[Green Ajah Animal Appreciation Week] Animal Welfare and You

[Amarande]

 

This discussion will center around how you can help contribute to animal welfare! Do remember that this is the WT, and be respectful towards the others in the discussion; everyone's opinon is equally important, wether or not you agree with them! ;)

 

So we'll be talking about how you can help change animals lives for the better. We'll give you a list of ideas, and we want you to share your own too! Although the effort of just one person might feel small, if we're many enough together, we can give so many animals better lives!

 

 

Ways to help animals in need and improve their lives:

Volunteer at a shelter, they always need helping hands, both to feed the animals, and to socialize them. Most shelters have too many animals compared to how many hands they have, so their resources is limited. Generous amounts of socialization is so important for an animal to find their forever-home; the better the shelter know the animal and their needs and behavior, the easier to match them with their perfect home.

Volunteer for an animal rescue group; a lot of places have un-trained group that take calls about animals in need, go out and save them, and then bring them to the police or a rescue shelter. Some places will put you through a course, but even if they don't, focus on safety, both your own and the animals! Hopeforpaws.com is a great inspiration.

Donate to SPCA, an animal rescue organization, or an animal welfare and rights organization. A lot of these places run only on donations, other gets small amounts of money from their county or similar, but the common key is that they always need more. More money means more resources, means more animals being helped, more food for those that are there, more vet visits and medicines.

If you ever have the slightest feeling or suspicion that an animal is being mistreated or abused, call your authorities immediately. It's always better to make ten calls too many, than one too little. You could end up saving lives! If you witness something happening, call the police immediately. The animal in question will without doubt be forever grateful!

Be a foster home! Most animal rescuers and shelters have limited capacity, and are dependent on foster homes to take in as many animals as possible. Some places gives you everything you need; food and so on, other places you gotta chip in yourself. But the reward is to see an animal go from beaten, scared, starving and jittery, and grow into a loving, confident, safe little pet.


Take care of strays if they live around your house. Give them scraps from your table or cheap cat food, and maybe build them a little shelter they can sleep in. You don't have to take them into the house with you, but every little thing you do for them, makes their lives better!

 

Adopt from shelters and rescue organizations. If you're looking for a new pet; why not offer one a new chance at life?

 

Spay and neuter your pets, especially cats. This is both better for your animal, as it won't have to deal with heat if it's a female pet, and better for you, because you won't have to deal with hormone sick pets! The fewer new animals are born without intent from owners, the more lives we can save together amongst those that's already here.

 

Have you done any of these things? How is animal welfare handled where you live?

[Ryrin]

I donate money to the local SPCA. One dog I got from the shelter and I've taken in two stray dogs as well as a pregnant cat. We kept the mother and one daughter and found homes for the rest. They are all spayed. I'm fostering one Lab for a friend. I took in a parrot from someone who needed to get rid of them right away.

 

I've taken in multiple strays and re-homed them because ours is a kill shelter and I can't handle any more at my house. :-)

[Guest]

I take in strays whenn I find them - sometimess that inclueds humans but onlly when Im havin a rare and freakishh soft spot lol, othrewise its mostly cats. sometimes Ill keep thm if they have a very wondrful personality, but most timess ill find a relative who wuold like to look after them. Basically all th cats who have ever livedd with me were strays, som of them feral and othres probably cast out domestics. Ive taken away animalls who wer being clerly abused by their companion - if it was one of my relativs, which is rare but it happens, Ill just go and takee them right in front of them howevre much they complin and Ill have the whole community knoww they are a disrespctful abuser of other species, while people I am not familar with, I wont go into details becuse its not exactlly legal but the end resullt is I take the animal from themm withuot their knowin and find somone to give the poor beast a better life or else set it free. 

 

I have nevre neutered any male cats that llived with me and I onlly spay female cats aftre a certain amuont of litters, and the same or simillar prinicplles have applied to othre mammals who have lived with me - if nothinng else can be said, procreation is defintly a central purpose of life, and if I cuold potentialy create a lot of childrn I stupidly cuoldnt support or if othre people could have as much childrenn as they want evn if they cant taek care of those children well, then I have no right to take thatt away from a companion living with me, tht wuold be as crude as me cutting the balls off a homeless man.

