This morning I read a post by Gina over at the Pet Connection blog regarding homeless animals and the housing market.
You might remember that I wrote about this last September as we were seeing the problem here in the local area following a 52% increase in foreclosures in August of 2007. You can research more on the foreclosure rates at RealtyTrac.
Anyway, thanks to Gina I found and read the article in the Sacramento Bee about homeless pets as innocent victims of the California housing market per Gina’s recommendation.
I can only ask, where have they been? This has been an increasing problem for at least five months if not more.
In fact, it was September of 2007 the Press Enterprise took a look at local shelters and humane societies who were seeing the trend of increased numbers of relinquished animals and the speculation was that the homeless pet increase was due to the mortgage crisis hitting San Bernardino and other parts of California.
Everybody has reported it–but what are they doing about it?
What can you do about it if you lose your home?
One thing to do is to prepare a pet resume. What is a pet resume? It is a document you present to potential landlords with a summary of a companion animal’s best qualities and that also highlights your qualities as a good tenant and pet owners.
Pet resumes should include an appealing picture of your pet, state the animal’s age, activity level, breed or pedigree, good behaviors, participation in training, and the standards of care he or she receives.
Get letters of recommendation from your pet’s trainer, groomer, activity groups, kennel or pet sitter. It wouldn’t hurt to also get letters from your immediate neighbors stating how your pet is a great canine or feline citizen and neighbor.
As for you, obtain letters of recommendation from past landlords and your realtor about your qualities as a home owner, tenant–and ask your community pals to write notes about how you are a good pet owning neighbor.
In addition, more and more pet friendly rental databases are popping up on the web. Try searching:
You can access my audio on pet resumes here or on iTunes under Ark Animal Answers.
About Ark Lady
Diana – the pet resume is all new to me, but what a great tool. It is awfully sad that the mortage market and bad financing has caused so many owners to lose their pets.
We have just fostered a pug from local rescue and this many have been the reason that her family surrendered her to the rescue. I had not previously considered this reason.
Thanks for giving pet business owners another way to help pet care for their pets – I will definately suggest this to any of my friends or clients that find themselves in this situation.