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A Bob Barker word of caution

At first it was just a flash in the bushes — a streak of white blazing in the glow of a passing car’s headlights. But on closer inspection, the thing creeping beside my neighbour’s house was a cat.

Though I assumed it was just another pet let out by one of the neighbourhood families — without a collar — repeated sightings and a gradual deterioration of the animal’s appearance told the real story. Another animal to be added to the list of London’s strays.

I grew up in a mainly student–residential area of the city, so every spring brought with it a fairly regular ritual — a new crop of former pets roaming the neighbourhood. These newly–abandoned animals often hung around their old homes for a few weeks before moving on, assuming they were lucky enough to survive.

The animals mainly seemed to be cats — the animal’s independent nature may make the choice to abandon easier than a dog would. If the animal hasn’t been spayed or neutered, the problem is further exacerbated.

For me, every new sighting brought along its own difficulties. Taking the animals in often wasn’t an option due to the pets my family already owned. Bringing the animal to a shelter was generally the best course of action, but catching the animal often wasn’t possible.

So the most common thing to do was nothing and hope the animal’s owners would return to take care of the animal. Far from the best option.

Leaving home for the first time can bring about a rush of new opportunities. Though many will limit those opportunities to drinking every day of the week and engaging in an irresponsibly unhealthy diet, others will choose to take on the added responsibility of a pet.

Clearly there is nothing wrong with students owning pets. The therapeutic benefits of pet ownership have been extolled to the point that the University Students’ Council exam de-stress unit has a contingent of animals.

But with the end of the term coming up, housemates may be finding themselves wondering what to do with their pet over the summer. The ideal solution of bringing the animal back home might not always be an option, and the much easier option of leaving the pet to fend for itself might suddenly seem the beset course of action.

Students who are going to be trying out living off–campus for the first time next year should give serious thought to the responsibilities of the pet. Food can already be expensive on a shoe–string student budget, and adding pet food to the mix can be the proverbial straw on the camel’s back. There are also time considerations to be taken into account — if you’re not going to be at home for the majority of the day, perhaps a pet isn’t the best plan.

If you’re serious about owning a pet though, why not take the intermediate step of fostering? Organizations like Animal Rescue Foundation Ontario, based in London, work with volunteers to take in strays and take care of them until they can be fully adopted.

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