Pets being left to feel pinch of credit crunch

9:34am Saturday 19th July 2008

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SCORES of pet owners are abandoning their cats and dogs because the credit crunch means they can no longer afford to care for them.

Animal shelters in the south are full of unwanted pets with some centres reporting more than twice the number of abandoned pets than this time last year.

Southampton's Second Chance animal rehoming centre is struggling to cope after more than 200 cats have been left at the centre in Mansbridge already this year.

"We have had at least 200 already this year and we would normally only see around 70,"

said shelter co-ordinator Rose Milne. As well as abandoning the household pets due to the credit crunch, Rose believes people are actually trying to make money by breeding cats and dogs and selling their offspring, before dumping them at the shelter.

"People can make anything from £60 to £100 per kitten by selling them on after their born, and a cat can easily produce an average of six or seven kittens per litter,"

she said.

Click here to watch a video of the abandoned kittens and cats

Rose said they have had dozens of expectant cats dropped at the centre who were so ill they had to be spayed, killing the litter of unborn kittens.

"We hate having to do that and the vets don't like it either. But some of the cats we have seen have been used to provide so many litters they are exhausted and ill, and they just can't cope giving birth to another," she said.

"We have another centre in Portsmouth and we have had more than 400 cats," she added.

"We are supposed to be rehoming these pets but we get so many that we can't do that. Instead we have become a rescue centre for sick animals which we can't afford to do that because vets bills are just so expensive."

Animal charities in the UK are urging pet owners to seek help if they are struggling to pay for costly vet bills or the expense of keeping a pet before abandoning them. The Blue Cross, who have 11 centres in the UK including one in West End, say they have seen a 52 per cent rise in the number of abandoned animals compared to last year.

At least 30 per cent of abandoned pets were dumped because owners could no longer afford to care for them. Louise Lee from the charity said: "It's really difficult for some pet owners to cope at the moment but if animals are being left at shelters we need to talk to their owners to discuss their health and behaviour.

"Otherwise they will take longer to be re-homed and we won't know if there's anything wrong with them."

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said he had no recent figures to back up fears the credit crunch was responsible for pets being abandoned. Animal owners should contact them before giving up on their pets if they could no longer afford to keep them.