# Economy is making it a difficult time  whether you have two legs or four



## testmg80 (Jul 28, 2008)

By Lisa Bolivar 
Originally published 05:02 p.m., February 4, 2009
Updated 05:02 p.m., February 4, 2009

ST. LUCIE COUNTY  The economy is making it a difficult time  whether you have two legs or four.

As the economy continues to nosedive, the number of people putting pets up for adoption because of their declining finances is escalating, so the St. Lucie County Humane Society is resorting to giving away pet food so struggling owners can hang onto their pets.

Meanwhile, with fewer dollars to spread around, some pets also are receiving less veterinary care because their owners cant pay the high bills in these tight times.

The story is about the same along the Treasure Coast, with shelters in St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River county all either seeing more animals given up because of hard times or seeing fewer adoptions because of the cost.

Until December, record numbers of animals were being surrendered to the Humane Society, said Frank Andrews, director, who estimates 2,500 pets have been brought in during the final months of 2008, an increase of about 800 more than 2007, he said. But that has slowed down as the number of animals brought into the 300-capacity shelter for adoption has now dropped to normal levels, he said, bucking a national trend.

Andrews said despite the high numbers, only a small percentage of animals are euthanized at the facility.

The only determining factor on euthanasia is the animals health; some survive better than others in long-term kenneling. If the animal stays healthy, and doesnt get negatively impacted by being in a kennel, theres no hurry to euthanize it, he said.

And the news is good as far as adoptions, he said, as rates are up slightly, he said because of reduced fees for cats and a new volunteer coordinator who oversees off-site adoption programs at venues such as fairs and through offering pets for adoption at the Port St. Lucie PETCO.

Weve had a lot more promotions this year and have lowered costs, he said. For example, we had 2-for-1 kitty sales ... and the other thing that helped the adoption rates is this outreach program with this semi-satellite location at PETCO, and they have done very well in the latter part in 2008 and 2009  and that program was not available before last summer.

Nationally the economy has overloaded a lot of shelters, but for some reason we are not seeing that many right now, Andrews said.

But the reason for the animals that are being surrendered still is overwhelmingly the economy, said David Robertson, operations director at the shelter.

We see a real trend of the animals coming in because of the economy, because people cannot afford them, he said.

The economy also is affecting pets with homes, as well, as they might not be getting preventive health care, Dr. Patrick Kelly at Kellys Animal Hospital in Port St. Lucie said.

Kelly said his business has dropped off since the economy went south, and that people are cutting corners when it comes to vaccines and heartworm prevention.

Unfortunately, the preventative things they had been willing to do and havent done results in the animals being more sick, Kelly said. Oftentimes, vaccines are not given in a timely fashion, so when animals come in with serious illnesses they are less likely able to pay for the treatments that can be expensive.

Sick animals also are being dumped by the roadside, Kelly said, adding he adopted a dog that his family found at the side of the road.

My youngest daughter saw this dog sharing this road kill with buzzards, so my wife stopped the car and the puppy crawled up to her. We brought her here to the clinic, and were nursing her back to health, he said.

HOW TO HELP

The Humane Society Shelters all need donations of money, blankets, sheets, towels and dog and cat food. Heres how to contact them:

In Indian River County call (772) 388-3331, or drop donations off at 6230 77th St., Vero Beach;

St. Lucie County call (772) 461-0687, or drop off at 100 Savannah Road, Ft. Pierce;

Martin County call (772) 223-8822, or drop off at 4100 SW Leighton Farm Ave., Palm City.

Economy is making it a difficult time â whether you have two legs or four : St. Lucie County : TCPalm


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