The dog ate the budget: The high cost of pets

Sometimes they are dropped off like a sack of dirty laundry.

But other times, they are left with weeping — as if a mother were giving up her toddler to a stranger.

The tearful partings are what get Carl Arky, director of communications at The Humane Society of Utah. "It is gut wrenching," he said.

But it happens every day at animal shelters across the United States. Pet owners giving up their animals — animals that lick their owners' hands for the last time as if to wash them with forgiveness.

The economy exposes just how expensive pets are. And when deciding about getting a dog or cat, unless a potential owner counts the cost, they may end up reluctantly bringing the animal to the shelter.

"People give a multitude of reasons for bringing in an animal," Arky said. And in a recovering economy, the underlying reason is often economic.

Some people will say the animal grew too large or someone in the family is allergic. But more and more Arky said the reason given is cost or moving.

Lose a job. Lose a house. Lose a pet that is not welcome in the new apartment."People are moving from a home of their own into an apartment because they lost their home," he said. "Hopefully that is going to stop."

Gail Buchwald, senior vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Adoption Center located on the upper east side of Manhattan, said the ASPCA does not have nationwide data on animals that are brought to shelters, the number one reason for pet relinquishment is moving. "Moving is often triggered by a number of other factors, many of which can be related to financial issues," she said.

The need to move can be related to the loss of employment and the inability to afford current housing. When the move is to a place that doesn't allow pets, that is also an issue of economics because it generally costs more to find pet-friendly housing.

The New York Housing Authority, which provides free and low cost housing, recently placed a ban on dogs over 25 pounds. "That did directly result in relinquishment," Buchwald said.

In California and Arizona, where home foreclosure rates were high, pet relinquishment skyrocketed as a result of a loss of a home. But people will tell a shelter they were giving up their pet because of a need to move but would naturally not offer information that they lost their home in a foreclosure. "When the economic recession hit the in the home forclosure market, we saw a direct correlation with that," Buchwald said.