I am just wondering, when was the last time you were at an animal shelter? I was there today, dropping off a rescue at their clinic to have fixed. (I have to pick her up in 2 hours.)
When I was there, County Animal Control brought them in 3 stray dogs! They looked so scared and sad! It broke my heart!
Have you ever walked around and saw their animals? Do you realize how hard those folks work to insure the animals are socialized and healthy?
Anyone want to tell me your experiences or feeling?
2007-09-12 06:37:32 · 30 answers · asked by Katslookup - a Fostering Fool! 6 in Pets ➔ Dogs
JR, I checked out your link and started to cry. I do breed on rare occasion. All of my puppies are mirco-chipped and registered to me, instead of the new owner. My puppies have a lifetime return policy. I NEVER want them in a pound!
Two of the four cats that call my house theirs were from the pound. The most recent came to live here two months ago.
2007-09-12 06:53:42 · update #1
I avoid it at all costs but its hard to do.
Have you seen albert he is my signature on my emails:
http://www.spotsociety.org/fatedog.html
Just for those that haven't been.
I can't even start this without welling up to cry.
Added:
We make the adopter the first contact and we are the second. We don't give them a choice for a second contact of their own just in case.
2007-09-12 06:43:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I can tell you story after story. I commonly go to shelters in my area to pick up dogs for the rescue. I can't go in there without wanting to cry. The animals all look so scared and confused. They don't know why they are there and they don't understand why they aren't with their families. They all are dying for a little attention and even a pat on the head is more than they have probably had in awhile. The shelter workers work so hard, but there are so few of them and soooooo many animals to care for. I continue to do it for the animal's sake, but I hate going in there. I don't know how the full time volunteers and shelter staff do it. A shelter is much better than life on the streets or being in an abusive situation, but dogs deserve a home and a family and it's just sad to see them there, so depressed.
What really makes my blood boil is walking down the aisles and looking at the reason why the dog is in the shelter: too big, we had a baby, moving, the dog barks, etc. It makes me so mad to see right in front of my face a loving, caring animal that someone though of as disposable.
It breaks my heart.
2007-09-12 06:48:58 · answer #2 · answered by Shanna 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's been some time since I've actually been to the shelter, tho I would like start volunteering with a Border Collie rescue, which would probably get me in there more often. But I am incredibly sad to go into the shelter. I can't believe the number of abandoned animals there.
What I have done over the years, is taken in strays and found them a good home. Last fall, my nephew's school tied a stray they found roaming on the grounds to their flag pole, hoping the owner would come looking for her. She'd been there a couple of hours and my sister offered to take her home instead of leaving her there in the cold. She then called me, hoping I could refer her to rescue, which is a lost cause here. Rescues around here only "rescue" from shelters and will not take animals from the general public. But I will not send a good animal to the shelter, I can't do it. I know the chances even a good dog has there and I just can't. So for 2 weeks straight, my hubby and I put up flyers on phone poles, at many vets, at pet supply stores, ran ads in 2 different papers, filed a report with the local HS and shelter, but no one claimed this sweet little dog.
A local rescue was kind enuf to give me a copy of their questionaire they put to families wishing to adopt so that it would help me select the right home for her. In the end, my brother and his family took her in and she is now loved and with a forever family. I would have kept her here as long as it took in order to place her properly tho. Like I said, I just could never take a dog to the shelter. I know the shelters do all they can, but good dogs don't always find a home and go to the rainbow bridge instead. I did not want to risk this fate for this sweet little dog or any of the other strays I have taken in over the years.
2007-09-12 08:51:36 · answer #3 · answered by Shadow's Melon 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Earlier August
I got a skinny dog that was about to be destroyed.
I have mixed feelings. I think dogs that shouldn't be put out on the street are too often. And some dogs that are gentle, but not cute are destroyed. I hear stories of people turned away for stupid reasons, but at the same time shelters kill dogs. I guess when it comes right down to it, I don't think highly of the way many shelters operate. It is all about profit or breaking even more than it is about doing what is right.
I have to say that the local code enforcement officers are good about doing the right thing when it comes to biting dogs or even dogs that act like they might nip. But that is just a local city building, not really a large shelter. And some people might have issues with them too because they destroy whole breeds instead of a dog by dog basis. Certain breeds are automatically destroyed.
No kill shelters aren't great either. It is cruel for a dog to spend years in a little cage with no to little interaction.
2007-09-12 08:44:10 · answer #4 · answered by mama woof 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I was just at our Animal Control yesterday, dropping off paperwork for my recently adopted dog. I can't resist going and talking to all the animals, but it does leave me in tears. What really gets me is the major difference between the pound and all the other shelters. We looked at several different shelters when we adopted our two dogs, but I insisted on adopting from Animal Control. The animals at the SPCA shelter have nice beds, plenty of toys, stay in a clean well-ventilated area, and get plenty of exercise/potty breaks. The pound is nothing like that...and I just couldn't turn my back and not bring home a dog from that place.
*Not that I am critizing the pound or the people that work there. They just really have their hands full and they are doing the best they can off what (I'm sure) little money the government provides.
2007-09-12 06:47:21 · answer #5 · answered by KS 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I volunteer at an animal shelter twice a month and there are always a ton of new dogs and cats there every time I go in. I help clean the cages and then I play with the dogs for awhile outside.Typically I play with about 10 dogs per visit and just briefly see the other dogs. I also play with the cats for awhile. Every time I am in the shelter I want to bring some animals home with me but I already have enough. It breaks my heart but I feel like I am helping them in a small way by volunteering.
