Animal shelters face widespread overcrowding as costs rise

But why has there been such a noticeable increase in recent years? Well,

things are getting more expensive.

A recent report by Bank of America found a 42% increase in vet care costs since 2019 and a 22% increase in pet food and treats.

The number of pets being abandoned is unprecedented.

I've been doing this for 21 years and I have never seen anything like this.

Cynthia Sweet is the director and founder of Sweet Paws Rescue in Groveland, Massachusetts, north of Boston.

We in Rescue talk about pre-COVID and post-COVID.

Pandemic puppies took over households back in 2020.

Since then, many owners realize that the reality of having a pet is a lot more than they bargained for.

Everybody got dogs during COVID and then they went back to work.

They didn't do a lot of socialization because we couldn't go anywhere.

So these poor dogs were sort of stuck in people's homes and their backyards.

And then all of a sudden they're told to go back to work and they're like, oh, well, I got to send my dog to doggie daycare.

Well, your dog doesn't know how to even function outside in the world, let alone a doggy daycare, right? So people started giving up their dogs a lot, like, you know, 2023.

But sometimes, even the most prepared animal lovers are no match for a tumultuous economy.

It is almost near impossible to find housing that won't be so far out of your budget.

And then to throw a dog or a cat on top of that, people can't afford to live with an animal.

Then another aspect is the increase of veterinary bills because corporations are gobbling up like mom and pop veterinary clinics.

So it's this perfect storm of people literally cannot afford to keep their animals anymore.

Historically, overcrowded shelters were most prominent in the American Southeast.

But today, it's a national problem.

In the years before COVID, Cynthia says many of Sweet Paw's animals were transported up to Massachusetts from the Deep South.

But now they have their hands full here.

So 97% of our animals came from Mississippi and Alabama pre-COVID.

Nowadays, probably like 45% of our dogs are coming from Massachusetts.