To be honest, I am sure I spend significant money on things that I don't need.
Again, my animal-loving relative is so lunatic about animals and animal rescue that it cause dme to think long and hard about what that is all about.
And my conclusion is that it is largely a way to find companionship from "friends" who can't really complain and to be a hero to "friends" who can never diappoint you later on.
Sadly, such focus on animals indicates to me a lack of healthy human relationships or a lack of a healthy perspective on animal relationships.
Its so easy to give to the animals - and often so hard to give to people. People are complex. But we can pretend animals are/think/feel whatever we want them to be/think/feel.
It can be theraputic for those who really don't have opportunity for human relationships, I am sure. But a majority of people who are sush die-hard animal-lovers really do have plenty of opportunity to focus on human realtionships - yet pour so much energy into animals rather than people.
Because they want to.
Choice is what it comes down to. You think that is a waste of time. Others do not. That's it, no more, no less.