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Kill No Kill - Shelters, Is it Right
Is it right to leave a cat caged for life in a no kill shelter.
I myself would rather be dead, than live my life in a cage. Shouldn't there be a time limit, and aren't the euthanizations painless to the animal? |
#2
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On Fri 22 Jul 2005 09:15:29p, whitershadeofpale wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav roups.com): Is it right to leave a cat caged for life in a no kill shelter. No. I myself would rather be dead, than live my life in a cage. Shouldn't there be a time limit, and aren't the euthanizations painless to the animal? I wouldn't be able to pinpoint a time limit. But at some point, if the cat isn't being fostered, and is in a cage for a long time (long time is probably relative depending on who you ask) then ending the suffering (I am not sure yet where I stand on this - is waiting for a home for a year, two years, in a cage, suffering?) I think yes. However, the next step isn't always death for the cat. If the no kill shelter finds itself with a cat for years who has not been adopted, sometimes the cat endears itself with one of the rescue workers and finds a home with them. No kill shelters aren't the ones you need to worry about unless you want to volunteer your time or send some funds to help. The KILL shelters and it's animals are the ones you need to worry about. If you care. In my experience, euthanization is painless. I've never experienced what some have - where the poor lil won resists. -- Cheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields |
#3
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"Cheryl" wrote I wouldn't be able to pinpoint a time limit. But at some point, if the cat isn't being fostered, and is in a cage for a long time (long time is probably relative depending on who you ask) then ending the suffering (I am not sure yet where I stand on this - is waiting for a home for a year, two years, in a cage, suffering?) I think yes. However, the next step isn't always death for the cat. If the no kill shelter finds itself with a cat for years who has not been adopted, sometimes the cat endears itself with one of the rescue workers and finds a home with them. No kill shelters aren't the ones you need to worry about unless you want to volunteer your time or send some funds to help. The KILL shelters and it's animals are the ones you need to worry about. If you care. In my experience, euthanization is painless. I've never experienced what some have - where the poor lil won resists. The way the shelter that I'm with works is if a cat has been in the shelter for more than about 3 months, we have a team that starts discussing this cat and tries to come up with a strategy to get the cat adopted. Why isn't anyone interested? What happens when we show him? Does anyone specifically ask for this cat from the website or Petfinder? Does this cat have special needs (behavioral, medical)? Once we do that, we come up with a plan and give it a try. Sidenote: our cats get a good amount of time out of their cages, so it's not like they sit in a cage day in and day out. No, it's not ideal, but I would hardly call it cruel. Also, if a cat is becoming a long-term resident and no foster is available, we will move the cat to the office or a room where he can be out. We have had cats in our system for over a year, but never actually in the shelter for that long. Someone ends up fostering them. I don't think we've ever put down a cat because it's been at the shelter too long. Like Cheryl said, someone ends up taking them home. Many of our long termers end up with volunteers. -Kelly |
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"Snittens" wrote in message ... "Cheryl" wrote Shamrock was in our system for a few months. I was fostering him. He had issues; skin problems, hated the adoption shows and cried and cried every second, both at the shows and in the car to and from. He's very friendly and people wanted to hold him and see if they liked him. Little kids would hold him because their mom wanted to make sure they'd like him. I kept hearing from the kids, "he's too big!" He wasn't a kitten and there were too many kittens at that time needing homes. The day I took him to his last adoption event, I already had decided I wanted to keep him. Shadow had already latched on to him and I did too. A guy who worked for PetSmart said he was going to talk to his girlfriend about taking him because he loved big cats, and Shamrock was big compared to the rest that we had. (11 pounds - I don't consider that big! LOL!) and at that moment I decided I didn't want to adopt him out, and that I wanted to keep him. That was his last show. I ended up keeping Antonio (semi-feral) because I kept getting inquiries from the website that were totally inappropriate. Antonio is orange and white and cute, and was only 6 months old at the time, so people would see that and not read at all the detailed description I wrote. I would respond to the email and it was always "you can't pick him up? he won't sit in your lap? oh, nevermind" I got tired of them and Antonio was coming around at my house. I just couldn't bear to make him start all over again. I never bothered to take him to adoption days becase I knew he wouldn't do well. I think I had him in foster for about 6 months when I decided to keep him. Now with Ana, I only ever got one inquiry on her, and that person never showed up. We had several good adopters that we tried to "sell" Ana on, but they were all currently dealing with or just had a cat pass of some type of serious illness and were not up to taking her on. I took Ana to adoption days and she would show well, but as soon as the medical issues came up, it was over. After she had the incident where she swallowed a piece of plastic, I officially adopted her. I wanted Ana's fate to be completely up to me and not a committee. -Kelly They had a show on HBO last night, Shelter Dogs" I think, I never thought about it, but many of them dogs had been there for years, and it was told they would probably remain there. All I could see was the little 2x4 wire cage with a big loving dog behind it. I figured cats may be no different. I wondered if overpopulation of shelters and other rescues was actually preventing other cats from coming off the streets. I mean, there is always room for one more right? |
#5
