Anyone thinking of giving up their beloved hounds?

Ours will definitely NOT be given up!

See here

I can't believe people will simply abandon their dogs just because they cannot afford to keep them, credit crunch or no! We've never been exceptionally rich and yet our pets have always been fed, often better than us ourselves if needs be. We have a hungry Alsatian, 4 ducks and 5 rabbits, we can't just let them loose out in the neighbourhood just because food prices have gone up.

Surely you just improvise? Wean your dog onto cheaper food, ours isn't fussy anyway. I can understand with older dogs this may be difficult as many have to have prescibed vet mixes and particular diets but surely for an older dog its even more important to take care of him/her through to the end of life?

This sickens me, a dog is for life, not just when you have a healthy bank balance!

[/rant]

it is sad, but some ppl dont think about the actually cost of the pets before they take them on, I earn very good money but still cannot in my mind afford a dog....

But I have 2 spoilt cats...

too right!!! my dog gets fed just as well as we do (none of the sauses of course) but he gets real meat not any of that animal derative crap that pet shops chuck out!! id sooner cut down on what i eat than him, saying that it wouldnt hurt for me to loose a few pounds!!!

i cant see how anyone can abandon a pe, its like having another family member especially with dogs!!

Originally Posted by arcdef

i cant see how anyone can abandon a pe, its like having another family member especially with dogs!!

Lol ye, a lot of people will say their pets are just like additional family members and yet when push comes to shove they wouldn't dream of kicking a kid out and yet they cost FAR more than the odd mutt

It is sad, I couldn't do it to any of mine. I can understand why people do it, but there are shelters and rescue centres out there that will take a dog in.

My Great Dane (Monkey) was a rescue, he was tied to a tree in a wood somewhere in the midlands when he was two months old. They think he was there for a day or two before a walker spotted him and took him to the local vets, if only I could meet his original owner....

[Jayneflakes]

I could not bare to give up my pets, even though being cats and not dogs, they bite, hiss, growl and scratch me. Cats are independent enough that if they are unhappy they will move out and find an old lady to love them (I know because Jasper did this to me, which is how I got him), but I could not simply abandon him.

When I was a child, my mother would regularly destroy or "lose" our pets and it hurt a lot. I learned a lot from her about pet care and ensure that I treat my animals very different to how she treats hers. There are other ways of re-homing pets if you really can't look after one, leaving them to fend for themselves is cruel and very wrong, no matter what the reason.

Originally Posted by Dangerous Dave

My Great Dane (Monkey) was a rescue, he was tied to a tree in a wood somewhere in the midlands when he was two months old. They think he was there for a day or two before a walker spotted him and took him to the local vets, if only I could meet his original owner....

OMG Dave he's beautiful!!!!! I love Great Danes, gorgeous specimens of canine-ness

It's always worse for the bigger dogs, mine is by no means tiny yet we don't see him as a big dog that needs loads of food, he's just there and we do what we have to without thinking. Some people just have no idea though and that's the really sad thing

[Luckypants]

I think the answer is in the thread title Miss Y-C, no one would give up a 'beloved' pet. Sad fact is that they are not beloved by all or that some folks idea of 'love' is not so loving in the conventional sense.

A lot of folks giving up their pets are probably not devoted owners.

[dizzyblonde]

I love my pets. I'd have a load more if I had the room. I don't have much brass, but it don't cost the earth to look after them. Its only when they do silly things and need vets that take a deep breath and count the moths in the purse, but if they need to go, they need to go.
Honey is an RSPCA dog, she was left in a house with two kittens, shes terribly defensive, think it stems back from then, shes also very mumsy of those in her pack.
Bob was sat in the street at 12 weeks old, we'd been to a bike rally, and there he was, I hadn't even taken any of the gear off the bike. I knew who he belonged to and took him back, and the cheeky wench said.. oh we were going to ad him in the paper shop, my boyfriend don't like him as hes not a full staff (read '' hes not a full staff so we can't breed him and make money'')
My brother has a dog de bordeaux..Lola, when they took over their second pub she was left behind at 3 months old, bullied by the other dogs she was with, and bro and partner decided she was staying with them,,shes turned into one beuatiful loyal dog.

some people just make me sick!

Originally Posted by Luckypants

I think the answer is in the thread title Miss Y-C, no one would give up a 'beloved' pet. Sad fact is that they are not beloved by all or that some folks idea of 'love' is not so loving in the conventional sense.

A lot of folks giving up their pets are probably not devoted owners.

+1.

Not truly devoted no, however it keeps being mentioned on the radio that people who have had their pets for years are even giving them up, this is what I cannot understand. #sigh#