Precious pets take it hard when owners break up

IT DAWNED on me only recently that, when my parents divorced some 50 years ago, my mum got custody of not just me and my two sisters but also a Labrador, two Chihuahuas and a spaniel, leaving my dad without company.

I also recall that, at the time, to lighten my load, I told people they had got a water bed and just started drifting apart.

Next to children, pets can often be the ones that suffer most when a marriage breaks up.

Dogs and cats may not be able to understand what we say but they are very good at judging mood, at feeling tension in a relationship, and they are excellent readers of body language.

The lead-up to a marital separation can be most disturbing for them.

What makes it worse is a revelation from the Humane Society of America that, in situations where domestic abuse has occurred, the abuser has usually attacked the pet as well as the humans involved.

Their findings have been backed up by the SSPCA and by a veterinary survey.

But it is after a marriage has broken up that the real heartache begins.

Whilst one partner may feel that they own the pet, it is often the other who has the most emotional attachment.

And, unfortunately, one partner generally ends up on their own – no children, no pet, no company.

No wonder then that we are seeing an increase in the keeping of smaller animals that can be left to their own devices during the working day.

There is no doubt that the comfort and companionship of an animal can be most helpful and relaxing at times of stress, especially if you are on your own for the first time.

And there can be other repercussions.

Some time ago, we took an old dog into our boarding kennels for his usual fortnight’s holiday.

His owners were a couple who had been regulars for years, so we thought nothing of it when the wife collected the dog after two weeks.

At least we thought nothing of it until the sun-tanned husband appeared a couple of hours later asking for his dog.

Unbeknown to us they had divorced, with him gaining sole custody of the dog, and she had dognapped it from under our noses.

The matter was reported to the police and the plethora of lawyer’s letters that we subsequently received convinced us to amend our boarding forms to include a box showing who exactly was entitled to collect the animal.