Fester Made The Newspaper!

Hey Gang!
Fester made the local newspaper again and I didn't make anyone mad, wasn't arrested, indicted, suspected or named as "a person of interest".
You'll like this one, TRUST ME.

http://epilot.hamptonroads.com/Repos...500&ChunkNum=0

Oh Jimmy! That's wonderful!

That's great that adoptions are up.

Hopefully at some point they will be able to spay/neuter the animals prior to them going into homes.

Katie

That's pretty neat -!

Originally Posted by TNR1

That's great that adoptions are up.

Hopefully at some point they will be able to spay/neuter the animals prior to them going into homes.

Katie

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Donate a Vet Clinic and/or the money to open one or provide this service and we'll be happy to, until then the best we can do is the $10.00 off certificate for spay/neuter services at the Norfolk SPCA.
With the rebate we already offer, the service will cost all of about $5.00 on a male cat, maybe 10 or 15 on a female.
There aren't many better deals around.

If you have any better ideas on how we can accomplish this without the money it would cost, I'd love to hear it.
If you look at the demographics and average medium income of the City of Portsmouth and the lack of major corporate sponsorship, I'd say that taking even the smallest steps forward is still heading in the right direction.

You know Katie, getting them out the front door with a new owner and a chance at a happy life is still preferable to sending them out the back door in plastic bags.

Very nice article..well done!

Terrific, Jimmy - congratulations! It must be a great feeling to know that your hard work has made such a difference. So how come you're not up for adoption?

Uh-oh, Tricia! You know there are a lot a folks here who would adopt Jimmy!

Way to go, Jimmy!

Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

You know Katie, getting them out the front door with a new owner and a chance at a happy life is still preferable to sending them out the back door in plastic bags.

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You see a dog going home...I see a potential breeder....both sides of that thinking are true. If you noticed...I said...hopefully at some point the dogs and cats will be fixed before going to homes. I believe that is a respectful way to express my concern. Does the shelter at least do follow ups and ensure that every dog/cat/kitten and puppy adopted are fixed?? Is the compliance rate 100%?? A great deal on spaying/neutering isn't truly a deal if it isn't being used.

I agree...increased adoptions is fabulous..especially since we are still euthanizing around 60,000 dogs and 70,000 cats. However, if the goal is to impact the numbers of animals that come into the shelter..then certainly spaying/neutering prior to adoption is a goal that is worthy to pursue.

Katie

BTW..this is my pet peeve in general regarding Virginia shelters and rescues that do not spay/neuter prior to adoption. Even the rescue group I volunteer with used to give out spay certificates (the spay/neuter was covered as part of the fee)...however we found that even people with the best intentions have things that happen to them....their cat gets out prior to being spayed, gets pregnant and then they would bring this now pregnant cat back to us to place. That is why we now spay/neuter every animal before it is placed.

And just a personal story....my friend adopted her cat from a local shelter under a spay contract...before she finally got it fixed...her cat had a total of 6 litters. She had no follow up call from the shelter. 2 of the kittens from her 5th litter are now my 2 cats (yes..they are fixed). If I had known about the overpopulation..I would have taken this cat to the vet myself. This is part of why I'm passionate about spaying/neutering.

Fantastic, Jimmy! Congratulations!

gee Jimmy looks just like ya!

You did a good thing here, and I am glad you were acknowledged for it-

Well Katie, it seems to me like you're long on complaints and short, very short on solutions.
Spaying and Neutering cost money.
Vet's to perform the operations cost money.
Medical Supplies cost money.
People to care for all these post-op animals cost money.
We're at our manpower limits and our Volunteers are doing all they can.

To spay and neuter EVERY pet that we have adopted would cost, even at a modest fee of $40.00 would cost us TWICE what the entire yearly budget for the entire shelter is.
Add to this the extra care these animals would require and the people we would need to accomplish this, I would ask How are we going to make payroll, insurance, utilities and other expenses?

What do you suggest, Katie? We have no magic wand to wave and make the problem disappear.
Perhaps you could enlighten us as to how we cough up the over $114,000 it would cost to alter all these pets before all of our other expenses are even addressed when our shelter's entire annual budget is just a shade over $50,000.00.

Our follow-up could be better, but in all fairness it has improved a great deal and is far and away better than it once was.
Perhaps we could forward you the phone numbers of all the people who have adopted from us and you could do our follow-ups, Lord knows you'd make them want to get the animal altered.

