If you cannot afford to look after a animal then you should not have it in the first place.. Discuss

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I agree with you Sharon and I have always been one to advocate insurance on Purrs but as from 23 Oct my senior birmans no longer have it as I have been priced out of the market. Each birman was going to be more than my car insurance so it would have been like having 3 cars and hard to afford one!

I have created a slush fund for them and will be adding to that every month the amoiunt of there old insurance.

I have had to take out a loan to pay off the credit cards ands it wont pay off for 6 years so although they are both empty I cant afford to use them but in a dire emergency would.

The two moggies still have insurance but with an increased excess and cost now nearly double to what I was paying before 23 Oct....sigh

I still advocate insurance especially for young cats but my 17yr old pedigrees with anyone else maybe would have been sentenced to death by the insurance company  Its really not good enough.

Retired and living on a pension is not easy but all 4 will get the best I can give them and they already eat better than me LOL

Sadly the change in economics of the country is not going to help rescues home cats and gradually more and more are going to be dumped, education and neutering must now come into play.

[Mark]

Thanks Mark you obviously know me ( and Amber) too well 

I think thats the whole point though isnt it. There are some people who would put their pets before any kind of luxury and there are some who wouldnt. Its not always about how much money you have and sometimes having more money means people dont think through getting a pet before going ahead and then give it up.
love
Tab

I know having a lot of money doesn't equate to good pet care. I wish I had a camera at times I have been in somewhere like Waitrose seeing posh women with a trolley piled high with every kind of luxury food and a small box of go-cat balanced on top 

[tab]

Thanks Mark you obviously know me ( and Amber) too well 

I think thats the whole point though isnt it. There are some people who would put their pets before any kind of luxury and there are some who wouldnt. Its not always about how much money you have and sometimes having more money means people dont think through getting a pet before going ahead and then give it up.
love
Tab

[Leanne]

My Husband's great Aunt would desperately love to take on a cat (and the cat would have a wonderful life) but she is so scared about the cost she won't do it. I've been though all the costings with her but she thinks its far to expensive. Part of me thinks a poor cat is missing out on a wonderful life there.

Maybe she would be a good candidate for the RSPCA "seniors for seniors" - I'm pretty sure they get to foster for life, with all vet bills and food paid for. I'm sure people can supplement with extra treats or better food. I can imagine regular fostering would be hard as most people wouldn't want to give a cat back after they had bonded - I am sure this is for life though. I don't know what sort of age cats they have in the scheme though.

Thanks Mark,  I am going to look into that then.

[Mark]

My Husband's great Aunt would desperately love to take on a cat (and the cat would have a wonderful life) but she is so scared about the cost she won't do it. I've been though all the costings with her but she thinks its far to expensive. Part of me thinks a poor cat is missing out on a wonderful life there.

Maybe she would be a good candidate for the RSPCA "seniors for seniors" - I'm pretty sure they get to foster for life, with all vet bills and food paid for. I'm sure people can supplement with extra treats or better food. I can imagine regular fostering would be hard as most people wouldn't want to give a cat back after they had bonded - I am sure this is for life though. I don't know what sort of age cats they have in the scheme though.

Just to add, I waited for years before getting a cat and wanted to be sure I was ready to take on the commitment both financially and otherwise - ie had got over mt days of going out nearly every night etc  - I also naively though a garden was compulsory. I owned a first floor flat but went looking to buy a garden flat - the main reason being that I wanted a cat - I had Kylie within weeks of completing 

[Mark]

It is very hard and Im glad to see you have said that you understand circumstances change.
Personally when I adopted Mogs I worked full time. Although I was ill when I took in Amber as well I was assured by the consultant I would recover and life would be normal again soon. Over 10yrs later that hasnt happened and now I struggle to make sure bills get paid. BUT when Mogs died I didnt take on another cat because of my financial situation. It would have been harder if Amber had been lonely but as shes quite happy being a lone cat the choice was kind of made for me.
As much as I love having a cats if something happened to Amber I would have to think very hard before adopting again unless I can work again
love
Tab

The difference is Tab, you would sell a kidney to make sure Amber was provided with everything she needed 

I think Sharon means the ones that will get rid of animals as easily as they got them and will skip vet care & proper food.

[Leanne]

I think it all comes down to mentality really. At the moment we are both in well paid jobs and we can easily afford the boys, who cost us about £100 a month (insurance, food, litter, Jess's tablets, toys etc). However should our situation ever change the boys wouldn't lose out, I'd rather go without than see them go without. We have paid off one of our credit cards and now that card is kept as a spare that should the boys ever require veterinary treatment it goes on there till the insurance pay out.

Peoples situations do change and that's fair enough, but if you are about to rehome any animal and are wondering how you are going to afford it then, no you shouldn't take it on.

My Husband's great Aunt would desperately love to take on a cat (and the cat would have a wonderful life) but she is so scared about the cost she won't do it. I've been though all the costings with her but she thinks its far to expensive. Part of me thinks a poor cat is missing out on a wonderful life there.

