The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2017

[dahli6]

Sometimes I wonder if "no-kill" is all that.

I totally understand what you mean.
I don't know what they do if it is a dog but if a cat is too feral to be socialized they take it back to it's previous address and release it or contact the previous owner to retrieve it.
The system isn't perfect but it is an improvement from a shelter situation that had people afraid to use it.
Previously the shelter was sponsored by the Humane Society. The low/cost spay and neuter clinic was barely operable, serving 900 to 1500 animals a year. In order to make an appointment a person had to call and leave a voicemail with their contact information. The clinic would contact them when an opening was available and the owner had to bring their pet in, immediately. If the animal was in heat or pregnant there would be no spay. If the person could not come in immediately there would be no alteration. Because the voicemail was always full the local mobile pet vacc was the chief endorser of the program, wrote out vouchers for a local vet who did the sterilizations at cost and was compensated by the USPCA.
As it became known that our local shelter had strict rules for adoptability people started becoming less inclined to bring in strays and hoarding became a problem. If an animal showed any signs of illness they were euthanized, pregnancy euthanized, biting or scratching at all euthanized. If they were not placed in a foster or adopted within two weeks, euthanized. As hoarding cases stacked up the shelter became a holding facility for animals who were unadoptable because they were evidence. A little over 2 years ago the local shelter developed a problem with Parvo, approximately every 6 weeks they closed the shelter for 2 weeks and destroyed every animal there.
Last winter everything changed. They got proactive, joined a national organization(no I don't know which one)which allows them to send animals to other states if our shelter becomes too stagnant and started a free spay and neuter/rabies vacc program for owned animals and ferals. Hoarders are "helped" instead of punished. Surrenders are done by appointment only, I think allowances are made for dogs that are running loose.
They often allow people who bring in found animals a temporary foster status of the single animal or single group of animals(in the case of litters).
They bit off a bit more than they could chew though. At first things were slow and relaxed but they got swamped by spring. Sterilizations are first come first serve; drop off at 8, come back at 4. Surrender appointments are on a 2 month wait and animals control has strict orders; unless the animals are in trouble, no pick ups. Animals control renders aid instead of handing out tickets.
It is a work in progress, not a perfect system but hopefully it is a step in the right direction.

 

[arouetta]

While your example is really bad, not all kill shelters are like that. The SPCA shelter I referenced, last time I got a cat there (Midway) his adoption cost was super cheap as they were discounting it heavily just to get him out of there because he had been there three months. And he had been a return because he hadn't gotten along with the previous adopter's other pets. Think about that, three months at a kill shelter and being a failed adoption to boot. They did everything they could to make room and euthanasia really only happened for extremely sick/injured animals and dangerous animals and when they flat out could not make room for an incoming animal.

I don't even think the latter happened with any regularity, every single time I went there (even if it was just passing through the kennels to visit the petting zoo) there would always be empty cages. They had the main dog area, they had the cat room where they also kept the pocket pets, and they had a puppy room that was quieter than the dog area (that room could damage your hearing as apparently dogs love communicating with each other loudly) that during kitten season they would put mothers and litters in there whenever they ran out of room in the cat room.

Where I live now the Humane Society runs the shelter, though I think there's a county one too, and the couple of times I've gone there they actually have stacked some cages in the waiting area, I guess they are doing what they can to make room too. They are actually under quarantine for feline distemper (there was a sign saying to go to a different shelter for surrenders, which is why I think the county runs one separately) and they still have live cats in the waiting area, clearly they didn't put down the whole place to deal with the outbreak. (They said they haven't had a single case in months, so whatever alternate they chose worked. And if they are refusing cat surrenders and still have cats, then those cats have also been around for several months while waiting for adopters.)

 

[dahli6]

arouetta I don't think all kill shelters are bad. Ours was and that was my focus. My local county has become insanely animal friendly in a short period of time. I am only having trouble with my ferals because no one can help me trap or transport for tnr.

 

[Kat0121]

The Humane Society near me euthanizes ALL ferals that come through their doors. My DD and I have volunteered there as cat cuddlers before we got the girls and they told us this flat out. They were very cold and unapologetic about it too. They basically said that they could not be put into homes as they were and they did not have the time, manpower or resources to try to tame them. It was so sad. This was early 2012 so it's possible that this has changed but I doubt it. They do not euthanize animals for being there for too long. They do refer to themselves as "no kill".

