Every Rat Bastard Who Doesn't Spay Or Neuter Your Cats

The BBQ Pit
21

My two babies are were both adopted from a kill-shelter. Fortunately for them, the lady that found them kept them during the week and took them to the shelter for adoption days during the weekend. They were kittens from a stray mom at a near-by apartment complex that she had taken in as foster kids. We actually got to meet her and she was super nice. Thank God for people like her.

One positive thing I can say about the state of Texas is I like the fact that all cats from shelters must be spayed/neutered. That only makes sense. I never adopted any from other states I lived in, so I’m not sure if that’s a universal thing or not.

And I totally agree about the responsibility issue. We were out $100 last week because it was annual check-up/shot time. I always take my sweeties to the doctor at any sign of trouble. They truly are like my children and I can’t imagine not taking the best care of them I can. They are super-spoiled. My big Bandit boy won’t even eat people food. It’s only Nutro cat food for him! :slight_smile: Gosh I love 'em. Just writing this email is making me smile like a goofy idiot.

22

I used to volunteer at my local shelter and I saw some awful things sigh

We have 4 shelter kitties, a shelter doggie and a shelter hamster. All our animals save one came from the shelter. Unfortunately for our sweet Paige, she was very sick as so many store bought animals are and while we did all we could for her it wasn’t enough.

We also fostered many kitties and puppies and adult cats that the shelter would otherwise have to have euthanized. When pregnant kitties or kitties with very young litters came in they came to our house and stayed until they were ready for adoption. We also took in some cats with upper respitory illnesses so they wouldn’t infect the other shelter kitties and gave them medicine and love until they were better and could be adopted out. It was rewarding but also very sad as I learned the reality of animal shelter policy.

In college I earned a grant to do research and write an ethnography of our animal shelter. The shelter even has a copy out for visitors to read! I made some great friends and will never ever buy another pet when there are so many needing adoption.

23

In my opinion spaying and neutering is a blessing in improving cat behavior. Sometimes fixing an animal heads problems off entirely. The best behaved cats I’ve ever had were fixed the earliest. Even one heat can, sorry ladies, turn a female cat into a queen bitch.

Male animals usually show less aggression also. Honestly, the benefits are even greater. It’s a win-win. The recovery period from the surgery is so short, you won’t even have time to feel guilty about it. All my animals have bounced back to normal in a couple days.

More opinion, I think fixing your animals keeps them more like puppies or kittens in a good way, without stunting their growth or keeping them from being protective. I’ve got an 85 lbs. black shepherd that will disprove any worries about an animal getting lazy in the protection department. She’s still as hyper, and somewhat neurotic, as ever.

FYI: CAT OWNERS (and I am one)

Stray cats are hell on the local wildlife. They kill birds without reference to the endangered species list. They have no bag limit.

Cats have one life. One car accident will take your cat out. Eight more are not necessary. The number of dead cats by the road makes me think they don’t understand traffic rules very well either.

Wild animals, or feral dogs, will rip your cat to shreds. Have no illusions. Your cat is not the top of the food chain. Hell, pomeranian puppies are below hawks on the food chain. I’ve seen hawks eying them before. The owner wouldn’t believe me. I picked up the dog and the hawk flew away, while shooting me dirty looks.

A six foot king snake might just make your five month kitten into a lump in it’s belly. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Moreover, king snakes are beneficial to the environment, unlike stray cats. Alligators love stray pets of all varieties.

Most important is the math part of the whole deal. Someone help me out here, but one pregnant cat out in the “wild” (suburbs, whatever) can produce an unbelievable number of offspring in just a couple years. One mother can easily produce six kittens. Three females from that litter, let’s say, six more kittens each – and so on. I think they can crank out two litters a year.

24

A comment from my mother in my LJ:
I saw the sweetest little girl over at Tanya & John’s (a couple across from Ramona’s in Albert – she’s the one who has a kitty named Cuddles that looks so much like our dear Tobey). Anyways, she was so little – a cute little Tabby with orange spots here and there. And very friendly! I told John I’d take her (they feed all the strays in that side of the Village). But he said she was Tanya’s sook! They are so excellent at looking out for strays over there. God bless them!

My response:
Tanya’s sook? I guess that means she’s going to take it in, fix it, give it it’s shots and a warm place to sleep? Honestly, unless they’re willing to actually take the cat in, fuck them. :slight_smile: I’m sure they’re very nice, but you need to know when to get an animal to someone who can really help them - I had to do that with Furry Paws here - a male who needed fixing and a lot of attention so he could get weight back on him.
Sigh.
I can’t fucking understand that - you like a cat, you can’t afford to take it in maybe, so when someone offers to, you say no! Don’t do that! Don’t give the cat a permanent and loving home, and its shots so it won’t get sick! Don’t give it shelter from the cold and rain and a steady meal! Don’t fix it so that we can prevent more sweet cats from living as strays!

