If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#21
|
|||
|
|||
"Phil P." wrote in message ...
"Joe Pitt" wrote in message . .. I attended a presentation about stopping the killing of cats (and dogs) in animal control facilities. He emphasised that you euthanize an animal that is SICK. What is happening in shelters all over is they are KILLING perfectly fine animals because they are unwanted, often due to the failure to spay and neuter their parents. The general public sees 'euthanized' and it softens what is happening in their minds. I see postings that say you adopted the day before the animal was due to be euthanized. Tell people you adopted just before the animal was due to be KILLED. It may seem a small thing, but when you talk to people it may help their awareness of the problem. Maybe if everyone used the correct terms that describes exactly what it is, more people would be outraged and sickened enough to force legislation to eliminate it -- like mandatory neuter before adoption or sale (health permiting) and subsidize vets or give them a tax deduction for neutering all animals in their care regardless of the owners' consent or ability to pay. If you talk about tax deduction, that means either cut money from some other program to pay for this proposed program or increase taxes. That would be fine if you can only increase taxes for those who really care. My suggestion is to establish a fund or charity. Then those who can't stand killing of cats can give to that charity. It would be nice also if said charity is one of the charities listed on tax forms. |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
"Kalyahna" wrote in message ...
Yes, a large part of it has to do with the lack of spaying and neutering. But damned near as much of it has to do with irresponsible people who dump their pets on overcrowded shelters for trivial reasons (moving, new baby, too big, no time, etc). I disagree that having a new baby is a trivial thing. For cat lover zealots here who don't have human children, do you treat having a new kitty a trivial thing? |
#23
|
|||
|
|||
Ray Ban wrote in om on 19
Dec 2003: My suggestion is to establish a fund or charity. Then those who can't stand killing of cats can give to that charity. It would be nice also if said charity is one of the charities listed on tax forms. Many animal welfare charities are tax deductable. HS and most local SPCA donations are. There is a huge one, Petsmart Charities. They do amazing things for rescue groups. Grants, etc. Whenever you see the fundraiser at the local Petsmart store asking for a couple of dollars, this is where most of it goes to. From my research on them, they are especially interested spay/neuter programs. When I go to stock up on the stuff I can only get at Petsmart, I add a few dollars to my total bill for their charities. Spay/neuter programs are directly related to how many cats are killed by animal control programs. -- Cheryl "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do." - Helen Keller |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
Cheryl wrote in on 19 Dec 2003:
Spay/neuter programs are directly related to how many cats are killed by animal control programs. Oh, and as an afterthought. Grants from charities such as Petsmart Charities and others should be praised for their part in low cost spay/neuter events hosted by local SPCA and other rescue groups. Donations directly to them go a long way, but grants from these companies literally pay the bills. Want to know who the other biggies are? Google "animal welfare grant". Add "spay neuter" for more. -- Cheryl "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do." - Helen Keller |
#25
|
|||
|
|||
I disagree that having a new baby is a trivial thing. For cat lover zealots here who don't have human children, do you treat having a new kitty a trivial thing? I don't think people (most people anyway) are saying that having a new baby is a trivial thing. What they are saying is that using that as an excuse to abandon their responsbility to a cat, especially an older one that will gave extreme difficulty finding a new home, is lame. It is quite possible, as millions of families will attest, to have both a cat and a child simmultaneously. It just takes a little bit of thought about how to accomodate everyone's needs. But a lot of people just don't want to make that little bit of effort. That is thoughtless. Especially when, as is often true, the life or death of a living being is concerned. |
#26
|
|||
|
|||
|
#27
|
|||
|
|||
"Ray Ban" wrote in message om... (Tracy) wrote in message . com... I disagree that having a new baby is a trivial thing. For cat lover zealots here who don't have human children, do you treat having a new kitty a trivial thing? I don't think people (most people anyway) are saying that having a new baby is a trivial thing. What they are saying is that using that as an excuse to abandon their responsbility to a cat, especially an older one that will gave extreme difficulty finding a new home, is lame. It is quite possible, as millions of families will attest, to have both a cat and a child simmultaneously. It just takes a little bit of thought about how to accomodate everyone's needs. But a lot of people just don't want to make that little bit of effort. That is thoughtless. Especially when, as is often true, the life or death of a living being is concerned. Well, it's not that simple. Suppose I have a cat. Now a baby arrives. I can't afford to feed and care for both. Who should go? In some cases, it takes much more than just a little bit of thought and a little bit of effort. Of course, zealots will make you believe that everytime a cat is given up over a baby, that it could just have taken a little bit of this and a little bit of that to keep the cat. If the cat is killed/murdered in the shelter, then so be it. Thousands, perhaps millions of animals are killed everyday anyway, cats included. Get real. Reality bites :-) Just because something is "real" doesn't make it ideal... and certainly doesn't mean it can't change. Yes, thousands of animals are killed every day ...unnecessarily. As a civilized people there are things we can do to change that. We can spay and neuter our pets unless we are conscientious breeders. We can honor our commitments to our pets by providing a home for the life of the animal. And if for some reason we can not live up to that commitment we can take it upon ourselves to find it another loving home. I know people live on the edge but I shudder to think about someone who would have to choose between feeding a new baby and feeding a cat. Sounds like someone who isn't going to be able to afford to take care of the child properly. Cats are not expensive to feed (unless you have 9 ) BTW...do you distinguish between a "zealot" and an animal lover? I wouldn't swerve into a park bench full of kids to avoid hitting a cat..but I would mourn hitting that cat as if it were a living being...ohh wait...that's right, it is. There is nothing wrong in caring for life even if that life is just a cats. AG |
#28
|
|||
|
|||
Well, it's not that simple. Suppose I have a cat. Now a baby arrives. I can't afford to feed and care for both. Wow. Average cost of feeding one cat is maybe $15 a week. You telling me that you're gonna bring a human life into this world and try to take care of it for 18 years when you can't spare bus fare for a week? In some cases, it takes much more than just a little bit of thought and a little bit of effort. It takes a little bit of thought and a little bit of effort to take care of both human children and cats. You shouldn't do either if you're not going to put any thought or effort into it. |
#29
|
|||
|
|||
"Agua Girl" wrote in message t...
