WHENEVER I visit a pet store to buy some rabbit food I invariably have a wander around to look at the animals for sale.

The other day I went to a Worcester shop and was heartened to see a number of notices over an enclosure containing rabbits and guinea pigs imploring people to think hard about taking on a living creature that would make any number of demands during its lifetime.

And it’s not just the feeding and cleaning out, either. Here’s an example of how you can suddenly find yourself having to fork out a large amount of cash when things go wrong.

One morning, I discovered Dotty in a corner at the back of her hutch.

She was listless and became aggressive when attempts were made to move her – classic signs of a sick rabbit.

I took her to the vet and he diagnosed a twisted gut. It didn’t look good. Nevertheless, although it might be touch-and-go, he said it was still worth trying to save her life.

Dotty was then hospitalised for the next three days and she recovered.

The bill for all this came to £110.

Now, this was a lot of folded to be spent on a rabbit that had been bought for a fiver, but as far as we were concerned, it would be money well spent. We had agreed to take her on, and that applied in sickness and in health. There was no way we were going to let her down.

Sadly, not everyone thinks the same. It seems that many people are using the credit crunch as a pathetic excuse for off-loading their ‘pets’ on rescue centres, or even worse, just dumping them.

The other day, I was earwigging a conversation in a queue when I heard a woman claim that a Worcestershire sanctuary actually had several hundred guinea pigs.

How can this be? Since when has the keeping of such a tiny, troublefree animal required so much cash outlay that a family budget might be put at risk by its presence?

It seems to me some people are using the present situation as an excuse for getting rid of animals that were bought either on a whim or because they couldn’t stand the whine of a nagging child.

Either way, it’s a sad indictment of the world in which we live.