Toronto pet owners face ‘excruciating decisions’ in cost-of-living crisis

When Jeanette Hanlon’s eight-week-old puppy, Rosie, woke up lethargic and began throwing up, she became concerned and started calling local veterinary clinics.

“Minimum $300 just to go in that’s without even test, diagnose, nothing. $300 just to walk in the door,” she said.

This was unaffordable for Hanlon, who is unemployed and resides in a low-income apartment. She wasn’t certain she could access the medical care Rosie needed.

Hanlon went to the Toronto Humane Society to ask for help.

“As soon as they saw her, they knew that she was really, really sick. They told me she had parvovirus and they asked if I wanted to surrender her. I said no. At that point in time, they worked with me and my son and came up with a treatment plan,” she said.

If Hanlon had not gone to the Toronto Humane Society, she said, “Rosie would have died.”

“Families are struggling across Toronto and in our province and wider across the country. And this is uniquely impacting families that have pets,” said Dillon Dodson, the humane society’s senior manager of social work.

She added that families are facing “excruciating decisions” about who to feed in their households given the rising cost of food.

“We are meeting with families that are arriving to our doors that feel that they don’t have the ability, based on finances, to continue to provide care for the animals in their homes,” she said.

To help, the society has launched programs, like a pet food bank which is open seven days a week.

Most popular is the Urgent Care Program, which was launched in 2020, but has seen the need reach new peaks over the last year.

“We see the need for urgent care is growing. We receive approximately 70 to 80 applications every single month so far this year,” Dodson said.

“We’re really privileged to be able to offer Urgent Care Program, which essentially is temporary fostering so that families can focus on what their needs are, being able to reach stability and move through the crisis that they are experiencing. And then at the end of the program, they’re able to be reunited with their animals so that their family does remain intact,” she explained.

Between January and November 2023, the Toronto Humane Society enrolled 150 animals into temporary foster programs. The organization has so far reunited around 90 of those animals with their families this year.

“We’re really thrilled that we’ve been able to assist those families in remaining intact,” Dodson said.

Hanlon said she is grateful to the staff at the Toronto Humane Society for helping heal Rosie.

“A place like the Humane Society gives people like us who can’t afford a regular vet a chance to come in and have our animals taken care of correctly. And the staff here are so loving and so great.”