DFW Shelters Are Seeing Pets Boomerang Back After The Pandemic

DALLAS, TX —On the one hand, you'll never find people who are more devoted to their animals than Texans. Horses, chickens, turtles, even snakes and spiders find love in the Lone Star State.

But there are also those who consider animals an expendable convenience. Take, for example, my ex-father-in-law, an 80-something lifelong Texan who grew up on the banks of the Brazos. When our family pooch Dash swallowed a ball at a dog park and the vet said it would cost $2200 to remove it, someone I knew said it would be cheaper to get another dog.

He then told us that as a kid during the Great Depression, he used to take unwanted kittens, tie them in a sack and throw them into the river. Now that same mindset seems to have taken root in North Texas, as dozens of pets adopted during last year's outbreak are finding themselves evicted from the homes they once shared.

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In recent weeks, 64 cats and more than two dozen dogs have shown up at the Humane Society of Dallas County — roughly twice the number that appeared before the pandemic.

Similar increases have been reported by Dallas Animal Services.

There is some good news, in that some 200 furry friends have been adopted after a holiday push over the Fourth of July week, but for some shelters, it's almost as though they're seeing as many pets come in as go out the door.

Some are runaways, and some are lost as a result of being scared into hiding from sounds of fireworks exploding all around them. Because of overcrowding, some have been euthanized.

Raising, training and loving a pet is a trial of compassion, consistency and patience. It's also one of those things that lets you know what kind of person you are.

And responding to a crisis like this means someone will have to step up. Dash did get his operation, and the ball which would have killed him was removed. Then he swallowed another one, and I took him back to the same clinic, where a different vet said we could try making him puke it up.

He placed a diaper in front of my dog and gave him a shot that he said would make him vomit in a few minutes. "When your dog starts to act like he's going to throw up, you pick up his hind legs and shake them hard as you can without hurting him."

Moments later, Dash started to urp. I grabbed his hind legs and shook them vigorously. Out popped the ball, and I felt more like a pet parent than ever before or since.

Consider getting one of these creatures, because they call you to be a better version of yourself. Otherwise, someone will be putting them down in today's more compassionate version of throwing them in a river and walking away.

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