Why do people wait until the last second?

rang_27 · May 14, 2009

This drives me nuts! A guy at work called me over a month ago about trying to get his son's cat into the shelter I volunteer at. At the time we had plenty of room. Now he called today & it's an emergancy as they are moving this weekend & the friend who said he would take the cat now refuses to take the cat. We just took in 8 cats last week so I'm not sure I can help this guy now. This happens all the time. It's frustrating that people wait until the last possible second. This cat sounds highly adoptable. He's neutered & less than a year old. So I know we find him a home, but I get frustrated with people waiting until the last second.

motoko9 · May 14, 2009

Aaargh - that must be frustrating. It's difficult when that happens in any line of work ("Hey, can you help me with this? I need it by tomorrow!"). Unfortunately, your case involves a living creature, so you can't say "no"!

Best of luck in finding the poor guy a new home; I'm glad you think his prospects are good.

addiebee · May 14, 2009

B/C they are stupid, lazy and disorganized, and expect OTHER people to solve their problems...

Sorry - not liking the human race too much these days...

breellablue · May 14, 2009

I also get the "you have to pick up my cat right now" phone calls on the spay/neuter line. They don't even want them altered, just want to get rid of the cats!

forensic · May 14, 2009

I see this on Craigslist all the time, "Needs to be gone by tomorrow (or this weekend or next week)" whatever. I check Craigslist for this area pretty often and that's the first notice you put up? I'm sure you knew you were moving for weeks now...

white cat lover · May 14, 2009

I hear ya. I still remember a cat in such horrible shape, they were moving that day & wanted to surrender the cat. We absolutely had no room.....I think they took the poor kitty in to be euthanized, but at least he was a very senior boy (and not a younger kitty).

plainjane · May 15, 2009

I cannot understand the reasoning behind having to rid yourself of your pets because you lose your job, etc. I have a hard enough time making any ends meet month to month, but am able to care for my animals. I haven't had a traditional job for a few years now, and work soley on freelance payment for web-related work (all this equals= generally unemployeed). I plan for, save for, buy bulk, and spend wisely and am able to buy premium food, toys, treats, health supplies, etc for all of them. My only issue would be if I ever didn't have a place to live...however, I do have a car that would suffice temporarily if there was some emergency.

Then again, I have to take in account that I don't purchase cable, internet service, cell phone service, or those kinds of things. I live pretty simply, just out of habit. I also have been in rough situations and learned about how to get freebies, cheapies, and deals in life.

But...I fail to see the vaildity of 'oh, i can't afford it,' 'oh, i lost my job,' etc, let alone this last minute, 'I need to get rid of my cat ASAP or ELSE!' crap. I would not be just handing out my pets to whoever at the last minute because I CARE where and to whom they go.

I don't think people like this really care about animals like they should. Perhaps to them, they are not like small children (how I see and feel about mine), but merely glorified stuffed-animals?

rang_27 · May 15, 2009

I guess in this situation what frustrates me is that I could have easily gotten the cat into the shelter a couple of months ago. When I told the director, she said sure we can take him this week. We had plenty room. I think we still have a couple open cages, but chances are this cat will be jumping someone else on the waiting list just because this guy "thought" his friend was going to take the cat. We are no-kill so of coarse we always have a waiting list, but young cats have very good chances at adoption. Since this cat is already neutered it reduces our cost for caring for him. We don't use that as criteria for taking a cat in, but it makes it a little bit easier to take when people wait till the last minuet.

icklemiss21 · May 15, 2009

It drives me crazy too, we try to keep some space around the end of the month for the OMG I need him out today but you can't really 'keep' space when dealing with strays.

Thankfully we are not at the waiting list point right now so things have been a little easier (great adoption numbers coupled with finding less strays means we took in our whole waiting list)

eilcon · May 15, 2009

Originally Posted by AddieBee

B/C they are stupid, lazy and disorganized, and expect OTHER people to solve their problems...

That about sums it up and this doesn't just apply to pets. Seems to be the attitude many people take toward pretty much every aspect of their lives these days. It's all about making excuses, not accepting responsibility for their actions, and a lack of committment. People want to take the easy way out. It's really a shame and just incredibly sad and frustrating when it comes to pets because they're the ones that suffer.

nurseangel · May 15, 2009

Originally Posted by plainjane

I cannot understand the reasoning behind having to rid yourself of your pets because you lose your job, etc. I have a hard enough time making any ends meet month to month, but am able to care for my animals. I haven't had a traditional job for a few years now, and work soley on freelance payment for web-related work (all this equals= generally unemployeed). I plan for, save for, buy bulk, and spend wisely and am able to buy premium food, toys, treats, health supplies, etc for all of them. My only issue would be if I ever didn't have a place to live...however, I do have a car that would suffice temporarily if there was some emergency.

Then again, I have to take in account that I don't purchase cable, internet service, cell phone service, or those kinds of things. I live pretty simply, just out of habit. I also have been in rough situations and learned about how to get freebies, cheapies, and deals in life.

But...I fail to see the vaildity of 'oh, i can't afford it,' 'oh, i lost my job,' etc, let alone this last minute, 'I need to get rid of my cat ASAP or ELSE!' crap. I would not be just handing out my pets to whoever at the last minute because I CARE where and to whom they go.

I don't think people like this really care about animals like they should. Perhaps to them, they are not like small children (how I see and feel about mine), but merely glorified stuffed-animals?

Amen, sister! I don't think this could have been written more eloquently.

icklemiss21 · May 15, 2009

When visiting a shelter, I seen a great sign in the office

Your lack of preparation is not my emergency

A little simplistic a view when dealing with lives but something we use as a mantra in the shelter

rang_27 · May 18, 2009

Turns out we could not get the kitty in because some of our adoptions fell through. I don't know what happend with the kitty, but I suspect they are going to get on our waiting list.

Why do people wait until the last second?

rang_27

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motoko9

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addiebee

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breellablue

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forensic

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white cat lover

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plainjane

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rang_27

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icklemiss21

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