 

[foxxycat]

hopefully more people step up to help volunteer and help change this misconception. Ferals can be adopted=just takes time and patience. Something that more people could learn to do.

 

[dahli6]

hopefully more people step up to help volunteer and help change this misconception. Ferals can be adopted=just takes time and patience. Something that more people could learn to do.

That is why I have a shed with a small dirt floored catio for feral mothers and their litters. I can socialize the litters for surrender and tnr the mothers. It isn't perfect but so far it is what I can do on my own. Of course after adapting to feeding the little ones for 2 to 4 months it is just as easy to sterilize and keep them. The shelter actually appreciates it.
Of course they appreciate it.

 

[foxxycat]

Thank you for doing this. So far in the winter I make sure there's tunnels to get under my deck-it's all enclosed underneath when we get feet of snow-it makes a nice shelter for them. So far I haven't seen any strays around but this year going to get some straw and put it underneath-make a shelter incase a kitty shows up. I have a bowl of water on the porch which reminds me I need to rinse it out and fill it with the coming hot weather this week..so HATE it this hot. Puts a damper on my cleaning-it gets hot in the house.

 

[dahli6]

Thank you for doing this. So far in the winter I make sure there's tunnels to get under my deck-it's all enclosed underneath when we get feet of snow-it makes a nice shelter for them. So far I haven't seen any strays around but this year going to get some straw and put it underneath-make a shelter incase a kitty shows up. I have a bowl of water on the porch which reminds me I need to rinse it out and fill it with the coming hot weather this week..so HATE it this hot. Puts a damper on my cleaning-it gets hot in the house.

I set this up at the beginning of spring.
Now it is overgrown with tomato vine and grass but the water is always clean, refilled by me or the rain.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Mamanyt1953 , The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2017

Margret

LOL...SAW THAT!

segelkatt sending you a ton of and (hugs)

OH ME TOO!

I know people will say I need to feed wet.

I also feed kibbles. Mostly because Hekitty is fully capable of not eating ONE SINGLE BITE for as much as three days, at which time I cave in, fearing Fatty Liver Disease, and give her her dratted Friskies Indoor Formula. I make sure she has fresh water sources in EVERY room, and she does drink a lot. Bottom line, we feed our cats as well as we can afford, and we feed them what they will condescend to eat. Generations of healthy cats lived into their late teens and their 20s on Purina dry and Friskies dry, because that was what we thought was the best for them. I can't begin to tell you how many dollars I threw away on every canned food there is, and how many bags of opened premium kibbles with all the right ingredients at the top of the list I donated to the shelter in Morehead City. I could have had a down payment on a house by now!

 

[Kat0121]

LOL...SAW THAT!



OH ME TOO!



I also feed kibbles. Mostly because Hekitty is fully capable of not eating ONE SINGLE BITE for as much as three days, at which time I cave in, fearing Fatty Liver Disease, and give her her dratted Friskies Indoor Formula. I make sure she has fresh water sources in EVERY room, and she does drink a lot. Bottom line, we feed our cats as well as we can afford, and we feed them what they will condescend to eat. Generations of healthy cats lived into their late teens and their 20s on Purina dry and Friskies dry, because that was what we thought was the best for them. I can't begin to tell you how many dollars I threw away on every canned food there is, and how many bags of opened premium kibbles with all the right ingredients at the top of the list I donated to the shelter in Morehead City. I could have had a down payment on a house by now!

You have to do what is best for you and Hekitty. I know exactly what you mean. I don't even want to think about how many cans of expensive cat food there have been that ended up in the trash or garbage disposal because the diva sisters refused to eat them.

Hugs to the Queen!

 

[Margret]

tallyollyopia , today when I was at CostCo I priced cashews: $19.99 for a big 2.5 pound jar. Just make sure you don't accidentally get the no-salt-added variety.

The Humane Society near me euthanizes ALL ferals that come through their doors.

The Humane Society, or the ASPCA (they're two different organizations)?

Bottom line, we feed our cats as well as we can afford, and we feed them what they will condescend to eat.

