Your pet is costing you too much: food, care, rehabilitation… solidarity solutions to avoid abandonment

The main aid from the organization is directed toward other, smaller associations, ranging from 500 euros to buy kibble to 5,000 euros for construction or building renovation projects.

Veterinary care

The SPA also finances part of the veterinary care for the poorest, scholarship students, people receiving RSA or other social benefits.

The aid is limited to 50% of the cost and to a maximum of 350 euros. “Given the increase in veterinary costs, there was a 53% increase in requests between 2022 and 2023”, underlines the president of the association.

According to Jacques-Charles Fombonne, the SPA helped 1,137 individuals last year for a total amount of 252,000 euros.

Food aid

Other, more modest associations provide food aid to domestic animals. This is the case of L'Epi'sol des copains d'Indie, created by Gaëlle Plé in May 2023, in Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Marne) and the surrounding area.

“I wanted to create the Restos du cœur for animals”, the human resources assistant told AFP. Thanks to donations of kibble from individuals and a personal budget of 100 euros per month, Gaëlle Plé offers Rosemonde Berducq around thirty euros worth of products every two weeks.

This 68-year-old former nurse inherited a farm where stray cats have proliferated, an event “common in the countryside”, say the two women.

“Gaëlle's help is very valuable”, says Rosemonde Berducq.

Every month she spends nearly 400 euros to help the thirty or so cats housed on her farm. “It's also psychological help”, underlines Nathalie, 56, a home help, who was unable to find help from associations near her home in Loiret after adopting a family of cats that she suspects were abandoned on the edge of the forest.

The cost of an educator

Beyond food and veterinary costs, the education of the animal is crucial to avoid abandonments linked to bad behavior, but resorting to a specialized educator is sometimes too expensive.

“The biggest problem people have when a puppy arrives at their home is cleanliness, it often takes the dog to the shelter, because living 10 years with an animal that pees or poops indoors creates problems in the home”, according to Tony Silvestre, 40, dog trainer and YouTuber.

On his YouTube channel “Esprit dog”, he provides multiple tips for training a dog.

He invites, for example, to welcome a puppy by taking time off, “two to three weeks”, so that the animal can adapt to its new environment and learn properly during the first four months, during which it assimilates the most.

All with the aim of seeing the number of abandoned animals decrease.