Pets suffering in economy, too

She found homes for a bird and a fish left behind by former occupants of a foreclosed home. But an abandoned gray rex rabbit recovered from that home still lives in a cage on the floor of Yuba County Sheriff's Animal Care Services two months later.

"People moved out and just left him," said Debra Luis, who supervises the shelter.

On any day of any year, the Yuba County shelter — and hundreds like it — are full of pets who have been mistreated or neglected, or who, because of an owner's difficult circumstances, now are without a permanent home.

But the barrage of job losses and housing foreclosures pummeling Mid-Valley communities in recent months has rendered even some of the most caring and responsible pet owners helpless, Luis said.

People whose lives have been changed by severe financial setbacks find themselves unable to pay for basic maintenance of their companion animals, let alone expensive medical procedures, Luis said.

These dilemmas are likely to become even more pronounced and widespread if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's sales tax proposals come to fruition, said Shannon Sullivan, a veterinarian at Northpointe Veterinary Hospital in Yuba City.

Schwarzenegger's tax proposals, laid out in November, would add a new 9 percent tax for veterinarian services throughout the state.

The California Veterinary Medical Association has lobbied against the tax, declaring it would cause pet owners to forego important care for their animals and lead to more abandoned or euthanized animals.

Sullivan said many Mid-Valley pet owners already are suffering financially and can ill-afford to face a new tax on animal care. One dog owner recently told her that he intended to put a gun to his dog's head.

The solution, he told Luis, was preferable to watching his canine friend suffer from maladies he learned about at the clinic and could not afford to have treated.

Veterinarian Thomas Morrow of Bear River Veterinary Hospitals in Wheatland and Lincoln said he has not yet heard anything quite so desperate from his clientele.

But, he said, pet owners' preventative maintenance habits have changed.

"You send out vaccination reminders and people are not responding," he said. "They put it off."

"Times are hitting them hard, no question about it," said veterinarian Brian Baumgard, a newcomer to Marysville Veterinary Hospital from posh Sherman Oaks.

Baumgard was happy to learn Friday that he had properly — and luckily — diagnosed a canine's health problem without costly testing that the dog's owner could not afford.

"I had to just guess," Baumgard said.

Of particular concern, he said, is an increase in the number of pet owners who do not keep up with heartworm prevention medications and vaccines.

"It costs just $7 to $12 for a parvo vaccine."

Neglecting something so simple that could prevent serious, contagious disease, he said, "is tantamount to not getting a polio vaccine."

Recently, a man who had been evicted from his home surrendered three beloved dogs to the Yuba County shelter, in hopes that new homes could be found for them, Luis said. The man's bill for resigning the dogs to the county was $90.

"At a time when he had no home, that man went ahead and did the right thing," said Luis, who, along with her staff, has had to recover animal victims from foreclosed properties where they have been starved and neglected.

Luckily, the evicted man's dogs, including an 11-year-old German Shepherd, all were adopted quickly, Luis said.

"People are having to make choices about funds that are available. We're hearing it in the phone calls," she said.

And shelters are seeing the results of those choices in their animal populations.

"Impounds are up, euthanasia is up," Luis said. "There are more coming in and there's not necessarily more homes for them."

The Yuba County shelter provides literature for prospective pet owners about average annual costs involved with caring for a pet.

According to the breakdown sheet, estimated costs to own and care for a dog during its lifetime — 10 years or more — is in excess of $8,300.

Luis hopes that by providing this financial reality up front, she can dissuade people from adopting animals they cannot keep or properly care for.

Those, she said, are usually animals that wind up abandoned or surrendered, and often must be euthanized to prevent suffering.

The Yuba-Sutter SPCA was contacted for this article. Personnel there would not provide information regarding services at the Yuba City facility, or divulge the cost of fees for any service the organization offers.

Get care for cheap

Low-cost rabies vaccination clinics sponsored by North Valley Veterinary Medical Association and Yuba County Sheriff's Animal Care Services are scheduled for Jan. 24:

• 1-3 p.m. Yuba County Sheriff's Animal Care Services, 5245 Feather River Blvd., Olivehurst.

• 1-3 p.m. Yuba County Sheriff's Brownsville sub-station, 16796 Willow Glen Road, Brownsville.

Rabies vaccinations are $6

Yuba County dog licenses will be available. All dogs must be on a leash and cats must be in a carrier.

For more information, contact Yuba County Sheriff's Animal Care Services: 741-6478