The problem with any TV show that touts specific breeds of pet animal, be it cat, dog, horse of anything else, is that the boom in sales of the featured breed(s) causes what you refer to-the death and abandonment of those pets by ignorant and disenchanted owners who didn’t comprehend that a “designer pet” is still one of God’s living breathing creatures, and not a damn handbag or sweater.
Since I have a cat-loving indoor Husky, I foster cats for the local animal welfare league, usually in winter. One of my own former shelter cats, a Maine Coon that I fostered several years ago was found roaming in the woods near a boat launch in the park by a game warden-the cat was starving (weighed less than 8 pounds, and bones showing), injured and nearly hairless, but neutered-so not a stray.
The owner turned out to be a crazy woman who had been given the cat by a boyfriend who brought it to her from New Hampshire. She’d read that the breed was hardy and cold tolerant, and since she didn’t want animals in her house she tossed him outside to fend for himself among the raccoons, coyotes and other predators. Today, that charcoal gray tabby weighs over 20 pounds, has a long, lush coat like a Maine Coon should and is a happy member of my family. I wish that all purebred pets came with disclaimers attached to their collars by the breeders-especially the wild-natured dogs, and horses that need protection in a hotter climate than what they are bred to, like some of the large European draft horses that are popular here as self-propelled lawn ornaments. Maybe someday, in a perfect world...
Ain’t ever gonna be a “perfect world” so people like us get to clean up the messes.
We have lots of drafts hereabouts, too but they thrive.
[there’s more Perchs, Belgians and Suffolks standing around here than in Amish country, I swear...I have no idea what the flatlanders are *doing* with them...lawn ornaments, maybe, as you said]...LOL