Ping: Phil

misskitty wrote:
: By the same token, I think some very good people in the pet
: rescue field go a little too far in screening at times. The view
: from inside plus the view from outside perhaps gives us a
: balanced view?

My apologies for strong words elsewhere, but some reactions are deep.
I guess for you it is the possibility of a cat ending up in an abusive
home, for me it is that of her getting euthanized. I am sure your heart
is in the right place and you did your best. Not having been there, I
should not second-guess what you saw in that couple, heard in their
voices, or felt about them. I am only theorizing, you had a real cat's
life in your hands at that moment. (What happened to him/her?)

"Kiran" wrote in message
...
Phil P. wrote:

: How would you feel if you went against your instincts and placed
: a cat and found out the owner nailed him to a tree for scratching
: his sofa? (True story)

Pretty lousy.

: We can play the "what if" game all day. Placing a cat boils down
: to going by your instincts based on your experience.

Fair enough. Others can theorize later but an individual has no choice
but to go by his or her own best judgment.



Nothing to theorize about. Placing a cat boils down to going by your
instincts based on your experience.




It is easy to accept Mother Teresa and reject Adolph Hitler, the real
challenge is to make wise compromise calls when things are not black or
white.

Very bad analogy.


Why did you stop doing adoptions? Was it the emotional toll, or
did you feel that your experience and involvement, usually virtues,
were beginning to work against making wise compromises?


I still handle adoptions- but only in special cases.




Just out of curiosity, if you deny an adoption, what is the probablity
of the same cat finding another home


Pretty good.


rather than be euthanised
eventually,


Never happen in my shelter- unless the cat was suffering.

Kiran wrote:

I don't see why an organization that practices euthanasia should have
the right to ask an individual for "references". What nerve. In the end
people who dump their animals do so for the same reasons (lack of
money, space, time) that "shelters" kill for. I think dumping is more
humane as it gives an animal another chance.

Dumping is about the most cruel thing you can do to a pet, and it is
actually against the law under most states' animal cruelty statutes.
People think they're giving the animal a "chance" but in fact what
they're doing is letting the pet die a slow, suffering death through
starvation, dehydration, injury or disease. Euthanasia, hell, even a
..22 in the back of the head at close range, is far kinder than dumping.


People don't generally dump animals because of lack of space, or time,
or money. They dump animals out of stupidity. Most of them are
half-grown litters of the dogs they own and refuse to neuter. They'll
give a few away, and dump the rest of them.

Shelters ask references because, believe it or not, kittens are used
for snake food, to train pit bulldogs, or simply adopted by stupid
people who think they can turn a kitten outdoors and it's cheap mouse
control--they don't even have to feed it!

Sherry

wrote:

: I went against gut instincts once, and adopted a sweet dog to a couple
: who wanted it "for their son", who was actually didn't seem that crazy
: about the dog. They said the right things. They didn't have a vet
: reference, but said this was their first pet. Still, I had really bad vibes
: about them. Six months later someone called about a starving dog
: chained under a walnut tree who couldn't reach the water, the chain
: was tangled. Someone went to check, and it was the Lassie/Timmy
: family. The dog was emaciated and dehydrated. We took it straight
: to the vet. The dog died, and out of curiousity the vet did a necropsy.
: The dog's stomach was full of walnuts, which he had eated to try to
: survive.

I am sorry to hear this. I hope there were also a few occasions when
you took a chance and the story had a happy ending.

Kiran wrote:
wrote:

: I went against gut instincts once, and adopted a sweet dog to a couple
: who wanted it "for their son", who was actually didn't seem that crazy
: about the dog. They said the right things. They didn't have a vet
: reference, but said this was their first pet. Still, I had really bad vibes
: about them. Six months later someone called about a starving dog
: chained under a walnut tree who couldn't reach the water, the chain
: was tangled. Someone went to check, and it was the Lassie/Timmy
: family. The dog was emaciated and dehydrated. We took it straight
: to the vet. The dog died, and out of curiousity the vet did a necropsy.
: The dog's stomach was full of walnuts, which he had eated to try to
: survive.

I am sorry to hear this. I hope there were also a few occasions when
you took a chance and the story had a happy ending.

