Neutering a cat??

[Sawyer Rob]

Sadly that's the way it works on a farm... The city people come out and dump their unwanted pets in front of the farms...THEY are the ones with no balls, they won't take care of THEIR own problems, their own self!

Yet, in the cities around here, they don't have any problem shooting each other!!

Most farmers just shoot the animals and keep quiet about it.... sad but true....

SR

 

[PILOON]

Locally the shelter refuses stray cats and also charge to neuter.
The result is that on a normal morning there are always a good number of new cats wanting to be fed at the shelter door.
Folks simply drive by at night and drop off the cat knowing that the shelter will take care of it.

 

[MossRoad]

They do take strays, along with abused and neglected animals. They take so many, in fact, that facilities are often loaded beyond belief. Bear in mind, the workers must care for these animals 365 days a year. When animals are sick, workers often spend the night or take the animals home with them.

When people walk in wanting to surrender an animal, they often have some ill-conceived notion that they are the only customer that needs to be served. Shelters often maintain a waiting list and will intake animals as fast as they can cycle them. Sometimes this takes weeks, or longer. Many of those trying to surrender an animal seem irritated the shelter sometimes requests an intake fee.

I'm sorry if I seem to be a little harsh on this issue. My wife and I have worked for the last 7 years with our local pet rescue. It is VERY time consuming and can literally overtake your life. I have NO patience for the monsters who mistreat these animals. I have Very Little patience for those who complain but do absolutely nothing to help. I have watched my wife collapse in tears from the hours of stress in trying to keep the shelter solvent. Our little shelter spends over $5K per month in just vet bills. Add on utilities, food, insurance, facility maintenance and dozens of other expenses and you begin to see this is not a small amount of money. We spent about $250K last year, and we are just hanging on. The city doesn't give a dxmn, as they will just kill whatever they take - unless we get there in time to save them. I just want people to understand the scope of the problem, the cost involved and the dedication of those in the trenches. Complaining is cheap .........

The OP said they don't take strays. I'm well aware of how most animal shelters and cat rescues work around here. They all take strays brought in by the public. So does the humane society. My daughter is pursuing a career as a veterinarian and has been volunteering for a few years.

 

[MossRoad]

Locally the shelter refuses stray cats and also charge to neuter.
The result is that on a normal morning there are always a good number of new cats wanting to be fed at the shelter door.
Folks simply drive by at night and drop off the cat knowing that the shelter will take care of it.

Once more, I'm asking, if they refuse stray cats, what do they take? Where did they get all those animals?

 

[Country Geek]

There are two kinds of shelters in most areas. At least this is how it works everywhere I'm aware of.

The government shelters (usually run by the county or, in larger cities, the municipality) are part of the animal control department, are funded by tax monies, take in all animals brought to them (as well as all animals brought in by animal control officers) and euthanize to make room when they fill up. They are always full so if you drop an animal off at one of these shelters, it will likely be dead before you're out of the parking lot. If you bring an animal here don't fool yourself into thinking you're dropping it off to find a good home. 99% of the time, you're sentencing it to death.

Private rescues are usually no-kill and are funded solely through donations and fundraising so they can only take animals in when they have both space and resources to care for them. They have to adopt one out to take one in. If there are few or no adoptions in a month, they can only take in few or no animals. Same thing if there are few or no donations in a month. They are always full as well so as a result they usually have waiting lists that can stretch into months, or simply have times when they can't take animals in. They might be able to help you quicker if you agree to foster the animal and/or make a donation towards its care, because being able to afford to care for the animals they take in is as big a factor as having room for them. This is where animal lovers volunteer. If you drop an animal here you are taking it to find a better home, but it's very hard to get an animal in. Yelling at them or raging or complaining that they can't take animals doesn't make space or money appear, so all it's doing is punishing the people who are volunteering their time and money to help.

