9:58am Friday 22nd December 2006
By Anthony Osborne
WE all know that a dog is for life and not just for Christmas. But every year many people do not heed that message.
Now a Swindon surgery is asking potential Christmas kitten and puppy buyers to stop and think before they purchase their pet.
A number of rescue shelters near Swindon close their doors to adoptions in the days before Christmas for fear that animals are being bought as presents.
Jo Mitchell, 35, a nurse at the Drove Veterinary Hospital, is urging such potential pet owners to look carefully at the costs of buying a pet for Christmas.
Jo said: "Christmas is a tough time for all of us. We have the presents, family visiting, getting the dinner ready and then there are all the decorations up, and giving a present like a kitten or a puppy when all that is going on can be extremely stressful for the pet too.
"Suddenly it is surrounded by a lot of people, and there are lots of things it can climb on and chew and puppies can be particularly destructive, especially if distressed."
Jo is inviting families looking to buy a Christmas pet to come to the surgery to discuss what sort of pet might be suited to the family, its dietary needs, exercise and vets' bills.
"The old saying about a dog is for life, not just for Christmas is still just as important today as it has ever been, and when we are talking about life, that can be for up to 20 years - so people could still be looking after pets long after the children have grown up and left home.
"And like people's life expectancy is going up, so is the life expectancy of pets.
"Today, some cats will live until they are 20 years old, and there are constant improvements in the quality of vets' treatments, so we can help animals much more than we could before, but this does cost money and we want to make people aware of this and one of the things we recommend is for owners to buy pet insurance."
People planning to buy a pet can call any of the Drove Hospital branches for informative and practical advice.
The Swindon head office, in Croft Road, can be contacted on 01793 522483.
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