Love the tugging at your heartstrings with such exaggerations as “death row”. Most pets put down by euthanasia in veterinary practices are simply getting a nudge from Pentobarbital to get to the destination they’re already headed. Having done this with my cat, 13 & in kidney failure, it was a quick & dignified process with a caring veterinarian.
As for shelter euthanasia, if method is other than injection (you guys look those up), I’m opposed. But injection done by caring personnel is quick and humane from what I’ve witnessed.
Much as pet adoption proponents put on ads with “In the Arms of an Angel” by Sara McLachlan & tug at your heartstrings, I really do see them as part of the problem. Seems many do express interest in animals available only to be turned down.
Got an indoor/outdoor arrangement in mind for a cat? None of our pets for you. Have a handicap you can even show your abilities to work with a pet in spite of it? No pet for you.
These are actual yelps & experiences of those who have worked in shelters. One about a half hour from me, one reviewer cited staff who didn’t seem to want him to see anything available. Another brought her contingency plan—her adult daughter—in case she couldn’t care for the cat her daughter openly stated she would, only to be turned down.
Then it seems shelter posts the animals as “still waiting for that forever home”. Check out yelps of your local shelters.
While there definitely are some good ones out there, do you guys think there are others that are part of the problem of “unwanted” animals not getting placed?
There needs to be a lot more No-kill animal shelters.
And “stupid People” need to take care of the animals that they have instead of neglecting them! If you’re not responsible enough to take care of an animal, don’t get one!!!
Also, a lot of “stupid people” need to quit dumping animals, and leaving them.
Are shelter staffs part of the reason potential pet adopters aren’t approved?
Possibly.
We’ve had a lot of shelter dogs, have one now, adopted from three shelters plus one adoption that was a direct surrender by the owner. Two of the shelters did a very good job of trying to match the dog with the right adopter - they want the adoption to be a success, not to have the dog returned in a month or two because it wasn’t a good fit after all. I would add that those two shelters had employees who were trained in dog assessment as well as a volunteer staff. In one case, at an all volunteer shelter, we were interested in one dog and saw very quickly that it was a bad match, then learned afterward that much of the information we should have had was not correct, and what had been withheld would certainly have affected our decision. Sometimes shelters are so anxious to adopt a dog that they don’t take the time, or don’t have the assessment skills to make a good match.
Having said all of that - all of my shelter dogs came with a few issues. The current one was rescued by our local humane society from a high kill shelter, found to be heart worm positive and hadn’t been spayed. Also has some digestive issues and there were behavioral matters that needed to be addressed. Best dog ever.
The shelter where we adopted our cat, Anabel, was wonderful. I called since we don’t live there any more and asked, when we thought the time was right, would they still be willing to work with us as we no longer live close to them.
They are, but recommend trying shelters close to home first. There’s one close by in particular that seems to rule out potential owners for issues like age—even when that lady brought her consenting contingency plan, her adult daughter, should she no longer be able to care for the animal—having older pets in the house and the nature of the breed when the individuals interested had years of experience with large high energy breeds, just what seem like minor issues.
These aren’t individuals renting from landlords who don’t allow pets or who wouldn’t provide care for animals, yet they’re ruled out & the animals are listed as still available.
I read a different message board, which has a guy on it who complains incessantly about a couple of the shelters in New York City that seem to take great pleasure in putting adoptable pets down. It’s like they’re on a power trip.
Speaking of stupid people, there were a ton who ended up buying clown fish after “Finding Nemo” came out. A clown fish is a saltwater fish. Saltwater tanks are notoriously much higher maintenance than fresh water tanks. Long story short, these “stupid people” bought these fish mainly for their stupid kids because the fish looked like the fish in “Finding Nemo” without knowing a God damned thing about taking care of said fish. As a result most of those fish ended up getting thrown away (or just straight up died) because maintaining their tanks was “too hard.” Now I ask you, knowing that the majority of people in America can safely be classified as among the “stupid people” these days, do we blame them or the greedy ■■■■■■■■ who sold the “stupid people” these fish, knowing they were harder to care for, in the first place?
Incidentally I think it’s great there are other options such as temporary, or foster care of animals to get ‘em out of shelters. That can also be a good determination if the dog or cat would be a good permanent placement, which some become.
A police department in Nebraska helps with the homeless pet problem by having willing officers take a shelter dog on a ride every day to show the community what’s available. And that’s a good thing too:
There are good shelters. But can others be problematic in interactions with potential owners while at the same time lamenting the unwanted pet problem?
There are also police departments that are now going to shelters to train dogs for police work, search and rescue, instead of paying for expensive pure breed, sometimes trained, GSDs or Malinoises. I know in NY and Texas there have been canine police officers who have taken and trained pits for police work and it’s been very successful. Pits bond well with trainers and because they’re sturdy, high energy, with good noses, they do really well in search and rescue.
