In a perfect world, a pet would have just one family. The animals would move into their homes and spend their whole lives getting to know everyone and simply having fun. But sadly, that's not always the case.
In the United States alone, nearly six million dogs and cats enter the country's shelters every year, many of which are abandoned by the very people who promised to protect them.
Reddit user Erin hates that figure and tried to reduce it by adopting a beagle named Winston. What she didn't know was that her mother-in-law would turn out to be the biggest obstacle.
This woman had a beagle, who eventually ended up with her husband's parents
Image credits: FoToArtist_1 (not the actual photo)
Then one day, she received a strange call from her mother-in-law
She couldn't shake the feeling that the mother-in-law was lying
Image credits: namii9 (not the actual photo)
Image credits: erin_rockab
This story is a sad example of why so many people don't trust other people with their pets
Image credits: varyapigu / Envato (not the actual photo)
A survey by Talker Research conducted for Newsweek revealed that two-thirds — 66 percent — of people consider their pets part of the family.
Like children, parents want the best for their pets, and even though technically the beagle was no longer living with the woman and her husband, it's obvious that she had bonded with the dog prior to "trading" him and still cared about him deeply.
The survey also discovered that less than a quarter — 23 percent — of respondents would be okay with leaving their pets with their siblings, followed by 22 percent who would entrust them to their parents. (Friends were on the list for 19 percent of people, extended family members for 17 percent, pet sitters for 7 percent, and neighbors for 5 percent.)
Eight percent of those surveyed wouldn't trust anyone with their pets.
Even though some might have the expertise, handing total control of a beloved animal to someone else still feels like a risk many owners just aren’t willing to take, and after you read about such experiences, it's hard to blame them.
People have had a lot of reactions to this woman's experience
A few even revealed they too had gone through something similar
