stop acting like “euthanasia” is a scary buzzword that’s synonymous with murdering an animal. a peaceful, quick death before an animal is inevitably in pain can be more humane than letting their quality of life go downhill to the point that they’re unbearable to look at. when you take responsibility of an animal, you also take responsibility of making sure they live the best life possible with the least amount of suffering. even if that sometimes means cutting it short.
Honestly I always get really uncomfortable seeing a cat with any animal other than another cat or a dog because so many cat with other animal interactions aren’t safe
I had someone ask me via message on where to start in regards to adopting an “unadoptable” dog, and we had a rather pleasant conversation, but I feel like something needs to be said in public on this blog due to my history of having owned such a creature.
Ethical shelters and rescues do not label dogs unadoptable for no reason, in nearly all cases. There is something about the dog that will determine it being an extremely poor fit for 99% of homes that would be interested, and typically that 1% would need to make tremendous amounts of sacrifice in order to successfully own them. As nice as it sounds- wanting to give a dog everyone else has given up on a home- ethical rescues and shelters have a responsibility to take care of ALL of the dogs in their care and to not endanger those they adopt to or the general public with their adoptions. Taking in unadoptable dogs and keeping them until that 1% person shows up takes vast amounts of money away from perfectly adoptable dogs and ends up killing the friendly, healthy, young dogs that are deemed “more likely to be adopted”. Don’t believe me?
Someone I know from dobermantalk stopped fostering for her rescue when they took in 2 heartworm positive senior beagles to foster from a high kill shelter and left the young healthy beagle that had been surrendered with the older pair. The “adoptable” dog never got a foster. He also never got adopted. When his time was up, he was euthanized. The older pair did not survive their heartworm treatment. Three dogs died because of a focus on unadoptable dogs. Who does that help?
About five years ago, a woman took in two seriously dog aggressive presa canarios to foster. What was left of her body was found several days after the fact- she had been torn to pieces. It was hard for the authorities to determine if the presas had done the deed or if her personal dogs, one “pit bull” bbm and one frenchie, had contributed, but they guessed that the presas, two intact males known for engaging in serious fights with other dogs, had begun to fight and redirected on her when she tried to break them up. Due to their size, they would have overwhelmed her quickly, especially if the other two dogs joined in the frenzy. From there it’s hard to tell what bites were inflicted post-mortum, when the dogs ran out of food and turned to the only available source of meat, and what bites caused her death. Reports from those who found her described the scene as a bloodbath. All four dogs were euthanized. Who does that help?
A small breed puppy mill rescue dog I personally knew, deemed unadoptable for her extreme fear issues, was taken in by a well meaning family member. In a very short amount of time, this family member had been bitten multiple times for offenses as minor as walking by the dog while she was sleeping. Eventually, the dog slipped her harness after spooking due to a loud noise, ran into the road, and was killed instantly by a car. Obliterated. In front of her owner. Who does that help?
Skoll was a dog that had been failed by everyone in his short life. He’d come from known abuse and had clear abandonment issues. He had terrible health and his fear of people and his learned behavior of biting to make the scary things go away were ingrained into him long before he came to me. I gave him a chance anyway, I couldn’t sit by and watch a young dog be killed for something that wasn’t his fault. He mauled me without provocation and I euthanized him two months into our time together. He should have been euthanized on take in- he had a long, long list of documented bites well before he ever came to me, though I didn’t know it at the time. Who does that help?
Instead of focusing on these unadoptable dogs, there is a better solution. If you want to feel like you’re making a difference, find an ethical rescue or shelter and foster! Transport! Volunteer your photography skills! Learn their temperament and health testing process and volunteer there too! Make goods to sell at fundraisers and auctions! Organize a community donation pool! There are so many things you can do for dogs in need that aren’t things that, more often than not, end up with the dog dying anyway. But wanting to adopt a dog labeled, for good reason, unadoptable? Especially if you are not experienced in intense or extreme issues, temperament or health wise, in dogs? You are asking for a lot of heartbreak.
Adopt the adoptable dogs. Accept that we cannot save every unwanted dog. Accept that not every unwanted dog SHOULD be saved. It’s not the dogs’ faults, but neither is it the public’s for not being able to deal with these sorts of issues.
The choices rescues and shelters have to make are really complicated and have potentially live-changing implications for the dogs and humans involved alike. This is a good example of why campaigns like ‘adopt don’t shop’ and ‘no-kill by 2025′ are idealistic and have the potential to do more harm than good. There are no simple answers. Welfare considerations and responsible animal management cannot be encapsulated in one-size-fits-all punchy slogans.
