Just a thought about kittens and shelters?

Question

Hi, I am not from US, and in my country there are no shelters for cats, so stray cats are in the streets, people feed them, but of course disease and accidents often kill them young. Some of them manage to have long lives too, though, because in every neighbourhood there are people who take them to the vet, neuter them, etc.
I realised that in the US these cats are taken in shelters and put in cages, and if they are not adopted they are killed! I think this is horrible and animal lovers should not accept it. Sure I am not in favour of cats living in streets, but it's life, they never asked to be killed! I mean considering that shelters are supposed to be helping them! In addition, my main argument is that shelters hide the problem of unwanted kittens from the eyes of the general public (since thousands of homeless cats are not wandering around) and contribute to irresponsible owners, who breed their cats.If there were 10 kittens in their yard, maybe they'd decide against creating more

By this I don't mean that cats should be on teh streets. My country is far from being a model in the stray animal issue. But I think shelters should be no-kill, and even then there should be a law about spaying cats or sth., because teh kittens who find their way to shelters are just unwanted kittens from irresponsible owners who didn't spay their animal. So in a way it is unfair to ask responsible people not to breed their animals, in ordr to adopt teh animals of teh irresponsibel people.

Answer 1

In your country there are no shelters....

the animals are left on the street, as you said..


In the USA we have shelters, many are adopted, cats and dogs.

I have a shelter pet in my home he's a cat, and I have ALWAYS selected shelter pets for my family.

They make excellent pets. and I am happy with my fuzzy friend.


I understand what you say about pets being discarded and euthanized, and that's unfortunate, but in the USA many states in my country have a rule that pets are neutered and spayed so they don't reproduce.

Shelter pets in the USA who are adopted are "fixed" and thats the best way to control them from reproducing more animals.


Maybe you could try to introduce a "spay/neuter" rule in your city.

Answer 2

There is an encouraging note to all this talk about euthanization at shelters. may of them are trying to be no-kill. Unfortunately that is not always practical.

You can have animals that are horribly ill and in pain with no real joy in their lives - and no likely fix with standard medical interventions - it is kinder in those cases to euthanize. More civilized than many approaches to human illnesses - but THAT is for a whole other forum of discussion!

If they are severely injured and they would not survive a surgery - serious thought should be put into this - financial resources are not unlimited and though the animals life is valuable - if the quality of the animals life after the repairs will not be good - then euthanasia is not a bad thing.

If they cannot adjust to being homed and encountering people every day and would live their lives in abject fear barely moving out of a closet to visit a litter box and food\water dish - then it might be better.

The shelters do NOT ENJOY the feelings that accompany losing an animal to euthanasia -

I provide support to a couple of rescue agencies and I will not buy a pet from a breeder. There are many quality rescue groups out there who can provide unlimited adoption candidates.

Spaying & neutering is the best thing you can do for reducing the number of unwanted animals.

Answer 3

There's actually quite a lot of shelters and organizations that are no-kill. And often the no-kill shelters (including the one I work with) go to the "kill" shelters and pick up animals they feel are most adoptable so they WON'T be euthanized. In fact, my cat Spooky, a five year old Persian, was one of those cats. If it wasn't for the no-kill shelter picking him up he possibly would have been euthanized if not adopted.

As for shelters "hiding" the problem of unwanted kittens - that's SO wrong. One of the things we promote as much as we can is spaying and neutering. We don't quietly hide in our shelters and keep to ourselves - far from it! The shelter I volunteer with has booths at every street fair, art fair, event all around our area and we talk to everyone we meet about responsible ownership. We also offer low cost spay and neuter programs. Don't knock the shelters - knock those that aren't responsible which is WHY we have to exist!

As for shelters that do euthanize - it's a far better way to die than living a life starving on the streets, killed by a dog, hit by a car, dying from a disease, etc, etc, etc. And leaving the kittens on the street means they'll breed, and their kittens breed and so on and on. How does that solve anything? The answer is spaying and neutering - not letting them breed incessantly and die on the streets.

Answer 4

I agree shelters that kill their animals are terrible and should be rid of, but what you don't understand is there are becoming more and more non kill shelters for animals. they keep them there either untill they find them a home or they just basically stay there untill they die. and a lot of these shelters are really nice, big spaces, lots of room, toys and everything for them. Granted, definitely not all shelters are like this. But I'm just saying not all of them kill them. i think the ones that do should be band. actually i just think it should be made a law that your cat is only allowed to have one litter of kittens and then get it fixed. just my opion.