 

[John White]

You are right "Moss Road". I have been to my local humane shelter and they wont take any strays, and they raised such a fuss about the local county shelter killing them that they stopped and wont take cats either. There are 3 more wild strays in my area that are wild. I know they are just trying to survive, but with no rabies shots, they pose a threat to out cats, not to mention they come in and sneak food, (I guess I can't blame them for that) but one of them is a tom and sprays the feeding area. So they might be going to cat haven if I cant find a solution. The humane shelter and city shelter now has cameras outside so you cant drop them off after hours. I feel that the agency's are failing their duty to humanely kill them and threaten to jail us country people if we kill one. I am not in the killing business and take no pleasure in it.

 

[MossRoad]

You are right "Moss Road". I have been to my local humane shelter and they wont take any strays, and they raised such a fuss about the local county shelter killing them that they stopped and wont take cats either. There are 3 more wild strays in my area that are wild. I know they are just trying to survive, but with no rabies shots, they pose a threat to out cats, not to mention they come in and sneak food, (I guess I can't blame them for that) but one of them is a tom and sprays the feeding area. So they might be going to cat haven if I cant find a solution. The humane shelter and city shelter now has cameras outside so you cant drop them off after hours. I feel that the agency's are failing their duty to humanely kill them and threaten to jail us country people if we kill one. I am not in the killing business and take no pleasure in it.

Our local Humane Society takes all animals. They do their best to be a no-kill shelter. If the cat is adoptable, they try their best. They have several hundred at any given time. Plus, I think they answer something like 14,000 animal calls per year in our county. And that's the county, not the largest city in the county, which has its own animal control agency. They have drop boxes built into the wall of their building. You can drive up after hours and put the animal in the box. Unfortunately, that one is a kill shelter. They try to adopt out, but if an animal is there for more than a few days, there's a good chance its put down. And God help you if your pet gets loose and they get a hold of it. They don't have a good record of contacting owners even when the animal is micro-chipped. The city used to contract with the humane society, but someone saw a chance to do some kingdom building and now they have this and a bunch of city employees they have to pay benefits to. It was political.

Our local Pet Refuge tries to take all animals, but if they are out of room, they ask you to keep it until they have room, which ends up being a very long time. They are a no-kill shelter. We adopted a 10 year old cat from them last year. My wife called me 5 minutes ago... he just crapped in my bedroom. Thanks, buddy. :laughing:

There are a few private homes that act as overflows for the Pet Refuge. They are full as well.

I'll mention that most of the "refuge" places are full of unrealistic crazy cat ladies that deny the damage cats do to wildlife. They just rammed a trap, neuter/spay, release law through the city and got them to eliminate the number of cats you can have in your house. And they passed something like a cat heard caretaker ordinance, which is pretty much just a legalization of crazy cat ladies activities to let the wild cats roam the neighborhoods. As long as you keep the cats spayed and neutered, and sort of attempt to get them rabies vaccinations, as long as you feed them, you can have dozens roaming your property. Its not a good thing.

Of course, the main problem is people that let cats breed, and let cats roam outdoors. If we could figure out how to reduce that, we wouldn't need shelters at all.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Locally the shelter refuses stray cats and also charge to neuter.
The result is that on a normal morning there are always a good number of new cats wanting to be fed at the shelter door.
Folks simply drive by at night and drop off the cat knowing that the shelter will take care of it.

Of course this is illegal and those dumping the animals can be prosecuted. The shelters are doing all they can - and then some. Think of it like a lifeboat .. just how many can climb in before it sinks and all are lost? That is what happens when people abuse their local shelter.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Clearly - MUCH needs to be done. Spay/Neuter laws must be passed and enforced. Animal abusers must be prosecuted and punished severely. Until these things are done, your local shelters are going to remain overburdened. If you walk away from a shelter MAD ... that's fine ... just be mad at the right people - the ones who created the problem.

And - PLEASE - don't waste your money by donating to the national money machines. Rarely, more like NEVER, will a local shelter see a penny from the national organizations. Put your money where it will do the most good, LOCALLY.