[michellem]

We are fosterhome for our local SPCA, it gives me alot of joy when we get in cats who's had a rough time, and to see them transform into safe, loving, trusting, playful, amazing cats. I also worked for SPCA a short period before my body gave out, and I'm thinking of volunteering as a rescue worker.

 

There's another organization here where I live that has a shelter, and I so want to volunteer there, but they are very out of the way, you NEED a car to get there (it's an hour and a half walk from the nearest bus stop, and I'm way too sick to manage that). As soon as my money situation betters however, I'm gonna set up monthly donations both to SPCA and the other one. I so want to help out in every way I can!

 

We spayed our two girls, mostly because they are inside cats and it didn't look like that would change within the first 5 years, so they never got any relief when they were in heat, and putting them on the pill, that so many cats get cancer from, just wasn't an option. Our last fostercat was in heat for over a month straight; she lost so much weight and was so stressed, she never managed to calm down and sleep properly. So SPCA took her in for spaying earlier than they normally would (normally they wait until an animal has gotten an adoptive home).

 

I see it as natural to spay and neuter cats especially here where I live. Every year, people discard kittens; throw them in a plastic bag in a river, put them in a backpack and dump them in a sunny spot in the forest so they'll boil and suffocate at the same time, shoot them in the head and so on and so on. Hundreds of kittens are kiled or tried killed every year because their owners can't be bothered trying to find them new homes. And instead of spaying the cat, they just do the same next time she gets pregnant. Completly breaks my heart. And I swear, if I ever happen upon someone who's doing something like that, well... Let's leave it at this: I'll gldly take the prison sentence.

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

Hello ,  Thanks for stopping by  the Welfare thread!    

 

I have two little kitty furballs !

 

Mama kitty with her babies :

 

 

  

 

 

Toby :With a baby kitty 

 

 

 

 

Mama Kitty and Toby are my babies  and it is their welfare I am happy to care for.  I feed them their favorite kitty food (Meow Mix)  and make sure they have plenty of water and they love milk and their favorite treats .... all I have to do is grab the bag and they come running . 

 

I pretty much found homes for the kittens, sadly Mama Kitty opened the front door and got out ( somehow she opened the door!)  She came back with a few fleas on her ! We all know if there is a few  there will be more .  I spent all day yesterday spring cleaning  and today we will be treating  my whole house  before we get infested with those fleas . It  can take 3 days for fleas to hatch is what I read . All the kitties  will be getting a bath  with Dawn dish soap  and we got kitten shampoo  and we will be adding rosemary and peppermint oil  as well . It will break my heart if my kitties get and suffer from fleas . 

 

As the welfare for the baby kitties I will not let them get any fleas on them  (if I can help it). I have a niece who is a vet tech so I am very lucky for that and she can make sure the welfare of the babies  are good to go before I give them to homes as I see fit . They will get a clean bill of health !

 

 

I found out one of the people who wanted a kitten  had a cat or kitten , but it got fleas and instead of trying to help that cat  she got rid of it !  These are my Mama Kitty's  babies it is my job to find the kittens a loveable home and not just toss them  to the side if they don't seem perfect  .  I told my one SIL she(the lady) can no longer have a kitten .... I will not give a kitten to a person who won't try to help the animal  and put it off on others in a shelter or just let it go  on it's own in the world!  That was her choice to get rid of her past cat  and she thinks she can go out and get another one  to repeat the cycle . 

 

One of my friends wants a kitten but she can't have one either, her children are too mean to the animals  and they won't leave them alone .  I love my friend and her kids dearly , but as for the welfare of the kittens that would not be a perfect choice for this adorable kitten  to grow . 

