Some people don't deserve animals!

In this thread I spoke of the pain I felt when I called Animal Control to come and pick up a stray kitten.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=120509

As I mentioned, I went to the shelter to check on the critter personally. And I have been tossing in bed for over an hour now over what I saw, so I HAVE to get up and vent!

Goddamn you people! What part of “Please spay and neuter your animals” don’t you understand?!! I saw dozens of kittens and puppies that needed homes. The five little kitties in one cage saw me looking at them and leaped onto the cagefront, begging for attention!

Is it the expense of vet care? Then you shouldn’t get a pet in the first place! I don’t equate pets with human beings, but if you take in an animal I feel you are obligated to give it the best care you can afford. And that includes medical treatment. I love my own two cats and recently spent quite a bit(for me) on blood tests for one of them, because an earlier checkup had indicated he may have problems. Thank God it was a false alarm, and I don’t regret one penny.

Maybe if everyone was required to visit a shelter once in a while we wouldn’t have as big a problem. I once heard a report that a TV station(I think it was in California) once let a shelter animal, a nice dog, be euthanized right on the air, to try and wake people up to the problem of too many strays!!!

Sorry for the length and the rambling nature of this venting. If I was less tired I would have composed something more organized, but as it is I am just letting things flow. It’s not even original, others have done a better job.

I couldn’t agree with you more. I have 3 cats and 3 dogs, all strays or adoptions. It absolutely breaks my heart when I go to a shelter. I want to take them all home with me!!!

Slight hijack here though.

What really gets me is the whole “I just have to get a purebred” thinking. WTF??? Most purebreds I’ve ever met have been stupid or ridden with health problems due to inbreeding by greedy breeders.

Case in point - guy I work with just has to have a purebred boxer so he can breed and sell puppies. He goes and gets himself hitched and gets a daughter in the deal. Now, along with his own daughter, the new daughter and his wife, the dog is up for adoption because they “just don’t have the time to deal with her hyper activity.” Urg. It’s a characteristic of the breed - deal with the responsibility you brought upon yourself.

If you’re going to pay for a pet, go to a shelter and get one there.

My $.02

Regarding purebred dogs…

I disagree with you.

What you see in shelters are mostly mutts that come from mums and dads that were NOT spayed and neutered. They came from people who wanted their bitch to have “just one litter”, you know, because puppies are cute… and who sold these pups through petstores and newspapers or “free to a good home.”

I’ve helped breed a couple of litters. I own, train, and show dogs. I train service dogs, arson dogs, and Search and Rescue dogs. All our dogs are registered, purebred dogs.

In ALL my contracts with breeders, it’s CLEARLY STATED that if, at ANY TIME, I have a problem with the dog, or can’t keep it, it has to go back to the breeder - not the pound, not another owner - the BREEDER. All my contracts also have a clause that states that if the breeder hears of any kind of neglect or abuse, he or she has FULL RIGHTS to come and claim the dog from me.

But you are right - some people buy a purebred dog JUST TO BREED it. All of us, as breeders, have had a time when we’ve placed all our puppies carefully but make a mistake and place one with a con-artist who wants to breed just to make money. I only breed when I WANT SOMETHING - I breed for me. Yes, I sell puppies, but I end up with one HELL of a debt in the end.

I would rather blame the Puppy mills, those that buy dogs from PETSTORES and basically give the mills their clientele than responsible owners who do their homework, choose the right breed for them, work hard with a breeder, sometimes wait a year or two to get the right puppy, and do things with their dogs.

::: stops the rant right there :::

Most good, responsible breeders believe that you can’t breed out of greed, and that if you don’t rescue, you shouldn’t breed.

Yes there are bad breeders out there. But there are a hell of a lot of good ones. And trust me, there are far more puppy mills who are supplying all those petshops with little dogs who are ill and poorly socialized who end up in pounds.

Look up pound listings - tell me - how many of these dogs are purebred? Most of them are local mutts - pet store dogs, or “my friend’s dog had puppies” dogs…

Spay and neuter the buggers, as the OP said.

