The RSPCA is bracing itself for a busy Christmas, with the festive period seeing over 50 cats and dogs dumped by their owners every day. The charity attributes the seasonal increase to financial strain and pressure of hosting at Christmas, leaving some owners unwilling to take on the extra burden of looking after their pet . Of greater concern perhaps is the fact that in addition to the large numbers of dogs and cats received by the charity each day, the RSPCA is forced to turn away a similar number of pets every day as they don’t have the room to cater for such large amounts of unwanted animals .
More worryingly, however, the numbers of pets dumped in January increases sharply from December, with around 90 cats and dogs dumped each day. The RSPCA doesn’t believe this is increase is the resulted of unwanted pets who have been given as presents, with unwanted pet presents tending to appear around March according to the charity .
The RSPCA has appealed for dog owners to think carefully before accepting the responsibility of owning a pet. Furthermore, the charity has called for those who have found themselves unable to cope having already bought a pet to take their unwanted animal to a charity rather than just leave it on the street.