You know Katie, the Director and I are doing the best we can with what we have to work with, as time goes on, we're getting better and learning together.
However, if our learning curve means that a few get out the door and their offspring come back, we'll just keep trying until we find a solution that does work within our means.
That's where the good relationship we are cultivating with our local rescues is coming in handy, they're helping us and we're helping them.
Sure, it'd be nice if we had the resources to alter every animal that we take in but until we do, all we can do is the best we can.
I'm sorry that isn't enough to satisfy you.

well done. great article

I'm sorry we cannot have a civil discussion on this topic. To say that I am long in complaints and very short in solutions implies that I haven't been reaching out to the various groups and individuals I know to see if they can assist you (which is what I have been doing since my initial post). Or that I'm not doing all I can in my area to be part of the solution....from volunteering to fostering to running my website to answering ads to helping people rehome animals to educating people about TNR to participating in monthly TNR clinics. I do contribute monthly to spaying/neutering..both towards shelters and TNR groups.

I realize there are no magic wands. I know you are doing all you can. I could certainly perform follow up calls for the Humane Society if you believe that would help. I would have to fit that in between some of the other calls and emails that I make daily (follow ups for adoptions, rehome and TNR questions)...but I could certainly find time.

Katie

Woah woah woah! Katie's right - the ideal situation would be for every animal adopted out from shelters to already be spayed or neutered. In fact, studies show that when that does happen the number of animals both in the front and "out the back" door goes down dramatically. That's why some places are making it a law.

Of course, in the microcosm of a single shelter, Jimmy is right too. Money is always an issue. It may not be possible at this point in time for this particular organization. However, I don't think that should preclude the shelter from having that goal of desexing all animal prior to adoption. And that's all Katie was suggestion, from what I read.

And isn't Katie in the area? If she can do follow-up calls I can think of no one more persuasive to do this and encourage those who adopt out to spay and neuter. She is queen of research in this community and I can only imagine that her skills in real life equal what she has shown us here.

Originally Posted by hissy

And isn't Katie in the area? If she can do follow-up calls I can think of no one more persuasive to do this and encourage those who adopt out to spay and neuter. She is queen of research in this community and I can only imagine that her skills in real life equal what she has shown us here.

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MA...thanks for the vote of confidence...this shelter is actually South of me (like several hours drive south)...so I wouldn't be able to go to the homes of those who hadn't complied to perform in person follow ups...but I can certainly free up a volunteer's time by doing the initial calls.

Katie

I'm not sure if this suggestion would be helpful, but I'll make it anyway. I'm a member of a cat rescue organization that definitely doesn't have the money to neuter all the cats and kittens it seeks homes for. What it does is have all adopters sign a contract requiring proof of inoculations, neutering and tattooing/microchipping within a month for adult cats, and by the age of six months for kittens. The organization retains "title" to the cats until such proof is given, and removes cats from any homes where the requirements haven't been met. That can entail legal fees, but most adopters abide by the contracts. Basically, the organization is the legal owner of the cats until they've been inoculated, neutered, and chipped. The contracts also require that the cats be returned to the organization should the new owner not be able to keep the cat for any reason whatsoever.

Nice article. I often wonder if those truckstops and motels know just what that follically challenged guy is really doing on his PC in those wee hours.. Grin.. It shows that some of us talk (me most of the time) and some of us do. Jimmy definitely is in the "do" category but he occassionally lapses into retort mode.

Anything that improves the ability of a shelter to place animals for adoption is a plus. While it isn't 100% effective, the compliance rates and follow up cases are improving. Both the shelter I left and the operation I now work for CRIMINALLY prosecute violators. The Peninsula SPCA has near 99% compliance with this through a combination of pre-release S/N, cooperative agreements with local vets, and some really amazing staff who spend a great deal of time calling and dealing with deadbeats! As for the "spat", Jimmy's got a point & so does Katie. Someone bury the hatchet (preferably not in my pointy head) and get one with what we all do best -helping the lot of animals in whatever way we can.

And Mark steps down off his soapbox and goes back to lurking in the dimly lit webspace he calls his den....

Originally Posted by Mark Kumpf

Nice article. I often wonder if those truckstops and motels know just what that follically challenged guy is really doing on his PC in those wee hours.. Grin.. It shows that some of us talk (me most of the time) and some of us do. Jimmy definitely is in the "do" category but he occassionally lapses into retort mode.

Anything that improves the ability of a shelter to place animals for adoption is a plus. While it isn't 100% effective, the compliance rates and follow up cases are improving. Both the shelter I left and the operation I now work for CRIMINALLY prosecute violators. The Peninsula SPCA has near 99% compliance with this through a combination of pre-release S/N, cooperative agreements with local vets, and some really amazing staff who spend a great deal of time calling and dealing with deadbeats! As for the "spat", Jimmy's got a point & so does Katie. Someone bury the hatchet (preferably not in my pointy head) and get one with what we all do best -helping the lot of animals in whatever way we can.

And Mark steps down off his soapbox and goes back to lurking in the dimly lit webspace he calls his den....

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Mark...good to see you posting. Yes...I believe that the hachet is buried. My offer still stands to make phone calls....however the enforcement will have to be left to someone else. BTW..good to hear about the Peninsula SPCA.

Katie