Kill No Kill - Shelters, Is it Right

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whitershadeofpale - 23 Jul 2005 02:15 GMT

Is it right to leave a cat caged for life in a no kill shelter.
I myself would rather be dead, than live my life in a cage.

Shouldn't there be a time limit, and aren't the euthanizations painless
to the animal?

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Cheryl - 23 Jul 2005 03:21 GMT

> Is it right to leave a cat caged for life in a no kill shelter.

No.

> I myself would rather be dead, than live my life in a cage.
>
> Shouldn't there be a time limit, and aren't the euthanizations
> painless to the animal?

I wouldn't be able to pinpoint a time limit. But at some point, if
the cat isn't being fostered, and is in a cage for a long time
(long time is probably relative depending on who you ask) then
ending the suffering (I am not sure yet where I stand on this - is
waiting for a home for a year, two years, in a cage, suffering?) I
think yes. However, the next step isn't always death for the cat.
If the no kill shelter finds itself with a cat for years who has
not been adopted, sometimes the cat endears itself with one of the
rescue workers and finds a home with them. No kill shelters aren't
the ones you need to worry about unless you want to volunteer your
time or send some funds to help. The KILL shelters and it's
animals are the ones you need to worry about. If you care.

In my experience, euthanization is painless. I've never experienced
what some have - where the poor lil won resists. :(

Signature

Cheryl

"The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited
breath."
- W.C. Fields

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Snittens - 23 Jul 2005 03:31 GMT

> I wouldn't be able to pinpoint a time limit. But at some point, if
> the cat isn't being fostered, and is in a cage for a long time
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> In my experience, euthanization is painless. I've never experienced
> what some have - where the poor lil won resists. :(

The way the shelter that I'm with works is if a cat has been in the shelter
for more than about 3 months, we have a team that starts discussing this cat
and tries to come up with a strategy to get the cat adopted. Why isn't
anyone interested? What happens when we show him? Does anyone specifically
ask for this cat from the website or Petfinder? Does this cat have special
needs (behavioral, medical)? Once we do that, we come up with a plan and
give it a try. Sidenote: our cats get a good amount of time out of their
cages, so it's not like they sit in a cage day in and day out. No, it's not
ideal, but I would hardly call it cruel. Also, if a cat is becoming a
long-term resident and no foster is available, we will move the cat to the
office or a room where he can be out.
We have had cats in our system for over a year, but never actually in the
shelter for that long. Someone ends up fostering them. I don't think we've
ever put down a cat because it's been at the shelter too long. Like Cheryl
said, someone ends up taking them home. Many of our long termers end up
with volunteers.

-Kelly

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Cheryl - 23 Jul 2005 03:48 GMT

> The way the shelter that I'm with works is if a cat has been in
> the shelter for more than about 3 months, we have a team that
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> needs (behavioral, medical)? Once we do that, we come up with a
> plan and give it a try.

Shamrock was in our system for a few months. I was fostering him.
He had issues; skin problems, hated the adoption shows and cried
and cried every second, both at the shows and in the car to and
from. He's very friendly and people wanted to hold him and see if
they liked him. Little kids would hold him because their mom wanted
to make sure they'd like him. I kept hearing from the kids, "he's
too big!" He wasn't a kitten and there were too many kittens at
that time needing homes. The day I took him to his last adoption
event, I already had decided I wanted to keep him. Shadow had
already latched on to him and I did too. A guy who worked for
PetSmart said he was going to talk to his girlfriend about taking
him because he loved big cats, and Shamrock was big compared to the
rest that we had. (11 pounds - I don't consider that big! LOL!)
and at that moment I decided I didn't want to adopt him out, and
that I wanted to keep him. :) That was his last show.

Signature

Cheryl

"The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited
breath."
- W.C. Fields

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Snittens - 23 Jul 2005 04:03 GMT

> Shamrock was in our system for a few months. I was fostering him.
> He had issues; skin problems, hated the adoption shows and cried
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> and at that moment I decided I didn't want to adopt him out, and
> that I wanted to keep him. :) That was his last show.

