How Raystede is helping - Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare

This animal welfare crisis is caused by a rise in pet ownership rates colliding with cost-of-living pressures.

A national crisis

Numbers of people giving up their pets are continuing to soar because of owners experiencing cost-of-living pressures as well as changes in their circumstances and not being able to cope with their lockdown pets.

This is not just a local picture but also being reported by national animal charities and welfare organisations. Both national and local animal rescue centres are seeing an increase in animals coming into their care, with many centres already full and others close to capacity, as rehoming slows down and more people are looking to give up their pets.

Raystede has seen an increase in people giving up their pets

Since January 2022, the charity has had 2,500 requests – around 50% more than the same time last year - but it is proving very difficult to rehome many of these animals for a variety of reasons. The demand for rescue dogs has declined in the past year while the number of dogs being given up is higher in 2022 than 2021 and 2020. Many rescue centres, Raystede included, have seen an influx of dogs with behavioural issues. This is in line with studies indicating that inexperienced dog owners are giving up dogs they acquired during lockdown and are now unable to care for, due to a variety of factors, such as a lack of opportunities for training and socialisation.

Raystede has also seen an increase in the number of cats needing rehoming for similar reasons as a result of the lockdown, but we are also seeing a lot of elderly cats with health issues. Raystede’s cattery is currently full and we are urgently calling for more foster carers to look after cats – and indeed other animals with specific needs - in their own homes until new homes can be found.

We understand that people are naturally worried about the cost of living and our Rehoming Team always advises people to make sure they can fully commit to rehoming an animal, financially as well as practically and emotionally. However, there must be people out there who can help Raystede rehome these animals who desperately need loving homes and would urge people to consider a rescue pet.

How Raystede can help

Matt Gough, Head of Animal Welfare at Raystede, says, "We are staring straight into an animal welfare crisis. It's a crisis that affects all the species in our care, which is a very unusual and unprecedented situation to be in.”

“Animals are much-loved members of the family and we don’t want anyone to have to give up their beloved pet if they don’t want to. We are always at the end of the phone to help with any advice if you’re having difficulties with your animal’s health or behaviour. Our Education Team are out and about every week in the local community giving out free advice, health and microchip checks and free poo bags.

“We also have a pet goods shop at Raystede which has lots of second-hand pet equipment – dog and cat beds, leads and harnesses, toys, etc, which all helps reduce the costs. We have pet food which you can buy in bulk and save money with proceeds going directly to help Raystede’s animals.”

We are experiencing rising costs in caring for the animals

Raystede CEO, Stephanie Smith, says,

“We have been through such trying times in the last couple of years with the pandemic and lengthy closures which caused a huge drop in our income. In addition, there have been the avian flu restrictions, storms and heatwaves and now the increases in all our costs.

We completely understand that people are struggling - we are too. But we have to be there for the animals. Whatever we can do to help people either keep their animals, or if they have no alternative but to give them up, we will do our utmost to find them good homes.