no kill shelters

where i live we have no kill shelters arent there any anywhere else?

Not here in Brantford, Ontario. But maybe in the bigger cities. I wish we had a no kill shelter. The only places that may house strays or unwanted cats and not eventually euthanize is the vet clinics around here. Sad, isn't it?

YES IT IS VERY SAD TO HEAR THAT I DONT LIKE TO SEE ANIMALS DIE AND I CAN TELL YOU FROM EXPERIENCE I HAVE HAD TO HAVE 2 OF MY ANIMALS PUT TO SLEEP BECAUSE OF BEING HIT BY CARS AND I CRIED IT HURT TERRIBLE ONE WAS MY CAT CLOVIS AND ONE MY DOG WHISKEY AND WHISKEY DIED ON 2/5/02 THIS YEAR IT IS TERRIBLE. THEY SHOULD HAVE MORE OF THE NO KILL SHELTERS BECAUSE THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO WILL HELP WITH FOSTERING TILL THE SHELTERS CAN TAKE THEM IN

I am NOT for "no kill" shelters, because animals who are never adopted can end up spending FAR too long cooped up in a metal cage and miserable, which IS cruel to the animal. I've visited the shelters and found cats who have been awaiting homes for more than 6 months. These cats look pathetic, some have chronic colds, constant ear infections, etc, most of which derive from stress and exposure from other animals (mostly stress, I bet.)

I believe if the animal hasn't been adopted within 4-5 months, he/she should be humanely euthanized. Not fair to keep an animal locked up in a cage for the majority of a 24-hour day; that's NOT a life. No better than those shoppng mall pet centers.

Yeah, we all have big hearts and don't want to see animals harmed, but places like those often contain fanatical radicals who wouldn't put any animal down even if were suffering a horrible, painful afflication. I rescued a squirrel last that had encountered a tree trimmer's chainsaw, and its front paw was cut off and its rear leg was severed. I called some shelters, called some squirrel-specific rescuers, and they PLEADED with me not to have the squirrel put to sleep. They said it would do just fine with two legs. Yeah, right! I hate people like that! Those who are so overly pro life that they'd let things suffer needlessly. No way! If you truly care, sometimes euthanizing is the most loving option there is.

Well, you certainly are entitled to your views, however so is anyone else and I for one am for no kill shelters because first of all these animals are suffering enough why should they also endur having the possibility of being put to sleep, and not only that but these shelters deal every single day with having to maybe put one down because of some debilitating thing and that is no picnic. Just because they are no kill doesnt mean they dont do the humane thing and as far as the animals being in cages, well i for one let them out for exercise and love and I will continue to do so when my dog isnt around. I am afilliated with a no kill shelter and i can tell you that as many times as i have been up there the vets come in regualarly and make sure that the animals are kept in top health and not only that but the ones that are not adopted right away at least still have a home when the others come in and for that two the propieter actually has adopted some of the ones that have been there for a long time. So no kill shelters have their advantages and disadvantages and when a cat is so sick that it is not going to make it then they have to face the decision of euthanasia. Most of them opt for trying to save it and I can tell you this I took in a cat that delivered five kittens just last week and one died before i even got there to get them from the lady that couldnt take care of them so I brought them home that night one more of the kittens died and then the next day a third one so i took them to the shelter and the other two died as well by Sunday, mama cat was only 6 to 8 months old and the kittens were premature, If i didnt go get the cat she probably wouldnt have made it either cause she was hemorhaging as well not a lot but enough to take notice. So anyway she has already been adopted and is going to a loving home. I also brought a stray to the shelter about a month ago she has also been adopted and so have all but one of the others that i have brought and she hasnt only because she is still nursing four kittens for another 3 weeks, she already has an owner waiting for her though. When her kittens are old enough they have homes as well. So regardless we are all entitled to our opinion but you also have to understand that with the media coverage and the ads that are placed for these homeless pets no kill shelters do have a very good turnaround there are more people looking for pets than you think. And there are more people throwing away their pets than you know everyday someone does it.
I dont honestly believe that people are overly pro life there is a right time and a wrong time everyone including animals deserve a chance if you lost both your legs would you want to be put to sleep?
I highly doubt it considering you can still lead a good life, well think of an animal as you would yourself they have feelings to ya know, whether you think they do or not.

If I lost both legs? Yes, I rather be put to sleep. Just like I feel that cat whose front paws were cut off should have been put to sleep.

Why should a cat have to "endure" the possibility of being put to sleep? Endure? What's it enduring? You act as though the cat is going to be emotionally stressed because it will somehow know its fate. You sound like one of those fanatacil radicals I spoke of earlier.

