Pet Regulations - Curious - Page 2

My cats are all kill shelter rescues, 6 with special needs. I have 10 total. Animal Services regulates the amount you can have. I am at home all day and have so much attention to my cats and love having this time with them.

None of my guys/gals are breeder cats (except one I got at the kill shelter which was promptly fixed) - was used as a breeder cat before. All are spayed an neutered.

It's your local Animal Services that has the information you are speaking of. I would never buy from a store, always the kill shelter (except my first guy, from a no-kill shelter 13 years ago.

It is the peoples' responsibility, I believe to contact Animal Services if they see true hoarding going on and once the responsibility is handed over to Animal Services, it is their responsibility to check things out, which here in my town, they do. Dog fighting rings, Rooster-Fighting, hoarders (a lady with 150 animals, mostly dogs who still swears she's not a hoarder and call in all the time on the radio station (as a different name each time) talking down Animal Services. (I saw the pictures, OMG!)

But if people can take care of a larger amount of animals, give all the animals all their needs (and more) according to the HSUS and have regular inspections by Animal Services (like I do to have my permit), I see absolutely no problem with having multiple animals to the extent you can care for them properly in every way, including vet care.

Warmly,

Julie O'
(If you don't stand up, who will?) I've called Animal Services multiple times on summer days when dogs are left in cars while people are shopping. Even if there's a small crack, I call because it's about 20 degrees hotter in the car. Every single thing I can do to advocate the well being of animals. Arrrrrgh! Just thinking about it!

I live in a rural area outside of a bigger city (where we have to do most of our shopping), and I don't think there are regulations or pet limits out here. There might be in the city, but there isn't even a leash law in my area.
Rabbits, ferrets, hedgehogs, etc. are all allowed. I miss my bunny.

Lets leave HSUS out of it. They do NOTHING to help animals and want to eliminate pet ownership. In FACT, I am at great risk of losing my exotics because of HSUS. Do NOT support this organization. Ok, I am done now

IN the Netherlands there is law that states a maximum number of pets, the law just says you can have as many pets as you want as long as they are well cared for and the number of animals does not cause any problems in the neighbourhood.

In practice there have been cases where neighbours have gone to court and most judges ruled 10 cats is a reasonable maximum.

Our animal welfare laws are not restricting the ownership of most exotic animals (other than CITES species of course). Recently some species of squirrels have been banned for fears they might become invasive, but that's it.
A new animal welfare law has been in the works for years and that will probably become more restrictive.

Huh? Are you speaking of North Americans? And what does this statement mean exactly? It sounds very generalized. Clarification please?

Warmly,

Julie O'

In my area, I don't think there is a specific limit as to the number of dogs and cats a person can keep. However, some people not too far away started a pet rescue, their neighbors complained about barking dogs, and I think they were forced to shut the operation down. In my specific neighborhood, we are not supposed to have any type of farm animals.

Exotic animals are banned in our county, though I don't know what all they consider exotic. My friend had a hybrid wolf and she told the vet he was a regular dog in order to obtain his shots, etc. and not get in hot water with the county. The whole exotic animal thing here came about because a man owned a lion-tiger mix (liger) and his neighbors complained. However, a local woman with a pet monkey was featured in the newspaper recently. I know my answer is kind of all over the place, but the laws in my county regarding animal regulations are quite confusing. It's a good thing the question was not about property taxes; the story there is even more unclear.

As a German-American having lived in the US/Eu/Singapore, I can perhaps chime in (cut me off if I'm interpreting wrong).

Usually when people say "America", they mean the United States of America... just kinda long saying the full name.

The US constitution and culture is based more on independence and self-reliance, with more opposition to nanny-state governments that micromanage citizens lives... which goes all the way back to the founding of the country.

The UK has government surveillance all over the country, banned toy guns and kitchen knives, and rules and regulations for just about every little thing in my experience. My aussie buddy can't even get half my favorite video games as they are banned in Australia (the new Mortal Kombat for example... boo). In Texas by contrast, even just red-light cameras are now illegal due to overwhelming public opposition to them as a privacy concern amongst other things, and those only take a still picture if you run a light. Citizens are very protective of their right to self defense and generally are disagreeable to excessive government management of their daily lives, as evidenced by the Tea Party movement against big government for example. For better or for worse, the US compared to Britain and other former colonies is more libertarian.

This is typical. A ban is put into place just because some nosey neighbors can not mind their own business and complain. Hmmmm, I bet they used the "but what about my kids" excuse too. My answer to that one is this. I have no kids, yet I pay out the butt in taxes so that YOUR kids can go to school. When I don't have to pay school tax, since I have no kids, then you can tell me that you don't like my animals. No wonder I want to live on an island with no other humans

I agree...all but with the island part; that could get scary. When I read back over my post last night to check for spelling errors, it looked like everything in my county had to do with keeping the neighbors happy. I knew the man (RIP) who had the liger. Though I never met the liger, I was told he went to a good home in an undisclosed location somewhere in SC.

Amber,

Your cats are sooooooooooooo beeeeeeeeeeeeeeauuuuuuuuuuuuutiful!!


