Pet's are a lifetime commitment

sandie

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Hissy saw this on another board and sent this to me. This is not to single anyone one out, but rather is a reminder how people seem to forget that pets sould be a lifetime commitment and part of the family. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Average Pet Owner:

Thank you for contacting us animal rescuers, shelter volunteers, and foster-homes about your inability to keep your pet.We receive an extremely high volume of inquiries and requests to accept surrendered animals (and none of us is getting paid, OK?). To help us expedite your problem as quickly as possible, please observe the following guidelines:

1. Do not say that you are "CONSIDERING finding a good home" for your pet, or that you, "feel you MIGHT be forced to," or that you "really THINK it would be better if" you unloaded the poor beast. Ninety-five percent of you have already got your minds stone-cold made up that the animal WILL be out of your life by the weekend at the latest. Say so. If you don't, I'm going to waste a lot of time giving you common-sense, easy solutions for very fixable problems, and you're going to waste a lot of time coming up with fanciful reasons why the solution couldn't possibly work for you. For instance, you say the cat claws the furniture, and I tell you about nail-clipping and scratching posts and aversion training, and then you go into a long harangue about how your husband won't let you put a scratching post in the family room, and your ADHD daughter cries if you use a squirt bottle on the cat, and your congenital thumb abnormalities prevent you from using nail scissors and etc., etc!
. Just say you're getting rid of the cat.

2. Do not waste time trying to convince me how nice and humane you are. Your coworker recommended that you contact me because I am nice to animals, not because I am nice to people, and I don't like people who "get rid of" their animals. "Get rid of" is my least favorite phrase in any language. I hope someone "gets rid of" YOU someday. I am an animal advocate, not a people therapist. After all, for your ADHD daughter, you can get counselors, special teachers, doctors, social workers, etc. Your pet has only me, and people like me, to turn to in his or her need, and we are unpaid, overworked, stressed-out, and demoralized. So don't tell me this big long story about how, "We love this dog so much, and we even bought him a special bed that cost $50, and it is just KILLING us to part with him, but honestly, our maid is just awash in dog hair every time she cleans, and his breath sometimes just reeks of liver, so you can see how hard we've tried, and how dear he is to us, but we re!
ally just can't . . . ." You are not nice, and it is not killing you. It is, in all probability, literally killing your dog, but you're going to be just fine once the beast is out of your sight. Don't waste my time trying to make me like you or feel sorry for you in your plight.

3. Do not try to convince me that your pet is exceptional and deserves special treatment. I don't care if you taught him to sit. I don't care if she's a beautiful Persian. I have a waiting list of battered and/or whacked-out animals who need help, and I have no room to foster-house your pet. Do not send me long messages detailing how Fido just l-o-v-e-s blankies and carries his favorite blankie everywhere, and oh, when he gets all excited and happy, he spins around in circles, isn't that cute? He really is darling, so it wouldn't be any trouble at all for us to find him a good home. Listen, we can go down to the pound and count the darling, spinning, blankie-loving beasts on death row by the dozens, any day of the week. And, honey, Fido is a six-year-old Shepherd-Lab mix. I am not lying when I tell you that big, older, mixed-breed, garden-variety dogs are almost completely unadoptable, and I don't care if they can whistle Dixie or send semaphore signals with their blankies. !
What you don't realize is that, though you're trying to lie to me, you're actually telling the truth: Your pet is a special, wonderful, amazing creature. But this mean old world does not care. More importantly, YOU do not care, and I can't fix that problem.

All I can do is grieve for all the exceptional animals who live short, brutal, loveless lives and die without anyone ever recognizing that they were indeed very, very special.

4. Finally, just, for God's sake, for the animal's sake, tell the truth, and the whole truth. Do you think that if you just mumble that your cat is "high-strung," I will say, "Okey-doke! No prob!" and take it into foster care? No, I will start a asking questions and uncover the truth, which is that your cat has not used a litter box in the last six months. Do not tell me that you "can't" crate your dog. I will ask what happens when you try to crate him, and you will either be forced to tell me the symptoms of full-blown, severe separation anxiety, or else you will resort to lying some more, wasting more of our time.

And, if you succeed in placing your pet in a shelter or foster care, do not tell yourself the biggest lie of all: "Those nice people will take him and find him a good home, and everything will be fine." Those nice people will indeed give the animal every possible chance, but if we discover serious health or behavior problems, if we find that your misguided attempts to train or discipline him have driven him over the edge, we will do what you are too immoral and cowardly to do: We will hold the animal in our arms, telling him truthfully that he is a good dog or cat, telling him truthfully that we are sorry and we love him, while the vet ends his life. How can we be so heartless as to kill your pet, you ask? Do not ever dare to judge us.

