But I also think there’s also a huge rural/urban divide. Where I live, everyone in the country has pets, and most people in the country are of very low income. They feed their pets table scraps and get them altered, and they seem to do just fine without cashmere pet beds, diamond encrusted leashes, and constant vet visits.

Sometimes, I suspect that a lot of people in the city have pets instead of children, and that creates a very strange, subverted dynamic in which it becomes necessary/expected to spend lots of money.

Also, re:shelters. I can’t believe how expensive adoption fees are! Our local animal control adopts out cats for $25-$55 US, while the humane society demands a whopping $90! Way to make sure that poor people can’t even get pets.

Debra – It’s such a non-issue compared to all the other stuff that happens on public transit. I’m almost always disgusted by something on the bus, but I put up with it because it’s public transit and that means one takes the risk of encountering the public. Otherwise it would be called a private limosine.

A&J – And sometimes even if you do have a car, pets – especially sick ones – need all your attention, so it’s hard to drive and keep them calm at the same time.

UA – Yes, that’s why the whole thing is so trivial, really. Not too many people take pets on public transit and/or you don’t see it very often because they choose times when there aren’t a lot of people in the buses/trains. It only makes sense.

Em – Lots of great points. I can imagine how difficult it is shipping the cat to the UK – that’s a long trip for the poor little guy, but I’m sure he appreciates not being left behind. And the thing about the meds makes perfect sense. I never even thought about how odd it is that you have no choice but to get your pet meds from the vet. Something wrong there!

Jazz- And they seem to make a really big deal about stuff that’s normal. Like tartar on the teeth. Getting that off is a big ticket item — up to $600 for a teeth cleaning sometimes because the have to knock them out and do a whole whack of tests beforehand and afterwards and keep them there to recover, etc., etc., Used to be the vet would just scrape the teeth a bit as he was doing the normal exam. And/or pets ate real food which naturally scraped the tartar.

Violetsky – Wow – once in 13 years. You probably have no idea about all the potential costly illnesses your cat has. I’ll bet if you took him in right now, they’d find all sorts of things wrong. Nice story about the dog. Pets really do make people smile and feel better — which is exactly why they should be accessible to everyone. Thanks

They absolutely do guilt you. If humans had every test that animals get as soon as anything might perhaps be vaguely or remotely possibly a touch wrong, we’d all be sick all the time. Of course you’re gonna find something wrong if you really really look.

And vets really really look.

Anyhow, I’ve had so much trouble with taxis in this city. It’s to the point that I don’t mention I have a cat. I’ve never been refused when I’ve done that, but I’ve been late for vet appointments TWICE when I tell them I have a cat and the taxi company “has no drivers who will take cats”.

Very frustrating. Letting pets, especially cats in carriers, on the OCTranspo would solve a lot of problems. Every argument against them, the allergies, the potential mess, etc, can be argued the same way against many other transit riders the allow on. I’ve been on buses with people who wear so much perfume/aftershave that it makes me gag. I’ve seen a kid, a young boy, whip it out and piss on a bus seat. And if the size of the pet carrier is an issue, what about the people who insist on taking ridiculously sized baby prams on the bus? I think that’s a safety issue that should be addressed.

Anyhow, I could rant about buses forever… but back to pets… I think a big part of the problem is that the pet-health industry in Canada is not regulated as much as it could be. It’s a business, an industry, and they’re out to make money from it and know that lots of people will pay because they love their pets. For example, vets can charge whatever they want for medications and don’t often give you the option of purchasing them elsewhere. In the UK, you can get vets to write you a script and you can get the medication where you want to. It’s brought the price of pet medications down significantly and made it more competitive. Even that would help a bit.

But yeah – GREAT POST!

In the downtown area, there are many vetenarian clinics within walking distance. However, if Fluffy injured her leg and had to be transported then yes, it would be different but even then, there are some places that make house calls. Of course, you pay extra for that.

I don’t think there are lots of people taking their pets on transit. I don’t take it enough to know but I do know that pets are not usually welcome during rush hour. And yet they won’t say no to someone with a very unruly baby or toddler…

Come to think of it…given the choice between sharing a confined space with a noisy dog or a sticky toddler, I would always choose the former. At least he would be on a leash.

I wonder what animals think of riding public transportation? They probably wonder what they did wrong to wind up caged up with so many strange humans. lol.