Next Stop: Bummerville
Dear Lord, has it gotten this bad? We’ve been seeing the effects of our recession splashed all over the place; stores are slashing their prices and it seems everyone we know is reigning in their holiday spending. Secret Santas everywhere are suffering. But, when Philly.com polled us today about whether we would give up our pets to save money, well, it totally bummed us out. It makes us feel like we are one teensy step away from eating beans out of a can and warming our hands over an oil barrel on fire. Sheesh.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I’ve seen articles about this and I totally don’t get it. If I were that broke, a pet would be an even bigger priority to me – when times are bad, the kind of friendship an animal provides is more important than ever. I would give up a LOT of other things first if I needed to save the money. When I rented and I had a dog (5 different houses over the course of about 12 years), it wasn’t that hard to find places to live that allowed me to bring him. I just didn’t look at places that didn’t allow pets (duh).
The PSPCA has an excellent low-cost vet clinic (I’m sure there are others).
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Yeah when you’re broke and staying in, a fluffy shnuggle makes it wayyyy better.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
A dog is a staple in the hobo’s toolkit, right up there with the harmonica.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Absolutely! Also, having a scruffy dog by your side really helps when begging for change outside of H&M.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:51 pm
It really depends on the dog. Some of the gutter punk hobos I’ve seen bummin’ for change over the years have had some pretty intimidating dogs with them. That’s got to be an impediment to raising some serious dough on the streets. Now, if a hobo was able to get one of those Shiba Inus from puppy cam, they’d be able to immediately change their designation from “hobo” to “retiree.”