Too many pets suffering due to economy.

[pips&peeps]

The horses are really suffering and have been for a while. There was a local news report on that issue tonight.

How they are still going to slaughter in either Mexico or Canada.... One of the slaughter buyers said people were letting them go (turning them loose) and they were getting hit by cars, etc... just so sad.

 

[WyanLuv]

Our neighbor thought it was great earlier this year when their unfixed female dog got pregnant by a stray. The babies were born on the 4th of July, all 9 of them. But as they grew up, the neighbors took no effort into finding the puppies a home while they were still "puppies". So now there are 5 of these puppies in a kennel in the back yard and the unfixed female and her boyfriend running around the yard. They are moving to the city and have to be out at the end of the month and they are only now concerned about finding these dogs homes. They have contacted all the local animal shelters, but earlier this year Cedar Rapids was severly flooded and all the shelters that are close are full of flood victims animals. You have no idea how much this situation upsets me. I was the reason why 4 of the puppies found new homes to begin with. I wish I could have saved them all. Desperate times make people do wrong things. The neighbor is living proof. I understand your frustrations and sympathize

 

[chickenma]

I feel sorry for the people that can't feed their pets because of the bad economy. We all deserve better and we will .
The only thing we can do is pray for people and animals for a better future.
Let's stay positive and try to help each other. This will make us feel much better.

 

[chickeepoo]

I get upset, too, by the bad deal the animals get when things get tight… I keep pressing my luck at home by helping out the stray cats in the neighborhood (strays that are 2nd-third generation from cats that were living loose with no shots/so neutering by their "owners" who turn around and move and abandon them). I'm still hosting a couple of spayed females outside and the 2 last kittens inside, now "teenagers", that were the survivors of a feral litter. We have a local program that coordinates through our county Animal services which pays for the neutering, testing and shots of ferals if volunteers will take them in and care for them temporarily while they recover from surgery, but the cats are back on their own once released. Dry cat chow doesn't cost a ton, but the cost does make a dent when you keep adding animals onto an already-stretched household. I wish people would quit letting their animals breed at random, causing more overpopulation in feral animals who often end up as road-kill or a snack for predators (or floating in the retention pond like 2 of the kittens from that litter).

 

[Opa]

A sad reality around here is that all of the animal shelters and overflowing and very few a being adopted

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[rufus]

Just about every third house in my neighborhood is vacant. People are losing their houses, and they can't rent an apartment with a couple of pit bull dogs. They just leave them. The house next door had three dogs left behind. When the people from the bank showed up, they got a real suprise.

The dogs are running in packs now. A couple of months ago some pit bulls attacked a park maintenance worker at the park. They were eating him when the cops got there. Of course they shot the dogs, but they had eaten the better part of him.

People in the neighborhood can't find jobs, and a lot of them are going back to Mexico. And, I guess they can't take the animals with them.

Animal control will take strays running the streets and alleys, but if the dogs run back into a yard, they won't touch them.

I do not forsee any good end coming to these poor animals.

Rufus

 

[poultrykeeper08]

Some people frustrate me !! Dont get a dog like a pit because you think its cool and makes you look tough .Some people see dogs and animals as objects not living things that have feelings . Pit bulls if the come from a good home are such sweet and nice dogs . But come from a wrong home and they are terrors .
My brother had one when i was younger and when i came home from school id run in the back yard and sit at the picknick table and do my home work and his pit sisco ould jump up on the table and lay his head on my arm and watch me do my home work if i walked away he would steel my pencil and eat it !! Not sure the led was so good for him though

 

[setter4]

Quote:
Irresponsible owners make us all nets but when people can't afford to feed their kids they sure can't afford to spay,neuter pets. Unfortunately the only answer for most of them is to take these pets to a local shelter. Not a good answer but better than turning them loose or letting them go hungry.

 

[ksacres]

Up until the past year or so, I have always been vehemently opposed to the slaughtering of horses. But, having recently seen sooooo very many animals starving to death because their owners can't feed them and won't give them to someone who can, I have changed my mind. Better to suffer for a few days/weeks on a transport vehicle than to suffer months starving to death.

It's a hard world, and it's getting harder

 

[ametauss]

If we all took the advice to think of our future prior to owning a Pet we would also need to think about having children....

I don't know about most of you, but I'm not able to see the future and bad things happen to good people.

I'm not on the side of those that just leave an animal, I feel that if at all possible find a place for it... even if you have to drive miles away to find a shelter/rescue that will take them...

I would never have thought I'd be among the thousands that would loose their home but I did and although I'm doing okay right now renting a farm, it still makes me worry about my kids' future and my rescued animals that I come across.....

You don't know what the future holds but you can be a good person when you're going through bad times.... Being rich doesn't change a person's morales it just compounds what's already there....