Weakness for animals.... need advice?

Question

I am truly an animal lover. I always have been, and my love for animals just seems to grow the older I get. When I was a child my parents let me have two dogs, two cats, hampsters, fish, and a rabbit. I was so happy, but it was never enough! Now that I am grown and married we have 7 dogs and one cat. We adopted most of them from the human society. My husband loves animlals too, but we don't have a big enough house to get any more. (its already pretty cramped!) I can't stand to see a stray animal without a home, or an animals being chained in someone's yard. I just want to take them home with me. It sometimes gets to a point when I feel I could cry I feel so bad for a homeless animal. I was just wondering if anyone else feels like this, or has any suggestions on how I could cope with this. I think my husband will kill me if I bring another animal home! thanks!

Answer 1

When I was young I had it all planned out... I would have two of EVERY animal! I wanted horses, dogs, cats, birds, gerbils, rabbits, goats, mice... Then I got older and learned how HARD it is to really take proper care of an animal -- and how expensive. So I made the decision to take quality care of my animals, not just bring in any animal I found, whether or not I could care for it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for rescuing animals, I've rescued dozens. But I bring them to a shelter or rehabilitator -- not home. I know my limits.

It's not fair to anyone, not you, not your husband, not your pets and not the animal if you can't care for them PROPERLY -- which means having the time, space and MONEY to afford vet care.

You simply CAN'T save every animal. If you see a stray, pick him up and bring him to a shelter. At least he'll be safe and well fed and perhaps have a chance of finding a forever home. Do some research and find the GOOD shelters in your area. Leave a donation whenever you leave an animal there. And then go home and hug your own pets, knowing that you have made their life a bit better by NOT stretching yourself too thin!

Answer 2

I love pets too! Currently I only have a cat and two gerbils, but if it were up to me...I would probably adopt any animal I saw. If you get weak when you look at shelters, be sure to NOT go to a kill shelter...that is the worst. If you go to a shelter and look at the kitties and doggies there and it is not a kill shelter, you at least will have the feeling that they will remain there till they are adopted. The only problem with having a lot of animals is the expense, the space, the smell, and all the attention that can only be divided so much! and You have 7 dogs? Wow! I would like to have that many dogs, or that many cats...or that many pets even! I know it's hard but your husband would probably kill you =)

Just try and think...you are doing your best by adopting most of your animals from the humane society, so you are saving lives. If you have more room and time to take care of your pets, try and get another, but make sure you get the right one (which is hard when there are lots!)

Answer 3

I totally understand, I’ve adopted strays too. It’s wonderful that you care so much.

It can spiral out of control. 8 animals is more then enough. There is a fine line between adopting stray animals and collecting. If it’s cramped for you and your husband, is cramped for the dogs too. You have to set a limit.

It’s hard to not help animals in need, but you first responsibility must be to the animals you already have. Filling the house with even more animals isn’t going to be good for them.

There are other ways to help animals. You can volunteer at a shelter either working with the animals or in admin. Some shelters look for foster homes for animals, where they stay temporarily to get use to living in a house with people, before going to a permanent home. With a bit of training you could also volunteer as a field officer.

Unless you have kennels, I’m sure your house is very full with 7 dogs. 4 dogs in one house is a lot! It might be time to start looking for good homes for some of them. If you really can’t part with them, you have to ask yourself why. Although it’s sad to give up an animal it’s not healthy to be emotionally dependent on them or for them to control your life, for example what happens when your friends come round.

If you do decide to sell some don’t offer them free for a good home, as it attracts the wrong sort of people (no offence to good owners who have had pets free)

Answer 4

I love animals, too. I have 4 dogs, 6 cats and 2 turtles. I constantly have to remind myself that I can't save them all.

I think a lot about the animals who don't have anyone to care for them or are mistreated. I do what I can over here in my little corner of the world. I hope that the animals I cannot help do not suffer too much and find peace in death - if not in life.

Answer 5

I have the same problem!! We have rescued 6 dogs and 3 cats try thinking about how much good you have done! Another good idea is making ca donation to a non killing animal shelter like www.animalhavenshelter.org. Good job on all the animals lives you have saved!