Yes, there are. And no, I don't take chances. If you ever worked abuse
cases, you wouldn't either.

wrote:

: ...

Thank you for sharing your experience.

I had written the following for you but it got posted in the wrong
place in the thread: "My apologies for strong words elsewhere, but some
reactions are deep. I guess for you it is the possibility of a cat
ending up in an abusive home, for me it is that of her getting
euthanized. I am sure your heart is in the right place and you did your
best. Not having been there, I should not second-guess what you saw in
that couple, heard in their voices, or felt about them. I am only
theorizing, you had a real cat's life in your hands at that moment.
(What happened to him/her?)"

wrote in message
ups.com...

Kiran wrote:

I don't see why an organization that practices euthanasia should have
the right to ask an individual for "references". What nerve. In the end
people who dump their animals do so for the same reasons (lack of
money, space, time) that "shelters" kill for. I think dumping is more
humane as it gives an animal another chance.

Dumping is about the most cruel thing you can do to a pet, and it is
actually against the law under most states' animal cruelty statutes.
People think they're giving the animal a "chance" but in fact what
they're doing is letting the pet die a slow, suffering death through
starvation, dehydration, injury or disease. Euthanasia, hell, even a
.22 in the back of the head at close range, is far kinder than dumping.


People don't generally dump animals because of lack of space, or time,
or money. They dump animals out of stupidity. Most of them are
half-grown litters of the dogs they own and refuse to neuter. They'll
give a few away, and dump the rest of them.

Shelters ask references because, believe it or not, kittens are used
for snake food, to train pit bulldogs, or simply adopted by stupid
people who think they can turn a kitten outdoors and it's cheap mouse
control--they don't even have to feed it!

Sherry


And that's no exaggeration. We have rescued kittens who were intended pit
bull bait. I have also had people come looking to adopt one of our kittens
who intended just what you indicate, to put them outside to take care of a
rodent problem and they have said outright that you can't feed them or they
won't take care of the mice! Needless to say they don't get one of our
kittens or cats.

Around here we pick up a lot of dumps. I suspect there are people who are
too cheap to pay whatever the SPCA is asking these days. Then there is the
poor cat we have that was dumped off the side of a road locked in a cat
carrier. If the vet tech hadn't stopped to investigate the cat would have
slowly starved to death in there.

Asking for references is the only way to even try to keep these animals out
of the hands of the jerks that put them out on the street to begin with.

W

Wendy wrote:
Then there is the
poor cat we have that was dumped off the side of a road locked in a cat
carrier. If the vet tech hadn't stopped to investigate the cat would have
slowly starved to death in there.

Oh, my gosh! The SAME THING happened to us! The shelter manager was
going to the city, and spotted a cat carrier on the side of the road.
She though, hey, we can use that carrier! And there was a black cat in
it. They still have that cat. His name is Highway.

Sherry

"Kiran" wrote in message
...
misskitty wrote:
: By the same token, I think some very good people in the pet
: rescue field go a little too far in screening at times. The view
: from inside plus the view from outside perhaps gives us a
: balanced view?

My apologies for strong words elsewhere, but some reactions are deep.
I guess for you it is the possibility of a cat ending up in an abusive
home, for me it is that of her getting euthanized.

Good point. Too often those of us with the same goals:
to help the animals, wind up at odds with one another
over the details.

wrote

Oh, my gosh! The SAME THING happened to us! The shelter manager was
going to the city, and spotted a cat carrier on the side of the road.
She though, hey, we can use that carrier! And there was a black cat in
it. They still have that cat. His name is Highway.

Sherry


Our shelter had a cat a couple years ago named Freeway, because he was found
in the median of I-93. His paw pads were nearly gone from frostbite, then
he almost died of distemper. He was adopted by a real sweetheart of a
volunteer and lives a great life.

We had a litter of kittens left in a carrier at the fence last year while we
were open. People must have been too chicken **** to bring them all the way
up to the shelter. Of course we get the dog tied to the fence, cats left
overnight, cats that just happen to be found on the property. Every time I
pull up and see a box or carrier outside, I panic for a moment.

-Kelly