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Fact is until humans learn to treat (and they never will) animals better there will always be strays.

Animals laws need to be really harsh. We live in the country and theres not a week goes by that some scumbag will dump a cat or dog.

What gets me is the tv commercials wanting $19 a month and using the animals to try to prey on your feelings in hopes that you will give, I wonder how much of the $19 even goes to the animals verses administrative costs? I bet not much. Just think though, $19 a month, I wonder how many millionaires/billionaires in this country could afford to give some significant money towards animals care? Look at it this way, say you have $50 billion, will you miss $2 billion if you gave it to animal care? Theres a lot of wrongs going on in this country.

 

[Gary Fowler]

We just took in a female German shepherd pup that was bought for my next door neighbors daughter when she was having marital problems and separated. It was good company for the daughter and gave her something to take her mind of the proposed divorce. A few weeks later, she decided that she would go back to her husband but they didn't want the dog. She is registered stock (but no papers yet) and they were just going to take her to the pound. I agreed to take her, even though I already have one GSD. She was a pain getting house broken but my 3 year old dog helped to train her by taking her out frequently. She is a very verbal dog and makes a lot of noise when she is play fighting with my male which is very disturbing but otherwise she is a great pup. Hopefully we can get the papers on her and possibly breed her to my registered male who gets praised by everyone who sees him as a beautiful dog. We get folks stopping just to look at him when we happen to be outside with him. Hopefully we can get some beautiful pups from the female.

 

[jix]

Trying to deal with nuisance cats is like trying to pump the ocean dry.........really, they are vermin.

 

[Parkanzky]

Trying to deal with nuisance cats is like trying to pump the ocean dry.........really, they are vermin.

They're creatures just like you and me. Trying to survive the best they can. They can be a nuisance in about the same way that homeless people can be.

 

[TomSeller]

Clearly - MUCH needs to be done. Spay/Neuter laws must be passed and enforced. Animal abusers must be prosecuted and punished severely. Until these things are done, your local shelters are going to remain overburdened. If you walk away from a shelter MAD ... that's fine ... just be mad at the right people - the ones who created the problem.

And - PLEASE - don't waste your money by donating to the national money machines. Rarely, more like NEVER, will a local shelter see a penny from the national organizations. Put your money where it will do the most good, LOCALLY.

Totally agree. I will never own an intact pet and I will never get a pet from someone who allows pets to breed. There are just too many excellent pets at shelters that need homes.

In regards to the national organizations, do you know of the percentage of donations to ASPCA that go towards the intended cause?

 

[flyerdan]

Oregon has a Feral Cat Coalition that offers free neutering in February, maybe other states have similar programs. A way to gradually reduce the stray population through attrition. My cats were born of ferals and are great cats. Got them neutered through a Friends of Felines certificate that you buy for $5, lets you have the procedure done and any participating vet for only $20/25 m/f.
I don't see nearly as many feral cats around as I used to 4-5 years ago, must be making a difference.

 

[JDgreen227]

Trying to deal with nuisance cats is like trying to pump the ocean dry.........really, they are vermin.

Jix....as someone who has adopted several feral cats and taken in strays and is currently sheltering and feeding two outdoor cats....I personally find your remark incredibly insulting. Do you really think those "nuisance cats"as you term them CHOSE to be that way?

How sad....how very sad you have such a biased attitude and are so uncaring!!!!

 

[JDgreen227]

They're creatures just like you and me. Trying to survive the best they can. They can be a nuisance in about the same way that homeless people can be.

THANK YOU for saying that. Jix, what makes you hate cats so much????

 

[MossRoad]

If you feed outdoor cats, you're part of the problem.

 

[JDgreen227]

If you feed outdoor cats, you're part of the problem.

And using that logic, if you take a homeless person to McDonalds or give them ten bucks for food, you are part of the problem? DUHHHH !!!!!!!

 

[Pixguy]

If you feed outdoor cats, you're part of the problem.

I see no issue if the feral cats are fixed.