I do cat rescue and have moved to a different state and am auditing rescue groups. This is a serious thing for me, so I need to be sure that I have found the right one.
I like my new group, we think alike on a lot of issues. Cat rescue is the same as anything else, there are always issues.
My group has a couple of veterinarians who do cheap s/n, but there is a limit on how many they can do a week. But, there are several local veterinarians who will spay/neuter cats half off for military vets. I just happen to be a military vet.
Now, here’s the problem: the group thinks that it would save more cats if we could start using my DD214 with the other vets when we have too many cats for our regular vets.
My gut feeling is that it would be wrong. I’m in rescue to save animals and while its possible that I might have done extreme things to do so, it just seems wrong to abuse the kindness of the vets who want to help the military vets for my cause.
When I brought my objections up to the group, they reminded me that I am firmly committed to stopping the breeding.
Nope. That benefit is obviously intended for pets of veterans, not large scale rescue operations. It isn’t fair to the veterinarians, who might stop offering the discount at all if you abuse it that way.
I’d actually guess that the veterinarians offering the discount services would be willing to talk to us about it. I’m new in the group and the state and culture, so I never really know what is acceptable here.
I’m often confused, but that just really felt wrong.
I agree totally. It reminds me of the story about the goose who laid golden eggs. Get too greedy and you can end up with less than you had before. In this case it would be less cats getting fixed after the participating veterinarians stop giving discounts to anyone, thus making it harder for veterans to properly care for their animals.
Having a firm commitment to minimizing breeding is a fine thing, but it shouldn’t overshadow basic human decency and honor. Nor should it have such self-focused tunnel vision that it fails to consider unintended consequences.
If the rescue group wants you to just schedule the animals as if they were yours and get the veteran discount, that’s not cool. I personally would talk to the doctors on my own and maybe something can get worked out that would work for the rescue, too. If not, they now know your name and the deceitful practice can’t be done anyway.
I’m retired military and seldom use any veteran discounts offered. Of course it’s a little different for me compared to people who only served a tour or two as I get a retirement check.
Why wouldn’t you just call the vets who offer the discount and ask? But even **if **you were trying to do it on the sly, wouldn’t they get mighty suspicious of all “your” pets?