Why do families who are poor, have pets

[hostleg]

They are expensive to feed, look after and to recover from illness and injuries.

Hear people who have a dog who swallowed something they shouldn’t have - £900 at vets. I’m sure these poor families don’t have £900.

I totally agree. But it's not just the poor that neglect their animals. I know homeless people who would feed their dog before themselves.

Rich people abuse animals on a grand scale sometimes. I would rather a homeless man had a dog to keep him company and give warmth and love, than a billionaire shooting birds and hunting foxes every few days.

OP, do you also think poor people shouldn’t have children? I hear they can cost a fair bit too

At least you can get help with dc though

Anyone who is genuinely poor should consider what they can afford based on the expense of keeping a pet and indeed having dc. Unfortunately we have millions of people who expect a lot of state or charity help for both these options whilst the better off get no benefits and have to pay for everything so limit their families to one child.

YABU. Most people who have a pet do not expect the expense that can occur if you are unlucky.

If you are to criticise the spending of those on a low income, there are far more things to use as examples, as other responses have mentioned.

People's circumstances change and many (most?) pet owners continue to try to keep them rather than signing them over to non-existent rescue spaces at the first sign of hardship.

Otherwise, YANBU. Same as kids: if you're overcrowded and struggling with essentials for the children you have, don't have more! My two cats have cost nearly £5k so far this year in vet bills, insurance, food and equipment. £3k of that was emergency treatment one month after we got DCat1 and wasn't covered by insurance. Pets are expensive!

There are cheaper ways of having animals in your life. Fostering means you have a dog/cat/rabbit/hamster/guinea pig at home but food and vet bills are covered by the rescue. Volunteering at a shelter is free and you don't need the space required for fostering. Stick insects just need a bit of privet and only live a year or so if you're diligent at collecting and destroying eggs. Butterfly hatching kits are £25 and a temporary commitment. All fantastic for teaching DC about animals and the responsibilities involved in taking owning them.

Yes we ought to have public information campaigns making sure people know exactly how expensive it can be to have a pet🔊
But that would hurt the profits of the pet industry and they will push back and lobby the government to stop people realizing before it's too late and they end up paying through the nose for hamster chemotherapy.

I got my first pet when I was 9. I am considerably older than 9 now and have always had at least a dog.

why would you think I don’t expect expense from my pets if I am unlucky?

I always wonder what 'poor people' look like to some posters? Healthy, strong feckless layabouts? My DD did her work placement with the PDSA and most of their clients were elderly, or mentally or physically disabled. People who were very poor, in most cases unlikely to get a job, with little to no family nearby. Their pets gave them structure in their day, got them out of the house, in the case of dogs, and got them talking to other people. Gave them something to love and who loved them back. In a society with very little mental health care available on the NHS, these pets were doing a lot of heavy lifting, and all of them were happy and well loved. Clients frequently went without food and other necessities to give their pets what they needed, so while there was a real human need to have these pets, it was a mutually beneficial relationship. I am glad schemes like the PDSA exist - with so many community centers and schemes being shut down, they are some people's only solace and connection with the outside world. We might not see them as service animals but they are often the only thing that keeps their owners mental health together.

People who work full time or travel a lot or just can't be bothered to put any work into looking after their pets, they are the ones that should be banned from having animals.

Animals don't suffer because their owners are poor. They are kept strong, fit and healthy by their owners and they take pride in that. My girl eats better than I do and I use an animal charity vet service. She wants for nothing. Big pharma has ruined animal care and filled our animals full of poison unnecessarily, just in case they get a flea! People are made to feel like bad owners if they don't willingly poison their pets. The dog population (pedigrees) have endured a shortened life expectancy and a raise in aggressive blood cancers thought to be attributable to these chemicals over the last 10 years. There are plenty of measures one is able to take to keep your dog healthy with out poisons. It is thought that the decline in the song bird population and butterflies is due to poisons appearing in the environment from domestic and agricultural animals and pesticides, that's worth thinking about. A study was done to show that the chemicals in these products remain on children's hands even after washing so we fill our children full of these. Chemicals too. Why do we poor folk have dogs? Because we love them, be cause they love us, because they are our assistance and therapy dogs. Because they are our friends etc. etc. well heeled people don't get to choose lifestyles for others, that's strange.