Yep, you got that right.

segelkatt , welcome back! Take care of yourself, and if the doctor and therapists all say that you need to gain some weight then you probably need to gain some weight.

Margret

 

[Blakeney Green]

The shelter I work at never euthanizes an animal to clear space or because they have stayed too long. Once we take responsibility for an animal, our primary goal is to do as well by that individual animal as we can, and that means we will work for as long as it takes to find them a home, and in the very rare cases we can't, they stay with us until the natural end of their lives.

In some situations we do have to euthanize an animal for humane reasons, though. If an animal is so aggressive that they are a danger to staff and to the public so they would not be getting any interaction, we will have to have that animal put down. If an animal is so sick that we cannot offer them a meaningful recovery (based on evaluation by a vet,) they will also be put to sleep because we feel that is more kind than dragging out their suffering. Basically, if we cannot offer a reasonable quality of life, we would have to have that animal euthanized.

 

[arouetta]

I am worried about my boys. It's like Shadow's death triggered something.

Montressor can't completely jump on the bed anymore. It's like how Shadow was, before she just quit jumping on the bed and started climbing up. His front feet make it but his back feet hit about 3-4 inches below the top and he pushes off to completely get on the bed. On top of that, he's stopped staying on the bed all night. Usually he and I would fight over pillow space but once we finally hit a compromise he stays. Now somewhere around 4 or 5 in the morning I wake up and he's no longer there. Sometimes we find him on the floor by the bed, sometimes he's in the kid's room, but it's different. Beside the bed worries me, as he's always been super clingy to us. That's a physical distance from his people he never would have willingly done in the past.

Midway is now sleeping downstairs. He had been sleeping at the top of the stairs, I was never sure if it was a territory dominance thing (because Montressor had to walk by him to get to the litter box at night) or if the upstairs was too hot and that's the coolest place he found. Now he stays downstairs at night. He'll go up during the day when people are up there or when he's ready for us to get up in the morning, but not at night. He also snoozes on the spider that Shadow often snoozed on every time he wants a nap. And the yowling has increased a lot whenever we are not in view. I'm worried this is a cognitive change and he's actually lost us, not just unhappy that we aren't in the room of his choosing. He was always independent but he's becoming clingy during daylight hours.

My husband isn't concerned. He's noticed some of it, but he says he thinks it's just adjusting to Shadow's death, like the spider napping. I can't say it's getting worse, it does seem to be holding steady, but it's odd. However we still aren't caught up on bills when we had to spend the rent money on Shadow's last day, so a vet visit over an odd feeling really isn't in the cards.

I'm 44 years old and this is the first time in my adult life I've had to put an animal down. Does this sound like the usual mourning for companion cats? Or should I be concerned?

 

[muffy]

kat0121:
My local Humane Society told me the same thing in regard to ferals. They euthanized any and all ferals they took in and they were very nasty about it. This was 18 years ago and I doubt it very much if they have changed any. They had me in tears and needless to say I have had no dealings with them since.

Muffy

 

[segelkatt]

I am back from a long Hiatus! Just wanted to fill everyone in on our current situation !

We got the trailer all set up and hooked up the water lines. My Fiancé moved here on August 28th so we have been living together since then. His poor relationship with his parents continues but his dad has been nice and shipped us a few things like snacks and other little things we might need.

We actually got the trailer hooked up to a satellite dish today so we can finally watch TV now!

We Also got 2 kittens (one 14 weeks old one 12 weeks old) and they have been VERY good do far! They are little lovebugs and absolutely LOVE to cuddle. They are both male and although they are not brothers, they sure do act like they are! They are always playing together and when they get tired they curl up next to each other. It is so cute!

I have had cats all of my life but never 2 kittens at the same time so it has been a blast to watch how they interact with each other.

Here's a couple pictures of the little cuties:

The orange and white one is named Remus and the Black one is named Sirius (named for Remus Lupin and Sirius Black from the Harry Potter Series) View attachment 196411

View attachment 196408

Oh and I forgot to mention how SPOILED ROTTEN they are! We decided to bite the bullet and buy them a Litter Robot Open Air! No regrets so far! I will not miss scooping litter one bit!