In light of a recent debate with some idiots on another social media platform, I need to rant a little.
Mutts are NOT inherently healthier than purebreds. You can get a dog with half the problems or you can double them. It depends on the dogs that bred.
Breeders are NOT the problem. They go through weeks upon weeks of studying the genetic history of their desired pairing, going through generations of health testing and medical history.
Breeders do NOT turn a huge profit off of “their animals’ reproductive systems.” By the end of health testing for mom and dad, the process of whelping and all the supplies needed for that (and everything needed on hand in case a puppy gets rejected), shots for pups, and so much more, the price they ask for one of their pups barely covers what they’ve already put into them. Breeding is expensive. Testing eyes and hips and elbows is expensive. Testing for the breed’s common genetic defects is expensive. Don’t tell me that breeders are only doing what they’re doing for the money, because that’s the exact opposite of the truth. They do it to better their chosen breed and eliminate as many genetic defects as possible. They do it to give people predictable traits in healthy dogs that will fit the purpose for the animal.
Again, breeders are NOT the problem. There is a clause in most puppy contracts stating that if, for any reason, NO QUESTIONS ASKED, the person buying one of their puppies can no longer care for the dog, they are to return it to them. Breeders’ pups aren’t the ones getting abandoned and tossed into shelters wondering when their people will come back for them. They aren’t the dogs that get lonely and confused and cold.
“Adopt don’t shop” is REALLY STUPID. Shelter animals aren’t right for everyone. People with small children may not want to risk bringing a dog into their homes that could have some unknown past trigger that leads to one of their kids losing their face. That’s just not ethical.
“Adopt don’t shop” is ALSO STUPID because any dog that goes into a home just for the sake of having a home does not necessarily go into the right home. You know what happens to the dogs that go into the wrong home? They get landed right back in the shelter. The guilt trip that is this whole campaign leads to dogs going to the wrong homes and being sent back to where they were before.
I’m all for adoption. But I’m also all for breeders. I want every pet to be able to have a loving home to call their own. I want them to be safe and well cared for. I am for the responsible addition of a loving pet into the right home.
I am for responsible pet ownership.
Adopt or shop, it’s your pet and your choice. But don’t go around bashing people for choosing the other option because you’re a self-righteous prick.
I’m watching this video about these petsmart hamster cages (by someone who understands they’re awful for literally any animal) and it’s uh.. actually nauseating that anyone thinks this is appropriate
Oh yes, definitely! Leash training a cat is one of the best ways to exercise them, they get to explore and see new things and both of you can get some outside time.
There are cat harnesses made specifically for cats, the one I use with my own cat is called the “Come With me Kitty” harness, I think it’s probably available online but similar models exist. You’ll want one that’s adjustable so you can tailor it to fit your individual cat. My own cat is skinny and wiry and an escape artist but he hasn’t slipped out of this one on his adventures.
Also good! There are commercially available “catios” or if you’re an apartment dweller like me its cheaper and easier to look into screening off your deck (which is what I did, check with your landlord)
I guess the implication I was getting at is that this would be a very large enclosure with a dirt floor and probably including plants.
That would be excellent really, so long as they were cat safe plants. I remember seeing someone who rescued Bengals and savannas that were too ornery to be house pets and they lived almost full time in an outdoor enclosure similar to what you describe. It was pretty close to what you’d imagine in a zoo.
The cats seemed very well adjusted and were protected from predators, and prevented from going out to harass wildlife. I’ve heard of similar ideas being employed to house feral cat colonies that were ‘adopted.’
If you have the space and funds to build one your cat will probably become obsessed with it in short order.
@zoologicallyobsessed this is all I can think about while watching/participating in these stupid arguments about outdoor cats
@slightlyunderokayartist I can’t believe you genuinely think the “enrichment” your cat gets from going outside is worth him possibly being run over, mauled by a dog/raccoon/possum/etc, being poisoned, or otherwise being severely hurt or killed. What’s it like caring that little for the well-being of your cat?
You are not a cat. Your cat does not understand the risks of the outside, nor does he understand the ecological damage every time he hunts birds or other animals for fun. You may be able to conceptualize the idea of taking risks and doing risky things, but your cat does not. He does not understand it is risky to stand in the middle of the road, or eat strange food left outside by assholes that purposefully poison cats. He isn’t capable of weighing the risks and benefits of walking out your door. YOU are his owner, and it is YOUR job to make decisions that keep him safe and healthy.
