Deplorable Behavior on part of the shelter

[jen]

I was going to say 2 things that were said already but I will repeat them anyways:

1) FeLV tests oftentimes come up with false positives or negatives, they are not always accurate. Shelters obviously cannot afford to test every single cat multiple times. Some shelters test 2x and some only once.

2) A heart murmur is not something a shelter would check every cat for routinely. When the cat comes in, it is given the basic round of tests and vaccinations and usually flea treatment and that is it. Usually this is done by a vet tech. If any additional problems are suspected, THEN the cat goes off to the vet to be looked at.


That is bad that the shelter wouldn't respond when you wrote to them. Did you try to call and ask to speak to the manager or the executive director of the shelter? I don't think they would have hung up on you or anything. But there really is nothing that the shelter could do but apologize and maybe take the cat back, but they would probably euthanize it, especially for FeLV.

Cats can live a long "healthy" life with FeLV. They just need to stay indoors.

 

[catsknowme]

Originally Posted by Shivani

Believe what you want to....I don't need to prove my intentions to you. I am very disappointed in people like you, who rather than saying that it is crucial for the adoptee to know the facts, are INSTEAD willing to attack the person who has suffered a loss and is trying to do everything in their power to make sure the sick cats live a loving and long life.

Bottom Line - This "slam campaign" is to discourage people from adopting other animals from this shelter, meaning that this holiday season more animals in this shelter will languish in cages and ultimately be euthanized! Way to go! This isn't a business with consumer services/products that's getting boycotted; this is an ANIMAL SHELTER! BAD FORM!

 

[catsknowme]

Originally Posted by Shivani

I will NEVER EVER adopt any animal from your shelter. None of my friends or family members will be adopting from you either. Every doctor (and we have been to a lot of vets) has shaken their heads in disbelief when learning that we adopted these poor kitties from a shelter that never bothered running any tests on them.

OOPS! I should have included this from the original post - to clarify what I feel is the ultimate result from this whole mix. Try to "water it down", justify it, etc. the end results are the same.

 

[keith p]

My local shelter isnt the best either. Well to start off with the good stuff they do test for FIV and AIDS before adoption. But if the cats do have it though they are immedietly put to sleep, I guess I can see why not many people here would care for it well if it had one of those diseases, it would only end up suffering so euthansia would be better than suffering. Ok now for the negative stuff. The animals do not get medication if they are sick, so if they have URI or UTI, they dont get treated for it or seen by a vet. Alot of the times with the cats they had to sit in there own litterboxes because the cages were not cleaned that well. When I got my cat stinky he never had a bath and stunk like feces, and they had him on diet food, when he could have gained 1 or 2 pounds. His ears needed cleaning too. Also most of the time if you bring in an un-neutered male he will be put down because they dont have the time to clean if he sprays and they claim people wont adopt the cat if it sprays. Ocassionally like in Stinkys case, they will keep an un-neutered male, but that is very rare.

 

[jen]

Shivani-How do you know that they NEVER ran any tests on them?? Maybe they did and got inaccurate results. In which they would not have known. Just because a cat ends up having FeLV doesn't mean the shelter NEVER tested them EVER.

Don't tell people to never adopt from that place again because of one small incident, no matter who's fault it is. It is not likely to happen again and it isn't fair to the other cats who are still ther stuck in cages forever. It would be different if they tested the cat and it came out POSITIVE and they just left it in with the other cats and let you come and adopt them without saying anything.

Something similar happened in my shelter. A cat in the main adoption room was getting sick and we sent her to the vet and it was determined that she has FeLV. Everyone immediately pointed a finger at the woman who does the intake and testing and blamed her for not doing a good job and saying she tested the cats when she didn't. This was one incident that this happened and it turns out that no one else realized that those tests cam give false results sometimes. What mess. Sorry this had to happen to you put it is most likely a single incident and isn't very likely to be a reoccurring thing.

 

[nebula11]

Originally Posted by Shivani

Lastly, just because I am a first time poster, does not mean that my views are any less important than yours.

I never said your views were less important....I mearly brought up the fact that some first time posters like too rile up the population....I never said specifically that I thought you were doing this, just that it was an odd thing to post as your first post in a community that you were not farmiliar with....thats all....

As for them taking adoption money...they have to do that....heck some shealters barely request enough to cover the spaying or the neutering....and the organization i got Mabby from didnt even ask for a donation, though we did give on nonetheless

 

[crys]

Come on give the shelters a break. They do the best they can with what they have. They are loving careing people that work at these shelters. I wish there was more people like them out there. These shelters are under funded and they never have enough help. Believe me there is a lot of work working in places like the shelters. It is not all cute and cuddling. Their is a lot of crap that has to be done and you see a lot of pain also. But I tell you this the good out weighs the bad.

 

[lionessrampant]

Originally Posted by Jen

Shivani-How do you know that they NEVER ran any tests on them?? Maybe they did and got inaccurate results. In which they would not have known. Just because a cat ends up having FeLV doesn't mean the shelter NEVER tested them EVER.

Don't tell people to never adopt from that place again because of one small incident, no matter who's fault it is. It is not likely to happen again and it isn't fair to the other cats who are still ther stuck in cages forever. It would be different if they tested the cat and it came out POSITIVE and they just left it in with the other cats and let you come and adopt them without saying anything.

Something similar happened in my shelter. A cat in the main adoption room was getting sick and we sent her to the vet and it was determined that she has FeLV. Everyone immediately pointed a finger at the woman who does the intake and testing and blamed her for not doing a good job and saying she tested the cats when she didn't. This was one incident that this happened and it turns out that no one else realized that those tests cam give false results sometimes. What mess. Sorry this had to happen to you put it is most likely a single incident and isn't very likely to be a reoccurring thing.

I hate to bring up a dead thread, but Jen has a good point and some research 've done says a few things that might be of note to rescue workers: Elisa testing for FeLV isn't always accurate when the kitten is younger than 6 months and cats exposed to FeLV should be Elisa tested 3 times over 8-12 weeks to determine their negative status. Usually 1 or 2 negative IFA's will do it according to one source I read (haven't been able to confirm or disprove this) if you're willing to shell out the big bucks for an IFA. With Leo, I got 2 negatives over the past 3 and a half weeks (in addition to him being negative at his annual blood panel in August), and the vet was quite confident that he has actual immunity. Testing is less accurate in kittens, period.

 

[random]

They were definitely young blue-eyed kittens, too.

When you adopt, you are adopting someone who will be dependent on you. Warts n all. When I took home my Angelo, I knew I was in it for the long haul. I discovered after a week of having him that he had horrible teeth for a 5 yr old. However, instead of just giving him up or taking him back to the rescuer, I opted to have the full dental done up instead. He's worth it.

 

[rang_27]

I am so sorry for your loss. I certainly hope this is a case of a test that gave a false negative, not that they lied about having tested the mother. I personally wish that Felv & FIV didn't even exist. They take young loved kitties away from their families too soon.

RIP Monticore.