Charity warns rehoming requests still soaring as VAT campaign continues

A national dog charity says rehoming requests have soared to another record high as it renewed its call for Government action to help pet owners.

Dogs Trust said the daily average figure in February was one-third higher than the equivalent for the whole of 2022, when total handover requests to the group exceeded 50,000 for the first time.

New research for the charity, released today (13 March), also indicated that nearly two-thirds (64%) of owners would struggle to pay an unexpected £500 veterinary bill.

General costs

Almost one in six owners (15%) said they would find it either fairly or very difficult to cover a similar bill of just £100.

And 13% of respondents to the survey, carried out last week by the polling organisation YouGov, said they were struggling to afford the general costs of dog ownership.

Dogs Trust chief executive Owen Sharp said: “We may be slowly emerging from winter and into brighter times, but the situation for dog owners only seems to be getting worse.

“The majority of dog owners now say they’d struggle to pay an unexpected vet bill of £500, and we’re receiving an astronomical number of calls from desperate owners who feel they simply can’t keep their dogs.”

Rehoming requests

The charity said that, in February alone, it received an average of 188 rehoming requests every day, making a total of 5,566 for the month.

That compares to an average of 141 requests per day during 2022.

The trust has also doubled the number of dog food banks it is operating at rehoming centres across the UK to 12 and is offering discounted rates for behavioural training.

VAT suspension

Dogs Trust’s other current campaign is seeking a 12-month suspension of VAT charges on veterinary medicines and services, plus pet food, in Wednesday’s spring budget.

Nearly 60,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the measure and the YouGov poll found 61% of owners supported the idea.

Mr Sharp said: “With the majority supporting a cut in VAT on vet care and pet food to help them through the crisis, I reiterate our call to the chancellor: please help our dog-loving nation so that we don’t have to see more households lose their beloved pets.”

The petition can be found on the Dogs Trust website.