something to get mad about ask yourself how these people are getting the Dogs in the first place. Because most of them would never have been able to adopt from our shelter. Get mad at the petstores who sell dogs as merchandise- anything to make a sale. Even if that dog ends up with someone obviously inadequate. Or even more disgusting- Breeders who sell their very own puppies with out any questions to the first person with $500.

Get mad at the people who should be looking out for that puppies welfare from the beginning.

I had to give up my cats to an animal shelter because of my abusive husband. He had a gun and I had to stay in hiding for awhile. The only friend I could stay with could not have cats at his apartment. Before this happened I used to think that there was no excuse for giving up a pet, but I've discovered that sometimes it becomes a choice and for me it was either possibly lose my life at the hand of my exhusband or find a new home for the cats. BTW, I checked on them every day and made sure they both got adopted. I still feel really bad about this and I miss my cats, and now I make sure to have a backup plan for my pets in case anything like that were to ever happen again.

This had been one of my pet peeves for years.

I am sorry to say that you are just scratching the tip of the iceberg.

I have seen kittens thrown to watch them bounce. I will never drive over a sack or bag in the road because I have found puppies in a couple of them.

I would rather put them down humanly than this…

One time a customer asked me if she could have some kitten because the coyotes ate hers. Living in the country you see something else, mostly cats, being dumped, thrown away. (Oh they can survive) Yea, no claws, no skills, no life!

(I call it disposable animals.)

If required to part with an animal it will not be free, that way I know that person wants that animal. If you ask around, most of these disposable animals were either low-cost or free.

Remember these animals are just animals, yea right!

Who is the ANIMAL???

Part of it is human nature. But I look at it this way, if the person was willing to at least take the animal to the local shelter, at least the cared enough for it to find some temporary care for it.

And if you ask me, pets from the shelter make the best pets because they need the love you want to give them. Only about a month or so ago I adopted my dog Tillie from the animal shelter. I knew from the moment I saw her that she needed me and I needed her. Now both of us are very, very happy.