Two dogs named Dudley and Chloe play around outside. They get brought in and not long after play with their humans, but Chloe’s too tired to play. Dudley romps around with his human, but only for a little while before he’s tired too.

Though the pandemic has been tough on humans, it has also been tough on pets. Many pet owners report that pets are getting either too much or too little attention during the pandemic. They are in danger for different reasons. Some people buy them only to not take care of them well and they die or get brought back in bad condition. Some animals are also needing to be rehomed because some people are losing too much money and can’t take care of their animals.

Before COVID, some animals didn’t get enough attention, but now that a lot of people are working from home, the animals can get attention now.

“Maybe a little too much attention because we’re staying home with them,” says Elaine Wolter, “and they’re pretty much one of our only, like, entertainment in the house. Well, [Chloe] doesn’t really like getting too much attention. Dudley likes attention though.”

Some dogs like having a lot of attention while others do not—and knowing which dog needs attention is part of keeping them emotionally healthy. But pets need to stay physically healthy as well. Needing to keep an animal healthy needs trips to the vets. Though the vets offices have been getting very busy with animals.

“I’m actually in like, June or July my dog got attacked by another dog and had to get stitches and the wait was so long.” says Niki Myers, “It was horrible, but he’s okay now but yeah, that was a little scary.”

Due to COVID, waits at vets have gotten longer. Some pet owners don’t go to vets trying not to catch COVID-19. Some people lost their jobs and have less money to take care of the animals.

“A lot of people more than are giving their pets away, due to loss of income from the pandemic,” says Mike Campbell the owner of Pet Central, a pet store on Green Street, “Like they’re, you know, losing their jobs, they can’t afford it anymore. I see that quite a bit.”

There are many pet owners who can still afford animals and what they need, we’re also planning on going to certain shows for many different types of animals. Many were shut down but there have been some small pop up shows.

“There’s an overabundance of availability and most all time with snakes and geckos because of the restrictions with the really big reptile shows, like the Tinley Park reptile show got cancelled this year. And that’s the world’s biggest reptile show,” says Campbell, “Yeah. But so yeah, there’s been some small pop up shows like The King County Fairgrounds. They’re still able to figure it out. But the bigger shows have been cancelled due to the pandemic.”

Dudley and Chloe lay down all exhausted from play with their owners. They are too tired to always be playing because the owners have too much time at home due to the pandemic. Many animals are being affected by this all over the world and not just humans.