Shelters overwhelmed as rising vet costs forcing some owners to surrender pets

In the fall of 2022, Tara Miller was faced with a difficult decision: keep her car or sell it to pay for a second knee surgery for her dog.

Ultimately, she needed her car to commute during the winter and decided to manage her dog Corby’s arthritis with medication and home therapy.

“Mentally it probably broke me,” said the 54-year-old.

While insurance covered two-thirds of the dog’s initial $6,000 surgery, Miller had to pay the remaining $2,000. That was on top of the $500 checkup before the surgery and the monthly $175 pet insurance premium.

“I can’t believe how difficult it was for me on the higher end of a middle income to come up with that,” she said.

That surgery wasn’t successful and Miller couldn’t afford another one. It likely means her dog, now four, will live approximately half of his 10-year life expectancy.

Animal Shelters say rising vet bills, combined with the cost of living, are forcing more people to surrender their pets.

Carla Matinellie-Irvine, director of the Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter, said the facility has dealt with 200 animals surrendered so far this year because of finances.

“We’ve seen it more this year than any other year, and I think it’s a tragic shame. I think it’s hard for the animals and, in many cases, it’s devastating for the family,” she said.

The shelter recently received a Chihuahua named Hero because the owner couldn’t afford medical care after a bigger dog attacked it more than a week earlier.

“We’ve seen it more (animals surrendered) this year than any other year, and I think it’s a tragic shame.”

Vets discovered an open wound running from the dog’s neck to his tail was infected.

“It’s tragic because (the owner) couldn’t afford the vet bills and this little dog suffered a lot, and that to me is very devastating,” Matinellie-Irvine said, adding Hero is now in a foster home and will need a lot of time to recover.

The dog’s treatment has cost the organization approximately $7,000 so far. Hero is one of many dogs needing medical treatment, and the shelter, which runs solely off donations, is suffocating under the $5,000 vet bills every week, she said.

“It’s just been terrible, to be quite honest,” she said. “We’re really struggling.”

Carly Peters, communications co-ordinator for the Winnipeg Humane Society, said 150 animals were surrendered to them in July, primarily because owners cannot afford vet care.

Another factor is a lack of pet-friendly affordable housing. A study from the WHS released last year found fewer than 40 per cent of Manitoba rental units accept animals. More than 60 per cent of Canadian households have pets.

“All of our programs that support keeping people and their pets together have seen an increase in usage.”

Peters said the WHS food bank has also experienced an increase in demand. The number of clients accessing the program jumped from an average of about 85 pet owners in the spring to 300 in July.

“The need is ever-growing,” she said. “All of our programs that support keeping people and their pets together have seen an increase in usage.”

Inflation over the last five years has led to higher clinic staff wages, which is the biggest reason pet owners are paying more, said Jonas Watson, one of the owners of Grant Park Animal Hospital.

“The work is challenging and many people are facing risks of burnout because of the nature of our work. One of the main ways we can keep these people in their positions is to pay them very generously, and wage increases, as a result, have to be accommodated by increased fees the pet owners pay,” Watson said.

The Manitoba Veterinary Medical Association does not set prices for treatment but has a recommended fee schedule that many clinics use as a guideline.

tiago.resko@freepress.mb.ca