As economic times get tough, pets are some of the first to suffer with thousands of owners now saying they can no longer pay for rising food and vet bills. Half a million pet owners have been reduced to feeding their pet with leftovers, while two-thirds are having to dig deeper to find an average of £11.04 each week to care for their pets. One in five say they are dropping essentials such as visits to the vet to try to bring the weekly pet bill to less than £5, says a study by the Blue Cross. The animal welfare charity has also found a 19% rise in abandoned animals taken into its centres in the last year.
