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I look at our beloved cats, Harry and Billy, and wonder how I’d feel and
what I’d do if we couldn’t afford to feed them.
Then I consider what we’d do if threatened with eviction from our
home-for-four. What, in other words,
could we do about both food insecurity and home insecurity?
Both
conditions are very much in the media right now, with the very real pet-food
problem likely to become part of homelessness as both the pandemic and
unemployment rage on. What months ago
were heartwarming stories about people adopting shelter animals in droves have
now become ominous stories about their inability to feed and shelter those same
animals.
When
I wrote about food insecurity here on November 18, I included a few suggestions
for both people and their pets with food insecurity (because of course they’re linked). That post includes a number of ideas from the
ASPCA, ranging from finding area food pantries and asking local shelters and
vets for ideas, to checking supermarkets and pet stores for food samples and
coupons.
I’ve
also received messages from HSUS about combatting this growing problem so
animals will not have to be surrendered to shelters. People are struggling, HSUS says, to provide food and other resources for their pets during this
difficult time. Happily, though, its “Pets
for Life” program works across the country to provide critical services like delivering pet food and supplies,
and providing veterinary care to animals in need.
By
now, however, nearly a year into the pandemic and economic crises, the added
challenge has become housing for both people and their pets. “Eviction” is the big black cloud hanging
over countless Americans without jobs or the means to pay rent. Evicted from their homes, people can find it
very difficult to find new places to live that also allow, if not welcome,
their pets.
The
fact is that anti-pet policies, especially for lower-income renters, prevail in
this country, suggesting that those who are evicted may have to choose between
their home and their pets. (Ahead of
financial difficulties, housing is the second most common reason people
surrender pets to shelters, HSUS notes.)
It’s
very hard to find rental housing that permits pets – often with all kinds of
fees on top of basic costs that in themselves can be hard enough to pay. Even though an estimated 72% of renters own pets, until 2006, there were virtually no laws protecting them in times of crisis — and many more laws are still needed.
So now, many of the same “family member pets” who boosted people’s mental health
during the pandemic will be in peril if their owners are evicted and must
choose between them and another home. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/realestate/rentals-evictions-pets.html?searchResultPosition=1
Tips
for animals in winter
My
latest mailing from the ASPCA includes at least three timely winter tips for
pet owners and animal lovers: (1) ice melt toxicity in pets; (2) four tips for
sheltering community cats in winter (use foam coolers and straw, not
blankets!); and (3) a winter watch-outs infographic (keep those handwarmers out
of pet-reach!).
Recommended
reading
With
thanks to an animal-friendly reference librarian, these two “book briefs”
suggest ways to while away the time on a cold winter’s night.
(1)
When Harry Met Minnie, by Martha Teichner.
The CBS correspondent tells how she and her bull terrier Minnie met
Carol, a dying woman with a bull terrier named Harry, who would soon need a new
home. The book describes how it all came
to pass.
(2)
Lost Companions: Reflections on the Death of Pets, by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson. It’s horrible but it happens: the death of a loved pet. Suggesting how to help dying pets and how to
memorialize them, Masson discusses the need to mourn our nonhuman family
members.
Pet’s Ideal World, Part 1
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| Dodo pic |
Part 2
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| Getty pic |
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