Rising prices and inflation are having an effect on practically every aspect of American life, from housing that is expensive to frustration at the gas pump to a smaller amount of food on the table despite greater grocery bills.
Unfortunately, the suffering caused by inflation is not confined to one’s financial situation alone. It is also possible for it to have a very tangible effect on the atmosphere of one’s house, particularly when one is forced to make difficult decisions, such as whether or not to put food on the table or in the bowl of their pet.
The unfortunate reality is that in these difficult economic times, pet owners are trying to make ends meet, and many of them are no longer able to afford the kind of care they always provided for their animal companions. We see this situation playing out in shelters across the country, from Austin, Texas, to Kalamazoo, Michigan, when pet owners are forced to surrender their animals to shelters due to worries about affordability in the face of escalating expenses of pet supplies and veterinary care.
These shelters, in turn, are swamped with pets whose owners have given them up and are compelled to house them in conditions that are fast deteriorating as a result of a lack of room, time, and resources due to increased demand. This vicious loop makes things more difficult for people who own pets as well as the animals who are displaced from their homes as a result of the unstable economy.
