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What are the best ways to stop shelter overcrowding?
From the last thread I noticed that a lot of people felt that euthanizing a healthy animal due to overcrowding in the shelter was awful. I agree. What are some ways we can stop overcrowding in shelters? Having animals spayed and neutered is a great way.. what are other ways?
Put birth control medicine in pet food for the public to feed their animals. Of course there could be options for people who wanted to breed, but they should be charged a premium to help support the shelters.
It wouldn't stop all the problems but it could help.
Spay and neuter your pets. It is awful to kill healthy dogs in the shelter but thats only to let the other 100 that needs to have food and shelter in. Some breeders, but not all, only breed for the money and sell the dog to anyone who has the money. And not thinking about the fact that half of the litter will end up homeless or in the shelter by the time they are 2 years of age. People think that because a dog is "purebred" it will not end up in a shelter. And that is the farthest thing from the truth. At our clinic we have people who abandoned their animals or bring in strays. And yes we euthanize them because there is not a home to place them in. All the good homes we know have already to many dogs because we have used them before. We have adopted them out before and they came back to us in worse shape than you can imagine. So to be able to sleep at night we would rather euthanize than to see it abused, starved, or abandoned again. Its a hard concept to conceive unless you have been around it. To kill an animal when the only sin it had ever committed was to be born is a hard job. Sometimes it makes me want to stop the job I'm in. But then I think about all the rewards and good things my job brings. And that keeps me going. Especially when we save an animal that was so sick we never thought could live. Or to make a family so happy that we helped their animal.
So I say if your not planning on responsibly breeding your dog and by that I mean keeping up with what happens to your puppies please spay and neuter your pets. Because if you don't your just adding to the problem of unwanted pets.
There certainly are a lot of totally clueless people out there. I would like to see more education before we resort to more regulation. I have seen a lot of questions both here and on other sites from those that know nothing about dogs including people planning on breeding them.
Labman.. you are the doggy god. I had a case where a woman was feeding her chihuahua (I love typing chihuahua... great word..anyway..) 1-2 cans of dog food a MONTH and wanted to know why he wasn't gaining weight. Uh, duh.. but I guess "duh" to me was not "duh" to her. She claimed that feeding him more would be animal cruelty because he was a small dog.
Well, my answer will not be popular but I do not believe in the "no-kill" shelters. I believe that thirty days ( a max of sixty days) in a shelter and if the dog/cat is not adopted, then euthanizing the animal. Now I never did grow up believing that. When I volunteered at an animal shelter when I lived in Spokane, Wa. that was their policy and I did not agree with it until I had been there for a while. You cannot keep every animal out there and expect everyone else to donate in order to keep them there.
I think Labman hit it when he said "clueless". I am appalled at the number of peole who have NO idea what is going on.
"I would never take an animal to the shelter, they will kill them there" (But you will set a dog or cat out beside the road and expect it to live happily ever after)
"I'm not going to get my cat spayed, I always give the kittens away through a 'free to good home' ad" (Like someone is going to tell you they have a bad home--or that they need something to feed their pet snake, and the pet store is fresh out of rats--or they are training their fighting pit bull...)
I think the only way we are going to get a handle on this mess is a combination of education (children and adults), spay/neuter programs, and unfortunately, euthanasia.
Another thing that the general public doesn't "get" is that a no-kill shelter means a limited-admission shelter. Well-run "no-kills" may have a niche, but not as a replacement for the basic public animal shelter. There has to be a place that will take in anything, provide food, water, shelter and a chance to be adopted--and failing that, to provide a humane death to open up space for more.
Shows like Animal Cops seem to be doing a good job of raising public awareness of animal welfare issues.
Not only do people need to be educated about the importance of spaying/neutering, but they also need to be educated on the importance of matching the proper pet with their family. Someone once posted "There is no such thing as an untrainable dog." Which is true, but that doesn't mean that every dog can be trained by every person. Since many dogs are surrendered for behavioral issues, some of that could be eliminated by making smart choices in the first place. I've often thought that requiring a potential owner of a "dangerous breed" get a license showing that they know what they are getting into and will get the dog proper training, etc. is a much better solution than banning the breed.
Thinking outside the box.... making pet ownership easier on renters would help create more homes.
I think there should be more volunteers and workers trying to find temporary homes for dogs after the allowed time runs out in shelters. That is one telemarketing call I would certainly pay attention to.
We recently offered our home to the S.P.C.A in Edmonton AB to any friendly dog of any size. No one has gotten back to us, it's sad that they would rather put the animal down than to let me pay for food, give them a caring home and do my best to get the little one adopted.
I did notice on our last visit to the shelter, the majority (95%) of the dogs were not to be adopted by families with children under 10. That is behavioural and it comes down to education of the human, conundrum: Putting in regulations that require people to attend a class or fill out a lengthy test would only deter more good families from adopting. I really enjoyed the above post in thinking outside the box. Making pet ownership easier on renters. Or maybe that post is on another page now? I'm so excited to find out!!! LOL, best regards animal lovers
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