Pet shelters fill up in hard times. Student loan payments could leave many with hard choices.

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USA Today
By: Mary Walrath-Holdridge
Published: Sept 18, 2023

Animal welfare organizations are bracing for another kind of impact when student-loan payments resume for millions of borrowers next month: While people are facing another monthly bill they potentially can’t afford, their pets are staring down the possibility of losing their homes.

Shelters have already had it rough in the past few years, with many now existing in an ongoing status of crisis. Shelters and rescues have seen more animals coming in than leaving, especially in the years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving them at a critical level of resource strain.

According to Shelter Animals Count, a nonprofit working with more than 7,000 rescue organizations nationwide and creators of The National Database of sheltered animal statistics, shelters are in their third year of having too many animals and not enough adoptions. Dog adoptions especially have slowed down and are forecasted to remain flat or even dip below 2022 numbers. This poses a big problem, as dogs account for most of the 4% increase in shelter intake thus far in 2023; as of June, dog intake was up 15% compared to 2021.

Executive Director Stephanie Filer said that when her team began digging into trends, they found economic hardship to be one of the driving factors behind the overcrowding.

“What we were hearing from our partner shelters is that the reasons that animals were being surrendered were really starting to shift about a year a year and a half ago to be more economic based reasons,” Filer told USA TODAY. “So, we were seeing a trend follow where there was food insecurity and unaffordable housing challenges and we started to see those challenges also reflected in the animals that were arriving at the shelters.”

More pet owners are likely to struggle

Many Americans are already struggling in the 2023 economy, thanks in part to two years of high inflation which hit a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022. While that number has cooled a bit in the past year, prices are still rising – at a rate of 3.2% in July – and Americans aren’t likely to see significant improvement anytime soon. In fact, many have already taken to lifestyle changes to survive, delaying medical treatment or roughing bad weather by using fewer utilities.

This is concerning, said Filer, because economic distress was already causing more animals to end up at shelters. Of the over 40 million Americans saddled with student loan debt, a survey by U.S. News & World Report found that 85% of borrowers think they’ll face financial hardship due to repayment, and 49% said they’ll have a hard time paying other bills.

This added stressor of more payments, which are estimated to be $503 a month on average according to the Education Data Initiative, has a good chance of triggering a ripple effect for the 86.9 million American homes that have pets, according to statistics compiled by Forbes.

“For all the financial stressors already affecting pet owners, it’s worrisome to imagine the consequences of 40 million people with another significant payment each month. This could trigger another wave of pet owners giving up – or considering giving up – their pets because they feel unable to care for them,” Filer said.

While rescue organizations are doing their best to prepare, Filer said that this could not come at a worse time for shelters, which are way over capacity across the country.

“Whether it’s a natural disaster or a big economic event that impacts millions of people, shelters are already at their breaking point, so adding anything else to it right now is really the fear,” she said.

“As shelters look ahead, they are kind of doing what they’ve been doing all along because they really have been in crisis. So, the big call to action is for people to really rally behind their shelters.”

Prepare and lend a hand

Shelters need help more than ever, Filer said, even if the forecast for an uptick in surrenders doesn’t come true. And there are a lot of ways to help.

Volunteer: Most rescues and shelters are always looking for more volunteers to perform a variety of tasks, from helping with adoptions and fundraising to assisting in the building itself with cleaning, feeding and socializing resident animals.

Donate: Many organizations subsist on donations (which are usually tax deductible) and are also often in need of foster homes.

Foster: You not only get to enjoy time with animals you foster said Filer, but you get to help save even more lives than you would just by adopting one. Similarly, she said, volunteering provides an opportunity to interact with animals without taking on that full responsibility.

“People who want the companionship of a pet but are worried about if they would be able to afford that pet (have options),” said Filer. “Long-term fostering is a great option because often shelters will provide all of the medical care and food for that animal while they’re in your home.”

Anyone with pets already in their homes should make sure they have a plan in place in case something unexpected happens, Filer also said.

Make sure to get routine and preventive veterinary care on the calendar now, whether that’s a spay or neuter, vaccines, general wellness exams, or more complex care like surgeries or dental.

If you need help from an organization, shelter, rescue, or other community resource, sign up now, as many have waitlists.

The best means of combating this issue is ensuring you reach out as soon as you begin to struggle, said Filer, and getting to know the resources available to you in advance of needing them. Ask yourself what would happen if you lost your job, got behind on bills, if your pet suddenly got sick or injured and how much you would be able to afford to pay on your own before needing outside help.

“What we find is that a lot of times when a pet makes its way to a shelter because the family has to surrender the pet, it’s usually after they have waited to the last possible minute,” she said. “Obviously, making that choice is heartbreaking and they don’t want to do it a minute before they have to. And unfortunately, when that happens, there’s usually not a lot of intervention that can be done.”

Ultimately, said Filer, shelters need your help more than ever, even if student loans don’t have as large an impact as anticipated.

“We can’t predict what’s ahead for sure, but this is very concerning,” Filer said. “But even if that does not pose the problem, please still go out and support your local shelters because they are really, really struggling right now.”