People are SO FUCKED UP. growl

25

Glad to – it’s my job ;).

According to Humane Society of the United States estimates,

Note the word “theoretically”: such estimates don’t take environmental limits into account, nor the dynamics of population growth (populations tend to grow like a sine wave instead of like a parabola: as they near an environmental limit, growth tapers off). Still, when cats don’t have strict environmental limits, their population growth can be staggering.

Like I said, we get nearly 10,000 animals every year. Nationwide, 2-3 million cats and dogs are euthanized every year due to lack of homes for them. Please, folks: help us lower that number.

Daniel

26

We got our first kitty, Bailey, from Mr. Lissar’s brother’s no-good ex-girlfriend. He was less than a year old, tiny, thin, and neurotic about food. Grr. He’s now 12 lbs and excessively smug about life and his servants. He had major major surgery last year, to keep him alive, and I dread to think how painfully he would have died if he were still with ex-girlfriend.

Inherited Aerin (the loud kitten) from a neighbour three and a half months ago. She’s about seven months, so we’ll get her spayed in the next few weeks- she hasn’t gone into heat yet, thank heaven. We do want to get it done before she does, although it’s hard to imagine how it could make her any louder, really.

Both of them are inside kitties, and we took them, and we’re gonna take care of them. They’re our babies.

27

[veering a bit off topic]

I’ve just come in from barn chores at the stable where my two horses are boarded. In 0 degree F weather, I’ve mucked two stalls where the manure balls were rockhard and even the urine puddles were solid ice sheets; hammered ice out of buckets; made up grain meals as fast as possible because I had to do it barehanded; hauled extra hay and 50-pound bags of shavings to the stalls;and lugged and poured out the five-gallon canisters of warm water I’d filled at the tap at home and brought to the barn so the boys could have a warm drink. Then hauled more (cold) water from the barn’s tap to refill their water buckets after they inhaled their morning “coffee”. Tonight (forecast to drop to -12 F), when I come home from work, I’ll head to the barn before my own supper, refill the water containers and give Nick and Bennie another warm drink, and extra hay to generate internal heat. (I’ll also swing by another barn on my way home, to check on the horse I fed and watered this morning, and make sure he and his four stablemates have hay and unfrozen water.)

Back home, now my butt’s thawing, I’m about to feed lunch to my eight cats. I cleaned their seven litter boxes this morning, as I do every day before my own breakfast (and theirs). They’ll have supper when I get home tonight – each in his/her own bowl, including Sylvia’s special urinary tract diet. And fresh water. Then they get to swarm me for attention.

Yup, a lot of work, having my animals, and it has to be done every single day. But I chose to have them, they depend upn me for their survival and comfort, and I’d be a pathetic excuse for a human being if I were to fail them.

28

Also because of the way cats and dogs breed there are huge spikes during the year when suddenly the environment or the shelter is inundated with new animals.

These numbers cannot be supported and so they either die of starvation or predation in the wild or they are euthanized upon arrival at the shelter because there just is not enough space. And like others have said - domesticated animals out in the wild are not very high up on the food chain.

I know the ASPCA requires adopted animals to be spayed or neutered and the shelter I used to volunteer at had “clinics” where you could bring your animal and they would have it spayed or neutered for very cheap for you and they had a program you could apply to for free spaying or neutering if you filled out the application and met the guidelines. They also ran fundraisers for spay/neuter programs.

With so many options available I cannot understand anyone stating they couldn’t get this procedure done.

29

We have a similar law in San Mateo county. I will find the full details of it when I get to work. It has, unfortunatly, been a dismal failure. They estimate only something like 3% of cats are liscenced, and not a single unaltered permit has been purchased in 10 years. I work for a rescue org, I can attest to just how many kittens are born every year.

One of the things I don’t like about the law is that there are no exceptions. For example: I foster. Many times the litters of kittens come in with mothers. Should I be required to pay $100 for each mother, even though she was already pregnant when we got her and it’s dangerous to spay her while she’s nursing?

Also, I hate that they (our local humane society) tout this law regularly as some kind of great success. If I, a foster mom, do not comply with the law, why in Gods name would those people who can’t even be responsible enough to spay their animals do it?

There would need to be serious enforcement and heavy fines (The carpool lane fines are $300. People risk it. Handicapped space: $250. People risk it. The fines would need to be signifigant). Of course, you raise the fine high enough and said mornons you’re trying to reach–who can’t be bothered to pay $15 for fix thier cat-- are just going to get scared and toss the cat outside.

