Are pets companions for life?
Not really, no! They serve us a purpose of entertaining us and being around us as friends. But not really sure, if they can be with us for their entire lives? We might need to go to the office a few days a week, maybe travel a few times a year.
Not even sure how to go about it when we plan to have kids. Our main goal is to move out of India and in that case maybe we will need to rehome our dog.
If this makes your blood boil, I have achieved my goal.
Over the course of the last 2 months, I have been observing this increasing trend of dogs being abandoned in and around Bangalore. Reasons range from:
- Got them during Covid and now I need to go to office
- Got them recently and it seems to be a huge responsibility
- The couple/family is shifting abroad and they don’t want to take them abroad
- The pets are ageing and the cost of maintaining them is getting higher
- Having kids and cannot keep them around family
I got a post on my society group a couple of weeks back saying a young lab (less than 2 years old) had not just been abandoned by the family, he was left with the packers and movers when they moved abroad? Can you imagine the horror? A playful pup playing around in his home until 1 day before having no clue that he will lose what he thought was his forever family and home the next day!
And this is me being kind and giving the benefit of doubt that he was treated well at least until they left. After this I ended up following some pages on Instagram and facebook and to my horror I found that it is common that owners tie up their dogs in a different locality at night and escape. Helpers around the city try and keep an eye and help them get fostered or adopted or rehomed.
Another scenario where breeder female dogs are dumped after they can’t carry babies anymore or babies are killed because they were born with a deformity. People abandoning dogs because it got too old and it was extremely costly to maintain and also needed a lot of mental and physical support!
This is happening with pet dogs, we can only imagine the scenario with the strays and homeless dogs. Run over by cards, beaten up if they come near, chased off and in general looked at with disgust. Don’t get me wrong, my point is not to show humans in a negative light (or maybe it is), it is just to bring to attention that there are ways to go about it and not harm our pets or other animals.
- It starts by not buying or adopting dogs or cats or any other pet if you are not sure you can handle them or if you know your goal is to move out of the country. Pets do not come with a “trial” period where you get them and then decide to keep them or hand them over later on.
- If you really want to test or see them then get a dog that needs fostering (they are not broken dogs!) and help them with everything needed for 14–30 days. Remember it’s not up to you to test whether you can live with a dog or not. It is up to the dog to feel comfortable
- There is another really good option of going around to volunteer at shelters or homes and help out whenever you can. You get an idea of the needs of the pets
- And the last idea that is a winner in my opinion — Donate some amount of money and help in whatever possible capacity you can
But I have to say this, if you don’t like animals, pets or don’t want to be near the best thing to do is just walk away, move on and maybe just let someone else know if a pet/animal needs help. IT is much better than abandoning or hurting our pets.
