Study outlines why housing needs often force owners to give up pets
More pets are entering shelters when their owners lose secure housing
Housing policies may be becoming more pet inclusive, but housing insecurity is getting worse, finds a new study that examined the housing issues that led to owners turning their pets over to an animal shelter.
“Over the duration of the study, instances of animals entering shelters due to loss of housing rose, while those due to pet restrictions and landlord conflicts declined,” said the study’s lead author Jennifer Applebaum, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Global Health in the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions who studies the human-animal bond and the effects of social inequalities on human and companion animal health.
“The proportion of pit bull-type dogs among all breeds that were housing-relinquished declined over time, as did the average weight and age of animals upon intake,” Applebaum said. “Taken together, our results suggest that the culture around pet-inclusive housing may be improving while broader housing insecurity is worsening.”
According to the study, which appears in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine, housing issues represent 14% of intakes to animal shelters.