2007-09-12 06:51:05 · answer #6 · answered by Teresa V 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I haven't been to a shelter in about two years. The one I went to didn't have much donations so they had a hard time treating the animals. Of course seeing these animals in such a bad environment, I adopted a puppy who was infested with fleas and ticks- I'd never seen so many on a 6 week old puppy or any dog for that matter.
I know they tried to keep them clean, but they didn't do a very good job. Now I always go to that shelter to adopt pets.
It's sad seeing so many animals with no family to live with and are in a kennel all day long. It breaks my heart and I wish I could adopt every animal there.
2007-09-12 06:42:23 · answer #7 · answered by Madison 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've walked through the pound several times within the past year - I got my Missy dog in April. The last time I went there was for her graduation from level one obedience (classes were held at the humane society where I got her) in August or so. It's so sad to see the dogs - it is heartbreaking.
And no matter how hard the staff works, it's still a less-than-ideal situation to put the animals in, so there will be some difficulties. It's hard to work with SO many animals with any size staff, but I've been pleased at the shelters in my area.
I hope your rescue does fine in her surgery and comes out well - and gets herself a real forever home!
2007-09-12 07:52:00 · answer #8 · answered by a gal and her dog 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
yesterday
I volunteer at my local Humane Society a few hours at least four or five days a week
I feel useless when I go there because I always want to do more, I'm start school to be a vet tech in October, and once I graduate I plan to continue my work with the Humane Society
and yes it is sad the things that you see there
cats dieing because of a simple to fix problem like fleas
dogs that have never been trained to not bite, being euthanized for biting
litters of kittens separated from their mothers too young
litters of puppies that will never be adopted out because people are scared of bully breeds
recently someone bred their hamsters just so that they could have a baby hamster, so the other 15 hamsters the owners didn't want from that litter were dropped off at the Humane Society, they were syrians and they were starting to fight so we had to scramble to find 15 separate cages and to find room for the 15 separate cages, most of the hamsters were adopted out by the shelter workers to family and friends, there are still two left and it's been three months since they came in! I was able to find a couple of toys that my hamsters don't use to give to the shelter for the homeless hamsters, up until then the shelter workers didn't have chew toys or wheels for them!
all because the previous owners wanted a baby hamster, but they didn't plan any homes for the rest of the litter!
yesterday they brought in a four year old cat who had lived her whole life with her owner, but the owner was buying her first house and didn't want the new house to smell like cat urine
it turns out that the cat had a urinary tract infection, that's why she had not been using her litter box for almost two years, and that's why her owner didn't want her in the new house
the infection had been there so long, as I was leaving they were checking her for other health concerns that most likely resulted from having a urinary tract infection go untreated for so long
anyways, the cat was traumatized: she hid in her litter box and we ended up putting a blanket over the door of her cage so she could have some privacy and to try and get her to relax...it's not likely she'll be adopted out since right now we also have four litters of kittens under a year old and most people would rather adopt a cute little kitten than adopt a full grown cat whose not very social right now
it pisses me off...if I wasn't so angry about it then I'd start crying and I'd rather feel anger than sadness
anger motivates me to try and change things, to continue to do my best to help them
however, if I let myself get sad and cry then I would never be any help at all, I'd just start feeling hopeless,
if that makes any sense at all
2007-09-12 06:54:56 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I was there a week and a half ago. I invovled with a woman who could no longer care for her two dogs and wanted them gone. She even went so far as to take two healthy dogs to her vet and ask them to euthanize them. Luckily the vet said no. She didn't want them anymore. I arranged for a whippet rescue organization to take the woman's whippet but I couldn't find a dalmatian rescue to take the 10 year old dalmatian. Our only option - as time was of the essence to get them out of the home - was to take him to the Oregon Humane Society. We took him a week and a half ago. I was crying and it wasn't even MY dog that was being surrended. I apologized to him - that I couldn't find him a foster and that I couldn't find a rescue for him. They took him in the back. He was evaluated and put up for adoption. It took 3 days for him to go "active" on the site and two days later, that 10 year old overweight dalmatian was adopted!
A month before I found a 10 week old kitten on the side of the road. I am sure someone's unspayed cat had kittens and the owner drove around and strategically dropped the kittens off in the neighborhoods (there were no other cats around, and none of the neighbors had or knew of cats that had kittens). It was over 100 degrees - you think a 10 week old kitten can walk very far - he was dumped.
I picked him up and brought him home - the dogs thought that I bought them a new squeaky toy. I took him to the local Humane Society to scan for a microchip - he had none. They asked me if I was "leaving that there". I said no, I was arranging another home for him and they said good, because we would have to euthanize it - I said, "it's a 10 WEEK old kitten!!" They said - sorry, no room at the inn.
I took him home, fed him, let him poop, found out he had worms, found out he was also flea infested. And found him a home with a former student that day. I never wanted to go back to that Humane Society again (this was NOT the Oregon humane society, it was our local shelter)
So I have been twice in the past month or so. And both ended up being "happy" endings.
JR - man you know how to make someone cry!
2007-09-12 13:53:18 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, I wish I could say I've been to a "real" animal shelter, but I live in Alaska, and there just aren't many dogs in the shelters, the most dogs I've seen at one time in the shelter is 4. FOUR. That's it. Now, cats are a different story. There's always TONS of cats in the shelter, if there's a real problem with over population, it's with cats! No doubt.
2007-09-12 06:41:53 · answer #11 · answered by Kristin B © 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