Animal shelter visit yesterday

[tokolosh]

It seems you like a good disscussion. I don't. I come here to enjoy myself. I NEVER said NEVER. Only saying I'd go the extra mile to keep my pets. Many do not, therefore, shelters are full of animals being PTS every day. Satistics prove that, I don't need to discuss it.

I didn't at all intend to spoil your enjoyment by opening this up, and I am sorry if it's worked out that way. Not that I think this should or could change how you feel, but I really didn't bring it up just to create a 'good discussion' or for the fun of winding anyone up. I wasn't trolling, in other words. I find myself having to have what you call good discussions sometimes, just because I've said something that startles someone without meaning to, and then I find myself trying to clarify or re-present whatever I said. I don't enjoy it much. I kind of do it for a living and I'd rather have other kinds of fun when I'm not being paid. Back to the wall is not my idea of a comfortable posture, but neither is chin on the ground.

You didn't say 'never', you're right, and I misquoted in a way that implied that you had. You quoted someone else saying they 'wouldn't' do something and said you agreed with it, and in the context of the whole controversy I went and interpreted that as being as good as saying 'never'. So I apologize for that. Although come to that, I'm not sure I feel all that safe saying 'wouldn't' either, sometimes

I came here for the same reason as you, but I think maybe we're very different kinds of people where pets are concerned. I've found myself wondering recently if I've simply made a mistake, and wandered into a place that is designated for people who devote themselves seriously to rescue and fostering work, and I should just butt myself out. Because I've always assumed I was a fairly average, perfectly acceptable pet-owning citizen as far as responsibility and ethics and loving my pets and all of that goes - pretty good, actually, compared with the average bear. But two weeks or whatever it's been of reading and occasional conversation here has got me wondering if I'm actually just scum in human form, a lot of the time.

Which is why I said something here, basically. I had this assumption that it was okay to be here because you're a perfectly ordinary private citizen who loves their pet. But I wouldn't intentionally walk into a place that was expressly set up for people with stronger views than mine, and then start explaining to all of them why I don't agree. I haven't been here long enough to really figure out yet if that's what I've done - but if it is, it wasn't intentionally.

[luvofallhorses]

Well all shelters are different, but we make sure the dogs and cats are healthy and will put them down if there is no hope if they get terribly sick but we do try to help them rather than put them down.

Some shelters don't even go the lengths for the animals like we do, we don't put them down if they are sick we try to get them through it but a shelter situation is so hard on cats, they are very sensitive animals and can get sick at the drop of a hat. We clean EVERY single morning for 4 hours.

Cleaning cat rooms, walking the dogs and cleaning their kennels
(and walking them all day to get exercise in the play yard which is huge.), and we do the same thing every day to make sure the whole place is clean it's never ending. Washing dishes everyday, cleaning litterboxes, etc. and tons of laundry.

Also, we have a list of cats that get canned food in a kennel rotation each day for the ones that need it. They also get meds as needed and the dogs get meds as needed.

I'm not saying my shelter is perfect, but we do what most shelters won't do. That's what's so great for having a donation fund so we can help the ones that get sick unexpectedly or hit by a car or need a leg amputation, etc.

Most shelters are non-profit so they don't always have the funds to help sick animals and they are over-crowded. Sometimes we have to say no to people, we don't always take owner turn ins as we are an animal control facility but we do try to help them re-home the animals.

[tokolosh]

Cleaning cat rooms, walking the dogs and cleaning their kennels (and walking them all day to get exercise in the play yard which is huge.), and we do the same thing every day to make sure the whole place is clean it's never ending. Washing dishes everyday, cleaning litterboxes, etc. and tons of laundry.

I tell you, I've come to understand the workload and what's involved in running a shelter after making repeated visits, in a way that I didn't when I was just a walk-in who got lucky in the first half an hour, our first time around When we got Limpet from the same place in 2000, there were no restrictions on interacting and I'm ashamed in hindsight to think how scornfully I carried on when we discovered within a couple of days that our 'SPCA certified healthy' new cat had anaemia, a sinus infection and a bad kennel cough. Can't have it both ways, but I've only come to understand recently that there is a 'both ways' to it.

[dehlers43]

I am not in the rescue/foster biz like many others here. I too am just an ordinary pet owner doing the best I can.
I'd like to put my spin on this "discussion".....
Some areas of the country have been hit harder by the economy than others which could cause people such hardship they feel they must give up their pets. In other areas, there seems to be a pervasive culture of viewing animals as nothing more than disposable toys. Some shelters are like heaven on earth for animals and others are awful. Some are no-kill but many more routinely euthanize thousands of animals each year.
I guess what I'm trying to say is this: the pet dumping, relinquishing situation varies so much from city-to-city and state-to-state we should keep in mind that, depending on where we live, our experiences will not be the same. Perhaps we could keep that in mind and "cut each other some slack"...
OK, I'm now stepping down from my soapbox.....