Fostering ponderings

[crazy4strays]

Wow!!! I foster for my local rescue and they didn't even put me through that much scrutiny.

Treating themselves as a Pet Protective Services, levying fines, or trying to control all people's decisions goes way beyond the scope of what any sane rescue would attempt to do. I'd gladly pay the higher prices to vet a stray before ever adopting from horrible rescues like that!

If the time is ever right for us to adopt again, I plan to adopt one of my own foster cats. That way I will be able to have an extended period of time to observe the cat and see if they are right for our household. If they're not a good fit, no harm done, just let someone else adopt them.

 

[DreamerRose]

Well, Crazy4Strays, the reason I went to the shelter I did was because I didn't have to get any references (my son said, "It's pretty hard to get a reference from a cat!"). Although I've had many cats, the last one died of old age 30 years ago, so on the short form I did complete, I just put down that I was experienced. All three of our shelters are quite popular and take in many cats from high-kill shelters.

 

[NewYork1303]

 
I totally get that rescues are nervous about who they adopt out to, and it really makes me angry when I hear about people who adopt a kitten, then return it six months or a year later, basically robbing them of kittenhood and the likely chance that they'll be adopted again. It's incredibly irresponsible, and I don't know how you can just return a cat who has been part of your family.

Then again, I saw quite a few rescues that had insane standards for adopting, and things like 10-page questionnaires, home visitations, unannounced home visitations, $500 fines if they find something they don't like during a visitation (like a plant too low to the ground), legal language that stipulates the shelter/rescue still owns the cat and can take it back at any time, and even some places that will not adopt out unless you have a recommendation from a vet. But if you're a first-time cat owner, how can you have a vet recommendation? There was one rescue in Manhattan that wanted people to attend a series of weekly seminars on cat care, and a series of home visits, like social workers at CPS. Those were mandatory for adopting. My brother, who was with me at their adoption event, straight-up told them they were making it difficult for legitimately good people to adopt, and they just shrugged it off.

Our first cat was really lucky. He was adopted out by a shelter as a kitten, returned a month later, adopted out again, returned two years later. We adopted him when he had only been in the shelter for a couple of days. For a cat who was almost three that was pretty impressive.

I get why shelters can't just hand out cats, but they need to not be so picky so cats can find homes.

 

[crazy4strays]

And this is another reason why indoor cats need collars--incompetency of animal shelters.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20..._animal-control-euthanizing-animals-microchip

 

[crazy4strays]

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/10/cat.html

 

[crazy4strays]

http://www.aspcapro.org/but-willow-could-have-been-home-by-dinner%e2%80%a6

 

[kittycort]

And this is another reason why indoor cats need collars--incompetency of animal shelters.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20..._animal-control-euthanizing-animals-microchip

This makes me sick.

 

[kittycort]

http://www.aspcapro.org/but-willow-could-have-been-home-by-dinner%e2%80%a6

Wow...only 9 percent wearing tags. I cant say that my own experience with "found" cats is any better. The comment about owners being concerned about collars....I see many cats with collars...but no tags.

 

[crazy4strays]

Yep, horrifying. But that is the unfortunate reality of the world that we live in. Cat's are treated like disposable objects.

When I adopted my stray, I put out an ad and called around, as well as having a vet's office scan for a microchip and finding none. Only after taking those steps did I consider him mine.

I mentioned that to my neighbor and she said, "I never bothered with all that. I just figured that if they walked onto my property, they were mine."

Attitudes like that is why I would never trust microchips as a stand alone ID method.

Even if there are stray hold laws, many people will not be aware of them and won't follow them. In their mind, as soon as your unidentified cat sets a toenail on their property, you have 0 minutes and 0 hours to retrieve them.

The far more sensible solution for me is to make sure that my cat carries visual proof that he's not a stray.

 

[crazy4strays]

Considering the amount of cat's who are killed every day in shelters, I think that it's odd that there's so much worry about breakaway collars being unsafe. I would hazard a guess that the fatality rate from getting killed by being unidentified in a shelter is at least 100x higher than the risk of a breakaway buckle malfunctioning and killing a cat.