In my contracts, I give some money back to all puppy buyers if they send me the vet certificates that the puppy was neutred. All pups are sold on a non-breeding agreement through the kennel club (they’d have to pay money and get my approval before breeding to lift the restriction.)

Anyway… rant over…

Elly & all dawgs

We’ve got a full blooded Welsh Terrier, and he’s not sick or ill or anything from inbreeding. He’s a little stupid and about twice the size he should be, but that’s about it.

But onto the OP. I went with a friend of mine to the animal shelter when she got her second cat, and it was totally sad to see all the animals in cages. The thought that they put so many animals to death is just heartbreaking, especially seeing how nice many of them are. Every Saturday here at the news station, we have a “Pet of the Week” segment where we have the local shelter bring in a pet (90% of the time it’s a dog, but occassionally, we get cats), and these animals are so sweet and precious, it’s terrible to think they’ll be put down. I wish they would establish a little island or something where they can just put unwanted pets, but I’m pretty sure it would be overrun within a few years.
I used to think it was cruel to get pets neutered, but a trip to any shelter will show how necessary it is. Many shelters now won’t let someone take a pet without it being neutered before it’s taken from the shelter. It’s a great idea, and I’m sure that no matter how many animals pass through them, you’re always going to have enough animals that can still reproduce, so the premise of dogs becoming an endangered species is not a problem. I think one of the big problems is not doing a good enough background check on whoever is adopting the animal. Some people just don’t know how to take care of pets or grasp how much responsibility it takes to take care of one. I feel shelters should provide classes for soon to be “parents.”
There’s a wonderful ad here in Austin about there being “Too many kitties in the city, too many cats in the alley way…” Really cute catchy tune, and a really worthy cause.

I love baby animals, kittens, puppies, birds, you name it. However, I will chime in with the OP here and beg folks to neuter their animals. My friend had 2 indoor cats - one male, one female. She got the male fixed at my begging, I offered to pay to have her female spayed, it hasn’t happened (yet, I’m thinking about it again) Her female got outside and got knocked up. She now has 4 indoor cats because she couldn’t give 2 of them away to good homes (1 was given to her cousin, her cousin got pissy and threatened to take it to be euthanized if she didn’t take it back, so she did, but she really can’t afford them. The kitty was the runt of the litter and has always been my favorite. I renamed her Sunny.)

IE. the only safe sex is spayed sex :slight_smile:

I will also never buy a purebred animal (and if I did, it would be from a good breeder I had researched) I would far prefer to rescue animals from shelters.

There are masses of stray cats here, wandering around the streets. Then again, because of all the cats, there are no rats. Sometimes I wish they could all be spayed, other times I welcome their presence as at least some urban “fauna” (there is precious little flora or fauna here in the desert). Genuinely I don’t know if the feral cats are miserable with there lot or not, they seem to find enough food not to be emaciated. On the other hand they live at risk of being captured and euthanased by the council, and the animal shelters here are overflowing with unwanted kittens.

So I think you are right - it would perhaps be kinder if everyone spayed.

I’d also like to chime in about pets that are bought for children (I guess to teach them responsibility). Then when the novelty wears off and the kids don’t take care of them and mommy and daddy don’t want to be bothered with extra work, these poor creatures wind up killed or dumped into a park when they’re generally ill-suited to live in the “wild.” I had a couple of guinea pigs, hamsters and a gerbil that I acquired because the kids got tired of taking care of them. If you’re not prepared to take over for your kids faltering attention, then DON’T get the creatures. Anytime I bought a pet for my daughter, I was fully prepared to take care of it myself if she failed to provide the necessary attention.

By the way, we have three purebreds (2 Dalmatians and an English Staffordshire terrier {or pitbull}). The Dalmatians we acquired because a coworker of mine had a dog that got pregnant by her brother-in-law’s dog (luckily, it was a Dalmatian also) when she was six months old. My friend wanted to breed her when she was older and didn’t think her dog would go into heat at 6 months. Surprise!

The pitbull we acquired when my daughter brought him home from the vet because he had clawed a child (who, I later found out, was 14 years old and should have known better). He is a smush and very affectionate but if you play with him, he plays rough. He unintentionally bit me once or twice trying to grab his rope when we were playing.

