Sixty-seven respondents participated in the PetLynx YourSAY™ forum for 2012.4 featuring opinions about animal surrender and abandonment. Participants included thought leaders representing all sectors of the industry in Canada.
Highlights from YourSAY™ 2012.4:
- Survey participants felt that pets that are surrendered or abandoned most commonly come from online resources (e.g., Kijiji, Craig’s List, etc.) (28%). Other common sources of pets that are surrendered or abandoned included unwanted offspring (24%) and pet stores (13%).
- Overall 46 respondents (70%) felt that a pet without training was a top factor that contributed surrender or abandonment, 34 respondents (52%) thought pet family relocation/moving was another top factor and 29 respondents (44%) felt pet family personal issues were an important factor.
- A majority of participants (55%) felt that the cost of pet maintenance was a top priority for the Canadian Companion Animal Industry to address to deter surrender or abandonment of a dog. Other important topics for the industry to address included landlords not allowing pets (42%), the pet family having no time for pets (35%) and pet illness(es) (33%).
- Almost half of participants (49%) felt that house soiling was a top priority for the Canadian Companion Animal Industry to address to deter surrender or abandonment of a cat. Other important areas for the industry to address included allergies in the family (42%), the cost of pet maintenance (39%) and landlord not allowing pet (37%).
- Under half of participants (46%) felt that mandatory spay/neuter was the best way to address the problem of surrender or abandonment. Following closely were industry coordinated public education (40%) and pet identification or microchipping (36%).
- Participants were asked to name the most important elements of an industry-wide coordinated initiative to eliminate abandonment and reduce surrender. Top elements included importance of education/promotion of responsible pet ownership (39%), spay/neuter (26%), legislative/municipality issues (14%), industry collaboration/consistent industry messaging (12%).
- Gender: 57% Female, 43% Male
- Age: 18% 21-35 years old, 34% 36-50 years old, 46% 51 and older
- Region: 45% Central, 31% Prairie, 13% Pacific, 10% Atlantic
- Pets: 81% Dog owner, 51% Cat owner
- Industry: 39% Animal Welfare, 24% Animal Services, 19% Animal Health and Wellness, 13% Animal Control and Enforcement
- Executive Level: 24% C-Level Executive, 34% Senior Management, 18% Middle Management, 7% Individual Contributor, 16% Other
YourSAY™ public opinion polls are owned and Powered by PetLynx™. Copies of the complete survey report are available for a nominal cost.
Contact Sheena.Neel@petlynxmail.com if you wish to procure a copy.
Just to clarify, in bullet point 3, this summary indicates that 55% of respondents felt that addressing pet maintenance costs was a top priority in reducing abandonment. However in bullet point 4 the summary states that 39% indicated pet maintenance costs was a top priority. Am I not interpreting the results correctly?
ReplyDeleteI think point 3 specifically applied to dogs only?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your inquiry. As user 'Anonymous' has stated, bullet 3 specifically applies to dogs only and bullet 4 applies to cats only. Please let us know if you have any further comments or questions.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering why the survey pertains only to cats/dogs, when exotics are highly abandoned/sold/resold. Working in rescue we see an increase of surrendered parrots that isn't on the survey, parrots/rabbits end up in shelters across Canada but your survey doesn't really address that?
ReplyDeleteThis survey was collecting information about cats and dogs as part of a larger project on sourcing. We have noted 'exotics' as an area for discussion and survey in our parking lot. We would be interested to learn how many others in the industry agree this should be a future priority.
DeletePersonal opinion: Animals that are relinquished because of behaviour problems do not necessarily need training or obedience classes. In fact some of these animals (dogs particularly) have anxiety disorders that require more than "just" obedience classes. I make a distinction between normal behaviours that are undesirable and "abnormal" behaviours that are undesirable. Normal undesirable behaviours can be corrected via obedience classes. Abnormal behaviours need more than training...Diane
ReplyDelete