Samantha Puppy
02-22-2006, 09:26 PM
I am absolutely livid right now. I'm posting this in General because I'd like for everyone to see how NOT to run a rescue.
A few weeks ago, I noticed a very skinny little kitty roaming around my house with no collar. I lured her to my front porch with some food and watched her scarf an entire can of cat food down - almost without breathing. She was the sweetest, most affectionate little thing and I was dying to keep her but with a newborn and having to deal with Samantha, Sushi, Kirin, Maya and Kimi adjusting to her, and her to them, it was just too overwhelming. So I called my parent's next-door neighbors, Bill and Martha, who had recently lost one of their cats and were about to lose another. They took this little kitty in and fell in love with her. The next day, Martha had her to the vet to get all the necessary vaccines. She had thought the cat might be pregnant, but the vet assured her she was not, so Martha also scheduled the kitty to be spayed.
Today was spay-day. Martha got a call mid-morning. The kitty was approximately halfway through a pregnancy! Now. Martha used to work in shelters. She knows what goes on in there. The vet asked if she wanted to abort the litter, so Martha called her husband, Bill. Bill said no, absolutely not, he couldn't do that. So the vet sewed the little kitty back up and Bill and Martha are no preparing to help her deliver them when the time comes, will keep one or two of the kittens and are hoping to find a good foster/rescue organization to help them out with the remaining kittens.
Since Martha and Bill are older and not "computer savvy", shall we say, I spent a good portion of the evening looking up and contacting animal/cat rescue organizations in the area to see if they could help us out, and if not, could point us to someone who could. Some people wrote back and were very kind, offered to help, and said to keep them posted. One person, however... you know what, I'm going to put her name and organization up here, I'm that angry. Jen, with Noah's Children, wrote back and CHASTISED me and the vet for even giving Martha the option of not aborting. (To give you an idea, the signature of Jen's e-mail reads: "Heart Attacks...God's revenge for eating His animal friends."). So I wrote back and said that it would've been in poor taste for the vet not to consult the cat's owners and just abort the litter, and that I was only trying to help the kittens have a fighting chance of finding a good home. Her response? "Oh yes, by all means, make sure the people who can't find them homes are happy."
WTF? I am asking for HELP for these poor, innocent kittens. She doesn't know the entire story, though I did try and give as much of it as I could to everyone I contacted. She doesn't know Martha and Bill. She doesn't know me. How dare she judge me - and Martha - for wanting to do what we feel is the right thing to do in this situation (the right thing for Martha and Bill is to let the kitty have the kittens, the right thing for me to do is try and help find them homes). I wrote her back, commenting on how judgemental she was and told her I'd be sure to let everyone I know how helpful she'd been. What a b*tch. I don't care if she agrees with Martha or not, she's involved in animal rescue, she's more plugged into the pipeline than I am and that's all I was asking for. You would've thought I was asking her to take full financial responsibility for this litter herself.
I'm just livid. These people are supposed to be kind, helpful people. If I were involved in rescuing and someone came to me with a similar predicament, I wouldn't make them feel like crap for their decision! Martha is a devout Catholic, she's pro-life whether it involves humans or animals. This is the right decision for her, she'll care for the cat and her kittens, she's not looking to just shove them off. She just can't keep ALL of them.
I'm sorry. I'm just really pissed.
A few weeks ago, I noticed a very skinny little kitty roaming around my house with no collar. I lured her to my front porch with some food and watched her scarf an entire can of cat food down - almost without breathing. She was the sweetest, most affectionate little thing and I was dying to keep her but with a newborn and having to deal with Samantha, Sushi, Kirin, Maya and Kimi adjusting to her, and her to them, it was just too overwhelming. So I called my parent's next-door neighbors, Bill and Martha, who had recently lost one of their cats and were about to lose another. They took this little kitty in and fell in love with her. The next day, Martha had her to the vet to get all the necessary vaccines. She had thought the cat might be pregnant, but the vet assured her she was not, so Martha also scheduled the kitty to be spayed.
Today was spay-day. Martha got a call mid-morning. The kitty was approximately halfway through a pregnancy! Now. Martha used to work in shelters. She knows what goes on in there. The vet asked if she wanted to abort the litter, so Martha called her husband, Bill. Bill said no, absolutely not, he couldn't do that. So the vet sewed the little kitty back up and Bill and Martha are no preparing to help her deliver them when the time comes, will keep one or two of the kittens and are hoping to find a good foster/rescue organization to help them out with the remaining kittens.
Since Martha and Bill are older and not "computer savvy", shall we say, I spent a good portion of the evening looking up and contacting animal/cat rescue organizations in the area to see if they could help us out, and if not, could point us to someone who could. Some people wrote back and were very kind, offered to help, and said to keep them posted. One person, however... you know what, I'm going to put her name and organization up here, I'm that angry. Jen, with Noah's Children, wrote back and CHASTISED me and the vet for even giving Martha the option of not aborting. (To give you an idea, the signature of Jen's e-mail reads: "Heart Attacks...God's revenge for eating His animal friends."). So I wrote back and said that it would've been in poor taste for the vet not to consult the cat's owners and just abort the litter, and that I was only trying to help the kittens have a fighting chance of finding a good home. Her response? "Oh yes, by all means, make sure the people who can't find them homes are happy."
WTF? I am asking for HELP for these poor, innocent kittens. She doesn't know the entire story, though I did try and give as much of it as I could to everyone I contacted. She doesn't know Martha and Bill. She doesn't know me. How dare she judge me - and Martha - for wanting to do what we feel is the right thing to do in this situation (the right thing for Martha and Bill is to let the kitty have the kittens, the right thing for me to do is try and help find them homes). I wrote her back, commenting on how judgemental she was and told her I'd be sure to let everyone I know how helpful she'd been. What a b*tch. I don't care if she agrees with Martha or not, she's involved in animal rescue, she's more plugged into the pipeline than I am and that's all I was asking for. You would've thought I was asking her to take full financial responsibility for this litter herself.
I'm just livid. These people are supposed to be kind, helpful people. If I were involved in rescuing and someone came to me with a similar predicament, I wouldn't make them feel like crap for their decision! Martha is a devout Catholic, she's pro-life whether it involves humans or animals. This is the right decision for her, she'll care for the cat and her kittens, she's not looking to just shove them off. She just can't keep ALL of them.
I'm sorry. I'm just really pissed.