I try not to think about it

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bonosloveslave

Offishul Kitteh Doctor
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Aug 12, 2002
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Taking care of kitties
I used to work for a humane society, I was at one for 2 years and quit when I moved back in 1998. I didn't have to really deal with the darker side of the shelter - deciding which ones lived and died, putting them to sleep, etc.

I am doing an externship now at a different shelter, to get more proficient at spaying and neutering. I followed one of the vets around yesterday, and she had the sad task of signing off on a whole roomful of cats in holding, about 20 of them, all to be euthanized. I had examined and vaccinated all of these cats earlier in the week, in anticipation of them going up for adoption. But they didn't have many get adopted this week, and they have no space to put the new kitties out, so these newer ones had to be put down.

About 1/2 of them were kittens, climbing the cage fronts like little monkeys, begging for attention. I wanted to hug and cuddle each of them one last time, but I couldn't bring myself to do it :( At least they go painlessly, but kinda crappy to die after being stuck in a 2x2x4 foot space in a scary new place for 2 or 3 days.

I wanna throw up thinking about it :sad:

And when people blow hundreds of dollars on purebred animals, I just wanna :scream:

(even though I know alot of you out here have spent that $$, I don't hate you - just seeing what I see, it's so incredibly sad)

:sigh:
 
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:sad:

:hug: It's probably the hardest part of your job. You are very strong for being able to choose this career, even though it breaks your heart. And remember it only breaks your heart because you care. I dont think anyone can say anything to make it easier and there's probably not much you can do to stop it feeling so horrible.

:hug:
 
Yeah, that would be really, really hard. :(

My cat is a purebred, although I've been wanting to check out the shelters for another (but don't, since my mother would shoot me). However, everyone else I know with cats have gotten them as strays or adopted them from shelters.
 
BLS, your being there made it a easier passage for them, let that comfort you. You're a courageous woman, and I admire your strength.
 
Pet overpopulation is very sad indeed. Even purebreds can be abandoned or allowed to breed uncontrollably. Both our cat and our dog are spayed, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

:hug: to all the animal lovers and all those who work to save animals' lives
 
Are there no no-kill shelters in your area? Where are you located? It is such a problem and such a sad one, that perfectly healthy young cats are euthanized because there is not enough space for them.

I agree about the purebred thing too. It's a big argument on a cat forum that I belong to. There are SO many sweet cats in the shelters that need homes yet people keep breeding purebreds. Its almost like for each purebred born, one domestic cat is euthanized. All those people that are buying purebreds could be saving them from death row instead.

My neighbor and I have been working with a woman from a homeless cat organization trapping a bunch of stray/feral cats in our neighborhood and getting them fixed, then returned to the neighborhood. Cant tell you how good it feels to know we have saved MANY lives by doing this. I just wish I could save them all.
 
:sad:


yertle-the-turtle said:
makes me all the more angry with people who abandon their pets

yeah, and the people who don't bother to get their pets neutered or spayed. we got both my cats (they were half brothers) from a friend of a nieghbour who'd let their cat have kittens, and then they'd just go out and drown them in the river if their friends weren't looking for new pets. i wasn't there either time when we got our cats, but i know i would have wanted to take them all. i really love both of them, very different personalities, but both great cats, it makes me sick to think that if my sister hadn't talked my mom into letting us get a kitten (and then two years later into letting us get another cat)....:mad:
 
I volunteered at an animal shelter when I was 12 and sometimes I had to hold/pet the animals while they were being euthanized. It was really difficult, especially when my favourite dog in the shelter had to be put to sleep. :sad:

:hug:BLS:hug:
 
Sicy said:
I agree about the purebred thing too. It's a big argument on a cat forum that I belong to. There are SO many sweet cats in the shelters that need homes yet people keep breeding purebreds. Its almost like for each purebred born, one domestic cat is euthanized. All those people that are buying purebreds could be saving them from death row instead.

You know cats Sicy, you know much about 'cat people'? Those who breed and show. There's a mentality among a lot of these people and there's probably no changing it. I have 2 purebreds and my family have only ever owned 4 in total. One we got from an aunt who was going to have to get him put down if we couldn't take him which we gladly did and the other was a persian which was weirdly enough a stray. All our others have either been strays or we got because they were in trouble if no one took them.

I dont know if I'm imagining it or not, but cats who get off to the worst start in life by either being threatened with killing or are abused etc usually end up the best cats. We got Matty the 17 yo from a pet store after my last cat (a stray) ran away and the store guy told us his litter was rescued from the concerned neighbour of some dickhead who was about to drown all 4 of them. These troubled cats make the best pets. I swear.
:sad:
 
I don't know what to say except :hug:

I love animals so much - it is such a horrible thing that people still don't understand the overpopulation problem, and the way some people treat their pets makes me SO angry.

