How Economic Recession is Affecting Dogs in Nigeria

By Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM | December 10th, 2016




It is worrisome that many dogs are feeling the impact of the ongoing recession in Nigeria that many case of nutritional deficiency has dominated clinical cases. This is because the quantity and quality of the food given to these dogs have been greatly minimized to a dangerous threshold. In fact, most dog owners refused to heed advice on food increment or improvement. People can hardly feed themselves the way they use to and consequently reduced the quality and quantity of food given to their dogs. The recession is biting hard and the government has classified dog food and accessories as luxury with heavy tax placed on these goods imported from outside Nigeria.

Many dogs are going crippled because most owners have stopped feeding their dogs with food with enough calcium & protein.

Many dogs now become excessively sick due to insufficient protein in their food for antibody production which defends their body against harmful viral, fungal & bacterial invasion.    

The high cost of commercial dog food & other food commodities have been identified as the root cause of this nutritional imbalance from our own unofficial survey.

It is unfortunate that this is happening even to those that love their pets. I have seen people that had to give out their pets just because of this problem of financial stiffness going on in the country. The issue of survival between owners of dogs and the dogs themselves has been a thing of concern especially this period of recession. The blame is definitely not the pet’s neither is it for the owners’ but the economic situation of the country which has made things difficult.

Many restaurants that provide leftover food which provide relief for dog owners have also complained of declining patronage hence a shortage of leftovers. Some have also said that their customers completely consume their meals with nothing to keep as leftover.

 

Is there a way around this problem?

Hopelessness cannot be an option because something has to be done to maintain the provision of nutritious food to our pets.

Our most popular articles on: “How to make complete dog food at low cost” can be an invaluable resource to dog owners to help them produce their own dog food with balanced nutritional requirement.

The Nigerian brand of dry dog food – BINGGO – can be a cheaper alternative to the imported equivalent.

You might be willing to reduce the population of your dogs by giving away some of them in order to be able to manage the cost of keeping them. You might have friends in need of the dogs you have who can keep them for free or own them by adoption from you.

In conclusion

Feeding your dog food without sufficient nutrients will rather make you spend more money on treatment of the dog from resulting nutritional deficiency so measures has to be taken to provide enough nutrition to the pets for a happy pet and a ‘worry-free’ owner.

0 Comments

    Leave a Reply

    Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM

    Founder of Fairvet Animal Clinic Ltd since 2011, studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. He is well experienced in small animal, large animal & poultry medicine, and also skilled at zoo medicine. He loves animals and builds both professional and personal relationship with pet owners in order to sustain a good interaction with pet and animal owners, coupled with His great skills in programming; he brought about www.fairvet.com which he personally built from scratch.



    View our Contributors

    Popular Articles