 

[crazy4strays]

I hear often that people don't collar their cats because they're indoor. But being indoors is no guarantee that they will never end up inadvertently outdoors. Aside from my escape artist cat, who tries to sneak out whenever he can, there are plenty of cats who are fairly content with indoor life who still try to escape.

For example, my foster cat was fine with being indoors. But one day, she slipped out the door and onto the porch. Luckily, I caught her before she got any further. It gave me peace of mind, though, that she had a collar and tags, that way the neighborhood could identify her as belonging to me. My foster cats all wear tags and collars. The rescue doesn't provide them either. They ONLY provide collars for dogs. So I had to buy the cat collars and tags for the cats. Well worth it though.

 

[crazy4strays]

I just read a story on another forum. The owner had a Mama cat and a litter of kittens. While getting Mama cat her shots, the owner had a microchip inserted. Mama cat was still nursing, so couldn't be spayed yet.

Mama cat escapes one day leaving a frantic owner and a batch of kittens that weren't weaned yet.

The owner assumes that the shelter will call her if the cat is picked up, but goes and checks the shelter just to be on the safe side. Mama cat was sitting there and had been there for a week!!

The owner asked why the shelter never called her. The shelter replied that since the cat had recently given birth, they figured that she was abandoned and didn't bother to scan her.

The owner asked to take Mama cat home and the shelter says, "How can you prove that she's yours, though?" So the owner forced the shelter to scan Mama cat which then of course picked up her microchip. *face palm*

It's not the shelter's job to form opinions about whether animals are abandoned or not. Just take the 60 seconds and scan them!

Just because a cat is loose and has recently given birth does not prove that the current owner allowed her to get pregnant or abandoned her. Lots of Good Samaritans shelter and care for and ultimately adopt abandoned cats that were already heavily pregnant when found.

 

[kittycort]

Unfortunatly, rabbits and guinea pigs tend to fare even worse in shelters than cats. They are put into garbage bags here by our local HS and dropped off at a dump.

My indoor cats have gotten out. My disabled female did once and then became extremely frightened. She ran off, jumped my four foot fence, ran across the road, and finally circled back, crossing the road and fence again, and into the house. When I saw her fly over the fence and the road, I didnt think I would ever see her again. Im lucky.

 

[crazy4strays]

They drop live animals at a dump? How is that even legal?

 

[NewYork1303]

What do you guys think about having names and numbers embroidered on the collar? We just bought personalized collars for our cats since the kitten chews her own tag and my other cats making it so the tags are unreadable. They are both indoor only cats that are microchipped, but as an extra precaution they wear collars. 

 

[crazy4strays]

Having an embroidered collar is a great back up for tags becoming unreadable.

I tend to like tags because they are clearly visible from a distance and then the person knows to check the cat for information. I like bright colored (like bright red or purple) tags the best because they're the most visible.

If I tended towards having tags destroyed I'd probably just buy extra to keep on hand. One of my cats loses collars sometimes so I keep an extra tag on hand for him.

I buy my cat tags for under $3 each on Amazon.

 

[crazy4strays]

By the way, is anyone familiar with tattooing as a form of ID?

I've considered it in addition to the microchips and collars, but I don't know much about it.

 

[kittycort]

They drop live animals at a dump? How is that even legal?

Because theyre rabbits/smaller animals. You cant do.that with cats and dogs..but rabbkits or guinea pigs amd other poxket pets arent considered to be of "equaL value." They are "vermin" and not "companion" animals.

 

[crazy4strays]

Wow! I find that odd considering the fact that even FISH are illegal to release into the wild.

Are they for sure alive, though? It seems strange to put live animals into garbage bags. 

I feel sick for the way that so many humans treat animals, but unfortunately the way they treat other humans isn't always much better. 

 

[kittycort]

Yes theyre alive.

Do you know animals dontnecessarily die immediatly via gassing? It can be a long and cruel wait...especially unborn babies.