 

I love my furballs ! Mama Kitty is almost a year old  and Toby is 5 months .... I tell them it seems like a billion times a day I love them, and I talk to them and they will talk back by meowing .  One of my brothers got Mama Kitty for my Mom for Christmas .  If these furballs know they are loved  (not just there and get no attention)  They will show you love in return . A neighbor moved out  and moved their mobile home -  I guess they  had mice  because Mama Kitty saw one in HER house and she hated it...  she caught it (this was while it was cold out ), she wouldn't let me have it (she even GROWLED at me ),  she wouldn't let go of it  until it was safe to do so . she allowed me to have it once the mouse was dead . Then we put out peppermint oil cotton balls . They didn't bother the kitties at all . 

 

 

We have neighbors that put out cat food for the strays, and an older lady takes the strays to be fixed  around here and then lets them back out .   You can tell who feeds them .....But then again are they strays anymore ?  They lay in that person yard  and stay around there, wouldn't that make them an outside cat?

 

 

I know I should get more involved .. but we don't have a shelter near me and I don't drive .

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

I forgot to add the people behind me have roosters and hens 

 

 

 

 

[tonnalea]

 

 

I see it as natural to spay and neuter cats especially here where I live. Every year, people discard kittens; throw them in a plastic bag in a river, put them in a backpack and dump them in a sunny spot in the forest so they'll boil and suffocate at the same time, shoot them in the head and so on and so on. Hundreds of kittens are kiled or tried killed every year because their owners can't be bothered trying to find them new homes. And instead of spaying the cat, they just do the same next time she gets pregnant. Completly breaks my heart. And I swear, if I ever happen upon someone who's doing something like that, well... Let's leave it at this: I'll gldly take the prison sentence.

 

At work one day, we were all picking stuff up off of the floor because we had been busy and the store was completely trashed. Someone over in the pet department saw a plastic shopping back in the floor

and when she went to pick it up, it "meowed" at her. Someone, during the chaos of the rush, had brought a kitten into the store inside of this plastic bag and just left it laying in the floor in the pet department.

Thankfully, it was found in time and was taken up to the service desk where one of our cashiers decided to adopt it. :) The little kitty is just fine now and is growing up nicely in her new home.

 

The animal shelters here are getting overrun with animals, especially cats. It seems as if most people around here want dogs, but being in the countryside...most people like having dogs to help them out. 

The shelter in our county is in dire need of food  because the state and county no longer fund them. Almost everyone around here will donate time and food to our shelter. It is a kill shelter, so if an animal

isn't adopted in a certain amount of time, then it is put down. The surprising thing is this: Very few animals are put down there. This is because a lot of people in our area will foster an animal (even the women

who work there) before they allow it to be put down. It isn't the animal's fault that it ended up where it is, and most of them brought in are very loving and cuddly. We've kept a few of them ourselves, and I would 

have even kept a cat or two if it hadn't been for the little green and orange turtle that sits over here and stares at me all day. Somehow, I don't believe she would appreciate a cat in the house for a long amount of 

time.

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

I had Mama Kitty  an appointment to be given her shots and be fixed ... but , she decided to figure out to open my front door  and run out  and stay gone for a few days.. 

 

In the mean time we got Toby so when I got her back she had someone to play with . Toby and her  took a day to get used to each other and they hit it off even while she was pregnant . She sees Toby as her baby !  

 

I am planing to see if I can get another appointment before I go on vacation in October . if not see if they have a spot open after I get back .  We will have to be there before 6 am if we want them fixed . 

[michellem]

I gotta share something that I think is amazing. It's a Facebook page, called Oskar the blind cat. They also have a youtube channel and an instagram. It's a couple that adopted a cmpletly blind kitten (he was born without eyes). They started putting up pictures and videoes of him, and they currently have over 120.000 followers on FB. Now, in addition to posting pictures and videoes of Oskar (and Klaus, their other cat, who's got a mangled ear), they post notices about blind, deaf or other handicapped cats that are in shelters around the US, and they have helped save so many cat lives because of it. So many kitties that maybe wouldn't have gotten a forever-home otherwise, because they have special needs. Every now and then they'll post other animals too, I think I've at least seen a couple of rabbits and a dog. I think it's so great that they use their "fame" for something like that!

