I left my heart at the shelter today.

[cocoalily]

Originally Posted by catloverin_ks

Aww!

I feel your pain!!

I do this every time I go visit our shelter. I wish I could bring them all home with me!! It took me awhile to go in the shelter actually, because I know the fate of the poor creatures.

I love each and everyone of them.....

And god bless their little souls.

Is your shelter a kill shelter? If it is...I have no idea how you could manage to go ther at all. It owuld kill me to see all of thoe poor pathetic animals that have only a few days to live.

Luckily nearly all of the shelters around where I live have converted to no kill shelters.

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Yes, it's very hard to walk away from the shelter and leave them behind... especially the ones with "sad eyes."

And my shelter is no-kill. I cannot imagine how those who work with kill shelters manage it... but I thank goodness there are good, loving people who do bring compassion into those places despite the agony they must feel.

Mine is no kill too - I would have balked and refused to go if it was a kill shelter. I think I'd fall apart before I could leave all of those animals back there.

Originally Posted by NoRachelHere

I dont know why it is that I torture myself. Sometimes I will go to our shelter just to say hello to the poor babies. I will be signing up for voulenteer work very soon we are moving closer to our shelter, so i will be more able to get there!

I want to take every last one of them home, but the other half would not allow. . .

Congratulations...if you do start volunteering more, make sure to tell me. I'd be interested to see how it goes for you!

Maybe we should have a volunteerers support group here on TCS for all of us that volunteer and STILL want to take home the animals.

 

[jellybella]

Oh, I don't think I could stand it

I remember how awful it was when we went to the rescue to get Stanley and I went to pick out a companion for him. It was basically a flat occupied only by kitties. There was a room for sick animals in cages, but all the rest were roaming about freely. All the sad eyes, so loving...I could have left with 10, but I could only pick 1...

Of the two petsmart stores that are near me, one has a pretty good turnover of cats. They're near the front of the store and the cages get a lot of traffic. The other one breaks my heart because the adoptees are all caged in the dark at the back of the store

you couldn't even see them if you wanted to adopt.

 

[yosemite]

I just recently started volunteering at our local shelter. It is a "low" kill shelter - that simply means only animals that are too ill to recover will be euthanized. They have euthanized 2 animals in the last 2-3 years.

I agree, I'd love to bring them all home, but my head tells me I couldn't possibly so I concentrate on knowing that I spend time with them, loving on them and grooming their beautiful fur. I bought some WBCL for the kitten room because I just didn't like little ones using clay litter. So these are the ways I can help these beautiful creatures.

I think I'm pretty selfish too - I get to have lots of kitties at least once per week and I love it.

My husband wants to go with me this week so who knows, we may have another volunteer in the family.

 

[coolcat]

Oh!...

...I´m speechless...

........

...

 

[cocoalily]

Originally Posted by JellyBella

Oh, I don't think I could stand it

I remember how awful it was when we went to the rescue to get Stanley and I went to pick out a companion for him. It was basically a flat occupied only by kitties. There was a room for sick animals in cages, but all the rest were roaming about freely. All the sad eyes, so loving...I could have left with 10, but I could only pick 1...

Of the two petsmart stores that are near me, one has a pretty good turnover of cats. They're near the front of the store and the cages get a lot of traffic. The other one breaks my heart because the adoptees are all caged in the dark at the back of the store

you couldn't even see them if you wanted to adopt.

It's horrible, isn't it? I have no idea how people can just...drop their pets off. I can hardly leave my pets at the boarding place when I go on vacation, much less shove leave in a place where I know I'll never get them back. At least the ones you visited were able to walk around, but then it'd be even harder to leave, wouldn't it?

That's what ours is like! We went to the Adoption Days when we were looking for a dog and roughly half of the cages were out in the light. The other half were in cages in the back area...it was tight and cramped and kind of unpleasant. That's what the animals had to live in.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I just recently started volunteering at our local shelter. It is a "low" kill shelter - that simply means only animals that are too ill to recover will be euthanized. They have euthanized 2 animals in the last 2-3 years.

I agree, I'd love to bring them all home, but my head tells me I couldn't possibly so I concentrate on knowing that I spend time with them, loving on them and grooming their beautiful fur. I bought some WBCL for the kitten room because I just didn't like little ones using clay litter. So these are the ways I can help these beautiful creatures.

I think I'm pretty selfish too - I get to have lots of kitties at least once per week and I love it.

My husband wants to go with me this week so who knows, we may have another volunteer in the family.

I think most places are low kill, aren't they? If the animal is much too sick to recover and has a very low chance of getting adopted, it'd be fine to put it to sleep. That's better for it then suffering in a cage/kennel for the rest of the time it's alive.

Hey, that's not selfish, that's just enjoying those poo kits! I'm sure Mika and Bijou might think it's a little selfish of you not to spend time with them instead

but the kits there think you should come more often. Heaven knows they don't have enough people to love them.

Hopefully you get to bring another home!

Originally Posted by CoolCat

Oh!...

...I´m speechless...

........

...

I know what you mean....

 

[white cat lover]

If you were closer, I'd invite you to come visit the HS here. Perhaps you can sign three adoption froms here too!

 

[fostermomm]

Originally Posted by white cat lover

If you were closer, I'd invite you to come visit the HS here. Perhaps you can sign three adoption froms here too!

No she had to come here and fill out three adoption forms! That would be so great if that happened.

 

[meganrose]

I used to rescue dogs & cats from the high-kill shelters in my area. I took a litter of kittens that was to be put to sleep that day, a 4 month old kitten from the "euthanize today" cage, & 10 dogs that were to be put to sleep all at one time... it was a lot of work, but it was definitely rewarding to see them go into their new homes. I don't have the time or means to do that much anymore, but it breaks my heart to step foot in a shelter now. I just can't do it. I want to take them all home with me

(I probably would if it weren't for Nick)

This is a HUGE reason why I support spaying/neutering for ALL companion animals. It should be law! (it has begun here in CA - http://www.ocregister.com/news/counc...ogs-huntington) I am proud of Huntington Beach & I hope more cities follow