Despite Foreclosure Misery Highly Priced Luxury Pet Products are Selling Fast
Photo by Taberandrew
Despite foreclosure bringing widespread misery, highly priced luxury pet products are selling faster than ever, indicating that the pet products industry is expanding quickly. However, when people learn that the roof over their head is about to collapse, providing top-notch food and medical attention for their pets becomes less important.
A trip to the Animal Welfare League in the suburbs of Chicago Ridge will show that behind the walls covered with posters seeking donations dogs are suffering and howling. Terry Sparks, the communications director of the animal shelter, said that the number of abandoned animals they are handling has doubled since last February; undoubtedly, they are victims of the ongoing foreclosure crisis.
Sparks also said that, “We find a lot of real estate agents finding abandoned animals in houses. They’ll go to show a house that’s been foreclosed and they’ll find a poor starved dog in there”. The executive director of the League, Linda Estrada, came across two animals – one starved to death and another somehow surviving-in a vacant, foreclosed home. The live one was all skin and bones – a living skeleton. He could not even walk.
Those who bring their dogs to the shelters do so when they have no other choice. However, it can be very painful for pet owners. The elderly and their old pets have been worst hit by the foreclosure crisis. With their bills increasing with each passing day, homeowners begin to find it difficult to maintain their pets; tearfully, many have to surrender them.
Aging dogs usually don’t receive any adoption offers. Who would want to take a fifteen year old inside a cage suffering from arthritis? For these dogs, life is nothing but grim. The recession has left increasing numbers of owners unable to care for sickly or aging pets.
Meanwhile, strange data has been seen rolling in from Chicago City. The number of animals entering the system of animal control has reduced. This is because there have been several programs aimed towards neutering or spaying stray animals. Simultaneously, the numbers of pets handed over to the shelters has increased.
Meanwhile, the industry dealing with pet products is growing – bettering with each year since the recession. According to American Pet Products Association, the industry will collect $51 billion dollars this year. It is 5% over the figures of 2010. Bob Vetere, the president of the association, said that the growth is mainly focusing on high-end food and products relating to convenience.
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