When Letting Go Feels Unthinkable: Why Do So Many Give Up Their Animals?

As I sit down to write this, I find myself feeling something close to disbelief. For me, and for so many people I know in rescue, the idea of giving up a beloved companion is almost incomprehensible. Our animals are family. They move with us, just like our children would. If we have a baby, we work harder on boundaries and training. If they get sick, we problem-solve, fundraise, rearrange our budgets – whatever it takes. That’s just what you do for those you love.

But every single day, the phone rings, and it’s someone asking if we can take their dog or cat. Sometimes it’s a genuine crisis, and my heart aches for the families who truly have no other option. But more often than not, it’s for reasons that, to me, seem fixable or, honestly, just part of the deal when you bring an animal into your life. Moving. Allergies. “No time.” The new baby. “We can’t afford a vet bill.” Sometimes the reason isn’t even spoken aloud, just implied – a shift in convenience, a change of heart.

I’ve spent years trying to understand this disconnect. Why, for so many, do animals seem so…disposable? Is it the way society teaches us about animals? That they’re property, like a couch or a car, to be rehomed when they don’t “fit” our lives anymore? Are we, as a culture, desensitized to compassion, or have we just never really been taught what it means to commit – to stick through the mess and the mayhem, the hard times and the heartbreak, because there’s love underneath it all?

I don’t have all the answers. But I do know what I see, day after day. I see people in tears at our door, desperate because the landlord says “no pets,” and they didn’t realize what that might mean. I see animals confused, heartsick, waiting at the window for someone who isn’t coming back. I see stories that play out again and again – Sweetie, the cat whose family moved and couldn’t take her. Louie, the pitty who rolled over for belly rubs, still hopeful after being let down so many times. Or the countless senior animals left behind after their guardians pass away, as if the thread connecting them to love just snapped when it should have held tighter than ever.

And still, I want to believe in change. I want to believe we can teach a different kind of commitment. That we can show, through our actions and advocacy, that animals aren’t things – they’re living, feeling, loving beings who trust us with their lives. I want to believe we can create a world where animals aren’t seen as problems to be solved, but as family to be cherished, no matter what life throws our way.

So, in this space, I want to start the conversation. Why is this happening? What needs to shift in our culture, in our homes, in our hearts? How can we plant the seeds of true compassion – not the kind that’s there when things are easy, but the kind that sticks when things get hard?

As we continue this blog, we’ll explore these questions, share real stories from our rescue, and keep fighting for the kind of world where no animal is ever left behind for being inconvenient. I hope you’ll join us in this journey – and, if you can, help us be the change we all wish to see.