Big whoop! You let the cats out of their steel 16"x16" cages for a handful of minutes out of the day. That really gives them a life, doesn't it?

You're entitled to your opinion. I just wholeheartedly disagree. I go out of my way to help animals. I'll help an animal before I'll help a human, but I still feel that it's cruel to have them locked up in cages for months and months...

I am definitely for the no-kill shelters. Next month it will be 14 years since I adopted my cat, Midnight, from one of these shelters. Unfortunately, Midnight developed problems in her old age, and was put to sleep last August.

Midnight was found and taken in by the shelter when she was about two months old, and was wandering the streets alone. For the next 6 months, the shelter provided for Midnight's food, shelter, and veterinary care. Midnight didn't spend the entire 6 months cooped up and miserable either, the shelter kept the cats in cages only for the first two weeks they were there. Once all the attempts to locate an owner failed, and the cats were checked by a vet, they were moved to a large shed-like building where they could move around freely. When I was at this shelter, I did see some cats that had obvious problems like missing legs and ears, but they were far from being animals that needed to be put to sleep.

Here is a picture of Midnight:

You act like I am committing a crime or something I go out of my way to help these cats and it is not like the cats are cooped in the cage at all times because sometimes they are out for an hour 3 or four times a day and other times they are out for 3 or 4 hours, but I certainly am not going to leave my dog out in the kennel all day when they dont get along, that would not be good for either of them at all. I dont honestly think you have an ounce of humanity in you if you think that an animal has no feelings. Well, I totally disagree with you because animals must have feelings otherwise why would the vet say they get stressed from moving and injuries and all that. So you say they dont I happen to believe that they do and the shelter or vet or owner whoever the case may be has the right to put that animal to sleep if it cannot sustain the proper conditions to continue on its way through life, not me, not you, only them.
I am in no way a fanatical radical as you put it I just happen to think differently and if that is a crime oh well. The cats that I take in are not abused they have fresh food, litter and bedding daily and I in no way believe that I am doing the wrong thing for them. Just because some people think otherwise, if I thought for one minute that I was hurting them by putting them in and out of the cages then I would have chosen differently but I dont, you dont see the whole picture I am the one here taking care of them, not you. I let them romp and play and do whatever the whole time they are out and if that is wrong I dont know what to tell you but my dog also has a home here and I will not put either of them in jeopardy. So that is my opinion no matter if it is liked or not. I help animals and humans both all volunteer mind you and I ask nothing for it. Never did and Never will. I am not saying it is wrong to put animals to sleep if necessary but they dont all have to be put to sleep, if they can survive in this cruel world, give them the chance you have. Of course you will probably take that wrong too. Oh well.

The SPCA's here in BC are No-Kill. They only put down Animals that are extremley aggressive or Really, really ill. There are lots of shelters here that are no-kill.

I wish you'd use punctuation in your lenghty paragraphs. Makes it extremely tough to read without it.

I'm not criticizing anything you do with your animals (I have no clue where the thing about your dog comes into play) as my reply referred to the "collective you" of the shelters, and the way they're run. Caring people? Yes. Properly trained to carry out their duties? No. You don't shove a cat with earmites into a cage with another cat who doesn't. Just like you don't put a cat with a cold in with a cat who doesn't. I see it too often at shelters; volunteers simply not thinking and doing things that only compound problems for the animals AND themselves.

It's great they're willing to offer their time and love for the homeless critters, but a lot of what they do does more harm than good (to the animals) because of their lack of knowledge and plain old common sense.

Ummm...I don't recall even remotely saying that animals have no feelings. Of course they do! I've been a pet owner for more than 25 years, and they sometime appear to feel more than humans do. But, I'm not going to sit here and say that they're going to be burdened or traumatized by a human making a decision to put them down due to an illness or extended period of being unwanted. The animals didn't choose to be placed in a cage for 23 hours a day, having to listen to the moans and groans of other cats in the same situation. I bet if the cats/dogs could talk, they'd say "either let me out to take my chances in the wild, or just shoot me now, because this life sucks! Four months of this crap is enough!"

To me there is no such thing as a no-kill shelter. Perhaps they don't do they euthanasia themselves, but others do. What I mean by this is: "no-kill" shelters eventually fill up. Then they have to turn away animals. These animals go to other shelters that do put down animals to make room for the new ones. No matter what, many of the unwanted pets in our society die every year.

I foster cats for the Humane Society. When I take in fosters, I will not let them be put down for any reason other than extreme illness or extremely violent behavior. I do this, though, with the full knowlege that there are many other cats out on the street that may die for want of a place. But we have to pick and choose somehow, because they can't all be saved--so first come, first served. I can't set some arbitrary time limit--who's to say that the next cat I take in will get adopted faster than the one I would be putting to sleep to make room for it?

