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THE DUBLIN SOCIETY for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) is urging people not to purchase a pet instead of an engagement ring this Christmas.
Ireland’s largest animal welfare charity said that while many people often consider a pet to be an ideal Christmas gift for someone, these animals can end up being surrendered or abandoned later because the owner was not able to care for them.
“You would be surprised the number of people who surprise their loved one with a puppy or a kitten instead of an engagement ring,” Gillian Bird, head of education at the DSPCA, told The Journal.
“This is the time of the year that a lot of couples have been together for a while, there’s a bit of pressure starting to be felt, people wonder: ‘Are they expecting a ring this year?’. And what happens is people opt for the pet instead.
“We do see a lot of animals that are bought instead of engagement rings, which is actually more of a commitment.
An engagement ring can be given back whereas a pet cannot.
The charity is advising anyone who might be considering giving an animal as a Christmas present to reconsider.
“The person you’re giving the animal to may have mentioned they want a pet, but they may not actually be ready for it,” Bird said.
“That can be anything from a dog, cat, horse, goldfish, snake. Giving pets generally as presents is not a good idea.”
She said that people often tend to forget how much is involved in taking care of an animal, including the cost.
“With dogs, yes, they need exercising and attention, but there’s a lot of other associated costs. You’ve got the cost of food, of veterinary care, of boarding if you’re going away on holidays. There is a lot of hidden associated cost with them,” she said.
“People often say that cats don’t take up much time, but they can take an enormous amount of time. It very much depends on the cash. You can have some cats that sleep all day long and maybe sit in your lap in the evening, and then you can have cats that are full-on and need your attention 24 hours a day.”
The DSPCA usually sees an increase in the number of animals being surrendered in November and December, and this year was no exception, according to Bird.
“We’ve had a constant stream this year of people wanting to surrender animals for lots of different reasons. They’re not puppies or kittens, what they usually are are older animals. Sometimes they’re animals that may be getting on in age, they may be losing their eyesight, they may be deaf, they may be looking like they’re going to need some fairly major veterinary treatment soon,” she said.
“Sometimes they think they’re doing the right thing by saying ‘we’ll rehome the dog, he’ll be able to find a better home’. But if you’re talking about rehoming a ten or 12-year-old dog, that’s not very fair on the animal.”
Bird said that dogs and other animals that are surrendered to the animal shelter after Christmas are often pets that were purchased the previous Christmas, which often makes rehoming them more difficult.
“We would adore it if people came to us straight after Christmas and said: ‘We got a puppy. It was a mistake’, because when animals are young, they’re easy to rehome,” she said.
“Whereas people usually wait until Easter, the summer holidays, the following Christmas – at which point, animals have often developed behavioural issues. They’re not as appealing as a young puppy or a kitten is.”
There are currently 85 dogs in the shelter, which are a mixture of sick and injured strays, cruelty cases and surrendered dogs from owners who could not keep them any longer.
When The Journal visited the DSPCA earlier this year, there were over 100 dogs on a waiting list to be surrendered to the shelter. Currently, the number of dogs on the waiting list stands at 66.
“It’s been a busy year,” Bird said.
“We’re trying to foster as many animals as we can, which will help take pressure off the kennels. That means we can do some maintenance but it also means we’ll have space for the animals that come in over the Christmas period as well.”
For those thinking of getting themselves a pet, Bird said they should think carefully before doing so.
“This is an animal that’s going to be with you for hopefully, up to 18 to 20 years. If you’ve thought long and hard about it and you know that Christmas time is the time that you are going to be able to give the animal a lot of time and attention but also give it time and attention after Christmas, it’s not necessarily not a good time to get an animal.
“It’s all dependent on your circumstances and what you are looking for in a pet. But definitely, buying pets as presents is a no. Rushing out at the last minute thinking: ‘I can’t get the child the toy they really want, I’ll get them a rabbit or I’ll get them a puppy’, that’s what we don’t want.”
Bird recommends against buying an animal and instead going to the DSPCA or their local rescue centre to see if they have the pet they want.
“People forget to come to us if they want a rabbit or guinea pig or a ferret or or even a tortoise as well as dogs and cats,” she said.
“You may end up having to wait a little bit longer to find your perfect pet, or what you think is your perfect pet may not actually be and we can find you something even better and more suitable.”
She said that choosing to go to a rescue centre over purchasing an animal privately means that new owners will have the support of the centre.
“With us, the animals we arrange for them will be neutered by ourselves – sometimes when you get them and sometimes pre arranged afterwards, which is all pre paid for. We’ll tell you as much as we know about the animals, they’ll have their vaccinations and you’ll have our support if you’re having any issues such as dog training or behavioural issues.”