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On Fri 22 Jul 2005 10:31:56p, Snittens wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav ): The way the shelter that I'm with works is if a cat has been in the shelter for more than about 3 months, we have a team that starts discussing this cat and tries to come up with a strategy to get the cat adopted. Why isn't anyone interested? What happens when we show him? Does anyone specifically ask for this cat from the website or Petfinder? Does this cat have special needs (behavioral, medical)? Once we do that, we come up with a plan and give it a try. Shamrock was in our system for a few months. I was fostering him. He had issues; skin problems, hated the adoption shows and cried and cried every second, both at the shows and in the car to and from. He's very friendly and people wanted to hold him and see if they liked him. Little kids would hold him because their mom wanted to make sure they'd like him. I kept hearing from the kids, "he's too big!" He wasn't a kitten and there were too many kittens at that time needing homes. The day I took him to his last adoption event, I already had decided I wanted to keep him. Shadow had already latched on to him and I did too. A guy who worked for PetSmart said he was going to talk to his girlfriend about taking him because he loved big cats, and Shamrock was big compared to the rest that we had. (11 pounds - I don't consider that big! LOL!) and at that moment I decided I didn't want to adopt him out, and that I wanted to keep him. That was his last show. -- Cheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields |
#6
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"Cheryl" wrote Shamrock was in our system for a few months. I was fostering him. He had issues; skin problems, hated the adoption shows and cried and cried every second, both at the shows and in the car to and from. He's very friendly and people wanted to hold him and see if they liked him. Little kids would hold him because their mom wanted to make sure they'd like him. I kept hearing from the kids, "he's too big!" He wasn't a kitten and there were too many kittens at that time needing homes. The day I took him to his last adoption event, I already had decided I wanted to keep him. Shadow had already latched on to him and I did too. A guy who worked for PetSmart said he was going to talk to his girlfriend about taking him because he loved big cats, and Shamrock was big compared to the rest that we had. (11 pounds - I don't consider that big! LOL!) and at that moment I decided I didn't want to adopt him out, and that I wanted to keep him. That was his last show. I ended up keeping Antonio (semi-feral) because I kept getting inquiries from the website that were totally inappropriate. Antonio is orange and white and cute, and was only 6 months old at the time, so people would see that and not read at all the detailed description I wrote. I would respond to the email and it was always "you can't pick him up? he won't sit in your lap? oh, nevermind" I got tired of them and Antonio was coming around at my house. I just couldn't bear to make him start all over again. I never bothered to take him to adoption days becase I knew he wouldn't do well. I think I had him in foster for about 6 months when I decided to keep him. Now with Ana, I only ever got one inquiry on her, and that person never showed up. We had several good adopters that we tried to "sell" Ana on, but they were all currently dealing with or just had a cat pass of some type of serious illness and were not up to taking her on. I took Ana to adoption days and she would show well, but as soon as the medical issues came up, it was over. After she had the incident where she swallowed a piece of plastic, I officially adopted her. I wanted Ana's fate to be completely up to me and not a committee. -Kelly |
#7
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Cheryl wrote: On Fri 22 Jul 2005 09:15:29p, whitershadeofpale wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav roups.com): Is it right to leave a cat caged for life in a no kill shelter. No. ITA. Some fates are worse than death. I wouldn't be able to pinpoint a time limit. But at some point, if the cat isn't being fostered, and is in a cage for a long time (long time is probably relative depending on who you ask) then ending the suffering (I am not sure yet where I stand on this - is waiting for a home for a year, two years, in a cage, suffering?) I think yes. Just a comment. We had a guy who boarded his four cats for OVER a year. One of the cats did poorly and literally starved herself to death in a couple of months, despite medical intervention. The others adapted well considering the circumstances. I and one other person seemed to be the only ones who cared about the situation. I tried to find alternative housing for the cats, and looked into a better kennel but the "owner" was reluctant to move them. I did what I could - made sure they were out of the cages every day, gave them special treats and attention. But their muscles became atrophied and they became a bit whacko, IMO. Evcentually the guy came to get them - but I was gone by that time. I never got a follow-up on how they were doing back in their home. If I could have adopted them, I would have. I hated seeing them in the cages that long. -L. |
#8
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"-L." wrote Just a comment. We had a guy who boarded his four cats for OVER a year. One of the cats did poorly and literally starved herself to death in a couple of months, despite medical intervention. The others adapted well considering the circumstances. I and one other person seemed to be the only ones who cared about the situation. I tried to find alternative housing for the cats, and looked into a better kennel but the "owner" was reluctant to move them. I did what I could - made sure they were out of the cages every day, gave them special treats and attention. But their muscles became atrophied and they became a bit whacko, IMO. Evcentually the guy came to get them - but I was gone by that time. I never got a follow-up on how they were doing back in their home. If I could have adopted them, I would have. I hated seeing them in the cages that long. -L. Ugh, that's awful! If I ran the vet practice, I don't even think I would allow that. I would probably take the cats home myself or something. I wouldn't board at a vet's anyway, unless they had super deluxe accomodations or my cat had a medical problem, which I did have to do one time. This reminds me of when I'm dealing with owner turn ins for IMHO stupid reasons like moving, and I go through how stressful the shelter is for a cat, what can happen when they get depressed, etc. I try to talk them out of surrendering their cat, or at the very least find a home on their own so they can skip the shelter. Most people don't care The shelter is much harder on previously owned cats than strays, again IMHO. -Kelly |
#9
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"Cheryl" wrote in message ... .... In my experience, euthanization is painless. I've never experienced what some have - where the poor lil won resists. Cheryl It's not always humane. There was an expose in our local newspaper about how the animal control people were putting animals together (dogs with dogs and cats with cats) in cages and mass gassing them. I don't know how common this is in other places. Fortunately, irate citizens forced a new policy of lethal injections. Still very sad that it is happening at all. Annie |
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