I hope you did not get a dud, I've had mine for almost a year and have had nothing but trouble with it. The company has been very good about it but I'm just about at the end of my rope with the jamming, the blue light blinking etc. They have replaced the globe, at another time the base, gave me all kinds of hints to make the darn thing work right but those only work for a few months and then the same things start again.The concept is great and I have an original Litter Robot that has been working for over 10 years and has never skipped a beat. This Open Air (I call it LRIII) has too many things going on and they can all break down. I'll take the original one or the second generation anytime, just wish the entrance was larger on those, my big fluffy Maine Coon (13 lbs) would not go in the LRI, I guess he found it too constricting, although my heavier (19 1/2 lbs) DSH uses it whenever the LRIII is out of commission.

 

[foxxycat]

Got some junk packed up last night. The library and office are coming along nicely. I can now walk all around the library=moved all the boxes in the corner-took 5 boxes of books to the truck to drop at the book bin-they are not anything anyone wants..old text books, magazines, various hard cover books-nothing new or special-got most for cheap and don't need them anymore. Found a couple books others have been looking for...I got 3 copies of Outlander=they sell pretty fast with the series on Cable.

Sweated my butt off-ran a fan and the AC. Honeybee came in to help a few times...got a picture of her on the book case. As soon as they upload I will post here..she's such a nice soft friendly girl. Just a gentle kitty. She wanted me to come outside and watch her watch the mole home in my garden..she sits for hours watching...waiting for it to poke it's head out...One reason why I made a garden-figured it would keep her in my yard instead of bothering neighbors.

 

[tallyollyopia]

It's in English right? I found it on youtube. I will check it out.


Yeah, like The Sailor Moon character. My son loves anime, well so do I. I was simply calling this guy Tux and my son expanded it claiming that he has seen Tux's sisters do all the work of snatching toys only to have him reap the rewards.
Tuxedo Mask doesn't like hard work. He loves to lounge around or play and he prefers Chinese and Korean tv though he will watch Australian shows.

The regular / original Neopsorin (or equivalent. I use a store generic brand) is ok. The oinments with pain relief added is a big

Still no response to the email I just sent it to the general information address. Maybe someone will see it and respond.

All we've got is the original. LS had to go to the ER once, as a toddler, because something in the pain relief Neosporin gave her anaphalactic shock, and still get the original stuff because, well, habit.

I am in coordination with a lady in IL about a 3 month old calico KITTEN!!! She says I can have her!!!! Nov/Dec going to get her if I can get my house cleaned out. Need my clutter gone. Now I know why people call 1 800 Junk, but I hate stuff thrown away..I got boxes of books I will never read...so I made a list of 5 things I can do right away- things to take to the book bins I see at Harley-dump the text books and other stuff I don't read anymore...bagged clothes need to go to the small thrift store in Barrington, and some kitchen stuff I need to take there too...
I have 2 more closets to clean out. got 2 done. Getting progress!!

Anyone want romance books I will mail them to you for free. PM me. Seriously!! I keep them in my home-climate controlled.

No moisture. No smoke. Nice clean spines. Harlequins/Silhouettes, Historical romances, and paranormals when they first came out in the mid 1990s. I just don't have the heart to throw them out. I love books!

I have a library with 10 book cases and I do need to get rid of the 2 I have in the center of the room. I should put a day bed or something in there. The office is a disaster. That's what happens when you don't have a basement or attic. That's where all the other stuff goes..

plus I was cleaning in my library Sunday night and came across 4 boxes of books from the flea market=they were under piles of books I was going to read..LOL. So then I have more books to take to the shop and price...I am very tempted to put on craigslist free books-I just don't trust people. I don't want some whack job coming to my house.

I've been in my house for 12 years-I found books I bought ten years ago on top of bookcases=lots of dust. Opps!!! But hey I am cleaning now..does that count?! Cant believe how many magazines I kept=those got recycled at work. My town doesn't recycle. So I try to reduce/reuse as much as possible.

I tried to PM you, but I got an error message saying that your profile is restricted.

Not only does cleaning now count, not cleaning before doesn't count. (Does that make sense?)