People if you get a big dog, remember, they have big teeth and claws, too. Don’t act like you’re playing with a miniature poodle, for God’s sake! (End of my rant)

Good rant, Baker. Is this your first Pit thread?

And let us not forget that most cities (including our own) have some sort of organization that provides low-cost spaying and neutering to those who can’t afford it (and hell, the one in Topeka doesn’t require any verification that you are, indeed, poor), so while money may be an issue when it comes to other veterinary care, spaying and neutering can be done at minimal cost.

I do think that part of the issue is that some people do equate getting a dog “fixed” with cruelty. My dad got a German Shepherd pup (male) about a year before he died, and my mom and I brought up the subject of neutering. By all other accounts (attention, affection, vet care), my dad was a great “dad” to that dog, but honey, everytime we brought up the subject of getting the dog fixed, my dad reacted as though we’d suggested that he chew the dog’s balls off with his own teeth (mind you, he never had an issue with spaying the female dog I got when I was 12).

So I think you’re right, Baker. People (other than responsible breeders) who object to the idea of spaying and neutering should be sentenced to hang out at a shelter for a few days.

“Parenting” classes for adoptive pet owners sounds like a good idea to me. The shelter here in Austin already checks to see if an apartment complex allows pets, if a prospective adopter lives in an apartment, and nueters the animal before you take it home. A simple “This is how to do basic stuff and this is what to expect” lesson would be a good idea.

Little pisses me off more than stories of pet abuse, maltreatment or neglect. I have a dog and cat back home, and I have a betta that lives with me here in Austin. (I had a pair but the red one went to the great toilet in the sky a couple months ago.) When I go home for a weekend nad can’t find anyone to feed the fish for me, I load up them up and take them home with me. Even though I know they’re “just fish,” I have no interest in seeing if they could go a day or so without feeding.

A few years ago, my grandparents adopted a perfectly adorable kitten, after my next-door neighbors found a pregnant stray and took her in before she had her litter. They were overjoyed with Doll, as they named her, and we were all happy they had something to watch and play with all the time. Despite how taken they were, they insisted on letting her out, ignoring the fact they live off one of the busiest fuckin’ streets in town. Guess what happened next. It’s just wrong to take in a pet if you’re not going to deal with the realities of taking care of it.

That’s ok. You didn’t see the purebred, registered, with-papers Golden Retriever in the local Humane Society. She had been boarded out and professionally trained - that paperwork was on file, as well.

The reason the dog was at the pound?

Gun shy.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

This is one of my big pet peeves. Thanks for the rant Baker, because while I can feel the feelings, I can’t put feelings into words as well as you and others do.

My dog was found with his brother and sister tied to a fence, in the middle of Feb. (NW Wisc. - freezing cold), they were found by some cross country skiiers, inside a large state park. Two month old puppies.

I just don’t get what people are thinking. Why do people think domestic animals can survive in the wild? Some humans can survive in the wild, would you leave a three-year old child out in the woods alone to fend for himself? People who abandon animals have my contempt to the nth degree.

Not so - at least, not everywhere. In Phoenix, there are just as many pure bred dogs in the pound as there are mutts. I have a pure-bred Golden Retriever who was fifteen hours away from euthanasia. The organization I volunteer for has rescued rare breeds of cat - rexes, ocicats, Burmese, and more. Many pure-bred dogs - ALL breeds.

The average animal at the pound is two years old. Healthy. Housebroken. Most are good-natured and trainable (well, the dogs are… :wink: ). And many, as I said, are pure breeds.

That’s not to say that there is no place in the grand scheme of things for breeders. At least, the best ones. People like you, Elly, who realize that breeding animals, if done properly, is, at best, a break-even proposition. They protect the sanctity of the breed. And there are people who, for whatever reason, require or desire certain characteristics that can only be found in one breed or another. They should be able to adopt any kind of pet they want. But a lot of people are not aware of the quality of the animals at the pound, and they DO buy from pet stores and disreputable breeders.

Spaying and neutering is the first step to avoiding overpopulation. There’s more - realizing that pet ownership is a lifelong commitment, rather than one of convenience. But spaying and neutering is first.