trying to rehome a cat and having a horrible time - Page 2

*waving the white flag*

Actually, I think reading the whole post was important, in this case.

I do understand both points of view here. There are some excellent shelters and foster networks out our way - not a lot, but they exist. There are two no-kill that I know of. Sadly, many are high-volume, cage-oriented, high turnover shelters. It REALLY depends upon the community and funding, however.

Thankfully, TNR is becoming more and more accepted out this way, so shelter admission rates are dropping in a lot of places in NJ.

But especially during kitten season, an owner surrender is nearly impossible. So is placing strays or kittens unless you're early in the season. In fact, that's why Gary and I got involved in TNR on our own in the first place. Shelters and rescue groups wouldn't help and many were outright rude.

I'm going to go look for the thread about how to make a kitty happy in one room. With 8 cats and two people in an RV (38 x 8), I've got some tips.

I'm not so sure I agree with this. It may just mean TNR is lowering admission rates.

"I'm just appalled that euthanasia is being advised over placement in a decent shelter"

Nobody is advising to euthanize a cat over putting him in a decent shelter. What I'm saying is that it's really hard to get a cat into a decent shelter and that leaves only open intake shelters. When that's the only option, which is usually is, it is kinder to euthanize a cat. The good shelters are full. You don't seem to understand that.

I live in the same area you do - near Chicago. There are several good shelters around here but if you check with them you'll find that they are not accepting new cats. The ones that do are places like Chicago animal care and control or the Anti-Cruelty Society where the majority of cats are put down. Have you ever been to CACC? If so do you really think it's kind to put a 7-year old cat who has always lived in a home as a pet in a cage at that shelter? These cats sit there terrified, depressed, bored, sick. If he's "lucky" enough not to be euthanized he will sit in that little cage for probably over a year. That's a horrible way to live, especially for a cat who is used to being loved and cared for. The owner surrenders always do the worst. If he is not "lucky" enough to be kept alive he will sit there terrified, depressed, bored and sick until some staff members hold him down on a table and give him a shot to stop his heart. All the while he's probably panic stricken. Putting your cat through that is cruel.

If you can find one of the great shelters you volunteer at for a cat needing a new home then that's great. But tell me, how many cats have you managed to place in such a shelter? I personally haven't been able to place a single one. I have gotten a few purebred cats into rescues but for a regular domestic shorthair I have only been that lucky once and that's among dozens of homeless cats and cat's about to be euthanized that I've sought rescue for.

I'm a part owner of a cat rescue. I have my house full of cats that nobody else would take. I wish I could take in more but I can't. I get emails all the time about found strays and cats that people want to give up. I got a call a couple of weeks ago from a lady who had 25 cats with several sick ones and others dying. A couple had had to have their eyes removed due to eye infections. I really do want to help them all. To say that I want to give up on them is ridiculous. But I'm realistic and I know what resources are out there. It's not the rosy way you think. Every cat don't get a chance even though they deserve it.

TNR helps lower admission rates, and kill rates, since in places without TNR ferals are always killed in shelters. But the definition of "overpopulation" is "more cats than demand calls for". If cats are being adopted out easily, then obviously demand is keeping up with the cat population, ergo, no overpopulation.

I don't think there is any place in the U.S. where cat overpopulation is not a problem, but since people were raving about how every shelter in their area is excellent and cats are never killed there I thought it needed saying.

If I were in any way able to find a good no-kill shelter that wasn't full, I wouldn't have 20 cats in my house, that's for sure. Not like I haven't tried.

In my definition, overpopulation is more cats than there are homes for. TNR lowers admission and euthanasia rates, but there are still cats without homes.

I'm new here but not new to cats. First off to the OP my husband and two cats lived in a one room basement suite. We had a cat tree and toys. Yes, it wasn't ideal and I think them having each other definitely helped but we didn't want to get rid of our cats. Due to most places you rent not allowing cats we had already had other people taking care of them for a short time. I understand your pain.

As to the euthanasia it is definitely better than the "kind hearted people" who think leaving their cats at a farm spayed and declawed is better (yes happened perosnally to me and still fuming over it years later).

I hope it works out.

I must have missed the post about leaving a declawed and spayed cat on a farm, just as I missed my own "raving".

I highly doubt this thread is helpful to anyone any longer.

