What are people thinking when they abandon pets?

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62. Animals "show up" here all the time

We live out in the middle of nowhere, mostly because it's peaceful and quiet. When we moved here, the house came with a cat. He was orange and looked just like Bill, the Cat from Bloom Co., so we named him Bill. I couldn't get anywhere near him, until I was washing out a bowl that had touch-up paint in it and he came flying up on the porch meowing. I gave him a bowl of food. The next three years he appeared and disappeared, never letting us get too close. My ex left me with two kids, a house payment, 10 dogs and 1 cat and no job. One cold night, I looked out and Bill was laying on the porch as close to the front door as possible. I went out and picked him up (he was very sick) and brought him into the house and let him sleep in front of the heater in my bedroom. He died that night and I was always so glad I made him warm his last night, since my financial situation wouldn't let me do more.

Fast forward 20 years...we had become the dumping place for cats and had about 22 feral cats around my house. When my Mom died, she left me a little money and we had a feral cat roundup, and thanks to my vet who cut me a deal, we caught and neutered and tested and vaccinated ALL of them. Wish I had video of that! I have a bunch of cats in the house, so taking them into the house was out of the question and the animal shelter here is questionable. My vet (Bless him) took some of the kittens because he has an adoption program that provides care for the kittens if you adopt them.

Shortly after I breathed a sigh of relief because no new cats had shown up, a dog of dubious parentage showed up. She was about the size of a GSD and started killing the cats. She had been dumped. I at the end of my rope when we had a huge snowstorm and she disappeared. Part of me was relieved and more of me was angry that whoever had owned her had taken the choice of turning her in to the shelter or putting her down and dumped it squarely in my lap. Not to mention that she was a big dog and I had no desire to try to catch her...catching feral cats is painful enough.

So, the next time you want a puppy and the "evil" breeder asks lots of questions, this is why. Lots of people consider animals as disposable and while part of the deal is that if the new owner can't keep the dog they bring it back, lots of people won't even contact the breeder, they prefer to dump it, either on the streets or in a shelter. My personal favorite excuse is the "new baby" one or the "new, younger dog" one. Got to get rid of the dog we've had for years! The other excuse I like is the "we'll take the kittens and Mom out to the country where they can roam free"..with the tractors and semis and sprayers and combines and the kids getting on their cars on a country road. Oh, and coyotes, who love cat for dinner. No, I wasn't lying, it is quiet here except for harvest and planting!

As for licensing owners, that opens up a whole new can of worms. I can see a perverted system where Romney or Huckabee gets a license for a dog cos they know somebody and the best owner on earth doesn't.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents and my experiences.

Opportunities for flaming...

1. Evil dog breeder
2. Outside cats

Peace.