She is also reminding people that they can choose to foster an animal with the shelter over the Christmas period before deciding to adopt.
“They would be taking the animal into their home over the two weeks of Christmas. We’ll give them all the food and all the supplies they need for the animal. They then look after it for the two weeks and bring it back to us after Christmas.
“It’s a really good way to see whether or not having a pet is the right thing for you. A lot of our fosterers who are planning on only taking an animal for a few weeks will end up adopting that animal.”
The charity is currently running its Be a Good Human Campaign in the run-up to the festive season, which includes tips on how to care for your pet this Christmas.
More information is available on the DSPCA’s website.
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Is is just me or doesn’t buying a pet as a gift just seem like the stupidest / selfish idea ever??????
@Ken Mc Carthy: Yeah, especially substituting an engagement ring with a dog or cat is just baffling.
@Ken Mc Carthy: yep, have you met people?
Many are simply dense.
@Ken Mc Carthy: no Ken it’s not just you,could never see the logic behind it myself.
@Ken Mc Carthy: it’s not completely stupid if it’s something the person longed for and you knew it would be so wel taken care of etc imp
@Emer Daly: imo..
My theory is it has become a lucrative industry for the animal charities. Free to good home ads have been abolished. ‘Adopting” a pet from one of these charities is difficult and expensive and I just wonder if surplus animals and needlessly being euthanized so as to not ruin what has become a very luceraty industry.
@Eamonn O’Hanrahan: jeez…..that is a very weird/ negative outlook ( theory ) on this article. Like what do you consider is a “lucrative industry for animal charities”???– they’re doing their best/ striving for animals to be well looked after and avoid animals being ” needlessly euthanized” ( as your senseless rambling suggests)
@Eamonn O’Hanrahan: These people are standing out in the cold and rain collecting coins to keep the lights on. They are under staffed and under funded, hardly what one would consider “lucrative”.
@Eamonn O’Hanrahan: I’m not sure I’d call it a lucrative industry, but there is definitely some truth in what you say. These charities are so ridiculously strict on their adoption policies it’s practically impossible to get a pet from them. I know of several people refused for what I would consider nonsense conditions, some of whom went on to purchase animals privately even though their preference was to rescue. These pet owners are amongst the most responsible and dedicated pet owners I know, and had previous experience as pet owners also.
@Eamonn O’Hanrahan: Eamonn I suggest you volunteer at your local SPCA and see just how lucrative it actually is for them and look at the costs bet fees fuel fees boarding kennel fees because not all SPCA’s have a dedicated shelter and use private kennels at a cost to the charity. When you’ve volunteered for a few months let us all hear of your findings.
@Eamonn O’Hanrahan: what an amazingly ignorant comment, I worked at a rescue….the money and effort going into getting the animals rehabilitated is huge….shelters aren’t going to give an animal to somebody that’s not hope all day or hasn’t got a secure garden..and don’t get me started on ‘free to good home’ do you know what kind of dirt bags are out there looking for these ads.
@Joanne Husband: what do you consider utter nonsense…a secure garden, home some of the day, no small kids…..its utter bs….people expecting to be handed animals that are already traumatised and not having proper facilities to look after them.
@Clare Power: I know of a professional couple, experienced dog owners, with a fully secured garden, one partner works full time from home, the other works blended hours predominantly home based, who were refused a dog ‘as it was too close to Christmas’ – this was late September! They bought a dog instead of rescuing, and said dog has the life of Riley, well loved and extremely well cared for member of the family. Thats just one example I am aware of. Perhaps the rescues in my locality are stricter than others, but it is my experience that they are far too strict and make it very difficult for good people, perfectly capable of responsible ownership to adopt.
@Joanne Husband: They dont allow people who work full time to adapt a dog, which at first I was annoyed about, but you can see where they are coming from, a lot of these dogs have severe abandonment issues and cant be left alone for long periods of time, especially at first.
@Pauline Gallagher: both of these parties worked from home, the dog would never be left alone
@Joanne Husband: you know one person…you made it sound like all rescues have ridiculous policy’s!!!!!!!!
@Clare Power: that’s just one example of several instances I am aware of
@Clare Power: regardless I didn’t comment for the purposes of getting into an argument, I think the service provided by rescues, and their volunteers is fantastic. I certainly support them vetting people and homes of course, but as I said in my own experience, in my area, that has been OTT on some occasions
@Eamonn O’Hanrahan: I was turned down adoping a 3 year old dog (Rocco) from a well known North dublin dog shelter 15 months ago and no valid reason given after waiting 10 weeks and the Sad part he is still there today in that shelter . I went to another shelter in Rathdrum Co.Wicklow applied for a dog on a Sunday and had him home on Thursday and he is a great little dog and is very adaptable to training. At Christmas I will donate a few Euro’s to the the Rathdrum shelter and to Dogs Aid in Finglas as they brilliant work.