But you will be helping so many animals when you become a vet, and I hope that comforts you a little. I hope God will give you the strength to get through the painful parts.
 
Thanks all - you're the best :hug:

Sicy, the head vet there says that they hope they can become a no-kill shelter in the near future - but unfortunately, the biggest factor is space. As it is right now, they have at least as many animals in foster homes as they do out on display at the actual shelter. It's even harder to get homes for the foster animals because they are not out on display everyday (although they do have pictures up in the building and online).

This shelter has already surprised me in several instances for the animals they keep. I couldn't believe that they have a dog there that they are treating for heartworm, that would have been an automatic death sentence at the shelter I used to work at, just because treatment is relatively expensive. Cats and dogs brought here that are surrendered for housesoiling aren't doomed from the moment they walk in the door. They really are trying, but there are just so many......
 
It's sad when people doesn't care about their pets and their working animals... Here, in my city, there's a serious problem with the working horses, some people make them pull carts full of heavy rubble or wastes, the most of them suffer from malnutrition and they are mistreated by their owners... police and the pro-animals organizations try to stop that situation but that's not enough because the owners of the horses need the animals to maintain their families.
 
I get SO emotional over this I really shouldn't even comment. I literally cannot stand it to hear about healthy, lively animals being murdered because there was 'no room' or 'not enough time' :mad: All I can see is a sick waste of precious lives. I'm sorry you had to see that, I'm sure it was disturbing. Seeing their faces is haunting. I HATE kill shelters. I don't care what anyone says. There has to be a better way.

Even stray cats live longer than the ones at most pounds, and they usually have a better chance of being taken in by someone feeling sorry for them. I know of MANY cases of pets being taken in by people I know wandering free and keeping them for life. These people would NEVER have gone to a pound seeking a pet, but when they saw one, sad, hungry and desperate, their hearts melted and they kept them. WHY do these people not go to the pound? Main reason, they don't think they want the commitment until they see the animal in person, then they fall in love. Why don't they go to the pound to fall in love? The very reason mentioned here- it's too disturbing to see the faces of animals who will most likely die. Even if they save one life, they feel guilty about the others. Sad, but true. The pound does that to people, that's why I am against them and think they'd have a better chance on their own. Even if some die, they have a longer life than they would at the pound in most cases. I cannot accept the 'better off dead' theory, that if they don't have a perfect life and a perfect home, and something MIGHT hurt them or they MIGHT suffer at some point, they're better off to die peacefully now?? No. If that logic was true, might as well put down 80% of all human beings in the world now, me included.

*must stop now* :silent:

bawling2.gif
 
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bonosloveslave said:
And when people blow hundreds of dollars on purebred animals, I just wanna :scream:
ugh i know! i have four kitties, all of which i got for free through shelters or friends who took in strays who happened to be pregnant.

our old house had a stray that hung around. at first it ticked us off because she only hung around our house until we found out why. see, the house had been built for this young married couple by the father. they had a cat, and they just didn't like the house, so they moved away. they left the fucking cat there!! :rant: no wonder the cat hung around us so much, it thought we were its owners! poor thing! :sad:

i have neighbours who insisted on paying big bucks to get purebred shih tzus (those little ugly dogs) but they don't even have them fixed! yeah, smart move. insist on getting purebreds but this way they can run around and knock up some random dog. they're both males btw so it's not like they got them to eventually breed with each other.

it just astounds me the way people can treat animals. i mean, all of us humans aren't "purebred" (meaning we're not all 100% of some nationality) and what would've happened if we came down with some expensive disease or were born at an inopportune time? most wouldn't just kill the baby, they'd try to make things work. i think of my kitties as my babies (i do actually call my tabitha "the daughter i haven't had yet" - lol!) and wouldn't do anything to harm them and would do anything for them. if they needed some expensive operation, i'd find a way to make it work. when my cat jonathan needed to get 9 of his teeth pulled because they'd started rotting away due to old age, the vet worked out a payment plan. i'd do it for my kid, so why not my cat too? they bring as much joy and happiness into my life as anything else and i couldn't imagine my life without just one of those furry critters so i don't know how people can just throw cats and dogs out on the street.
 
1. i love, love, love, love, love kitties.


2. my roommate and i are already planning on rescuing 2 kitties from the humane society when we get a house this summer. i want to get an older fat one (cos i know those ones never get adopted, but those are the ones i love), and she's going to get a little baby kitty. i've never gotten kittes from places other than the humane society. :up: saving kitties
 
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