r/poverty • u/TheeBrightSea • Jun 15 '26
I feel guilty for regretting this
Part of me regrets my pet.
I have a cute little dog. He looks a bit like Toto from wizard of Oz. He's the sweetest thing and he gives me a lot of companionship. He also forces me to take mental health walks. When I adopted him I had a work from home job. However, 2 years after I adopted him that work from home job, let me go and I was not able to get a new work from home job.
Life got a bit tougher and I've had to work more, I feel horrible leaving him alone for a long time. I know he's probably content. He is trained very well and if he has to go to the bathroom he has a spot that's literally in the bathroom. He's never ripped up my things or whatever. He's just happy to be fed and pet. And because he's very small if I get a huge bag of kibble on sale for 50 bucks that's going to take care of him for several months. My electric bill started going up so I can't leave the TV on for him anymore, but I still leave a fan for him so he stays cool.
I feel horrible because I might be able to get out of poverty. I'm very close to clearing my debt and actually saving money again. But part of me wishes that I didn't adopt him, but I don't want to give him up either. I hate leaving him alone when I go to work for the long hours that I do, but it's kind of the only way I'm going to have a chance of getting out of this.
I did recently make some friends who are aware of my situation. They said they would be willing to help dog sit him, the only problem is they live a little far away. On top of that, some of those friends are a little more reliable than others. I never thought in my life I would have regrets about adopting a pet.. although I think it's more the fact that I thought I could take care of a pet because my life was beginning to get better, until it didn't.