 

If you want to check out their FB its: https://www.facebook.com/BlindOskar

 

And here's a video of Oskar as a kitten

 

[Guest]

If the "owner" is nevre going to spayy or neuter the animall and insted just going to kill its offsrpinng all the time, then spaying and neuterin isnt the solution becuse the person is not going to take that ooption - taking the animal awayy from them in that situation is the only way to stop themm from killing kittenss.

 

lol oskar is cute

[michellem]

Yeah I forgot to mention that they also have a web shop where they sell various cat toys, catnip and cat ties And I think it's 20% of the sale price goes to 3 shelters they support.

[Brandie]

All of the animals I've ever owned were rescues. I refuse to buy an animal from a pet shop or breeder because, well I don't really care about the breeds that much. A mut is just fine with me! Plus I honestly couldn't imagine getting a cat from a shop. They're probably the easiest pet to find, people are always giving away kittens. I got Tommy (my black kitty) from a local animal rescue group, I got Mister (my gray striped kitty) from a lady who was giving him away outside Walmart (his mom had been killed by a pack of feral dogs and she didn't know how to care for a kitten that young), and my husband found Luna (my black and white kitty) starving in our front yard following Mister around. She was also extremely young and obviously motherless, judging by the terrible condition she was in. They all have very distinct personalities. Tommy is my favorite but I love all of them sooo much, they all bring me so much happiness and I think that they are very happy and grateful to have a permanent home with us.

 

There is an organization in Ridgeland, SC called S.N.A.C. that offers discount spay/neutering for cats and dogs. They also give them a little check up and a rabies vaccine. I've taken all of my cats and dogs there over the years, even though it's about a 2 1/2 hour drive for me because the pricing is very reasonable. Wish there were somewhere closer like that though, maybe if there were, more people would get their pets fixed.

 

I don't think I could do the foster home thing though. Hats off to those that can, but my house is one that either an animal has to grow up in to be comfortable or the animal's personality is extremely laid back and chill. Life with a 3 y/o boy is not very calm and it's about to get even more hectic around here! *laughs* I might look into fostering many years down the road though. I think I would enjoy that, maybe after the kids are grown and I need to fill my empty nest. 

[michellem]

Yeah I wouldn't foster if I had children under the age of 10. And we've had to restrict who we foster; we told SPCA we'll only accept female cats. I don't want to have a dog on a full-time basis, and after the male cat we had in this summer attacked Tika, we don't want to risk that again, so we'll stick to females.

 

 

We bought Tika and Talwen, but they're not a breed or anything. The lady we brought them from lives on a farm, and she has 70-something cats. Strays she's taken in and cats she's rescued from being put down. She takes money for the kittens, because she wants people to understand that cats have value. If you get something for free, you don't care for it as well as if you pay for it. But then she also gives you a big package of quality food and quality catsand, a litter box and a few toys.

[Brandie]

Yeah I wouldn't foster if I had children under the age of 10. And we've had to restrict who we foster; we told SPCA we'll only accept female cats. I don't want to have a dog on a full-time basis, and after the male cat we had in this summer attacked Tika, we don't want to risk that again, so we'll stick to females.

 

 

We bought Tika and Talwen, but they're not a breed or anything. The lady we brought them from lives on a farm, and she has 70-something cats. Strays she's taken in and cats she's rescued from being put down. She takes money for the kittens, because she wants people to understand that cats have value. If you get something for free, you don't care for it as well as if you pay for it. But then she also gives you a big package of quality food and quality catsand, a litter box and a few toys.

I don't really see that as buying the cat, you're supporting someone who rescues the cats and finds homes for them. I paid for Tommy, he was a rescue from the shelter by a local rescue group. The adoption fee covered all of his shots and neutering. Totally worth it! Best cat I've ever had!

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

Mama Kitty  isn't feeling well I am calling around to find a Vet who will take the only type of Payment I have right now ! They don't take this credit card and I can't get cash out on it !! :(

[Brandie]

Oh no! I hope that you can find a vet to take it, good luck Kass and snuggle that kitty for us!