At least we tried. At least we stuck with him to the end. At least we never abandoned him to strangers, as you certainly did, didn't you? In short, this little old rescuer/foster momma has reached the point where she would prefer you pet owners to tell her stories like this:

"We went to Wal-Mart and picked up a free pet in the parking lot a couple of years ago. Now we don't want it anymore. We're lazier than we thought. We've got no patience either. We're starting to suspect the animal is really smarter than we are, which is giving us self-esteem issues. Clearly, we can't possibly keep it. Plus, it might be getting sick; it's acting kind of funny.

"We would like you to take it in eagerly, enthusiastically, and immediately. We hope you'll realize what a deal you're getting and not ask us for a donation to help defray your costs. After all, this is an (almost) pure-bred animal, and we'll send the leftover food along with it. We get it at Wal-Mart too, and boy, it's a really good deal, price-wise.

"We are very irritated that you haven't shown pity on us in our great need and picked the animal up already. We thought you people were supposed to be humane! Come and get it today. No, we couldn't possibly bring it to you; the final episode of 'Survivor II' is on tonight."

Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Pet Owner, for your cooperation.
 

hissy

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With all the cats that get dumped at my doorstep, this letter rings so true to what I wish I could say to the people *brave* enough to ring my doorbell and hand over their "beloved" pet. And to the others who arbitrarily dump their pet over our back fence, I just want to shake some sense into their heads.....sigh... I suppose I am like the author of this letter, I have more cat skills than people skills and that is how I prefer it, because oftentimes, cats are better company than some people.
 

cleo

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Great letter! Made me angry, sad, and even laugh...very well done.

How sad that it had to be written in the first place.
 

shawna

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Sandie thanks for posting that. I'm with Cleo; it made very emotional reading that


I think people who say they want to have kids, should start off by having a pet first; if they mistreat the pet, they shouldn't be allowed to have children because its the same thing in my book. A lifetime commitment. Gawd, I love my Sophie to bits

She's get sad and mad when I leave her to go out and is there for me, paws outstretched, looking for a belly rub when I get home
. When I think about what a rough start in life she had, my heart just melts even more. It makes me furious to think how many cat at the shelters are there because they grew up, aged, didn't "fit in with so-and-so's new lifestyle"; it upsets me so much.
 

hell603

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Found this on another website and thought it would fit right in - it is sooo appropriate!

Cats, with good care, can live to be 10-15 years old or older. Before you adopt a pet, ask
yourself these questions.

1.How old will you be 15 years from now?

2.How many times do you think you might move in the next 15 years? Are you willing to move the pet too, and restrict your choice of housing to places where pets are allowed?

3.Will you change jobs? A new job that requires travel or long hours could mean extra boarding or pet sitting expenses. Will you have enough time each day to exercise your pet?

4.What other major changes might happen in your life in the next 15 years? Marriage? Children? Are you willing to continue spending the time, energy, and money to care for your pet when taking on new responsibilities? Are you willing to re-train your pet so its behavior is acceptable to a new roommate, spouse, or child?

5.If you are getting a pet for kids you have now, how old will they be in 15 years? Will you still want this pet after the kids move out?

6.Have you previously owned a pet you didn't keep for at least 10 years? If so, what happened to it? What will you do differently to ensure a new pet has a home for life?
 

c1atsite

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This is exactly why I ask so many questions on TCS. And don't be surprised if 4 or 5 years from now I'm still catless and still asking questions on TCS!


See, cats have been in the family since the late 1970s. My aunt has several, my other aunt has three and we had Ashley but it was always my sister and mother who took care of Ashley. I'm 30 years old and out of the house now and I want to make sure that I'm not making a lah-dee-dah decision just to relive the fun times we knew thanks to the family cats Ashley, Kitty, Fiona, Jumbo, Simon, Rachel etc

If I do decide that I'm not equipped to take care of a cat, I will remain on TCS and enjoy kitties "vicariously" through you guys as well as pay visits to my aunts and to my friend who has 2 cats one of which is very very friendly
... even though thats not the same thing as owning your very own kitty or kitties, it IS the RIGHT thing to do if you truly know that you can't commit
 

mary13

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In Defence of Animals http://www.idausa.org is currently campaigning to replace the idea of "ownership" of pets (or more correctly, companion animals) with "guardianship". Six US states and/or cities have already adopted the change. It will give animals greater legal standing in that it will be an offence to treat them simply as property, able to be dealt with, discarded, whatever on the whim of an owner.
 
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