I ended up keeping Antonio (semi-feral) because I kept getting inquiries
from the website that were totally inappropriate. Antonio is orange and
white and cute, and was only 6 months old at the time, so people would see
that and not read at all the detailed description I wrote. I would respond
to the email and it was always "you can't pick him up? he won't sit in your
lap? oh, nevermind" I got tired of them and Antonio was coming around at
my house. I just couldn't bear to make him start all over again. I never
bothered to take him to adoption days becase I knew he wouldn't do well. I
think I had him in foster for about 6 months when I decided to keep him.

Now with Ana, I only ever got one inquiry on her, and that person never
showed up. We had several good adopters that we tried to "sell" Ana on, but
they were all currently dealing with or just had a cat pass of some type of
serious illness and were not up to taking her on. I took Ana to adoption
days and she would show well, but as soon as the medical issues came up, it
was over.
After she had the incident where she swallowed a piece of plastic, I
officially adopted her. I wanted Ana's fate to be completely up to me and
not a committee.

-Kelly

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whitershadeofpale - 23 Jul 2005 03:35 GMT

> > Shamrock was in our system for a few months. I was fostering him.
> > He had issues; skin problems, hated the adoption shows and cried
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
>
> -Kelly

They had a show on HBO last night, Shelter Dogs" I think, I never thought
about it, but many of them dogs had been there for years, and it was told
they would probably remain there. All I could see was the little 2x4 wire
cage with a big loving dog behind it.

I figured cats may be no different.

I wondered if overpopulation of shelters and other rescues was actually
preventing other cats from coming off the streets. I mean, there is always
room for one more right?

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-L. - 23 Jul 2005 07:53 GMT

> > Is it right to leave a cat caged for life in a no kill shelter.
>
> No.

ITA. Some fates are worse than death.

> I wouldn't be able to pinpoint a time limit. But at some point, if
> the cat isn't being fostered, and is in a cage for a long time
> (long time is probably relative depending on who you ask) then
> ending the suffering (I am not sure yet where I stand on this - is
> waiting for a home for a year, two years, in a cage, suffering?) I
> think yes.

Just a comment. We had a guy who boarded his four cats for OVER a
year. One of the cats did poorly and literally starved herself to
death in a couple of months, despite medical intervention. The others
adapted well considering the circumstances. I and one other person
seemed to be the only ones who cared about the situation. I tried to
find alternative housing for the cats, and looked into a better kennel
but the "owner" was reluctant to move them. I did what I could - made
sure they were out of the cages every day, gave them special treats and
attention. But their muscles became atrophied and they became a bit
whacko, IMO. Evcentually the guy came to get them - but I was gone by
that time. I never got a follow-up on how they were doing back in
their home. If I could have adopted them, I would have. I hated
seeing them in the cages that long.

-L.

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Snittens - 23 Jul 2005 11:44 GMT

> Just a comment. We had a guy who boarded his four cats for OVER a
> year. One of the cats did poorly and literally starved herself to
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> -L.

Ugh, that's awful! If I ran the vet practice, I don't even think I would
allow that. I would probably take the cats home myself or something. I
wouldn't board at a vet's anyway, unless they had super deluxe accomodations
or my cat had a medical problem, which I did have to do one time.
This reminds me of when I'm dealing with owner turn ins for IMHO stupid
reasons like moving, and I go through how stressful the shelter is for a
cat, what can happen when they get depressed, etc. I try to talk them out
of surrendering their cat, or at the very least find a home on their own so
they can skip the shelter. Most people don't care :( The shelter is much
harder on previously owned cats than strays, again IMHO.

-Kelly

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Annie Wxill - 23 Jul 2005 15:53 GMT

...>

> In my experience, euthanization is painless. I've never experienced
> what some have - where the poor lil won resists. :(
> Cheryl

It's not always humane.
There was an expose in our local newspaper about how the animal control
people were putting animals together (dogs with dogs and cats with cats) in
cages and mass gassing them. I don't know how common this is in other
places.
Fortunately, irate citizens forced a new policy of lethal injections.
Still very sad that it is happening at all.
Annie

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