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

I found one ! They are good price as well.... Mama Kitty is nursing her babies and her whole one side is infected swollen .  2 shots of antibiotics  and oral antibiotics . 

 

I give her oral antibiotics once a day  and warm rag on her .  

 

The vet was happy I brought her in when I noticed it , I guess people waited  til it gets out of hand. Toby was a great babysitter while we were gone ... one kitten was crying  and he carried her out to my mom . 

 

I take mama kitty back Monday  and this visit we won't get charged .  She purred the whole time we were there . 

[Ryrin]

Mama Kitty  isn't feeling well I am calling around to find a Vet who will take the only type of Payment I have right now ! They don't take this credit card and I can't get cash out on it !! :(

 

Kass, have you tried CareCredit?  http://www.carecredit.com/

 

It helps in a pinch.

[Brandie]

That's great, Kass! Glad she's ok!

[michellem]

Big long ranty post incoming!

 

So we just had our elections, and at such, animal welfare has been one of the topics that's been up for discussion alot.

 

Today, I saw in the newspaper the the police says they we don't need a specialized animal police, wich a lot of people want. They think todays arrangement works well. How it works today is that something called Mattilsynet, wich is a department under the Agriculture-department, has responsibility for animal welfare. They also have the responsiblity for making sure resturants and food stores keep to health regulations and stuff. Basically, they deal mainly with food, and then of course also the animals used for food. But they are also responsible for pets... If they discover crimes against animals, they pull the police into it; they have no police authority themselves, they can't take animals away from owners; they gotta file a charge and hope police does something abotu it. Doesn't make sense at all if you ask me. But the police thinks todays laws and how things are done works spendidly.

 

So the newspaper artiacle focused on how it DOESN'T work. Every year, about 300 reports of animal abuse is filed to the police. Of these, maybe 20-30 cases actually gets a conviction. They focused on two of these cases: In one, a man tortured kittens with lighter gas. They were in a see-through plastic bag, and in the end he tried to kill them with blunt force trauma, and then threw them in the trash. One kitten was still alive. His penalty? A fine, 2000NOK. The other case, was a man who STONED his neighbours cat to death, WHILE the owner was watching and begging on his knees for his cats life. He got a 4000NOK fine. Now I know that it's difficult for you around the world to understand how low those numbers are, so let me give you an example. The fine for public urination, is between 4000 and 10.000. So it's punished MORE harshly to urinate in public, than to torture and kill a cat. WHAT.

 

I'm so mad, and so upset, I was crying after reading that article; they listed a lot of other cases where no punishment had been dealt, and the horrors those poor animals were put through. I can't even go into detail, because I'm not sure it'll be PG-13, that's how horrible some of the cases were! I want to move to England right away; it hurts my soul to live in a country that doesn't take animal welfare seriously. It's not often, but when it comes to this particular topic, I'm ashamed of my country.

 

But, maybe things will change. The four parties who'll probably end up in goverment the next four years, all of them have animal police in their campaigns, so I do hope it'll win through.

[Brandie]

Wow that's terrible. There are some seriously sick people in the world, and we have plenty of them over here in the US but we also have animal police. It's called different things in different places, like where I live (very rural area) we have the Humane Society and they work with the Sheriff's office to take care of stuff like that, but we're a very small town.

[Amarande]

Kass, I'm so glad Mama Kitty is doing better and that the swelling is down :)

 

I spotted Kass the money for Mama's care, it's the sort of thing one does for one's love when her kitty needs help! $165 is a small price to pay for a furry friend's health and happiness (I had worried it would be a lot more, since when my family's cat Rex had a urinary tract emergency, it ended up costing the folks somewhere around $800 if I remember ... ).

 

We have three cats and a dog here, and they've all been adopted from the local animal welfare (who kick butt, btw - New Fairfield/Sherman Animal Welfare actually are known to even adopt from other shelters - oftentimes kill shelters where the pets in question would have been put down otherwise) or the like rather than bought at a pet store. :)

 

I don't have pictures to share, but Rex is a solid black neutered male and the eldest of the kitties (I think he is somewhere in his early teens or so, I am not sure), Cutie is the middle cat, a spayed gray tabby who very much lives up to her name, I think she might be about 10 now, and Misty is the youngest, a brown pattern (tortoise shell maybe?) and also a spayed female, we got her just a few years ago bringing our kitty total back to three (we had had another cat Bibby, a gray and white solid colours spayed female, but she passed on the day after Election Day in 2006 - she was around 17, so she'd lived a full life and died peacefully from age).