"Ray Ban" wrote in message om... (Tracy) wrote in message . com... I disagree that having a new baby is a trivial thing. For cat lover zealots here who don't have human children, do you treat having a new kitty a trivial thing? I don't think people (most people anyway) are saying that having a new baby is a trivial thing. What they are saying is that using that as an excuse to abandon their responsbility to a cat, especially an older one that will gave extreme difficulty finding a new home, is lame. It is quite possible, as millions of families will attest, to have both a cat and a child simmultaneously. It just takes a little bit of thought about how to accomodate everyone's needs. But a lot of people just don't want to make that little bit of effort. That is thoughtless. Especially when, as is often true, the life or death of a living being is concerned. Well, it's not that simple. Suppose I have a cat. Now a baby arrives. I can't afford to feed and care for both. Who should go? In some cases, it takes much more than just a little bit of thought and a little bit of effort. Of course, zealots will make you believe that everytime a cat is given up over a baby, that it could just have taken a little bit of this and a little bit of that to keep the cat. If the cat is killed/murdered in the shelter, then so be it. Thousands, perhaps millions of animals are killed everyday anyway, cats included. Get real. Reality bites :-) Just because something is "real" doesn't make it ideal... and certainly doesn't mean it can't change. Yes, thousands of animals are killed every day ...unnecessarily. As a civilized people there are things we can do to change that. We can spay and neuter our pets unless we are conscientious breeders. We can honor our commitments to our pets by providing a home for the life of the animal. And if for some reason we can not live up to that commitment we can take it upon ourselves to find it another loving home. I know people live on the edge but I shudder to think about someone who would have to choose between feeding a new baby and feeding a cat. Sounds like someone who isn't going to be able to afford to take care of the child properly. Cats are not expensive to feed (unless you have 9 ) BTW...do you distinguish between a "zealot" and an animal lover? I wouldn't swerve into a park bench full of kids to avoid hitting a cat..but I would mourn hitting that cat as if it were a living being...ohh wait...that's right, it is. There is nothing wrong in caring for life even if that life is just a cats. AG Everything is cheap or expensive, depending on your situation. Let's see: a can of high quality cat food is about 80-90 cents where I live. Twice a day that's $1.70 on the average -- around $50/month. Just for food. Treats are extra. Some cats have ongoing problems so they need prescriptions. Toys. Vet visits. It could add up. You could easily spend $100/month average on a single cat. I'm sure a lot of people spend more than that on their cats. For some people that's not cheap. And you can minimize expenses by feeding your cat junk food (e.g., Friskies, 9-Lives), cut down on treats and vet visits, cut down on medicine and just let it suffer a bit some days (anyway, they're good at hiding pain). Just deal with it. We don't live in an ideal world. We will alays murder cats, dogs, cows, pigs, lamb, people, unborn human children everyday. We will never be able to have all the money to pay vets so they can alter each and every cat that have to be altered. In the end, it's all about money. You can yap about it all day long if you want, but without money, nothing is going to get done. |
#30
|
|||
|
|||
Everything is cheap or expensive, depending on your situation. Let's
see: a can of high quality cat food is about 80-90 cents where I live. Twice a day that's $1.70 on the average -- around $50/month. Just for food. Treats are extra. Some cats have ongoing problems so they need prescriptions. Toys. Vet visits. It could add up. You could easily spend $100/month average on a single cat. I'm sure a lot of people spend more than that on their cats. For some people that's not cheap. And you can minimize expenses by feeding your cat junk food (e.g., Friskies, 9-Lives), cut down on treats and vet visits, cut down on medicine and just let it suffer a bit some days (anyway, they're good at hiding pain). Let's see ... indeed. My take on it: If it's a question of abandoning an older cat to a kill-shelter situation (and I volunteer at a no-kill and frankly, if a cat is over a year and a half old, it generally will take a month or more to find an adoptive home - some are there for several months - it's only the kittens that are easily placed), then I could care less if someone feeds it Friskies or 9-lives for it's entire existence. Kids grow up on crap too - in poor families. Love is more important than organic produce. Treats? Sure it's nice, but it isn't necessary for existence. Toys? After buying all sorts of contraptions, I now understand that my two cats far prefer milk rings to anything else - and they're FREE. And a wood shelf bolted by a window with an old sweater on it IS a cat perch. Vet visits? Low-cost vet clinics are very present in most communities and most cats really don't require anything more than a few booster shots from time to time. I suppose some cats do develop complicated medical situations, but not most and not all of the time. Of course, it's nice to coddle both cats and children if you can afford to do it, but if you can't, love and caring and emotional generosity go a long way. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Fritzie gets a phone call | Singh | Cat anecdotes | 6 | October 23rd 04 02:59 AM |
Call it what it is: killed NOT euthanized | Joe Pitt | Cat health & behaviour | 94 | January 6th 04 10:38 PM |