by Nancy Houser

Created on: July 23, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

Surrendering a pet[s] because of behavior issues, death of a family member, job relocation, job loss, financial problems, illness, or losing a home can be extremely painful to devoted pet owners and their pets. Most pet owners today consider their pets as members of their family, close companions, and best friends. Their loss through unwanted surrendering can add to the mental anguish and stress of suddenly changed lives and situations, as the memories of these animals cannot be replaced. If losing a pet is not a desired choice, there are always alternatives to surrendering your pet in today's world. As long as initial panic is avoided and a little time is spent looking around, things will eventually work out and the pet can remain with its loved ones.

A fact today is the number one reason people surrender pets is because they are forced to move because of job loss, financial problems, or finding a job in a new location. Combined with the $1,400 annual cost of caring for a dog and the $1,000 annual cost of caring for a cat-many pet owners are finding themselves simply unable to care for their pets. Additionally, the weakened economy coincides with very few potential pet adopters in shelters, lack of charitable donations, and less government funding non-profit organizations and state-run pet organizations and shelters. This has forced many shelters to turn away people from using them to surrender their pets. With 8 million pets sent to animal shelters on an annual basis, over half are being euthanized due to this pet overload in today's recession. When this happens, many people are forced to abandon their pets or drop off pets after shelter hours when they cannot be turned away. To avoid this situation, pet help organizations are being formed across the United States to assist pet owners in trouble and needing help.

Pets With Bad Behavior

It has been found that bad behavior and lack of training is the number one reason most pets end up in shelters. This can easily be avoided with so many training solutions found online or training classes made publicly available through a new awareness for pets in today's world.

Veterinarians are always a good place to start or the local shelters for pet information. People who advocate usually band together for the welfare of pets and combine their efforts. Very few like to see an animal abandoned by a caring individual or family and work together for increased pet care.

Classes may cost a fee, but if a job has been lost

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