Ugh, animal adoption...

[Lunachick]

We had a terrible encounter with adopting animals here in NJ. I think JJ is right about finding out about people that want to adopt your animals. There was a dude going around to all the people advertising "free to a good home".

This is where you have to be careful. This dude was answering all the "free to a good home" ads and was adopting kittens.

He would pass inspection, adopt the kitten and bring it home. One particular person was suspicious of this dude, and went to his house, and lo and behold the dude admitted that he would play with the kitten/kittens ( he had adopted a few of them from different people) and when the kitten scratched him - he threw the poor animal against the wall, or drown them in the toilet. And other things I'd rather not mention. He would dump the bodies in his back yard, the man that was suspicious of him alerted animal control and the dude was arrested.

The people that let this dude adopt the kittens from them were devestated. He was a sneaky dude who adopted innocent kittens for a sick purpose.

Now NJ is warning people to be careful, and not post "free to a good home"

 

[Betsy]

22 years ago when we moved to our current home, we had a mouse problem so Mom called the local SPCA about adopting a cat to control the mice. They refused to let her adopt a cat for that purpose because they thought she wouldn't feed the cat. Mom picked up a local paper, found a litter of free kittens...Sally lived a happy, pampered 12 years before being hit by a car. And yes, she was a good mouser...who ate as much cat food as she wanted

Today, like mom'sfolly, most rescue groups/shelters won't allow us to adopt because we no longer vaccinate our pets. It's not that we don't care about their health-we do-but I have done extensive research on vaccinations and what I've found out about them scares the dickens out of me. Not to mention, I suffer from a disorder linked to vaccinations ( though I don't think they caused my case) and under no circumstances do I want my beloved pets to suffer anything close to what I've been through.

I know there's scary stories about crazy adopters...but there has to be a happy medium somewhere where rescuers can screen out the crazy adopters and respect the privacy of the good ones.

 

[silkiechicken]

I am glad there are programs out there that allow adoptions of feral cats to rural settings for the purpose of mousing. All they ask is that you have a dry place to house at least 4, feed them a can of wet cat food and one visit... that visit being the visit to set them on your rural or land locked property in the relocation cages for a week. I guess the second visit is when they come back to get their cages.

 

[Cara]

I had a really silly incident when I adopted my first Bloodhound too. I'd previously adopted a Black and Tan Coonhound from the same pound with bad separation anxiety. She's pee if I went in the next room and she couldn't get to me, and bay and bay and bay. I had to take her everywhere with me, and took her to visit a friend out of town one night. He said it would be ok to leave her home because his roommate wouldn't be back so the barking wouldn't bother anyone. I asked him to call him and let him know there was a strange dog in the house just in case he did come home, so she didn't slip out. He did that, we went out, and came home to no roommate and no dog. My friend called his roommate, who said he'd let her out because he thought she needed the bathroom, and she'd run off. They didn't have a fence and he just opened the front door and let her go. My friend is a cop so he called in to work to see if anyone had reported a loose dog, and someone had called but when they went out to investigate all they saw was a raccoon. We went to that spot, and saw my dog laying injured on the shoulder. I completely lost it, but somehow we got her picked up and taken to the vet hospital. They kept her overnight until a particular surgeon came in, but she had to be put down. A couple of days later the pound called to say they had my dog. I told them they couldn't possibly have, but they wanted proof. So I went there with the invoice from the vet, and out of curiosity looked at the dog. They were almost identical, and I was still so upset over my dog dying I thought I might have been given a second chance with her. I waited until it was time for her to be adopted, and went back to get her. The kennel was empty, and when I found the ACO she told me they had had to put her down too as she had an internal obstruction that would have taken all of their vet budget to treat. I was in tears, she was in tears, and she told me she'd just picked up another dog she thought i'd like and was sure nobody would come for. She brought out an enormous overly-friendly Bloodhound and it was a done deal. I told her i'd be back when the week was up, and called every single day to make sure she was still there. I was waiting for them to open the morning she was available so that she could get out of that place ASAP, but maybe I had a sixth sense too. I signed everything I needed to and was leaving with her when a strange woman came up to me and asked if she could help me. I said no, i'd just adopted this dog. She had a mad look on her face and told me the dog was supposed to come into their rescue, and I needed to give her to them. She called another woman over who was with the same organisation, and both of them starting asking me question after question. One of them went inside to talk to the ACO, and came out and asked me if it was true that my last dog got run over. So I had to go through the whole story of what had happened a couple of weeks before, and then she told me she'd got my address and phone number and would be checking up on the dog. At this point the ACO came out and set them both straight, luckily she was the type not to take any crap. They were still mad as they had made a vet appointment for the dog, but instead of rescuing one of the other dogs due to be put down, they just left. Their attitude was not that of a caring volunteer, but of someone who thought only they were capable of taking care of an animal.