I think people here are making generalizations based on their own experience. Though I have visited alot of shelters, I only really know the details of how two work, the one where I volunteer, and one run by a friend in rural Illinois. Those two place in homes hundreds of cats each year. One doesn't hardly have cages. The other one is an older building, and it has alot of cats in cages. But about 30 are loose in the room. A cat will eventually be loose, unless they have to be on a special diet, or can't get along with other cats, or they are not well. The cats in cages are taken out alot, by volunteers. The longest cat residents at that shelter, are about 3 years. At the other shelter, less than 2 years.

Cats are abandoned, and they are all always taken in. If that is illegal, I never have heard that. No animals are EVER turned over to pounds or high kill shelters. In fact these shelters rescue cats and dogs from high kill shelters, when they have space. Adult cats are brought in all the time as strays, or more often by owners. The usual reasons are having to move to a place they can't have cats, or allergies.

I'm telling the truth, though some don't seem to believe me. I know there are bad shelters, and I don't need to be lectured about the whole issue. I know. I never said all shelters are good places. But some are. And in those places cats and dogs have a reasonably good quality of life. If your experience with shelters is different, I'm sorry, and I believe you. But that doesn't mean that northeastern Illinois is the only place with good, well functioning shelters (and I know about the bad ones in the area as well as a lot of others that seem to be good). These two shelter I know well have the mission of taking in homeless pets, taking good care of them, in every way, and moving them out as fast as possible. As animals go to homes, new ones have to come in - or they'd be out of business.

If owners aren't bringing in cats, where are they coming from? If a shelter is placing in homes 30 to 100 cats a month, as these shelters are, then there is room each month to take in that many more. And we do.

But my whole initial point was that stating that this cat, the one this thread was started about, would not be better off pts than given a chance for a new home by placing her in a good shelter, is not fair or true.

If you call a shelter and ask if they have space is a lot different than taking the cat in and explaining the situation.

And ferals are not disposed of either in these shelters. There are TNR organizations they work with.

Robin

Guys, she has other thread.... She tried to rehome, didn't work out, brought the kitty back... Now is considering taking her in with her - she needs opinions, ideas on how to make it work, and support: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=231384

Of course it's illegal to leave your animal somewhere without permission--that's the definition of abandonment, which is illegal, I think, in every state. If the shelter chooses not to prosecute, that's their choice, but it doesn't make it any more legal.

A lot of no-kill shelters do turn abandoned animals over to kill shelters when they're full . I don't know that they'd do with them otherwise--full means "no more room", after all. Nice that yours doesn't (what DO they do with them if there's no room?).

The homeless cat situation is grim. I don't think anyone should be given false hope or be lead to believe that leaving a pet cat at a shelter is a dandy idea, that's all.

When new strays show up, I'd be willing to drive to Chicago to place them in a nice shelter if it meant they wouldn't be killed and I wouldn't have to keep them. Are you REALLY telling me that if I showed up at your shelter with a few adult cats with unknown behavior, they'd take them, no problem? Fix their health issues and any behavioral issues, and somehow find enough people who want to adopt adult cats? Somehow I really doubt it.

At times when space is a problem, there are temporary cages set up in halls, offices, meeting rooms, etc. There is also a strong foster network to take cats and dogs out of the shelter into homes, if needed, for whatever reason, temporarily.

Also, adoption "events" are increased with staff and volunteers taking cats and dogs to lots of places where there is a lot of people.

Sometimes there are "specials" that reduce the price of the animals, and lots of advertising is done to get the word out on that.

Right now there are a number of empty cages, but I'm sure there are a lot of kittens in foster care, and they will be coming in. Kittens get adopted, though, with rare exceptions (usually black ones )

As far as prosecuting the abandoners, who knows who they are? And besides, these shelters are run and staffed by caring, compassionate people who just want to help the animals, and the people. They wouldn't waste their time and energy on that.

Robin

Don't waste your gas money. I'm in Chicago too and I have yet to find a place that takes in adult cats other than the open admission shelters.

I really think the homeless cat and shelter situation looks differently depending on what side of the situation you are on. It looks very different for the shelter volunteer that comes in and takes care of cats and help them get adopted out than it does for someone who is out in the trenches, living in an area with a lot of unwanted animals and trying to help them. The volunteer at a good shelter just sees the positive side of the issue - well cared for cats who go on to new homes. It doesn't look quite as bright when you have 30 friendly cats running around in the alley and you're frantically emailing and calling every shelter and rescue within a hundred miles and never get a single one placed no matter how desperate their situation it.

