Don’t treat pets as a commodity

Abandoning pets has nothing to do with the cost of living, as suggested in the article about Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in last week’s Mail on Sunday.

I doubt these people are giving up or even downgrading their smartphones, holidays and other non-essentials. This is about silly, irresponsible and cruel people who treat their animals as commodities.

There are so many ridiculous reasons people give for abandoning their pets, such as the snowflake brigade who fail to realise that a pet – cat or dog – is a wonderful thing for a child to grow up with, and instead dump their pet without a care when they have a new baby.

Also, I don’t believe that struggling with mental health is a good enough excuse either. It’s not a reason to dump a pet – it’s a fake excuse for lack of responsibility.

Animal rescue centres are full, their resources stretched to the limit, and they are struggling to help pets genuinely in need rather than those that have become an inconvenience to their owners.

A nation of animal-lovers? What a laugh.

Ceri Rees, Tonyrefail, Wales