Why do pet owners provide up their pets because of moving?
My hubby as well as I just recently moved across the country with our 70-pound lab mix as well as two cats.
Our pets were a big burden for us during the move, as well as I will never judge somebody who selects (or is forced) to re-home her pets because of moving. There are method as well many factors out of the pet owner’s control.
In this post, I’ll go over:
1. The difficulties of discovering economical as well as nice pet friendly housing.
2. What we can do to assist pet owners keep their pets when they move.
Some examples of hurdles we dealt with during our move:
Time crunch.
We moved 2,000 miles from Fargo, N.D., to southern California. My hubby Josh had the high-end of taking a trip in advance to do apartment searching, however some people don’t have that option.
Either way, there is only so much time offered to discover the right apartment. For example, my sibling just recently transferred to a different specify on about 10 day’s notice. discovering economical housing in his new area was extremely restricted in general, let alone for people with pets (he doesn’t have pets).
But what do you do? You requirement a task as well as a location to live.
Dog breed as well as size discrimination.
We never did discover an apartment that does not discriminate against specific dog breeds, so right here I am renting from an apartment that discriminates as well as I feel guilty.
I’m not sure what we would have done if Ace occurred to look like one of the targeted breeds (to most people he appears like a black Lab).
It was difficult sufficient discovering an apartment that would enable us to have a dog over 55 pounds.
Liability insurance.
Our apartment needs us to bring $100,000 in liability insurance. This is yet one more cost when you’re on a budget, as well as yet one more barrier if you own specific dog breeds.
The insurance coverage business we are utilizing will not offer protection to people who own specific breeds. I feel terrible admitting to this, however I had so much to perform in preparation for our move that I did not take the time to discover a different insurance coverage company.
High pet deposits as well as monthly ‘pet rent.’
Ever notice exactly how the pet friendly apartments are either truly costly or truly cheap? every time I move with my pets I have to select between paying more than I can pay for or paying a great deal less as well as living in a truly run-down place. I’ve done both.
Thankfully we can pay for an apartment on the higher end of our budget, however this is not an choice for everyone. What do you do if you can’t pay for any type of of the pet friendly apartments?
And then of program there are the additional costs for pet owners who lease such as the pet security deposit as well as the monthly “pet rent.” as well as since my dog is more than 55 pounds, we are blessed with a higher pet rent.
One- or two-pet limits.
Nearly every apartment has a limit on the number of pets you can have – usually one or two pets. We have three.
Again, if you’re on a budget plan as well as a time crunch, what do you do?
Cat declawing required.
Some landlords will request proof that the cats are declawed. sometimes front as well as back declawed.
Frankly, I don’t have the money to get my cats declawed, even if I desired to. If you have cats as well as a restricted budget plan however requirement a location to live, what do you do? danger eviction? then what?
Finding pet friendly hotel rooms.
It took us three days to drive across the country, so we had to stay in two “pet friendly” hotels that charged a $15 pet fee. however “pet friendly” generally means dog friendly as well as not feline friendly.
I was about to lose my mind when I got to our very first hotel only to be told “absolutely no cats allowed.” I never even mentioned I had cats, as well as I still had to indication a type stating I was not a feline owner.
Thankfully, I understood to expect this in advance as well as brought my cats into the hotel by hiding them in duffle bags. I brought their litter box in a duffle bag, too. This was extremely stressful for me after 14 hours of driving.
Figuring out exactly how to in shape the pets in the moving truck.
I comprehend why people have no option however to re-home their animals prior to a move. sometimes moving with animals is almost impossible.
Josh as well as I had a moving budget, as well as hiring a moving business was just out of the question. So then we had to figure out exactly how to in shape two humans, two cats, a litter box as well as a 70-pound dog in the cab of a moving truck for three full days. as well as we don’t even have any type of kids!
We briefly debated putting the cats in a big cable kennel with their litter box in the back of the truck, however we understood it would be as well hot for them.
Ultimately, we decided Josh would drive the truck as well as I would drive my vehicle with three passengers – a mutt as well as two cats. We were able to make it work, however some people would not have this option. as well as thankfully my pets are excellent travelers!
So what can we do to make moving easier for pet owners?
1. We requirement to be understanding.
Those of us who volunteer for rescue groups or animal shelters requirement to be caring to the pet owners. people don’t want to surrender their pets. They just have no other choices or they believe they have no other options.
I’ve heard lots of high-and-mighty rescue volunteers state things like, “Well, didn’t they know they would be moving? Couldn’t they plan ahead?”
It breaks my heart believing of it now. It makes me want to cry for these pet owners since on a little level I can picture what they may be going through. exactly how awful would it be to surrender your pet to a rescue volunteer who greets you with such hatred as well as judgement?
2. offer the pet owners some options.
We may not be able to prevent all pet owners from surrendering their pets, however perhaps we can offer assist to some.
A fantastic example of a rescue group that works to assist households keep their pets is downtown dog Rescue found in Los Angeles. Tegan Whalan preserves the blog Some thoughts about Dogs, as well as she had a fantastic publish about DDR that I hope you’ll checked out since it shows the human side of animal rescue work.
“An overlooked part of dog rescue is to prevent dogs ever being in the setting of needing rescue,” Whalan wrote. “That is, preventing animals from entering shelters to begin with.”
Her publish included an example where a household brought their feline to a shelter to surrender it since they might not pay for the needed $100 pet deposit to bring their feline into their new apartment. The lady at the shelter was caring as well as provided choices as well as a solution – DDR would pay the $100 pet deposit so the household might keep their cat. What a fantastic story!
3. assist them discover pet friendly housing.
Prior to our move, I emailed a regional humane society asking for recommendations on apartments that would enable dogs of any type of breed. I would like to embrace a second dog, I stated in my email, as well as I don’t want to be restricted on my choices based on breed restrictions.
The humane society never got back to me. I got no response at all. This is a big failure. exactly how many other pet owners is this shelter ignoring? If you’re in the business of discovering houses for dogs, one of your very first tasks should be assisting pet owners keep their pets in order to keep animals out of the shelter in the very first place.
It would be worthwhile for each shelter as well as rescue group to keep a detailed listing of pet friendly housing split into classifications that include:
4. A ‘responsible pet owner’ is not defined by a person’s level of income.
This should not requirement an explanation. pets request extremely little, as well as they do not care exactly how much money we make as long as they get the most fundamental care.
How many of us have stated something like, “I would online out of my vehicle before providing up my dog”?
Then why are we so judgmental of others who are dealing with real-life hardships?
5. reveal our concerns to landlords as well as insurance coverage companies.
Remember exactly how I stated I’m renting from a business that discriminates against specific kinds of dogs? I can politely as well as professionally voice my concerns to the administration of the business as well as request change.
This is particularly efficient when those of us with non-targeted breeds are the ones to speak up. We aren’t trying to protect our own dogs, however we are showing that breed discrimination in general is wrong as well as ineffective as well as that we do not support it.
We can likewise approach insurance coverage business in the exact same way, as well as we can make a point to provide our money to business that do not discriminate.
What advice do the rest of you have about moving with pets as well as the difficulties people face? Do you have any type of real-life examples?
