Letters to the Editor
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Tilda
Even your descriptions of your animals belie your insanity
And your previous posts belie your insanity. I guess it is a wash there.
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Possible source of the Hillbillies w/too many dogs comment
Perhaps this is not what an earlier poster had in mind when referring disparagingly to "hillbilly rednecks" who mistreat their dogs?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/us/30dogs.html?ex=1341201600&en=268dc34051debd2b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
But then again, maybe not, because the NYTimes story focused on animal-loving rural poor people who couldn't bear to turn away the pets others foisted on them, but couldn't afford to fully care for them, either.
Of course, it's much easier to deal in nasty stereotypes. Wonder if "Anonymous" actually knows any unmoneyed, rural dog owners?
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This is the second dog Ellen's cats rejected
When she began her show, Ellen (then with Alexandra Hedison) adopted a puppy. She brought the dog on the show and talked about it. But after a while, she told the audience that her cats didn't get along with the puppy, so she gave it to friends.
Stick to felines, Ms DeGeneres!
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Yep...
My wife and I had the strangest, most annoying experience with a cat rescue group. We were looking for a new cat, and came to an "expo" at the local pet store. We found a cat we liked and began discussing the "adoption" with one of the "rescuers". This is when things got odd. The adoption process was intrusive, and frankly, weird. We had to fill out an application, and listen to discussions of "divorce cats" - "what will we do with the cat if we get divorced?!" We were regaled with stories of bad owners - "Our cats are not allowed to be outside cats! We do home visits - and we found out that one of our adopted cats was being let outside, so you know what I did, I took that cat back!". WHAT?! You spied on the folks that adopted one of your cats, then "took it back"? You have got to be absolutely kidding me!
Well, I the wife and I, having been disabused of the notion that we were going to do some cat a favor by giving it a home, (it seemed the adoption agency felt they were doing US a favor, by letting one of their precious charges go home with us - clearly, their animals were doing just fine where they were...) managed to get away from the adopt-a-cat fascists without said cat.... We looked at the "free/for sale" animal bulletin board, noticed a cat that had been found in a parking lot and needed a home, and made a phone call. We still have "Grizzly" today. And I think, overall, she's a pretty fricken' happy cat.
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Cat bullies too
I was glad to see this article - I thought it was just me. In our city the major private animal shelter has a policy that no one can adopt a cat unless they promise to keep it inside 100% of the time. Yes, I understand that cats that go outside have a higher risk of contracting diseases and are more likely to get in fights or get hit by a car.
However, if the alternatives are going outside (with the joys and attendant risks) or being put to sleep, I think I know which one the cat would choose. The issue here is a rigidity that is resulting in *more* animals being put to sleep rather than less. In many neighborhoods cats live long lives where they go in and out. If that were not the case we would not have such a large overpopulation problem among stray cats.
Again, I acknowledge that it is safer for a cat to live inside, but when animal shelters are turning away good prospective cat adopters only because they will let the cat go outside, they are putting a cat to sleep that might otherwise have lived a good life, if not a perfect life. They are choosing death for the animal because they can't get perfection. It would be a good idea to try to persuade people to keep their cats inside, but it seems like a poor choice to make that a rigid rule.
I have had 2 dogs and 7 cats as an adult and have had very few bad experiences because they went outside. All the animals were strays and some of the cats were desperate to go outside. I wanted them to be happy and they were not happy locked inside. I haven't regretted letting them out and hope my current cats will be able to have reasonably long lives going in and out as they choose.
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incoherent No-Name
Dogs are dogs they do not have human thought or emotions. They do not think or feel like you do. Unless you are a dog too. Sorry. It just makes clear you can't distinguish between people and animals. Well the cute furry ones at any rate. Octopi are frightfully smart. Scary smart. But they're not cuddly - oh well sucks to be them. On the other hand bears are little more than furry sharks with good PR.
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Uh, are you addressing some imaginary poster in particular who said that dogs had human thoughts or emotions, No-Name? Or just muttering under your breath like a senile old man?
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Lonewolfy, You ARE Kidding, right?
I am reeeally sick and tired of people outlining some scenario that they are sure everyone would be absolutely horrified by. So, OK Lonewolfy, let's take your sure-to-be-seen as horrible scenario.
"Look: if you worked for a child adoption agency, and you allowed a couple to adopt a child after doing a veeeery careful screening of them...
...only to find out that a week after the adoption, they gave the kid away to another person/family you knew NOTHING about...
...wouldn't you be infuriated as well?"
Well, if I worked for that agency I would certainly review my screening procedures, depending on how often the adoptions failed. Being "infuriated" and shaking my head about what shits people are isn't really going to help. I don't know how adoption works now. There is open adoption, and trial periods, but back in the day when a child was adopted it was the child of the couple (always couples in those days) as if the child had been born to them.
Despite your implied outrage, children have been farmed out for centuries, sometimes out of exasperation, sometimes out of love, sometimes because of economics. My father-in-law was sent to live with an aunt and uncle after his mother died giving birth because his father was a traveling salesman during the depression. Not too many job options. Kids are sent to boarding schools, to grandparents, to foster care. Sometimes this works for the best, sometimes not. I know my husband, who was adopted, would have been thrilled to be given to somebody else, anybody else, since his adopted mother was bat-shit crazy. The agency didn't do so well with screening on that score.
I dealt with private animal adoption agencies in the 70's when they were just getting started. Never again. The problem with most of the agencies is that workers get so attached to these animals, since some of the animals are there for long periods of time, that no potential owner is good enough.
Some posters have chastised potential owners who want a healthy animal. WTF? Of course they do! I understand the desire of agencies to want homes for special-needs animals, but guilting people into it is not the way to go. I know a woman with an empty nest who DOES adopt special needs animals and takes very good care of them. But she has the room, the time, and the money. Most people do not.
We adopted a dog from the pound that turned out to be deaf. He was a challenge at first since we didn't know the problem, but we all adapted. He's going on 15 years old now and going strong.
As far as the DeGeneres fiasco. I'm surprised that DeGeneres/Rossi did not have their lawyers go over the contract with them, which they probably do with all other contracts. That said, if the proviso about bringing the animal back was so key, why didn't the shelter just tell them, verbally, before giving over the animal?
Maybe I'm wrong about this, but is it typical for cat owners to have dogs that are almost smaller than the cats? Isn't it kind of a prescription for trouble? Do any other posters have this sort of setup? I know many people with smaller dogs, but they don't have cats.
Like another poster, I have no trouble getting pets. There are stray cats by the dozen in my neighborhood. All of our house cats are strays that adopted us by showing up on our porch. Since they did their own screening, I feel right about taking them in.