In shelters across our nation, animals patiently await new homes. They are abandoned pets, the latest fad among military families who are helping keep the shelters in business.
Over the years, a typical military family might get posted anywhere between once every 3-5 years. Each posting results in the family collecting at least 1 dog and approximately 2.5 cats, at least 2 of which will be a pain in the neck at some point and sent out of the family home permanently.
"They're great when they're little and cute," admits military wife Margi* with a sigh, "but then they get bigger and I have to clean up poop. Picking up poop is seriously gross, and then I have to carry a bag of poop aorund with me all over town? No thanks. People who work at the pounds like cleaning poop, that's why they work there."
Others complain that having a pet and being posted is horribly inconvenient. Between kennels and travel, stress levels are incredible for a military family during a posting. For overseas posting, there's also the added hassle of having to quarantine your pet before they can even come home. It's just so much
easier to just get rid of the old pet and get a new one, once moved into the new home.
"Obviously we couldn't bring Lazlo in the minivan with us," explains one military wife, "We'd have to let him out to do his duty every time we stopped. It's already difficult enough with the children having to go every five minutes. It was just easier to give him away on Kijiji before we moved."
Says Shandra* of the cat they released before their last posting, "He's an animal. Animals all started in the wild."
"He'll make other cat friends and maybe even have a family of his own. He was always trying to get out of the house and away from the baby, this way he'll be much happier than if he had to be stuck in a cage at the shelter. He can run around and play with the squirrels, make friends with the raccoons and all that."
Puppy Love
*name changed