What do you say?

I had a very frustraiting experience on Saturday. My work with the no kill shelter has made me a strong proponent for spay & neuter (as I believe everyone should be) I just think that it's part of choosing to bring an animal into your life. It's as much a part of being a pet owner as sending your child to school is part of being a parent. I have a freind who I've known since 1st grade & they always had cats well at some point her older sister decided she wanted to breed persians so she got herself a female & male. Well the female was steril, she would go into heat, but never had kittens. However the male mananged (as male cats will) to impregnate every other female cat in the house. From there things just got out of hand. You know how it can get. By the time we graduated high school all of their cats were so in-bred they were being born blind. We lost touch for a few years & in that time her parents had gotten rid of all the cats. Well somehow when my freind & her husband moved back in the problem started again. I'm not sure how many cats they now have, but I know one thing maybe 1 or 2 is fixed. We were at a party & they began talking with another woman who has 2 females right now who are probably both pregnant because they both just went into heat & they have an unneutered male in their house. Of coarse this woman was trying to see if I wanted a kitten & I was trying to talk her into spaying & neutering & that if she couldn't find them homes perhaps our shelter would have room by then. She did say that they found a place that will neuter their male for a good price & so they are going to do that. However my freinds husband gave me the sob story about how everytime they fixed an animal it seemed to get run over with in a month & that when they try to keep the animals inside his mother-in-law is oblivious & just lets them all out. I suggested the humane society for cheap spay & neuter and he explained how they got the 3rd degree from them about all their cats. I didn't say it, but I thought if you had nothing to hide it wouldn't bother you. I just get so mad because these people are so irresponsible about pet ownership & I'm tyring to clean up the messes of people just like this. The woman I talked to said that she could probably find them all homes, but if she didn't she would take them to the pet store. I just want to yell don't you realize that you have no idea what kind of life these kittens are in for?? Then my freinds husband started talking about a pet shop in their area that they were the main supplier of kittens for. I just don't know what to say. I'm not one to start a fight, but all of this goes against something I stand so strongly for.

You are doing the right thing by telling them over and over to get their cats spayed and neutered. Some people it seems, no matter what you say, it just goes in one ear and out the other. I can not believe the excuses people will use. It costs to much: It isn't that costly to get your animal "fixed". Here is another stupid excuse a friend of mine used to say. "It will change him if I do that". He was talking about his male golden retriever that he had. He had the dog fenced in the back yard, but it managed to get out and a neighbor down the street had a female that wasn't spayed. They always ended up having puppies. I told him yes, you are right, it will change him, for the better. He will be a better dog and not want to get out all the time. He never listened. How some people can be so ignorant is beyond me. You can only keep trying by spreading the word and hopefully it will reach people.

my 2 lovely cats are the result of my friend's cat's 4th litter. She said that when she planned to get the cat fixed..it would get out and get pregnant again. All total...her cat had 5 litters and although I love my 2 cats with a passion...I wish I could go back in time and have convinced her to spay/neuter. What state do you live in?? I think there is no better way to convince someone about the issue than to invite them to the local animal control and show them all the cats that are under fear of being PTS. Even if they got all the kittens adopted..there is no guarentee that the kittens would stay in those households and not end up at the pound.

Katie

I had a hard time trying to find my cat Rosie. Here in the UK a lot of pet shops have been stopped from keeping kittens and puppies, and neutering and micro chipping is urged.

Although i decided to keep Rosie as a house cat, my vet advised me to still get her neutered as there could be a chance of breast cancer if i did'nt, and as a responsible owner, i took his advice.

A lot of people think of the cost involved, but this is something i looked into with my vet before taking on Rosie.

Susan

I just thought up a possible "solution" for this. You'd have to discuss this with the local Humane Society or Neuter clinic. If these people have foolish reasons to not neuter, they may fall for this trick!

Make up "discount" coupons for the exact price of the neuter. Its usually cheaper than the vet's normal price. If the Humane Society charges $25 for females and $20 for males, give them a coupon telling them they will get a special price...$25 for a female and $20 for males....which will give them a savings vs a regular vet neuter.

It just might work!

Not a bad idea. People fall for the coupon trick all the time.

I don't want to be mistaken as rude, but frankly your friend and her husband disgust me. There is no reason for them to have so many unfixed cats. Well, actually, there seems to be ONE good reason for them, they probably make a few extra bucks off of selling the kittens to the pet store. I agree 100% with your philosophy on cats, as I follow the same one, but I think that your friends know deep down they will never follow your advice, but know your feelings on the subject, so they pretend to agree with you in your presence. I know this seems harsh, but if I were you, I would contact Animal Control and tell them how many cats your friends have. They are not responsible enough to own cats, and should have every last one of them removed. Yes, I know that most of the cats will probably end up put to sleep, but maybe you can get a private no-kill animal shelter in your area involved in saving at least some of them. Maybe then your friends will wake up to reality and become more responsible!

Believe me I've thought of calling animal control, but as I said I don't want to start a fight & I know they would guess who did it. I've already threatened one friend with calling them after seeing her husband do what I felt was inappropriatly punish the dog. Also, they said the humane society has already been out to their house once. I find it hard to believe that the animals weren't taken away, but I don't know what the law is in the county they live in. I'm in Milwuakee & I know that any combination of 3 cats and or dogs is the limit. (that's a whole other ball of wax I don't want to get into) All of the things you say I've already thought so it doesn't sound too harsh to me.