Dead Ants

Did you know ants bury their dead?

Last night, the last ant standing in our $12 ant farm (courtesy of my mom, so free to us — thanks mom!) joined its companions in the designated burial ground — sand mounded like drifts of snow around the little plastic barns and silos. As you can see, one hangs gruesomely from the top of a barn; the other from a tree.

We hadn’t anticipated the ugly reality of the ant farm. We waited months for the ants to arrive (it had to be warm enough for them to survive the trip). Then we worried about how they were adjusting to their new home.

Why are they just standing there?
Do they have enough food? Or water?
Maybe they’re too hot. Or cold.
Uh oh, it looks like some of them didn’t make it.

Long before they dug any tunnels, in fact, they created the mausoleum above their home. Tunneling excitement lasted perhaps a week of their two-month existence; most of the time, the ant farm was Reality TV: Death watch.

Which brings me to a much happier pet story.

For several months, a friend of mine has welcomed many different pooches into her home through a local dog foster program run by a nonprofit animal rescue agency. She and her husband and son get to hang out with the dogs — and familiarize themselves with the kind of dog they might want to own — until they are adopted into a permanent home. Foster families also help ensure that the prospective home the dog will be adopted into is a good fit. (Cats are also an option at this and other agencies.)

Best of all, the organization she works with, the Midwest Animal Rescue Services, based in Minneapolis, will buy the dogs’ food, as well as cover vet expenses.

I did some looking around, and it looks like the story is similar throughout the country. Depending on the program, you may pay for foster dogs’ food and routine vet expenses, like shots, but each program I looked at covers any major vet expenses.

Why is that so significant? From this article in the Los Angeles Times:

Americans spent more than $10 billion on veterinary care last year, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Assn.

A single visit to a vet cost an average of $135 for a dog owner as of 2006, the last time the veterinary group took a survey of those costs. That’s up 83% from 10 years earlier.

All right, granted that’s nowhere near the $2.3 trillion we spent on people health care last year. But having been regaled with stories of vet bills that run into the thousands for many dog owners, $10 billion sounds about right.

Here are some more links to crunching the numbers on lifetime dog ownership costs. Costhelper (figures are annual). One owner’s own calculation (love the blog name, Fiscalfizzle.) And yet another owner’s own calculation that I apparently thought was good enough to be redundant. You be the judge.

Where might you go to find a foster program? I thought you’d never ask.

In the Boston area, try Underdog ResQ.

In Virginia, try the Animal Welfare Foster Program.

In Seattle, try Seattle.gov.

In Ohio, try CircleTail.

In Austin, TX, try the Austin Dog Alliance.

I also saw foster organizations dedicated to specific breeds, such as dalmations, Paris poodles, and pit bulls. I’m sure there are many more.

Good luck, and I salute all of your who take the real pet plunge.

Now I’m off to bury some ants.

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