Warmly,

Julie O'

I only talked about the HSUS earlier because came out to our kill shelter from many of our volunteers' complaints and forced the management to get it cleaned up, use certain products that were safer for the animals, stopped using prisoners to wash the floors (they were flooding out the dog kennels and getting the lower cat cages all wet) and they were playing rough with the cats while they were supposed to be changing the blankies and clean as many as possible before they went back to jail (which was just down the street). So I guess just like all of us, they have a good side and a bad side.

I do, again, loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove your big kitty cats!

Warmly,

Julie O'
(I had forgotten about this thread, no one has written in so long!)

Primates were banned as pets in Illinois recently. Supposedly because of that chimp out east who tore off the face of a woman. Seems like an over reaction based on one extreme case of a dangerous animal that shouldn't have been a pet.

My town government has talked about banning pit bulls, numerous times, after numerous incidents in town and nearby. But the supporters who say it is the upbringing not the breed have won out. There is a new "dangerous dog" ordinance that gives heavy fines and even requires muzzles, but only after a dog has done harm to someone. Unfortunately, dog fighting rings are occasionally uncovered in my town. I mean it is good that they are discovered, and the penalties are severe, but it is unfortunate that fighting dogs is popular here. I am reluctant to walk around a lot in my neighborhood because of the possibility of meeting aggressive dogs. Just ask the mailman about this. Even though dogs aren't supposed to be loose at all.

My town has a limit of 3 dogs. But no limit on cats. All cats and dogs have to have rabies shots and pay $10 a year to the county animal control after submitting proof of this vaccination. This is an area of the country with a lot of rabies, mostly in bats. My town doesn't allow farm animals. I don't know what the rules are for "exotics" as I don't expect to ever have any. I think rabbits, within reason, are okay. A town just north allows homeowners with certain size lots to have a couple of chickens, with yearly permits (fees). This is a new thing brought about by the current economy.

The town just south of mine recently passed a limit of 4 dogs or cats, any combination, just only four. They "grandfathered" in current pet owners for the life of these pets. I know someone, who has worked at the local shelter for 25 years, who has 12 such pets. She also fosters kittens and sometimes dogs. I don't know what happens regarding that. This new law was brought about because of one hoarder. This also seems like an overreaction to me. That town government has said that this ordinance would be enforced because of complaints - they aren't going to go looking for offenders.

Robin

Neighbors do have rights, but unless it can be demonstrated that whatever their neighbor is doing is giving them reasonable cause for direct grief that interferes with their daily lives (excessive noise/odor) or safety or is a serious ethical violation, its really none of their business... they can have opinions, but its just that, an opinion.

With regard to the Liger for example, a neighbor has reasonable cause for alarm if it could not be demonstrated that such a large predator was not reasonably secured for their own personal safety, and that the animal was not kept in seriously unethical conditions. I have often seen and read about pet tigers and lions kept in ludicrously small cages, and its just not humane.

For cats, again, there can be cases of severe neglect and abuse from just a single cat in the home, whereas another home with fifteen cats may have a wonderful environment created for them with plenty of attention and care. So outside of animal cruelty, its just not anyone else's business IMO.

Anything "Grandfathered" will stay with the old rules (but doesn't include any new additions (at least from my experience in law with grandfathering land, etc.)

Fosters, in our California County, anyways, aren't considered "pets" and as long as they are well cared for in every way, vet, food, water, shelter (is all the HSUS requires), but I also include lovins' and play time and precious moments, then they're fine. Not sure how it is in other States or Counties.

Warmly,

Julie O'



"They "grandfathered" in current pet owners for the life of these pets. I know someone, who has worked at the local shelter for 25 years, who has 12 such pets. She also fosters kittens and sometimes dogs. I don't know what happens regarding that. "

You are 100% correct when stating that it is/was an over reaction to that chimp incident. But not correct when stating the chimp should not have been owned as a pet. If you can do so responsibly, there is nothing wrong with owning exotic animals and I fully support private ownership. I will never support any ban on ownership, but do support regulations that promote responsible ownership. Being a responsible exotic owner, means providing the best possible care for the animal as well as protecting the public (with regards to large exotics) and protecting the animal from the public. I also support laws that protect the exotic animal owner from the extremist, radical, animal rights groups who have and continbue to do so, cause problems for exotic owners. This includes setting animals free and damaging enclosures as to encourgae an escape.
Yes, neighbors do have rights, but as an exotic owner I too have the same rights. However, my right to own and keep the animals that I do, does come with a great amount of responsibilty and those who know me here, know that I have always stated that you should not own an exotic/wild animal if you can not do so responsibly. This holds true for ANY animal, not just exotics. I for one, am sick of my neighbors who think it is ok for them to let their dogs run free at will, but think that I should not own the animals that I own. This is wrong...period.
Yes, I too have seen those same stories of big cats being kept in small cages. But this is not the norm for responsible owners. This is just the AR/media tool to get private ownership banned, showing bad irresponsible owners. Many domestic animals live in far worse conditions too. But those owners are not the responsible ones and shed a negative light on the good responsible owners (like myself).