Don't give 'em a dog's life

You succumbed to the pressure. Probably against your better judgment. But in the end, you gave in. Let's face it, there's only so much "ah go on, ah please, please will you get me one, ah pleeeeeeese. I won't lose interest, I will mind him, I'll love him, I'll take care of him, I really will . . ." anyone can resist.

So, you got them a puppy/kitten/ rabbit/goldfish. In a way it seemed like a good idea. Children can learn a lot about responsibility if they have a pet to take care of. Besides, how much more of a hassle could any little pet be when you're used to dealing with the kids?

Unfortunately, quite a lot of hassle. Some 25,000 animals are put down by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) each year. This figure includes old pets and injured animals, but a sizeable proportion are animals who have been rejected by families, especially animals given as gifts at Christmas time. Ciaran O'Donovan, chief executive of the ISPCA, says, "There is just too much going on in most family homes at Christmas. The house is full of festivities and the children are getting all sorts of toys. The pet is seen in this context as yet another toy. "And like any toy, the novelty wears of. Or maybe the puppy does something nasty on the floor, which all pets being trained do, and the parents are not too pleased." As the Christmas season ends, the reality of meeting the needs of a pet begins to dawn. "Some pets needs vaccinations, they may get sick and have to visit a vet, and they eat more and more as they grow. This all costs money people hadn't anticipated spending," O'Donovan says.

Parents who rush into getting a pet at a time like Christmas tend not to have had a chance to give it a lot of consideration. Few would be thinking ahead to the summer holidays, for instance, and planning what to do with the pet if they go away. Have it cared for by the neighbours? Other family members? A kennel seems like an option, until you discover the cost of it. According to the ISPCA, it is at this stage that many families realise how demanding it is to have a pet and simply leave it up on a mountainside one day.

In order to alleviate the problem somewhat this year, the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took the unprecedented step of closing its doors to would-be pet owners just before Christmas. In previous years they have found approximately 60 per cent of animals adopted at Christmas time are returned.

While scientists are reluctant to attribute human qualities to animals, neglect and rejection are recognised as being very traumatic for them. Peter Wedderburn is a practising vet and author of Healthy Pets (Anchor). "Animals feel discomfort, pain and psychological deprivation," he says. "It is very important to find out about their basic needs and the individual needs of each pet type. They have to be enabled to express their typical animal behaviours - this is important for their psychological wellbeing." If families are now finding the pet they got at Christmas is proving much more difficult than anticipated, there are a number of options. According to O'Donovan, the first thing to do is to reassess the situation. "Contact your local animal welfare clinic and get advice. It may be that you can find ways to cope once you understand what the animal needs and how to provide for those needs."

You might even end up enjoying it, Wedderburn says. "Everyone should plan to spend 10 to 15 minutes a day interacting with the pet. Animals like gerbils, guinea pigs and budgies are social animals who live in groups in the wild, so they need company. Once you do it, you really start to enjoy it. "It can be something as simple as sticking a pencil in the cage to let the gerbils play on.

"Learning to have responsibility for others is all part of taking care of pets, which is an invaluable lesson for children to learn. It isn't always easy. Cages have to be cleaned out every week, for instance - and how many children are eager to clean their own bedroom each week, never mind a messy animal cage? "But the good thing about keeping pets is the relationship which develops between the owner and the animal," Wedderburn explains. "The more contact you have, the more this develops. Seemingly mundane things like feeding and cleaning do involve interaction and the pet gets quite fond of the owner. Even small animals with a brain the size of a pea who wouldn't have a tremendous amount of intelligence do seem to recognise their owners."

But if you really can't find any way to keep the pet and meet its needs, both Wedderburn and O'Donovan advise advertising locally for a new home. If that doesn't work out, "the ultimate in cruelty is to let a domestic animal stray," says Wedderburn. "They don't know how to take care of themselves and they will undoubtedly suffer. If you simply cannot find another home, it is far kinder to take the animal to the vet and have it euthanased."