Because when I got them I was still with XH so one of us was usually around the house. Insurance premiums (even allowing for them going up with age) and vets bills were much cheaper. There was far less up selling from vets and we saw the same one usually.

Sadly XH failed to address his MH issues and used me as a scapegoat, since we split he has paid very little towards DD, let alone Ddog (Dcat was always mine). He does have DDog to stay if I am away. Add the cost of living crisis and health issues which mean I can’t work anymore than the 30 hours I do I am now much poorer than I was. But I still make sure I can cover the costs of pet ownership, usually by going without stuff myself. My pets do help my mental health enormously.

Rabbits are also exotic pets. Our vet explained that ti's because there are no rabbit specific medications so the vet has to use their knowledge to prescibe a combination of cat, dog and human medicines.

If you can't afford them they why should you or more importantly why would you?

I get fed up of people saying it's the middle classes who want 'poor' people to have no luxuries, not to smoke, not to have pets or children. They use this to make it sound awful but the reality is many people who think this are just ordinary working people.

Myself and my partner work full time and do not own a pet because of cost involved. We would love a dog but we think it through. We have one child and we waited untill we thought it would be more manageable and have decided with childcare and other costs we could not afford another.

I get some people cannot help their situations (illness/disabilities) and others have circumstances that change - but if you are on a low paid income and/on benefits why should everyone else pay for your wants. It's a piss take.

@hostleg are you coming back?

I remember that too.

@hostleg Are you coming back? Were you hoping for a discussion or are you just here to shit stir?

I’ve often thought the same …..
Particularly those that acquire animals that require expensive living conditions - reptiles / bearded dragons etc !

Several people near me have a menagerie of animals and moan that there is no PDSA where we live .

I don’t dispute that they bring pleasure but you have what you can afford . These people have not recently found themselves in hardship either .

I remember reading that healthy animals are being abandoned or PTS unnecessarily too as people can’t afford treatment

Do they not get financial help from the government when they have kids, even down to free school meals and grants for school uniforms. Pretty basic stuff food and clothing.

Honestly, it’s disgusting the moral high horse people think they get to be on when talking about poor people. They can do what they want, they can prioritise what they have and have a pet and not have to have people commenting on whether they should be allowed them, or how silly of them when they have no money.

If it were up to mumsnet poor people would be childless, petless, only allowed a Nokia 3310 and forget about having a TV. They wouldn’t be allowed to eat any treats, drink alcohol and smoking would be punishable by death

It never used to cost much at all to own a pet. I have always had cats and none of them have ever been insured. The one we have now is 18 and last went to the vet when she was a kitten.

These days its big business, vets, insurance, dog walkers etc. never mind the outlay to buy a specific breed of pet in the first place. I'm really not convinced you need all of that

I have a cat, she's 5 soon. I got her when our old family cat died in traumatic circumstances during lockdown when I couldnt get her the help as quickly as i could. It was traumatising for me and my DD. We were doing fine financially to afford and we got a kitten some time after.
Now my circumstances have changed, I had to move out with my DD and I am getting Universal Credit although I do work full time.
Its got tough financially but i always make sure I have enough food and litter for her and she is insured.
I just worry about affording expensive vet fees now, even with her being insurance.

A friend of mine stopped paying insurance because it was so high but instead puts aside what she can afford into a savings account each month. She intends this to be money she can use if/when the pet needs a vet appointment.

My cats lived to 15 and 16. Do you think someone's financial status couldnt change over that period?

Because poor people are allowed to have nice things….

It is a common theme that people poverty often do not make "sensible" financial choices. It is the human condition, we are not good at denying ourselves simple pleasures to save money for tomorrow. Furthermore life in poverty can be hard. Cold, stressful, lacking enjoyment. This drives people to seek out small pleasures even if they can barely afford them. This is why you will often see that people on low incomes will often spend money on "small luxuries/pleasures" - cigarettes, alcohol, junk food, pets, entertainment".

DD was shocked to discover that a lot of insurance companies will only reimburse you and not the vet, so the vet has to charge you and you have to make a claim with your insurance company, so read the small print! She has had a few clients left distraught when told they would have to find the money to pay their bill and take it up with their insurers.