Dog days: As the pandemic adoption boom cools, pet shelters overflow

That figure would be higher, said Stephanie Filer, the group’s executive director, if the shelters weren’t already overcrowded and had more space to keep the animals.

Pet adoptions have soared during the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 1 in 5 families adopted a pet during the pandemic, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Even President Biden adopted a dog, commander, and a Cat, Willow.

At the height of the pandemic, 70 percent of American households owned pets, according to the American Pet Products Association (APPA) trade group, and 54 percent of all households owned dogs.

But as the economy worsened and inflation rose to historic highs, consumer purchasing power declined and the pace of adoption slowed. That, in turn, puts a strain on rescue facilities, which have limited space to house unwanted cats and dogs, Filer said. Now about two-thirds of families own a pet, according to the APPA, and half own dogs.

Animal populations, however, continued to grow; owners skipped nearly 3 million spay or neuter surgeries in 2020 and 2021, according to research conducted by the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Shelters have experienced a dramatic influx of puppies, including sought-after breeds, such as French bulldogs, or intentional cross-breeds, such as labradoodles.

The pandemic, and the thousands of dollars in stimulus funding that individuals and families are receiving, has made pet ownership affordable for dozens of families. The end of the pandemic, and the federal government’s fiscal tightening, threatened for a time to make pet ownership a sharp economic divider between the middle and working classes.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates in a very successful attempt to cool inflation. But that has caused the cost of animal care to rise dramatically, according to Brandy Keck, head of veterinary and animal care loans for Live Oak Bank. Veterinarians and pet care businesses have raised prices to cope with both higher demand and the costs of doing business, including loans, wages and materials. The cost of veterinary services jumped 9 percent from November 2022 to November 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Animal feed costs rose 5.6 percent in the same period.

All this added up to one result: owning a pet is more expensive. And many more pets are stuck in shelters because of it.

“How we got to this point is really a three-year snowball trend,” Filer told the Washington Post. “It’s a perfect storm of the shelter system that takes on all the crises at once.”

These crises could begin to ease, however. Prospective pet owners generally decide whether to adopt an animal based on their economic outlook, experts say, and the financial outlook is brighter.

Consumer sentiment rose 14 percent in December, an indicator that ordinary Americans are significantly more optimistic about the economy than the month before. Inflation also fell much faster in 2023 than most economists forecast. The Fed has signaled that it can too cut interest rates in 2024easing borrowing costs for the first time since March 2022.

That could be a boon in particular for the pet industry, which relies on cheap cash to finance expensive equipment — like X-ray machines in doctors’ offices — and expand to serve growing demand. .

In the first half of 2023, Keck said, veterinary and animal care companies pumped the brakes on new projects fearing an economy headed for a recession.

By June, he lamented, “It was like the floodgates were opening again.” Pet industry companies, seeing positive signs for adoption rates and consumer spending, have begun to borrow more, expand services and increase competition that could reduce costs of long-term consumers.

But this holiday season, animals in overcrowded shelters still need help. Families can volunteer to foster animals, Filer said, which dramatically increases the dogs’ chances of adoption. Taking dogs on temporary trips or fostering them for a night or two can increase their chances of adoption by up to 1,400 percent, according to a 2023 study conducted by researchers at Arizona State University and Virginia Tech, and published in Animals magazine.

Pet owners who are struggling to provide for their pets should contact shelters or rescue organizations as soon as possible for help, Filer said. Organizations are often able to provide financial or material assistance so that families do not have to give up their pets.

“You don’t reach out when you have no other option,” Filer said. “Get in as soon as possible to see what your options are.”