@Eamonn O’Hanrahan: Castigating the one group of people trying to pick up the pieces from individual selfishness and failed government policy is ridiculous. Try looking up the pages of the local dog pounds. They are all overflowing if you want to help. Try looking up the PTS figures from the years before rescues. Most of these charities are burdened with huge vet bills from helping rehabilitate dogs. If you think the paltry amount they charge for adoptions is expensive, you need to spend time in one to get an idea of their costs. Maybe they could relax their rules around requirements for rehoming but they spend countless hours rehabilitating these animals from bad situations and given the throw away self entitled culture that exists in ireland I understand why they have to be careful.
@Pauline Gallagher: That’s more than fair. Sure those abandoned pets have been through enough. Dogs especially get very lonely without company.
The fact that people have to be told not to do this says it all. Dense.
Get me a new PC, I’m lower maintenance. :)
Crazy buying an animal for Xmas but what’s also crazy is the animal welfare begging people to foster/adopt an animal but charging 120-150 euros to the person willing to do it
@reg morrisey: I seriously doubt they charge people who Foster!!!!! Does it not make sense to charge an adoption fee then, it stops every tom dick and harry from turning up asking for a dog
@reg morrisey: seriously??? NEVER HEARD of any € changing hands to ADOPT / FOSTER a
@reg morrisey: They need the money to fund their operations; I cant imagine the costs involved in keeping these animals sheltered, fed and vaccinated.
Easy to see a lot of ppl in the comments never volunteered or worked in any of the National ‘SPCAs during their Transition Year, and/or failed to organise a a series of Seminars for all Year Groups of their Secondary Schools during their Transition Year.
D’absolute stayyyyt of dem!
No. You don’t pay to Foster.
Infact, when you Foster with an *established*, legitimate Irish Charity Animal Rescue Centre [like DSPCA, ISPCA] you are literally given everything the animal needs, for the duration of their stay, FOR FREE!!!
But, if you have a heart like – you will probably buy extra bits yourself anyway. Because – awwww!!!
Fostering is providing a temporary home or shelter to help the charity make room for more animals in need of more urgent care. A foster usually just needs some TLC, some peace and quiet during an illness recovery, or a place to ro rest while wounds heal, or some socialisation/introduction to more or new humans out in ‘the real world’ if they are still nervous after surviving abuse (for example).
Just a poor oule dog/cat that needs ‘a someone’ to bring him a hot water bottle, some antibiotics, a cuppa Lemsip, and a cuddle – coz he gots the “manflu”.
Yennow!?!
If you *adopt*, you are housing the animal for the rest of their life. The animal you take home will not have fleas, worms, ring worm, rabies or any other transmissible afflictions.
They will also be neutered/spayed.
These veterinary procedures and treatments cost a lot of money to a Charity, in addition to housing overheads and staffing. And it is a compulsory necessity that all animals get these treatments as soon as they are rescued and housed in the Shelter, regardless of when or if they are adopted.
This is the only instance in which a nominal fee is payable to the Charity – to cover the basic core starter treatments any new pet would need.
Regardless where you get it from.
Even if you bought it (like an eejit!).
The tiny “fee”/”fixed donation” rarely fully covers ALL the treatments any animal has received since many come from neglectful or abusive backgrounds, and therefore the one you adopt may have had treatments for extensive wounds, or surgery for car impact injuries, any number of diseases requiring weeks or months of treatments, or may have required careful, slow, prolonged rehabilitation from starvation and malnutrition, or may have been an **orphaned** premature pup/kitten that required an incubator and hand feeding.
Costs! Costs!! Costs!!!
The cost per animal at an animal shelter is not the same as a typically comfortable and healthy house pet in optimum condition.
However..
Some of the new (usually *British*) Shelters are not necessarily ‘Charities’. Some may be not-for-profit businesses? They also seem to have a significant turnout of animals with behaviour issues and/or mismatching with humans, compared to ‘SPCAs.
Many people who complain of Charities setting a minimum donation upon adoption are completely bypassing the fact that most of these stupid “Designer Dogs” (and cats) are not merely weakly, frail inbred “purebreeds”. These days if their own skin is not allergic to their own fur [fer jaysus sake!], then they are unable to *breathe* properly for their entire lifespan, or they have lifelong back/leg orthopedic problems, or they have permanent untreatable organ impairments, or they are bred without any regard to temperment of parents so you end up with inbuilt behavioural problems and on and on and on and on.
When you buy, you don’t just buy a pet.
You buy a lifetime of excessive vet bills!!
Couldn’t agree more
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