If you genuinely cared about the value of enrichment for your cat you would give him that enrichment indoors, harness train him, or have an enclosure for him outside.
Cats are cats. They aren’t dogs, or babies, or hamsters, or teddies, or antique china ornaments. They are wild animals that also enjoy hugs.
If you have objections to letting them go outside, choose another pet.
Funny you mention hamsters because cats have been domesticated for way longer and hamsters are much more of a wild animal than they are.
It’s also really ecologically irresponsible for you to release non native wild animals into new biomes, that’s how we wind up with invasive starlings and sparrows and rats and weasels. If you think the cat is a wild animal that’s all the more reason you shouldn’t let it outside and instead just not keep it as a pet at all.
God people are so damn frustrating about this topic I legit sometimes think it should be made illegal to have outdoor cats because its obvious no one that advocates for them knows a damn thing about cats and therefore shouldn’t own one anyway!
For one thing we don’t release tigers in the middle of Canadian forests just because they’re “wild animals”. Not all predators are equally good in every environmental which is like grade 2 biology knowledge. Cats are an invasive species, allowing them to compete with local predators not only puts a bunch of pressure on them but also does the same to the prey animal(s) leading to potential extinction of one or more species WHICH BTW ISN’T JUST A HYPOTHETICAL THING! We know domestic cats have been the major factor behind several species going extinct in the modern era and other being pushed to that brink. On top of all that nature is finely balanced so those types of extinction often have a domino effect where adjacent species either have their population grow out of control or themselves go extinct. Like its bad enough humans habitation is fucking up everything without our literal pets doing their part in that.
And that’s all just discussing predatory nature of cats as a species, we have yet to come into the topic of disease vectoring! You’ve heard of rabies, right? Well there’s a bunch of diseases/parasites out there that can get spread to you by your cat which wouldn’t be the case if your cat wasn’t roaming the street like literally no other domesticated animal is allowed to do… you know because that’s fucking reckless! So not only is your cat’s health at a massive risk by doing this nonsense your entire freakin’ family is put at risk by doing it as well. Also yes if you’re wondering it goes in reverse too because your cats has its own range of diseases and parasites natives species can’t handle. So yeah, even if your dang cat isn’t intentionally killing things they’re doing it anyway just by existing in the same space.
Like this is not unreasonable: cats are a domesticated species which wild counterparts are almost certainly not even native to where you live. They shouldn’t be allowed to freely run around not only for their sake but for the sake of literally everyone else too! If you cannot keep an animal that sleeps the vast majority of the day entertained you are clearly unfit to keep that animal. No excuses like “baaaah I can’t afford cat food/I can’t figure out how to potty train them”. If you’re clearly that bad of a fit for a cat that you can’t get the most basic shit together give them to someone else that actually knows how to be responsible.
Cats don’t deserve to have the neglect of their care so normalized by people so fucking ignorant of EVERYTHING POSSIBLE THING ON THE TOPIC they think they’re the actual good guys here. Eat my entire ass, I rather see a goldfish in a tiny bowl than this shit. At least fish care fuck ups doesn’t result in in multiple bird species going extinct and their owner getting like worms or some shit.
I used to be fine with letting cats outdoors to explore every once and awhile because we had been doing it with our family cat for years – he never strayed from the house, especially as he got older, and nothing dangerous had ever happened to him. However, last month, we let him outside as we normally do once every day, but when we went in the backyard to look for him we couldn’t find him. He had jumped our fence and went to the side of the house to explore (still not off the property). We found out he had been hurt by two of our neighbor’s larger dogs that had been roaming around and he passed away from his injury. He was only 10 years old and was the sweetest cat ever, so my family was heartbroken.
This event made me realize two things that could have been done to prevent what happened. Firstly, that we shouldn’t have been letting our cat outside, especially without supervision. Even though nothing had happened for 10 years, you just never know when something dangerous could occur. Our cat’s lifespan could have been extended by several more years if we had kept him as an indoor cat. Secondly (and I saw someone mention this in a post on Facebook which brought it to my attention), our neighbor’s dogs should not have been wandering around by themselves without their owner and no leashes. No pet should be allowed to wander around outside without their owner present and without a leash/harness, as they can endanger themselves or others.
What I have taken away from this tragic event is that it wasn’t any of the animals’ fault – it was ours (us and our neighbors) as pet owners. It’s our responsibility to make sure our pets are kept safe.
ifesbob 