[Claire_smc]

MSE forums was one of the things I was going to mention as there is always fierce debate over this topic on there, especially with regards to insurance. A lot of people post saying 'My cat is ill, am I entitled to help from the PDSA?' and then say that they can't afford insurance and they're not really a bad pet owner and surely it's better than the cat being on the street etc etc. To me, some form of insurance is just as essential as food for a cat, not necassarily insurance from a company, but even having a credit card that you could pay vet's bills onto in an emergency, having some savings put aside or knowing that there's someone who would be able to lend you some money. But people will always say that it's a waste and 'my mam's dog has been happy for 15 years and never needed insurance, but now that it's sick and we can't afford it, it doesn't make us bad people'  I don't even think it's so much being able to afford animals as what Fire Fox said, for example I adopted Pepsi when both me and my OH were working, since then he's lost his job and my hours have been cut. Even though we're skint now, the cats both still eat well and are well looked after, and if one of them got sick I know I would be able to borrow money for vets bills off my parents and pay them back later. We took Darcy on even though we were skint because I'd rather eat Basics food than have just turned him back out onto the street, and I'm sure that everyone on this forum would do the same. But then there's the people who 'can't afford insurance' or 'can't pay vets bills so I need PDSA help' but will be sat watching their 52" flatscreen and playing on their PS3s or whatever. It's all about attitudes, some people see animals as disposable, and would rather have a sick cat PTS than have to go without themselves to pay to have them treated, whereas others will sell everything they own and pay huge vets costs even though they can't afford it.

[Fire Fox]

Not sure which thread we are referring to. 

Getting even more contentious I don't think most households cannot afford to care of their animals, some simply choose to spend their limited income on other things. If you spend any time on MoneySavingExpert forums, there is a huge variation in what is deemed to be essential - Sky packages, cars, heating at t-shirt level, foreign holidays, enormous supermarket bills are commonplace. Benefits for families are quite generous - especially in rental accommodation or in receipt of maintenance - yet it is virtually impossible to manage if you are a singleton living alone/ running your own home.

There is a huge section of society (at all income levels) who see pet 'ownership' as a right not a privilege, and access to PDSA care as an entitlement not an eligibility. Until there is legislation in place to ensure all pet cats and dogs are microchipped, registered with a vet, neutered, insured and vaccinated this won't change. We'd still have kittens and puppies as there will always be professional breeders, strays and ferals.

[tab]

It is very hard and Im glad to see you have said that you understand circumstances change.
Personally when I adopted Mogs I worked full time. Although I was ill when I took in Amber as well I was assured by the consultant I would recover and life would be normal again soon. Over 10yrs later that hasnt happened and now I struggle to make sure bills get paid. BUT when Mogs died I didnt take on another cat because of my financial situation. It would have been harder if Amber had been lonely but as shes quite happy being a lone cat the choice was kind of made for me.
As much as I love having a cats if something happened to Amber I would have to think very hard before adopting again unless I can work again
love
Tab

[Liz]

I have to agree Sharon I did put my thoughts on that thread, I am lucky that over the yeras we have both had good jobs and have saved and invested money to allow us to do what we do with the Clan Cats and Dogs anf that my OH has a very high powered well paid job in this current financial climate but he is now living away from home for the next 3 years to advance his career and as I am currently unable to work due to my back injury we are feeling the pinch - humans now wating homemade soups and stews and not having all the things us humans like meanwhile the cats and dogs are still eating the best of food and having all vetrinary stuff done - My bill from saturday for 9 cats  equating to 9 Program injections, 4 boosters and 2 ID chips came to £377.00 Tesco for humans came to £35.00!

[Ellen2010]

I agree with you Canterbury.

I know I have had we will dump it in the docks in a bag, that is heart wrenching and got the person's address and said that I would make a couple of phone calls just in case a space had become vacant in the past couple of hours and get back to them.  On that occassion it was not an idol threat as the phone calls were to arrange an emergency place and to get someone watching and following in case it was not an idol threat and it was not.  They were caught taking the kitten (6 months old) out of the carrier on the dockside and about ready to throw it into there.

Yes I knew we had a few places but this was about 2 weeks before xmas so was trying to keep the places for the aftermath of animals being given as Christmas presents.  Most rescues do not rehome in this time to prevent people taking them on for gifts but are normally at near capacity as it is.

[Cooper & Peanut]

I totally agree. Having a pet (whatever it may be) should be looked into thoroughly. Nobody with any sense buys a car or house 'cuz it looks nice'. They look at their finances, can they afford the monthly bills, is there a back up plan if something goes wrong etc etc...

People need to adopt the same way of thinking when looking for a cat/dog/ferret...

It may sound like a cliche now, but I still strongly believe that the "a pet is for life, not just for christmas" slogan should be put on adverts on tv!

These are living creatures with needs/requirements and problems! If you can 100%, hand on heart say that you can afford to look after an animal until it reaches the end of its life, no matter what spanner gets thrown in the works, then by all means, go for it. Otherwise, buy yourself a cuddly toy instead! 

[Canterbury_cats (Sharon)]

Following on from recent thread on Purrs..

Its my belief involved in rescue and opinion that if you cannot genuinely afford to take care of a cat or any other animal they you should do us rescues a favour and don;t have on in the first place....!!

Now circumstances do change, we are never going to limit that.. But last week if we had taken in every cat or kitten reported to us that was brought from pet shop, given to a child for a present, given to a friend in the pub, picked up and then dumped at vets due to cannot afford treatment, had too many black kittens they cannot afford to feed!! Then we would have over 30 kittens in care and god nows how many adults... and we cannot take any of them..

Is this a harsh way of looking at things...! and why do people expect rescues to pick up the pieces of their bad decisions...Everytime i know/ get blackmailed into "well if you do not take the cat i will take it to the vets and ask them to put it to sleep!? and my reply is that is not what we want to happen but the cat is your own and its your decision... (or something like that).. Making the  guilt back onto the owners...  Although i have to say that calls such are this are still uncommon, its one quote i hear all the time.. and i wonder what other rescues peeps say or do.. Bearing in mind that we cannot save every cat and thats a hard lesson to learn..