View attachment 197178

Well, first, it helps to know where the guilt is coming from. I see two possibilities:

1. Accumulated guilt from all the times he hasn't been there for you, with the death of your grandmother being the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back."
2. He's grieving for Grandma, too, and it's too painful for him to confront, so he's channeling that into guilt. It's not just you he wasn't there for; it's Grandma as well, but he can't apologize to Grandma now, so he's apologizing to you. This particular kind of guilt is a form of magical thinking, something along the lines of: "I wasn't there for Grandma, and Grandma died. If I'd been there for Grandma maybe she wouldn't have died. OMG, it's my fault Grandma died!" And the silent corollary is "If I can just be there for my family, they won't die." It's a way of dealing with the helplessness we all suffer from in the face of death, and while I don't think it's a healthy way to deal with it, I just don't know.

If you think it's the first, I'd say that you should simply explain it to him straightforwardly; you're not as delicate as he thinks you are. Am I to gather that you've tried this and it hasn't worked?

If you think it's the second, you know him best; what do you think? Which is worse for him, guilt, or grief? The problem with guilt is that it puts off the grieving process, which can be dangerous. Grief needs to be acknowledged and worked through. If you're really, really sure that this is what is going on, I'd say that perhaps you should try to verbalize what you think his reasoning is, and then listen to him, very carefully. His response should give you some clues of where to take it from there.








Try getting in touch with Thrift Books, you may be able to sell through them.

Margret

The problem with these scenarios is that they're both equally likely, and it's just impossible to tell. Now, DD's family has always encouraged healthy grieving (comparatively speaking to, say, AWM's), but there's encouraging something and working out you need it for yourself. I'll try to sound him out and figure out which it is.

Follow up on last comment (ca page 150). I ended up in the hospital as I was not getting better. Sure, the swelling on the arm went down but I hurt all over, I hardly ate, slept a lot, barely fed my furry crew and the litter box went to hell. Finally had someone take me to the doctor who sent me to the emergency room because she could not figure out what was causing my symptoms which included a very low heart rate (in the 30s) , low blood pressure but no fever and various other weird stuff. After running various tests after having been admitted they finally came with a diagnosis: UTI. did not know what that stood for: urinary tract infection possibly traced back to the cat bite that did not bleed. They were surprised that at my "advanced" age I had never had one, that most women now by the age of 20 have had at least one. I stayed at the hospital for 4 days and came home as weak as a kitten, still just loafing on the couch, sleeping part of the time while watching old TV shows. Physical therapy 2 to 3 times per week because my back is still weak and I start to huff and puff just after walking to the bathroom and back. Even eating wears me out and I can't eat much. Two good things have come from this so far: I have found who are my friends and so far since my last post I have lost 13 lbs which does not please my doctor or the therapist who say I need calories to build up my strength. So I am trying to eat although I don't really want to. I have found that my usual breakfast of an egg, sausage, piece of toast and avocado is not what I want anymore, instead I make a bowl of cream of wheat, cover it with sugar and put this huge glob of butter on top and stir it all together. 6 weeks ago you would not have caught me eating that. All that sugar, gah! But the therapist says that's good for me, my body needs the calories to heal and build up again, and I am still losing more weight. I'd like to lose 30 more but will be happy if I stay where I am at.
Now I am exhausted from sitting here typing for so long and will take a nap. Woke up at 2 and could not go back to sleep, so now it's 4:15 a.m so I should be able to sleep. Maybe tomorrow I will read all those pages from 150 on to 163 which is this page.

I hope you feel better soon.

get better soon segelkatt sounds like you have been through the ringer.

I didn't tell Jon about the wittle kitty out in IL yet. I did get some more clutter cleaned up, cleaned carpets, washed the kitchen floor, got some meat cooked up.

I am still mulling over the kitten I want..by the time I go out to get her she will be 5 or 6 months old which is perfect in my book. I really hope I get the stuff done I need to get done-to get my house once and for all decluttered. I try to do an hour a day. Next Wed night going to take the bagged up clothes in the master bedroom to the thrift store in Barrington. I still have one more closet of clothes to purge. It's easy to purge clothes..books are heavier..now if they could make ebooks as cheap as paperbacks=that would make life so much easier.