Does your county have the resources for enforcement? Mine doesn’t. They can’t even handle the cases of abuse & cruelty. Permit money would pay for more cops, but you’d need the cops first to get the money. Enforcement could also backfire, causing increased shelter load as people abandon animals they don’t want to pay for or might have taken in. That cat that had kittens on your backyard? Don’t bring her inside, or you might get fined.

30

This has been touched on before in the thread, but it bears making special mention:
Cats will go into their first heat between 6 and 10 months old. And tomcats start messing around even earlier. DON’T WAIT TO SPAY OR NEUTER!!! Also, if you waited a little too long, a cat in heat can still be spayed. Talk to your vet.

I think it also bears mentioning that cats don’t need to have a litter before being spayed to live long, healthy lives. That’s one old wive’s tale that I wish would just go away already.

31

Very interesting points – including some I hadn’t thought about.

First, I’ll note that we don’t have adequate enforcement. We’re trying to receive adequate funding from the county in order to be able to enforce the laws effectively, but unfortunately, it’s hard to squeeze blood from a stone.

Second, enforcement will only be in conjunction with other animal control issues. If your dog never gets in trouble with animal control, we won’t cite you for not spaying your dog. However, given that more than 90% of animal control complaints currently involve unaltered animals, we expect to be doing plenty of enforcement of this ordinance. Don’t let your foster cats run free, and there won’t be a problem.

Third, although the law doesn’t go into effect until February, I’m already seeing the effects. Two months ago (before the law passed), I issued two or three vouchers every week from my office. In between my last post and this one, I’ve sent out four applications to people wanting such assistance, and directed a fifth and sixth person to an alternate program (they didn’t qualify for the one I manage).

Daniel

32

Sounds like it. If not for being suspicious of moving boxes, I’d say she something just set her off. Much like what happened to our Silky.

We had Silky since she was born, her momma was one of ours too. She had already been with us on one move and hadn’t been any trouble. She was about 13 when we moved again. This time, we didn’t go directly to our new home but made a side trip to be at a wedding. Silky was fine for the first leg but she went nuts in the middle of the second. We were tooling down either I-55 or I-57 when she started cowering in Mom’s lap, then tried to jump out the window. If that window hadn’t been closed… :eek:

Cats are weird.

33

Eddy, your horses are gorgeous!

We have two rescue dogs and one humane society kitty. Rusty, the redheaded idiot golden, was picked up half-starved with several BBs in his face! Somebody SHOT AT THAT WONDERFUL DOG! Probably just a kid, thinking it was funny or something. I’m not sure if he was fixed then but he was when the rescue found him. slow burn Isaac, the yellow lab, was picked up in better shape at about the age of ten months to a year. Guess what? We’re QUITE sure he was somebody’s pet that got out looking for love, since he wasn’t fixed. There are disgusting numbers of young male stray dogs around here, because when dog puberty hits, they get horny.

They are fabulous dogs, though Rusty has anxiety issues. He’s an absolute sweetie, though. People are surprised to hear that they were rescues, because they “look so good.” I guess these same people don’t connect that their goodlooking unfixed male dog could get out and within a few weeks be placed as – you guessed it! – a RESCUE DOG. Arrrrrrrrrgh.

Poor Rusty. If I could get my hands on whoever shot him, I’d shoot them. Many times. In strategic locations.

Emily, the tortoiseshell kitty, was at a pet adoption one day. She’d been picked up a few weeks ago with kittens, and the kittens went fast, but she hadn’t. She’s teeny and has the biggest damn attitude you’ve ever seen. She rivals the Siamese I’ve known for sheer attitude. I bet her babies were just adorable. Though I shudder to think of how she’d act if she were in heat…

34

When I adopted Eddy, Teddy and Freddy from the local rescue organization, they were four months old, and already neutered. Doesn’t seem to have affected them adversely to be done so young – they’re all robustly healthy, and BIG kitties. With my females, the vet has wanted to wait till they’re at least six months old.

Vet care isn’t cheap in my area, but in the long view, it’s a tiny investment for a world of good.

35

This is a slight hijack, but I figure book recommendations are always welcome…I just finished listening to an audio book with the kids called “The Dog Who Rescues Cats” by Phillip Gonzales. I know, it sounds a bit sappy, but it’s still nice to know about people helping stray cats. There were only a couple of “difficult” parts; nothing the kids (ages 7 & 12) couldn’t handle.

Julia
Owner of Bruno & Lloyd, happy fixed kitties

36

that there were so many animal lovers on this board.

Good Show.

We have been ‘parents’ of numerous cats and dogs, and the occasional hamster. As some others have mentioned in this thread, we’ve never bought one. Ours are rejects from other people, mostly ones we’ve been given. In the early years when our kids were young it was ‘Mom, he followed me home, can I keep him?’ stuff that kept our backyard full. Lately we find them almost everywhere.

