Letters to the Editor
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Animal rescue orgs
I used to get my cats from the shelter. Then I moved back to SF and when I finally moved into an apt where I could have a cat I went to the shelter. It was not kitten season. They told me to come back in 6 months.
My sister was telling the vet tech about my dilemma when the tech asked how I felt about purebred cats. They were of the type I was looking for (Javanese, a siamese type cat). I went to the breeder. I signed a contract I would take the kittens to the vet, get them fixed, keep them indoors, not de-claw them and not feed them junk cat food. Sounded good and reasonable to me.
When the last of the pair passed away at age 18 and my younger (age 8) cat died suddenly I was, for the first time in almost 20 years petless. I waited until my vacation was over & proceeded to hunt up a siamese type rescue.
Some of the places wanted a letter from my landlord, my credit report (WTF??!!!) and a bunch of totally senseless things that felt incredibly invasive. I did interviews (and was NEVER called back!). after a couple of weeks the big cat show arrived and I took a cat carrier with me. I came home with a very loving javanese beauty of around 8 months. The breeder told me I could breed her if I could get her to Phoenix. I contemplated it as this breed is disappearing and they are SUCH lovely cats. But my life is not conducive to having a litter of kittens in my small apt. I had her fixed.
The breed needs to be in a multi-cat household so I began the search for another kitten. A male of the siamese breed type. I found the rescue folks out in my neighborhood every weekend and every weekend I went out to look. I put my name in for all the male siamese like kittens (about 6-8 months actually). I never got a call. Someone told me since I work in tech that I would NEVER get a kitten unless I lied & said I worked at home.
I got another pedigree kitten. He's an Oriental since there are no Javanese in the area.
he's great. My other cat likes him. Life is good now that I have 2 cats again.
I want to do a rescue. I just don't qualify. And all my friends and family think I'm a total cat nut (which I am!), but I just don't qualify to rescue. Who knew?
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Crying on TV
Look, I'm a pet lover too, but crying on your tv show about this particular situation . . . I just don't get it. I think it's crazy to be so worked about it.
I don't know, myself, I can't cry on demand, and am usually mortified when I do cry. I cry more easily when I'm frustrated than if I'm truly hurt. This may apply to Ellen, too. Who knows?
I realize I cried more easily over my dog's death than over some much bigger things in my life...things that I thought required stoicism and control. I can't explain why this means so much to her, but I'll assume that she is being sincere.
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Overbearing control freaks
BCB wrote:
In addition I microchip every dog I rescue and the chip is permanently registered to me.
and
Sure Ellen was in material breach of their agreement, but instead of further traumatizing the dog by taking it away from people who obviously loved and cared for it,
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It's shameful and it makes it more difficult for people like me who rescue dogs, spend literally thousands in vet bills and training to rehabilitate them, to place them in good homes because there is the perception we are all overbearing control freaks.
BCB - I think that it's great that you are rescuing and fostering dogs, but you ARE a shockingly dishonest overbearing control freak if you are registering dogs you no longer own to yourself. You need to let go of these dogs once they're adopted out.
To make matters worse, you are only concerned about "traumatizing the dog" and not concerned at all about the hurt done to the girls.
BCB, you are part of the problem.
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You are not kidding!
I haven't had time to follow the DeGeneres story, but I definitely relate to the shelter issues. Many years ago I adopted a puppy and had been told she was mine, had arranged a time to pick her up, had cuddled her and relinquished her back to her cage - only to get a call when I was 30 miles away back at home to be told that I was missing something from the paperwork and they were going to give her to another family.
I didn't lose her, but I did have a good cry of frustration and sorrow before I called them back and began begging/negotiating.
Then there was my cat, years later. That required a 4 hour interview process. No exaggeration! I have no idea how they find the time to rescue cats when they spend that many man-hours on interviews.
I was grilled at length. History of every pet in every household I ever lived in, from childhood. They asked the same questions in different ways, an interrogation where I was being tested to see if I would slip up. Then they read back my answers to me, pointing out the any not-completely-party-line answers I had given. Then I got a lecture - care and feeding of cats, which was appreciated, but a lot of opinion as well. Then they went through the questions again to make sure I remembered the right answers.
They wanted me to promise to adopt a second cat, which I wasn't interested in committing to. I told them I'd think about it. The guy looked really doubtful, but finally caved. If I promised I'd think about it . . . ok. The cat was mine. For $75. And then I had to sign the paperwork that legally gave me only custody of her.
My current dog was rescued by a co-worker and she looked for a home for it herself. I appreciate the work shelters do, but I completely agree with Heather's point. The guilt trips, the insistence on perfect agreement on every philosophical point, is not necessary. People who can provide a good home for a pet but don't want to feel put under a suspicious spotlight just find other alternatives. Check the classified ads of your local paper - there's a thriving market for inexpensive mixed-breed puppies.