I've volunteered at a few shelters too and from my experience volunteers don't really see everything that goes on at the shelter. I used to volunteer at an animal control facility and we volunteers just worked with the animals that were up for adoption. We never saw the majority that were kept in "staff only" rooms who for the most part didn't make it out alive.
Even if you volunteer at a no kill shelter you never see the hundreds of cats that are turned down. And every shelter turns animals down all the time. You can't run a no-kill shelter without turning down a lot of animals. Whenever I call no-kill shelters in northern Illinois to find rescue for a cat about to be euthanized or a sick one on the street I always get a no. Always. It doesn't matter if they will put up temporary cages in the hallway and have a good foster home network. They still have to turn down a lot of cats and what do you think happens to them?

Again, I'm not saying that there aren't great shelters that take good care of their animals. What I'm saying is that the animals that come to these shelters are the lucky few and if you want to get rid of your cat he is unlikely to be one of those lucky few. It's not fair or accurate to lead someone to believe that there is help for your cat if you need it, that all you have to do is to find a good shelter and they will take good care of your cat and find him a lovely new home. That's NOT reality! If you can't or won't keep your cat his outlook is not good and unless he is very lucky he will end up being killed at a scary shelter. That IS reality.

Yeah, I know volunteers don't see everything. . .I was talking to one volunteer who told me that the shelter was absolutely no-kill, no matter what, and how wonderful everything was. So I looked up their website for her and showed her their shelter census right there on the site, and she was floored. She had no idea. I know that if shelters let volunteers see too much, they lose a lot of them.

Ziggy's mom, I would like to talk to you, and maybe help, if I can.

I think volunteers in shelters are protected, to a certain extent, otherwise it would be too overwhelming. But I'm a long time volunteer, and I know what goes on. Just this week I was consoling one of the vet techs about a cat with FIV that had to be pts when his kidneys shut down. I was saying to her that with this number of cats, we are going to lose some. I'm at the front desk often. I'm often the first one dealing with people and the cats they bring in. I'm one of the ones encouraged to spend time with the cats too upset or unsocialized to be adoptable yet, so they are kept in the back. I'm one of the cat volunteers continually interacting with the shelter director and staff to make improvements in the overall functioning of the shelter, and the welfare of individual animals. I know who dies. I know who is pts and why. But it happens rarely at my shelter. I'd estimate less than a dozen a year, out of hundreds.

I know a number of people involved in animal welfare in the area. I may be able to connect you with help. Please send me a PM.

Robin

Oh, I know there are great shelters that are truly no-kill and do a wonderful job with all their animals. I used to volunteer at a place like that in NW Illinois. They were really wonderful and I wish all shelters were like that. But until some drastic changes happens in our communities - more spay and neuter and responsible pet ownership - there is going to be shelters where controlling the animal population is their main goal rather than helping animals. There are just so many of them and too few of us who care enough to help.

If you PM me, I will try to help Goliath. Tell me a little about him as much as you know.. I live near you and, yes, I have been to Chicago Animal Control many a time as I have transported cats on death's door to safety. Animal Control facilities are not shelters in my eyes, so to speak. They have soooooooo many hundreds of cats/dogs dumped off there, soooooooo many calls to come and take animals, they have to respond to animal nuisance calls, hoarding situations, etc. Of course, they do not have the facilities to house all of the abandoned/lost animals. Euthansia makes room for other's to come in. The surrounding shelters, rescue organizations, foster organizations all have contacts at Animal Control and get notifications via email when it is the cat's time, and then these rescues TRY to go down there and get those cats out. AHS (Animal House Shelter) has a HUGE foster network (all supported by AHS) and when the word gets out, people step up. I am not saying every animal is able to be saved from Animal Control, but the effort is made. The shelter I volunteer for has a huge free-roam cat room, and two other rooms filled with those Midwest cat enclosure cages, the tall ones. We also put cages in the hallways and office, wherever space allows so many cats can be rescued. There is another shelter in Grayslake, Sav-a-pet, similar set-up and I also can try to make a call to them. Animal House Shelter, Huntley and Sav-a-Pet, Grayslake are NO-KILL shelters. Plus, Robin, has offered to help you too. People care, there is just not enough of us and there are too many cats that need us. Bless you for what you do for the cats

Perfectly said, and that's the bottom line. If the whole world would just spay/neuter their cats/kittens we could start to end the suffering. BUT.... that is in a perfect World.

p.s. Sorry to the OP about getting off topic here, will respond to you on your new thread (thanks Carolina)