Right now we are the servants of 7 cats, all spayed/neutered (mostly by us, but one came to us that way :smiley: ) and all taken to the vet regularly, given Revolution regularly too. Most are inside cats, but some like to wander. BTW I’ve seen another cat ‘visiting’ lately, so we might have 8 soon.

We are members of the local Cat People and participate the the feral feeding program. We do the best we can for them, though you just know only a portion of them will ever reach maturity.

Just checkin’ in. :slight_smile:

37

Both my female cat (Blarr) and dog (Yep, his name is Bubba) have been neutered and are great pets.

But my thought daggers are aimed at the next door neighbor. She keeps her dog in a cage in the back yard. They call it a kennel, but a kennel would actually give the dog some room to move around. I never see her walk him or let him out. She got the dog three years ago for her son who was ten. He played with it for about six months and then got boored with it. Now the dog is just another chore that he hates to do.

Sometimes I sneak into their yard and pet the dog. When I do, he is so happy to see me, to have some kind of contact, that I’m actually afraid that he will hurt himself as he tries to push through the fencing. This dog is just dieing for affection and it shows.

I would call the city and complain about his living condition but I’m afraid that they would shelter him and eventually kill him. If I knew somebody who would give him a good home I wouldn’t think twice about stealing him and taking him to a home that he deserves.

I thought about going to the neighbors and offering to buy him but he and Bubba do not get along. Bubba is a Golden Retriever and the neighbor’s dog is a brown lab. Bubba is a bit of a chucklehead and wants to whup ass on the lab. I’ve tried to explain to him that he is a beautiful arrangement of golden fur, fat and skin while the lab is 20 lbs heavier and is pure muscle. It would be a swift and possibly fatal lesson for Bubba. Just like the Gary Larson cartoon, all Bubba hears is,“blah blah blah blah Bubba, Blah blah blah.”

I’ve thought this over and honestly can’t think of a solution to help this dog. If any of you hve a suggestion I would be glad to hear it.

Bubbadog
The guy, not the dog

38

Call local animal control and tell them the situation. They’re extremely unlikely to seize the dog, unless there’s far worse cruelty going on; in our area at least, it’s illegal to seize an animal unless the animal’s life is in immediate danger (e.g., it’s so badly starved that it might die within 24 hours), or unless animal control has finished a long court process.

They are, however, likely (depending on the department) to come out and read the owners the riot act about proper animal care. And that’s even if everything they’re doing is legal: animal control can use a bully pulpit sometimes to get people thinking about their animals. If they’re breaking any animal care ordinances, they may be able to write a citation and/or issue a warning to the people, telling them exactly what they need to do.

Is the dog purebred, do you think? I’m guessing so, given your thought about purchasing it. Where do you live, roughly? Labrador Retriever Rescue might help you if you’re in the mid-Atlantic region; otherwise, look around for other rescue groups. It may well be that if you approach them politely and manage to get them to open up about the dog, they’d be glad to get rid of him, especially if you tell them you might be able to help them find a new home.

Daniel

39

People who would treat a Lab like that don’t deserve to have one. Period. Isaac has worshipped the ground I walk on since he first laid eyes on me. I’ve known several Labs, though he’s the only one I’ve lived with, and he is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful dog. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

And yeah, there’s quite a few of us animal people on the boards.

40

Sigh

I too have a “neighbour’s pet” story. Not as sad, though.

My beautiful outdoor cat (spayed female) is very good friends with the next door neighbours’ cat. This (neutered male) is a wonderful affectionate animal, who was abandoned by the previous neighbour and adopted by the current neighbour.

Unfortunately, they don’t seem to care for him very much. We let ours out, and check on her frolicking regularly; they seem content to toss him outdoors in all weathers, and not let him in at all.

As well, they don’t seem to feed him well. He is always thin and hungry.

So, little by little, we have got into the habit of letting him in and feeding him ourselves. Our cat loves this, they play happily together (so cute!), and she doesn’t even seem to mind him eating out of her bowl.

It would break your heart, seeing him shivering outside in the cold in the night - knowing that, at one in the morning, it is extremely unlikely that the neighbours will be up and let him in. So we do. And he sleeps over at our house, plays with our cat, and eats her food.

Now, the problem is this. Our landlords have already offered to adopt him, and the owners angrily turned them down. I suspect that any offer on our part will be received the same way. However, they don’t seem to have noticed that we have more-or-less adopted him by default - though he also sleeps at their house, when allowed. Do we make the offer, and risk having the neighbours forbid us to have him over? Do we continue as we are? He seems happier and healthier (he has put on weight since we started feeding him regularly). If the neighbour forbids us, I don’t know if I would obey - it would lead to a bad scene.