I got an email from an exworker who has kittens..I took one of his cats many years ago..she was 10 I think when I got her. Henrietta. A maine coon look alike-small. 8lbs. She loved Jon. Spread out on top of his chest. Slept on top of our frig. Climbed up on the cabinets. For an old girl she was quite sprung to get up that high. She didn't like Floey. Pumps ignored her.

She passed away New Years morning in my arms-we just went to er vet and they told me to put her down-I couldn't do it..I thought she had asthma..she was panting. Very ill. Her chest xray was horrible. I had xrays done on her when I got her that first week-the vet said he doesn't know how she's alive-it was white cloudy-no black-but she wasn't showing symptoms..she was living in a dirty nasty basement-those people are morons when it comes to home cleanliness-the cat had no cat box or food or water-he said take her home-I know you will take better care of her-blamed it on the wife..typical nonsense...

so I still can't stand to think she suffered from my lack of knowledge. I will never let a cat die at home again. She was panting all day and by midnight I couldn't stand it-took her in, Jon said don't put her down=but neither of us understood how bad it really was. I honestly thought it was asthma and thought we could put her on an inhaler..wow was I dumb. The vet must have been so mad at me. I called up an hour later crying that she died in my arms and wish I listened. Jon was in tears when this happened..I screamed and was so upset..it was horrible. I never ever want this to happen to anyone else...now I pay too much attention to their breathing and worry..but at least I learned..I only hope I don't have to live through that again...

I had flashbacks for months after..in fact I am still shedding a few tears at how horrible her life ended when she already suffered enough before I got her. But she was happy with us. Loved laying on the deck in the sunshine. Loved not having beasty dogs annoying her. That was my first senior cat I had and I was hooked afterwards.

I still have a hard time with this..so after that I never trusted myself again. But I am slowly coming around. To understanding what it means when people say you have to live experiences in order to understand.


On another note-a happier one= something really neat happens every morning. I pick up Pumps to carry to the kitchen to give her pred/dasquin and I let honeybee sniff her foot as I am holding Pumps-and Honeybee always gives her foot 4 good licks. I am hoping if I can do this every morning as part of a routine that Pumps will start to trust Honeybee. She doesn't shake. Doesn't growl. She tenses up as if expecting the cat to bite her because in the past Honeybee licks her tail then chomps on it like the brat that she is. So yesterday I saw them touching noses on the couch. I hope they will get along better. And if we add a kitten I think Pumps will feel better knowing that Honeybee will leave her alone...let's hope this kitten gets along with them....because I really want Honeybee to have a friend. I think Honeybee is now 6..I thought she was 4 but we got her in 2013. and here it is 2017. So I don't know how old Honeybee really is but she still plays and horses around like a kitten..she looks the same to me..Pumpkin is looking longer in face like they get when they get into the high senior years but her fur is still soft and sweet looking-still nice body condition except for weight-

Oh speaking of weight=I have now measured out 2/3 cup of dry and told Jon that's all they get for the day. There's two dishes-so each dish gets half of that in the morning and half at night-in a month I will just fill it once a day but for now-they don't get mad as long as there's a few pieces of food in the dish...neither will eat wet food..I know people will say I need to feed wet...sadly they bury it and turn the bowl upside down.....and I wrote a book again.

Nothing wrong with writing a book; I've written a few myself. So, in order:

It's better to get a kitten that already knows how to use the litter box than to train one. Bright Shining Stars in the sky, were the boys ever difficult! (The girls had trouble too, but that was because they preferred going on dirty laundry, which was easy enough to fix.) Ra had this weird thing where he would only go on cords. Computer cords, television cords, phone recharger cords (if they were on the floor)--but it had to be cords. I thought we'd never break him of it. Then there was Spot. Oh, Spot. He figured out quickly enough that he was supposed to use the litter for the potty, but would get in, dig like a dog until he had a pile of litter on the floor in front of the box, and then use that. Again, I thought we'd never break the habit.