 

The dog's name is Boston. He's a little brown doggie, a neutered Boston Terrier-Rat Terrier mix (our first small dog, our previous had all been large ones, Lab mixes normally). I believe he is about 5 now (he was 3 when we got him in 2011) and he's a very nice and very energetic little doggie (I've taken him on walks that have gone as far as 3 miles round trip and he may rush for his water dish when he gets home but he sure doesn't seem tired out!).

[michellem]

I thought I'd tell you guys about the cats we've had in foster care!

 

Our first fostercat was this black beauty:

We named her Nemi, after a Norwegian cartoon character, a goth girl. She and her sister was found at a camping spot, eating the shells of sunflowers seed that had fallen down from a bird feeding station. They were both super thin and starved. They were somewhere between 6 months and a year old. SPCA's theory is that someone at the camping spot had kittens, cared for them there all summer, and when it was time to move back into the house for the winter, they left her and her sister. I went to get her at the vet, and she started purring the moment I talked to her. She settled in at once, so happy to be inside and with people who loved her. She had stomach worms, so she got treated for that, and she got neutered. She was so happy and playful, and she loved getting cuddles; she purred so loud! She was a little ninja, sneaking up on you when you least expected it. We fell completly in love with her, and it was so hard when she moved on. A childhood friend of mine adopted her, and now she lives with her and a older cat buddy named Oscar.

 

 

And then came this little charmer:

And she was named Peaches (her belly is bald because she got neutered). Her story was a long and complicated one. She had belonged to a man, who got sick and had to move to his mother, but couldn't take Peaches with him. So he rented out the apartment with the cat (and made sure there was good people renting it). She got pregnant, and got four kittens. When the kittens were about 6 months old, the apartment caught on fire. Not a big or serious fire, but enough to make the apartment unliveable. The tenents couldn't take Peaches and her kittens with her to where they lived temporarily. So SPCA picked them up. Her kittens, at six months old, were bigger than Peaches. She was sooo tiny, and pretty skinny. But even though she was a bit mischevious (if you left any kind of meat unattended for five minutes, she was there to steal it), she felt right at home. There was still ash in her fur, and she had a pretty bad cough when we first got her, but we washed her clean and her lungs got well. Once she befriended our two cats, they were best friends. They loved each other so much. Peaches stayed with us for a very long time, almost six months. She was in a very real danger of being put down; SPCA only has resources to keep animals in fostercare for six months. But our best friends mom decided to adopt her, and now she lives a happy life with 3 other cats, she's gotten fat, lol, she can go outside as often as she likes, and she's the happiest cat in the world

 

Here's Peaches with our two cats:

 

 

Lastly we had Simba:

He had been living outside a fast food place. He was sick when we got him; he had a bacterial and a viral infection in his airways, so his nose and eyes were running, he was wheezing, his fur was a matted mess and he was so skinny. So he was put in seclusion for a week with one of the SPCA-people. When he got back, to us, sadly he attacked Tika twice, so we had to give him up to another fosterhome. Our cats safety and welfare goes first, always, when it comes to having cats in fostercare. I would have loved to help Simba, but not if our cats would suffer for it.

 

 

Being a fosterhome is a great experience though. It's soooo rewarding seing a scared, skinny, mistreated, sick animal just flower up into this amazing, loving, happy animal.

[Brandie]

Oh they're all so adorable, Mish! I'd have a pretty hard time letting them go too. 

[michellem]

Yeah it's hard letting them go. Espcialy Nemi, since she was our first, I cried for hours after we'd delivered her to her new home. But with Peaches it was way easier, even though we'd had her even longer! Simba, I didn't really have time to get connected to.