Newest Shortage in New York: The City Is Running Out of Dogs to Adopt

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/newest-shortage-in-new-york-the-city-is-running-out-of-dogs


Layla the dog waits as paperwork is completed to take her to a new foster home in New Orleans on March 24. Photographer: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

By Bailey Lipschultz
March 25, 2020, 12:07 PM EDT

Pet craze is spurring rally in Chewy shares amid a market rout

‘We definitely don’t have any dogs left to match,’ says rescue

Of all the shortages created by the coronavirus pandemic -- the toilet paper and the hand sanitizer and the bottled water -- the oddest of them all has to be dogs. Oh, and cats too.

That’s right, in the New York city area, the epicenter of the disease, there is suddenly a run on pets. At least of the adopted or fostered kind. Muddy Paws Rescue and Best Friends Animal Society are reporting shelters they work with are either all out of or almost out of cats and dogs after a surge in applications of as much as 10-fold in the past two weeks.

Ordered to shelter in place at home, and both a little bored and a lot anxious, New Yorkers apparently see the four-legged friends as way to calm frayed nerves. “For the moment we definitely don’t have any dogs left to match,” said Anna Lai, the marketing director at Muddy Paws. “Which is a great problem to have.”

It also helps explain why shares of Chewy Inc. are soaring right now even as the stock market overall crashes. It’s up 13% this year, as customers hunker down and order online. The spike in volume has pushed delivery times to between seven and 10 days for most customers, according to the company’s website.

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Yay!!!!

[treestar]

1. Wow sometimes there are unexpected effects

that are not all that bad.

[StarryNite]

2. Now that's some wonderful news!

Opt to adopt!

Thank you for sharing!

[kimbutgar]

3. A friend here in SF wanted to adopt a cat and they stopped adoptions.

She had two old cats that died last year and now she realizes she needs a pet to help her during these stressful times.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I really don't know how to take this, because I can't help wondering...

what will happen to these pets when the crisis is over. They are being adopted out of boredom, not love of cats ad dogs.

Out here, where there are a lot of summer homes, the shelters can be overwhelmed with "summer pets" when the season is over.

I've even seen dogs chained to phone poles when the owners couldn't be bothered to drop them off at shelters when they went back home.

I have had one dog and four cats that were rescues, they lived in the house with me and were family. I can't imagine the "rent-a-pet" mentality.

[Sanity Claws]

8. Many are fosters

I work with a local cat rescue and a lot of new foster homes signed up in the last couple of weeks.
One foster home turned into a permanent adoptive home after the foster's dad asked to talk to his grandcat via FaceTime.

[hlthe2b]

5. Good they are finally coming to realize how important (comforting) pets are...

I just hope this is not a fleeting whim.

[Sanity Claws]

6. Let them have cats!

[ooky]

7. This is great news.

Dogs are wonderful companions. I'm joined at the hip with mine.

[bullwinkle428]

9. I can confirm that I've heard similar stories happening in Buffalo, NY, as well as where

I live in eastern Iowa.

[MoonRiver]

10. First good thing I've heard about this virus!

[tblue37]

11. Unfortunately, a lot of those pets will be neglected or dumped once people are no longer having to

stay home. We see this all the time in college towns. Students adopt pets for their time here, then abandon them when they leave. Some even abandon pets when they leave for the summer break, though most wait until their entire time in school is done.

[Midnight Writer]

14. There is a cat sitting in my lap right now that was abandoned by some college kids in a rental house

[Me.]

12. How Wonderful, Amazing, Uplifting, Heartwarming, Delightful, Encouraging, Inspiring, Terrific, Bliss

[DarthDem]

13. Aw, that's soo heartwarming

I was worried about the little guys in shelters as city services began shutting down. Evidently no need for that concern. This makes me very happy. Thanks for posting it!

[a la izquierda]

15. I'm debating spring a dog out of the pokey.

But I have a senior dog with a massive liver tumor and I just don't know if I want to impose a pup on him at the moment.