We need animal shelters, rebooted. | Way of Cats blog

Who can resist those heart-tugging eyes on the commercials? Well, it depends on how one defines resistance. As discussed in this article:

Despite research from the Ad Council that found people are not motivated to adopt pets by sad pictures of pets behind bars or stories of suffering, those types of messages are still constantly being used by groups whose stated goal is to get pets adopted.

What those messages do is two-fold. First, they make people feel miserable and overwhelmed. They also tend to make people break out the checkbook. That?s right; they?re good for raising money, not finding homes for pets.

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People who are confident and informed enough to adopt from shelters, already are doing so. But there is a vast, untapped, pool of potential pet adopters who are not being well served by their current shelters. If we could engage these willing adopters; we would solve a lot of animal problems.

The ?puppy mill? production problem. There?s a lot of people who keep the mills churning in their clueless attempts to get a ?bargain? pedigreed dog or cat. They do this because they can?t, or won?t, pay full freight for a top-notch purebred. But somehow they feel that a pedigree means something, so when they see a purebred in a pet store or a backyard breeder; they jump at it.

But they are mistaken. Not only are they perpetuating a cruel practice, they are also getting ripped off. These poorly bred, and unsocialized, puppies and kittens are plagued with health and personality problems. They wind up spending far more than the purchase price on vet bills.

The ?animal dumping? problem. Many people will be forced by circumstance to no longer have a home where they can keep their pet. But they also cannot turn them into a kill shelter. This is what compels them to drive to a rural area, and simply dump them.

While I feel this is also a cruel practice, no question, I think it would be a very different matter if there were more places where someone could leave their pet, and know they had a shot at another home. This is what they tell themselves when they cannot walk through the shelter doors, and instead drop them off on a lonely road.

The ?fear of a shelter pet? problem. This is something those of us who have pet evaluation and rehabilitation abilities might not understand. Many people turn to a purebred out of misplaced confidence that this will ensure a better outcome.

They would have a much better chance with a properly evaluated shelter pet, who has had the benefit of caring people and a more normal living environment. A good shelter is also in a position to help with some support if the adopters run into problems, or need some teaching help.

The ?death station? shelter problem. But when we look at a lot of shelters; we understand the fear. The cats are in cages, not socialized, and the attendants might not know anything about them, or even care.

A shelter who euthanizes most of their animals is going to create a bad atmosphere; it?s inevitable. How can volunteers or shelter workers keep trying in the face of mostly certain doom? This creates depression, demotivation, and eventually, cruel practices against the animals that are seen as ?the cause? of their painful emotions.

I fell into my amateur cat rescue because everywhere I turned, there appeared an abandoned or abused cat who needed a home. I could give them one; and with modern technology such as the cable access channel and email networks, I could then get them another one.

I had never realized the power of my humble home when it came to people adopting my ?shelter? cats. They could see the cat living in a place with people and other animals, not isolated in a cage. They could talk to someone who knew the cat very well, and could answer their questions.

Of course, real shelters need something more professional. But it turns out, real shelters need more of those home touches, too.

Because when it comes right down to it, the job is rescue and rehoming.

Read more about the No Kill Shelter Movement.

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Through her amateur cat rescue, she cured problem cats and placed them in new homes. Learn to maximize cat enjoyment!

Source: http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/the-competing-impulses-in-rescue/18170

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