Maybe I'm a :censor::censor::censor::censor:-eyed optimist, but I believe that there is a person out there for every pet. One of our cats was in the system for 8 months, and just found a person who thinks she's perfect. I'm glad we gave her that chance.

My dog comes into play because she doesn't like cats she would rather chase them than let them do their thing. If it were a kitten she would nuzzle up to it, but for some reason when they grow up she does not like them anymore. So to prevent them having to hide or get out the door because she chased them into a frenzy, I wait till she is outside for a couple hours before I let them out. As I said before the one I have now does not wish to come out of the cage, everytime I go to take her out she goes back into her box and stays there, matter of fact I just had to coax her out and she wants back in she does not want to be out, she is going to the cage and standing there an meowing and standing up on the stand to get back in there, so I dont know if she is getting ready to deliver or what. have you ever actually watched an animal be put to sleep, I have I had to go with my dog on 2/5/02 and see him put to sleep cause he got hit by a truck and don't tell me they aren't traumatized, he looked up at me as they were putting that needle in him and it was the most awful thing, it was like he knew what was going on and pleading with me with those eyes to help him, it hurt me terrible to see this. I started to cry because that is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. When my cat died, I wasn't there they did it after calling me and telling me that they had to do it for him, cause he was suffering. I don't wish suffering on anyone and I have been to no kill shelters I am an outreach for one of them. I take in cats in crisis, pregnant or stray or the ones that need to be taken care of till they get better. I also help with spay/neuter/shots through a fund I set up for that purpose. So what if it takes 6 months to a year or longer for a cat to find a home through a no kill shelter that is why there are fosters and outreaches in my area so that they will have a home in the event it does take a little longer than others. Also at the shelter I am affiliated they have an isolation room for sick cats, and a regular room for them to continuously run around in they are not cooped up in cages, they each have their own cage for sleeping but they are allowed to roam freely. They also have a pregnancy room and a nursing mother room and in all of these they are allowed to roam and each goes back to its own kittens to care for them. I also am aware that there are others out there who need a home and will hopefully through awareness develop other fosters into the plan.
As far as the shelters not taking good care of the animals the one I deal with has vets there twice a week and does spay/neuter/shots twice a week and all that there are trained staff there all the time, when the animals are sick or injured they call the vet in. The incidence of sickness does happen, but it is taken care of immediately, just like when you are sick you usually take care of it. As far as a cat having feelings, you said that why should they have to endure the possibility of being put to sleep. My question is why should they have to endure anything, when they could be off the street in a shelter or foster or outreach like mine or someone elses. Yes there are instances when they should be put down, but not just because they need room in the shelters, that just isn't right. In extreme cases of injury or illness that I can see, but not just because there isn't room, so they can make room for more. Give me a break that is defeating the whole purpose of adoptions and helping the animals, that isn't helping them that is needlessly killing them off.

Thank You Susieq, my point exactly. That is in less words what I am trying to get across and part of what I am doing I take cats to the vets as well and get them spayed, part of it comes out of donations to an account I set up for this purpose and part of it comes out of the owners pockets and part of it also comes from my pocket, when it comes to feeding and caring for them in my home, because when what has been donated runs out they still have to be cared for.
Thank You for clearing it up.

<mother hen>
shaleela, may I repeat Cryogenix and ask that you use some puncuation? I am not criticizing or flaming you, it's just that I cannot follow your posts, therefore cannot defend or critique your point of view. Periods and commas are not an inconvenience; they are a necessity if you want people to understand you.
</mother hen>

Cryogenix, I can assure you the vast majority of ho-kill shelters are not as the one you visited. And even the long-termers do not spend all day in a cage, they usually have roaming priviledges most of the time. But I agree with you, at least in principle. If it were me having to put down a completely healthy yet unadopted cat, though, I don't know that I could do it. However, I do believe ill and injured animals should be put down because there's not enough homes for the adoptable ones. This is a horrible, horrible fact of life, but it is a fact. And I am certainly on your side of the squirrel issue! What kind of life do they think that animal would have led in the wild, fending for itself?

But Alexnell paints an accurate picture of they typical no-kill shelter. The reason they are able to maintain no-kill status is they only accept the most adoptable animals, and turn the others away or ship them off to a kill shelter. This is not a criticism of no-kill shelters - I think they provide a valuable service by helping to assure that healthy, well-adjusted animals have a second chance. But I think alot of people unfairly criticize the kill shelters simply because they don't understand how the no-kill shelters can operate as no-kills.