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Bad economy hitting pets, too

By Rebecca Wolfson | Special to amNewYork

6:41 PM EDT, May 14, 2008

Louis Page, who lives in Brooklyn, was seperated from his 12-year-old cat Goldie for almost six months while he moved and looked for a new job. (Dave Sanders, Dave Sanders / May 14, 2008)

The strain of tightening household budgets has hit man's best friend, as more New Yorkers are seeking help -- including foster parents -- for their pets.

Many New York City pet rescue and foster care services say that in the last three to six months there has been a flood of requests from pet owners.

"We're getting a lot more people who have lost their jobs, become homeless or are evicted from apartments," said Joyce Friedman, co-coordinator of Safety Net, a city-sponsored program that helps financially struggling pet owners.

Friedman said that the program is overwhelmed by the demands it faces. In the past month alone, they have received between six to nine requests per week, triple the amount they previously experienced, according to Friedman.

Safety Net, which receives up to $7,000 annually from the city in addition to donations, helps to provide care for Fluffy or Fido for between three to six months, longer if otherwise worked out with the pet owner.

Louis Page of Brooklyn turned over his 12-year-old cat Goldy to Safety Net in July 2007, after he lost his customer service job at Verizon. He couldn't afford to care for his sick cat, whose medical bills for an infection ran up to $500 monthly.

"I felt like everything was falling apart," he said. "I felt like I was letting Goldy down. It was heartbreaking."

The Safety Net program helped provide veterinary care for Goldy and found the feline a foster family for six months, until Page was able to get a cheaper apartment and began working at Vonage.

"We try to help as many as we can, but don't have the foster homes to accommodate the rush," said Lauri Bleier, the director of Brooklyn Animal Foster Network. Bleier said five times as many pet owners are calling on the network for help, compared to just three months ago.

Officials at the city's Animal Care & Control, which oversees the Safety Net program, acknowledge that more pet owners are seeking help, though the spike in numbers at their shelters are mainly due to an increase in stray and feral cats.

In addition to the every day cost of taking care of a cat or dog, straining a pet owner's finances even more during tough economic times is veterinary care, according to Stephen Zawistowski, executive vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"It's going to be more and more difficult for people to pay for vet care, for pet supplies," he said.