Answer 6

i'm also an animal lover, and yes i feel the same way as you do... it means you're a good person so don't be shy about it.
anyway maybe you can put those stray animals you see to animal shelter, there they'll be taken care of greatly.
another way is to give the strays an owner. maybe you had a friend who wants to have a cat, or maybe you can convince someone you know who does'nt like animals about this and if they're touched, tell 'em to adopt and love those strays.
its good to see animals happy right?
happy to help ya! :)

Answer 7

too plenty mutual exploitation. My marriage failed and that i'm the 1st to admit it became into as plenty my fault as his. We the two took one yet another with none attention and we the two exploited one yet another. I in no way worked as quickly as we've been togther; I enable him complication approximately preserving a roof over our heads. yet I did each and every little thing for the infants; or maybe in spite of the undeniable fact that he's a sturdy father now as quickly as we've been together spending time with the infants became right into a) basically entertainment and b) on condition that he became into in the temper. we are the two better human beings because of the fact the divorce. yet we could have been this manner as quickly as we've been married. it is too previous due now - we drifted aside plenty that the affection died. yet issues could have been very different. We have been non secular or maybe in spite of the undeniable fact that that performed little place in the deterioration of our marriage,it has performed an excellent place in studying to co-parent as a divorced couple. And we are the two better because of the fact of it. even in spite of the undeniable fact that I developed remote from the church,I nevertheless appreciate it,and he remains lively.

Answer 8

I started to adopt out the small animals I have rescued. I do small animal rescues in my area, but have also rescued over the past years many cats of which I still have 8 of with the youngest getting brought in by my now 20 year old son from in a dumpster in a box, plus my own 6 cats. I have a wolf hybrid plus 2 rescued dogs, one rescued in Jan. this year that was put out from a truck. I have a rescued iguana plus my daughter's king snake and tarantula she cares for since the owner (my husband) couldn't due to knee surgery. We have 2 rabbits one was rescued. Also we have 2 cockatiels. Divided between 3 rooms we have 18 Syrian hamsters of which 9 are rescues with 4 being up for adoption and 11 dwarf hamsters with 5 being rescues (4 are biters and 1 is partially blind and deaf). There are 5 gerbils all rescues with possibly 2 up for adoption, but need working with due to nipping. 4 adult mice, 1 is a rescue plus 8 babies of which all babies are getting adopted out. We have 11 rats with 4 being rescues, but 5 are up for adoption. There's 3 fish and finally a Pygmy goat and a red sheep we rescued many years ago. I have managed to place 3 rats so far this year and have only been offically rescuing since Feb. of this year, but have been taking in animals in need for over 30 years since I was a child. My children help me with all this and my adult sons help share with the costs. We decided on small animals after finding out no one in a 3 county area won't take in any small animals. I already had a lot of cages from years back when I bred hamsters for a pet store in another state when my oldest children were barely in school (2 are graduated for several years). I have even gotten a few Syrian and dwarf hamsters that has injuries or birth defects from pet stores where they were to be sold for snake food. One I saw get dropped by an unsupervised child that ended up with a head injury, she survived, but needs special attention and you can't hold her with out her screaming from fear. It's been since Halloween of last year with not much change. I too wish we could keep every animal we take in so they stay safe, but my cage space is limited too and I must becareful who adopts them as well. I usually only advertise by word of mouth, but I'm out of room and had to turn down several mice needing a home recently, so if I can get my one son to help me, I putting together a site for adopting them out. Yes, I do charge a fee and sometimes it's higher then a pet store, but many have been hand raised from a couple weeks old and the fees offset our costs a little bit. We have taken in entire small animals families (momma & babies). Sadly I have lost 2 this year and they were buried in a special garden for all my small animals. I consider all of them to be mine and they are treated as so. They are my pets.

Homeless animals can be vet checked then put up for adoption or taken to the Humane Society to find loving homes like yours. But make sure they're homeless and not a nearby neighbors pet. I know all the small animals I take in need new homes since I get called to pick them up.

Another thing to do is to ask the local elementary schools if you can speak to the different grade levels or classes about the importance of taking care of a pet and if young how they can help mom and dad or sibilings with the care also. In the next few weeks I'm going to be speaking with 2 first grade classes about animal rescue and some of the animals we care for at our home and how their parents can adopt one, plus how to do basic care for them at their level. This is my first time doing this for young children. Usually I speak to individuals in person or on the phone or in here.

I had to learn how to properly care for, feed, house and the different diseases each can get over time like cancer, diabetes, or Cushings Disease. I keep a notebook with all the information in it for quick references. I even have care books for animals I don't care for just in case if I get a call to pick one up.