SLS (Secondary Little Sister) has a different mother than I do, but the same DD. One summer, on the way to drop RB and I off with AWM, DD stopped to drop SLS with her mother (my ex-stepmonster), and I happened to notice that she had a bird, a parakeet. I asked about him and SLS's mother stared at the bird in shock and told me that she'd forgotten he was there. (Apparently, it was an impulse buy. She never even got a bigger cage for him than the one they gave her.) Well, since I noticed the bird, clearly I'd take better care of it (I did), so off she sent it with me. After, of course, cleaning the cage, getting the bird food (no gravel; she didn't know he needed it so I got that as soon as I got home and to a store), and giving him water (the dish was bone dry). I know it's not the same, but it feels similar.

Maybe they will start getting along better. ()

 

[tallyollyopia]

Voyager had an episode based on that premise.



I have heard, but verify because it could be an old wives tale, that putting Vaseline over the Neosporin will protect the animal from licking it.



Sometimes I wonder if "no-kill" is all that. Where I used to live for nearly 20 years a few cities and counties had a contract with the SPCA to be the city shelter. Then during the last couple of years I was there the SPCA turned to no-kill and the cities and counties pooled their funds to start their own shelter. The reason? According to both the various city and county governments, and confirmed in the news by the SPCA, being a no-kill shelter meant no-kill, even if the animal was so dangerous that anyone handling them would be in danger or even if the animal was so badly ill or hurt as to need euthanasia. For such animals, the no-kill stance of the SPCA meant they couldn't even accept them and another shelter option was needed.

When I was kid the town we lived in had a shelter with a three day holding policy. If the animal wasn't claimed or adopted in three days, it was put down. We don't live there any more.

I totally understand what you mean.
I don't know what they do if it is a dog but if a cat is too feral to be socialized they take it back to it's previous address and release it or contact the previous owner to retrieve it.
The system isn't perfect but it is an improvement from a shelter situation that had people afraid to use it.
Previously the shelter was sponsored by the Humane Society. The low/cost spay and neuter clinic was barely operable, serving 900 to 1500 animals a year. In order to make an appointment a person had to call and leave a voicemail with their contact information. The clinic would contact them when an opening was available and the owner had to bring their pet in, immediately. If the animal was in heat or pregnant there would be no spay. If the person could not come in immediately there would be no alteration. Because the voicemail was always full the local mobile pet vacc was the chief endorser of the program, wrote out vouchers for a local vet who did the sterilizations at cost and was compensated by the USPCA.
As it became known that our local shelter had strict rules for adoptability people started becoming less inclined to bring in strays and hoarding became a problem. If an animal showed any signs of illness they were euthanized, pregnancy euthanized, biting or scratching at all euthanized. If they were not placed in a foster or adopted within two weeks, euthanized. As hoarding cases stacked up the shelter became a holding facility for animals who were unadoptable because they were evidence. A little over 2 years ago the local shelter developed a problem with Parvo, approximately every 6 weeks they closed the shelter for 2 weeks and destroyed every animal there.
Last winter everything changed. They got proactive, joined a national organization(no I don't know which one)which allows them to send animals to other states if our shelter becomes too stagnant and started a free spay and neuter/rabies vacc program for owned animals and ferals. Hoarders are "helped" instead of punished. Surrenders are done by appointment only, I think allowances are made for dogs that are running loose.
They often allow people who bring in found animals a temporary foster status of the single animal or single group of animals(in the case of litters).
They bit off a bit more than they could chew though. At first things were slow and relaxed but they got swamped by spring. Sterilizations are first come first serve; drop off at 8, come back at 4. Surrender appointments are on a 2 month wait and animals control has strict orders; unless the animals are in trouble, no pick ups. Animals control renders aid instead of handing out tickets.
It is a work in progress, not a perfect system but hopefully it is a step in the right direction.

Our shelter used to be like that; then it burned down. No, seriously--the place had an old kerosene heater that just kind of exploded one day and the resultant fire took the shelter building, the isolation building (it was originally designed to keep quarantined animals separate from healthy ones, but they got full to the point of overflowing), and the next-door SPCA. They've all been rebuilt, they're better than ever, and they have better management now. (They also have a non-profit group, FOTAS--Friends Of The Animal Shelter--who coordinate with pet stores like Petsmart, local craft fairs, and events like the "Dog Days of Summer" at the county library for exposure so that people can have a chance to fall in love with a pet and take it home.

arouetta I don't think all kill shelters are bad. Ours was and that was my focus. My local county has become insanely animal friendly in a short period of time. I am only having trouble with my ferals because no one can help me trap or transport for tnr.

