# No kill shelters? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2007, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101 "2007-06-07T08:26:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/1 "2007-06-07T08:26:30Z")
Would anyone know if there are any no-kill shelters in SE Kansas or as far as Tusla Oklahoma, that might take a stray cat from a different town? Where would I search to find such information? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/2 "2007-06-07T11:09:52Z")
Call around to your local vets offices (Or call a vet from the town where you want to take the cat). They might have an idea of what you could do. Good luck to you, and thank you for being kind enough to try to find a no-kill shelter for the cat! That is ‘good karma’ for you! ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/3 "2007-06-07T11:28:12Z")
I did find [this](http://www.h4ha.org/shelters/USA/Kansas/316/1-17-117-0.html), and will be calling some of the numbers there. I have already sent an inquisitive e-mail to one of the no-kill shelters listed on that page. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/4 "2007-06-07T20:44:21Z")
Keep in mind that “no kill” is not necessarily a great thing. A “no kill” shelter is typically always at capacity. The highly adoptable kitten that you would like to give them may be turned away, while animals that are aggressive, sick, geriatric, etc take up space until they die at the shelter. I have examined terminal animals for no kill shelters that refuse euthanasia because of their by-laws, yet the shelter is unable to afford treatment, so rather than euthanize they take the animal back to the shelter to die. The shelters I support are _not_ no kill. They euthanize animals on an as needed basis, trying to offer to the public as many highly adoptable animals as they possibly can. They tend to be able to take an animal at any given time. More and more I see “no kill” being used by shelters as a marketing ploy. “Remember us in your will” campaigns are a big thing today, and some of the shelters that use this idea have to get very creative to maintain their not for profit situation. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/5 "2007-06-07T21:42:49Z")
**vetbridge** , I hadn’t thought of it that way! You’ve opened my eyes. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/6 "2007-06-07T21:58:35Z")
Are there any shelters that euthanize only when an animal has an untreatable sickness? That’s almost crueler than simply euthanizing an animal that hasn’t been adopted in a couple days. Is there a happy medium, shelters that will not kill animals unless they are terminally ill (or have $1,000s of medical conditions,) but will still keep ones that might be a bit old or crotchety? (I might add there there was a stray outside my condo that adopted me and people said that she was at least 15, probably older when I got her. She lived for 2+ years after that, and I’m sure that as she was malnourished, mangy\*, had an inoperable but perhaps benign lump on her back, and a little arthritis at the end, I’m sure that if I had taken her to the shelter she woulda gonna right on the gurney.) \*both of which cured themselved under regular food treatment and/or flea treatment. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/7 "2007-06-07T22:23:47Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Is there a happy medium, shelters that will not kill animals unless they are terminally ill (or have $1,000s of medical conditions,) but will still keep ones that might be a bit old or crotchety? [/QUOTE] I have worked with _many_ shelters over the years. Without getting involved with a shelter and evaluating the work they are doing, I know of no way to separate the “good” from the “bad”. In part this is because in this setting, “good” and “bad” are a matter of personal opinion. There are shelters I’ve worked with for decades and will continue to work with unless something drastic changes. And there are shelters that I refuse to do business with (as in they are not permitted on my premises). If you really want to see what is going on with a particular shelter, donating some time and cleaning cages, walking dogs, brushing cats, etc would be my suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/8 "2007-06-07T22:59:11Z")
The shelter I worked at was a “no kill” shelter and it some ways it was horrible. There were at least 10 large black lab mix dogs there who had been there for as long as four years - they had been kenneled for so long with minimal attention that they were basically unadoptable. Yet the powers that be decreed that they would remain there until they were adopted, even if it meant turning away adoptable dogs. Sad. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/9 "2007-06-07T23:03:28Z")
**vetbridge** , _thank you_!! I’ve been trying to explain this to people for years. We have a local “no kill” shelter that operates just the way you say. They never have room to take pets that someone can’t keep for whatever reason, but they have thousands of dollars for orthopedics, surgeries, etc., and space to keep feral dogs/cats that will never be adoptable. One summer when there was a lot of dog distemper about, they claimed to have saved 15 dogs with distemper. Yeah, right. How many dogs seized to death in utter misery, so you could pretend that 15 dogs with colds were “saved from distemper”? And whenever I bitch about them, someone’s always bound to say “but, _they save the [del]children[/del] animals_! They MUST be good!” (I’m not a vet, so no one listens to me. ;)) Gah!! ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/10 "2007-06-07T23:17:09Z")
This cat is highly adoptable, and the shelter is interested in finding her a spot from what it looks like. Here is the letter I just sent the worker letting them know we’d had the Feline Leukemia and FIV test(s) done: > [@](#): > > She tested negative! The vet says she’s a year to a year and half old. (…!) He agrees that she hasn’t had kittens to nurse in some time. She doesn’t freak out when in a vet’s office. She doesn’t freak out when on my husband’s lap, in a vet’s office, with two large dogs, and two little dogs in it! She wasn’t phased when they took blood from her jugular either. She’s getting along ok so far with the other felines who have cautiously been introduced, she isnt’ hiding, nor is she being aggressive. She really is a loving little cat. (She’s not the smallest cat I’ve ever seen, but she’s pretty small. About the size of a six to eight month old kitten, a smallish female.) ETA: This shelter was founded to take in pets that could no longer be kept by their owners, as well as strays, and animals from other shelters at times. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-kill-shelters/407101/11 "2007-06-07T23:24:15Z")
Further descriptions from before we got her to the vet to be tested: > [@](#): > > She had kittens at one point, but her nipples are dry and cracked, yet her teats are not yet dry, they are semi-engorged, soft, not hard. I didn’t try to get milk out of them, but I doubt I could. (She’s too young to be a mother!) We looked a couple hours ago all over the park, and found no kittens either. (She’d been away long enough they’d have been calling for her too.) I suspect they died, not that they are weaned, but maybe she weaned them. We are going to get her checked at the vet’s today to see about that, ask his opinion etc. Having seen pregnant/nursing mother cats, and what they are like when they have weaned the kittens or the like, I really think the kittens aren’t with her anymore for whatever reason. > > She’s very well trained, she won’t get up on the bed, and seems to not be too scared of being in the car. She’s shy, but I think it’s because she was “thrown away”. She’s not a downtrodden little thing though, more cautious. She wants to be loved, badly. She stays near me when I am in this room, but a quiet “It’s ok little one” will soothe her if I have to go out of the room or am returning. > [@](#): > > She was in a park that was not anywhere near houses. She was dumped. She is thin, but her fur is glossy. (So, not out there too long, but she was HUNGRY!) She’s been in a household before, she grasps “house rules”. > [@](#): > > She’s black and white (mainly black) about the size of a six month old kitten (but I’d guess older, not a year old though) with golden eyes and glossy medium length fur. > [@](#): > > She wants so badly to be loved. I know she’ll make someone a good pet. She does climb, her humans need to be experienced at being owned (heh) by cats. When she first came into this room, she did investigate the desk top, and got spooked at my husband’s chagrined voice and leapt to the computer monitor, and thought about the shelves up on the wall. She soothed very easily though, and did not struggle when I gently got her down. She’s not tried to get back up there again either. (I think she just didn’t know the etiquette of this place, but I caught that she loves high places.) She seems to be quiet, but very loving. She’d make a very good loving little pet. She just wants to belong. Send good thoughts her way. The vet said he couldn’t get milk out of her, and agrees she hasn’t had kittens to nurse in a while. (Poor things probably died, but I’ll hope they were weaned and found loving homes.)