Shortly before the holidays, Merck Animal Health released survey results showing almost 75% of people who’d adopted a dog during the pandemic were considering giving up their new pet once the pandemic ends. Sadly, it appears new dog owners are now surrendering their pandemic pets earlier than expected.
On Jan. 3rd, 2021, The Daily Mail reported that “hundreds of ‘lockdown puppies’ are being resold or handed in to rescue centres—because short-sighted owners are struggling to cope only months after buying them.” Adding that the animal welfare charity Dogs Trust had taken 1,800 calls from people “wanting to hand over dogs aged under one year old,” the story reveals some 25% of new dog owners admitted to “impulse buying” their puppy in the first months of the pandemic.
In other words, many new dog owners caught up in the pandemic pet boom simply were not prepared for the realities and responsibilities of pet ownership. As a result, the reasons given by new dog owners as to why they want to abandon pet ownership unsurprisingly come down to three main areas:
- Dog owners did not realize new dogs would require so much time.
- Dog owners were dealing with pet behavioral issues because they did not know how to properly socialize a dog and did not anticipate their boundless energy.
- Dog owners did not anticipate or prepare for the cost of routine and emergency veterinary care.
The Good News for Pandemic Pets
In our Dec. 16th, 2020 blog Dogs Now at Risk as Pet Adoption Boom Loses Its Luster, we revealed two things:
- 70% of respondents to the Merck survey indicated they wanted information about pet parenting. This means, although some dog owners have begun to seek new homes for their pandemic pets, many are still just thinking about it.
- Veterinary practices using the pet health education resource ClientEd can quickly deliver the information that new clients want and need to effectively help keep more pets from being rehomed and prevent the pandemic pet boom from becoming a pandemic surrender boom.
Joanna Gale, Senior Manager of Global Science Advocacy at Mars Petcare, repeats this message of how veterinary teams can help and the importance of supplying client education information.
In a Jan. 4th, 2021 LinkedIn article, Gale writes, “I believe the best way to help pets now and in the future is to help pet owners—and potential pet owners—access the information they need to prepare to succeed,” adding, “guiding them towards accessing resources such veterinary care or behavioural advice can be critical in keeping a pet and their human family together for the long term.”
To this end, ClientEd contains numerous relevant handouts (covering both dogs and cats) that practices can quickly send to clients through email or provide as hard copy at curbside, including:
- Life Skills for Pets: Crate Training and Confinement for Puppies and Dogs
- Life Skills for Pets: Crate Training and Confinement for Kittens and Cats
- Housetraining for Puppies and Dogs
- Housetraining for Kittens and Cats
- Why Preventive Health Care is Important for Dogs
- Why Preventive Health Care is Important for Cats
Haven’t Heard of ClientEd?
As a unique pet health education library designed to strengthen your veterinary team’s roles as animal health educators, ClientEd encourages client compliance through easy-to-understand information. Containing more than 2,100 handouts written and reviewed by animal health and communications experts, ClientEd covers a wide range of pet health topics and species, with all handouts written in plain language (including many custom illustrations) to increase client understanding.
ClientEd Easily Integrates into Practice Websites and Software
ClientEd is easily integrated into practice websites, including WebDVM custom veterinary websites. This helps your practice support your clients 24/7 with credible information that is quickly available, easily understood, and supports active decision-making. ClientEd also integrates into many popular practice management systems, streamlining workflows and providing library access to all veterinary team members.
Save Time and Money with ClientEd
Get started today. Get immediate access and don’t pay for 2 months*.
Offer ends March 31st, 2021. No minimum commitment.
Click here to book your ClientEd consultation today or call Sales at 1 (800) 375-7994 ext. 1 to take advantage of this Limited Time offer.
*Standard cancellation policy applies. Offer excludes setup fees and only applies to new monthly subscriptions. Offer begins from date of sale and excludes upgrades and downgrades to existing customer solution subscriptions. Customers cannot cancel and re-purchase an existing solution subscription to receive two months free.