LOL...SAW THAT!



OH ME TOO!



I also feed kibbles. Mostly because Hekitty is fully capable of not eating ONE SINGLE BITE for as much as three days, at which time I cave in, fearing Fatty Liver Disease, and give her her dratted Friskies Indoor Formula. I make sure she has fresh water sources in EVERY room, and she does drink a lot. Bottom line, we feed our cats as well as we can afford, and we feed them what they will condescend to eat. Generations of healthy cats lived into their late teens and their 20s on Purina dry and Friskies dry, because that was what we thought was the best for them. I can't begin to tell you how many dollars I threw away on every canned food there is, and how many bags of opened premium kibbles with all the right ingredients at the top of the list I donated to the shelter in Morehead City. I could have had a down payment on a house by now!

I know what you mean. I'm trying to find a new wet food for my cats (the one they're currently eating doesn't seem to make them feel full and the last one changed the formula or something and they won't eat it anymore), and I keep having to take wet food for donation. Good luck!

tallyollyopia , today when I was at CostCo I priced cashews: $19.99 for a big 2.5 pound jar. Just make sure you don't accidentally get the no-salt-added variety.



The Humane Society, or the ASPCA (they're two different organizations)?



Yep, you got that right.

segelkatt , welcome back! Take care of yourself, and if the doctor and therapists all say that you need to gain some weight then you probably need to gain some weight.

Margret

That sounds wonderful! The only problem is--we don't have a CostCo. (I checked online--the nearest location is over an hour away and across the river--there isn't one in my state at all.) Thank you for looking and thinking of me!

I am worried about my boys. It's like Shadow's death triggered something.

Montressor can't completely jump on the bed anymore. It's like how Shadow was, before she just quit jumping on the bed and started climbing up. His front feet make it but his back feet hit about 3-4 inches below the top and he pushes off to completely get on the bed. On top of that, he's stopped staying on the bed all night. Usually he and I would fight over pillow space but once we finally hit a compromise he stays. Now somewhere around 4 or 5 in the morning I wake up and he's no longer there. Sometimes we find him on the floor by the bed, sometimes he's in the kid's room, but it's different. Beside the bed worries me, as he's always been super clingy to us. That's a physical distance from his people he never would have willingly done in the past.

Midway is now sleeping downstairs. He had been sleeping at the top of the stairs, I was never sure if it was a territory dominance thing (because Montressor had to walk by him to get to the litter box at night) or if the upstairs was too hot and that's the coolest place he found. Now he stays downstairs at night. He'll go up during the day when people are up there or when he's ready for us to get up in the morning, but not at night. He also snoozes on the spider that Shadow often snoozed on every time he wants a nap. And the yowling has increased a lot whenever we are not in view. I'm worried this is a cognitive change and he's actually lost us, not just unhappy that we aren't in the room of his choosing. He was always independent but he's becoming clingy during daylight hours.

My husband isn't concerned. He's noticed some of it, but he says he thinks it's just adjusting to Shadow's death, like the spider napping. I can't say it's getting worse, it does seem to be holding steady, but it's odd. However we still aren't caught up on bills when we had to spend the rent money on Shadow's last day, so a vet visit over an odd feeling really isn't in the cards.

I'm 44 years old and this is the first time in my adult life I've had to put an animal down. Does this sound like the usual mourning for companion cats? Or should I be concerned?

My general rule of thumb is--give it a week if it doesn't seem life threatening. In a week you'll be able to see if he's getting better (and keep notes; I'm absent-minded and it helps, sometimes) or if he isn't. If he isn't, or starts getting worse, take him to the vet. If he is (even if it's only slightly) just keep giving him love and affection. Of course, I haven't been a cat owner for very long. You may want the opinion of someone who's more experienced. (And I had the same rule for the dogs, birds, and turtles.)

 

[dahli6]

Trying to upload from mobile. I will be afk for a while today.

This is the food and water area of my yard. It isn't enclosed but they stick pretty close to it voluntarily.

 

[foxxycat]

Got pictures of Honeybee in the bookcase.

Here she is



Here i was trying to keep her in the bookcase which she said H no!!


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