A week or so later I ran into them at Petsmart where they were running an adoption event. We'd just gone in for dog food. Again I got the 5th degree about how I was taking care of her. I'd had to call the pound to let them know the dog had heartworm and would need to be treated before I could get her spayed, and they had passed this on to the rescue. So the interrogation continued about how and where I was going to get this done, and whether I could afford it. I really wish I had told them where to go, even more so when they kept creeping around the ends of the aisles and watching us! Ladybird lived out a very happy rest of her life, some of which was spent doing Search and Rescue but most sleeping on the sofa. It makes me mad to think she could have spent the majority of her last 18 months in a shelter because the volunteers didn't think anyone was good enough to look after her.

 

[Lunachick]

I guess there is no happy medium yet. Cara, your dog is beautiful.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Double duma$$es them...you did good, Cara.

 

[valmom]

A happy medium would be nice. I suppose that's why I bought my dogs from reputable breeders. I had originally (after my 4 labs died of old age) wanted to adopt a racing greyhound and give them a sofa cushion type of life. At the time we had just moved to Vermont and didn't have a dog kennel fence or any fence around the property except for the electric horse fence for the horses. My labs were on a run-line to go outside to pee for their whole lives, but basically they were indoor dogs.

We were told not even to bother applying. Oh, well. I still love greyhounds, but I won't ever have one. Maybe one day once the Jack Russells die of old age I will buy an elegant lean beautiful dog- maybe a Saluki.

 

[talos321]

Sigh I had the same issues with adoptions. Very intrusive and very cash oriented.

My brother got a cat and paid the 50.00 adoption fee plus a 75.00 spay fee. It just so happened that he found that the cat's collar was backwards and had an ownership tag. He called the number and the lady answered and had been looking for the cat for months and the cat was already spayed. When he called the rescue and explained the situation they told him that all adoptions are charged for spaying even when they are already fixed. He returned the cat back to the original owner whom paid the fees for his effort plus a finders fee.

Recently I called a local shelter to see if they had any rabbits. When they explained the fees and all the red tape (spaying, cages, feed,visits etc, must be kept indoors, must have a litter box, socket protectors, housing wire guards). This all ended up being 300.00-500.00 for a rabbit. I used the money to build a nice outside rabbit hutch and ordered two female rabbits from the pet store.

This doesn't say that I completely trust rescue centers. A rescue center for cats were busted in my hometown. The lady operating it would house the cats in a rental building and charge huge fees for adoption and spaying and all the red tape etc of most rescues. She would solicit donations from those that brought their pets in, internet soliciting, community soliciting.
It was found out that she did spaying after the cat was purchased and in the meantime they were allowed to breed in the large building she rented. When busted they found 300 cats, half were feral, 30 were found in the rafters dead. They hadn't been given food or water for weeks. They had been eating each other's carcasses when one died. The ajoining building patrons complained to the police about the stench and that nobody ever came to this building full of cats.
They find out later that she used the donations for such items as house payments, corvette, glorious cruises etc. They estimated her take was 300,000.00 or more per year in donations.

 

[Bawkadoodledoo]

people like this make me so sick...