Content Warning: discussions of animal abandonment and neglect

Having a pet to care for and to love is certainly a beautiful and rewarding thing, but it comes with its responsibilities. Caring for an animal takes a lot of time, dedication and patience. Pet ownership is a commitment to take proper care of another being for the rest of its life. This immense responsibility is often not taken seriously enough. 

Over the last two years, pet ownership has drastically risen; a total of 3.2. million UK households have acquired a pet since the pandemic first started. This boom in pet ownership even led to a national shortage of pet food products due to the increased demand. 

Presumably, many people were longing for the companionship and consistency that pets can provide during times of uncertainty like the pandemic. Working from home and being socially isolated, an increased number of people found themselves rather lonely and with some spare time on their hands. For this reason, they rushed into buying pets. In their new pet, many found a friend and companion who helped them overcome the loneliness and the boredom that came with social isolation. 

Pets are even known to have a positive impact on both mental and physical health. Taking on the responsibility of caring for another being can be humbling and positively affect emotional health. With 90% of pet owners reporting that their pet helped them to cope better emotionally during lockdown this certainly seems to be the case. Owning animals moreover encourages physical activities and keeps people fit and physically healthy. Thus, many pet owners clearly benefited from their animal companions. And pets likewise benefited from their owners giving them more time and attention during the coronavirus pandemic.

With the restrictions being lifted, concerns for animal health and wellbeing rise. Animal behaviourists and charities have predicted the current animal welfare crisis ever since the huge surge in demand for pets in 2020.

Pets made the extreme social restrictions of lockdown easier and helped reduce concurrent loneliness and anxiety. Now that coronavirus restrictions are lifted, however, pets are the ones to experience loneliness and anxiety. Some pets have gotten used to their owners being home all the time, other pets have never known anything else. 

With people going back to the office and their children going back to school, an increasing number of pets are left home alone. This may lead to severe separation anxiety. In fact, research has found that 85% of dogs may be affected by post lockdown separation-related anxiety. Separation anxiety leads to changes in behaviour and brings additional challenges for both the pets and the ones who care for them. 

While many pet owners try their best to facilitate their pet’s transition into post lockdown life and reduce their separation anxiety, others, and especially new pet owners, find themselves unable to take care of the pets they acquired during the pandemic. Now that their circumstances have changed, they realise that they do not have the capacity to care for another life after all. Irresponsible owners, and it seems to me that there are quite a few of those, fail to give their animals the time and devotion they need and deserve. Many reconsider their decision to get a pet and may choose to give up or abandon an animal they should be committed to care for no matter what.

Charities and dog shelters are concerned about the increased relinquishment, rehoming or abandonment of dogs. At the beginning of this year the RSPCA, a charity fighting for the prevention of cruelty to animals, stated that they were bracing themselves for ‘a major dog welfare crisis this year’ and that they ‘expect to see huge numbers of dogs relinquished to rescue centres, sold online, or even abandoned.’ Sadly, their concerns prove to be right. Because owners no longer want to commit to a dog and the responsibilities connected to it, many dogs end up homeless.

It is a tragedy that so many new pet owners have not considered the long-term commitment of acquiring a pet. To me this seems fairly irresponsible; if one makes the decision to buy a pet, one should make sure that one is able to care for it and to provide a loving home. 

Many people seem to have gotten a pandemic puppy because they had time and space in their lives for the limited period of self-isolation. Now they have less time and the puppies are no longer puppies. As their dogs approach adolescence, a period that usually brings a lot of additional challenges, dog owners are looking to give them up. Already struggling rescue shelters take on a rising number of untrained and neglected pandemic puppies suffering from separation anxiety because the sad truth is that people get rid of their dogs like they are objects no longer wanted or needed. 

That so many owners fail to properly care for their animals is unacceptable. Failing to recognise the responsibility of owning an animal is extremely inconsiderate and selfish. An animal is not an object one can buy and give away when not wanted anymore. Anyone who is unable to care for a pet, should not get a pet in the first place. A pet is for life, not just to make life easier during a short period of self-isolation.

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