Why is everyone chucking out their pets?

[zeb]

This forum seems to be used mainly for advertising unwanted pets now. Really sad.

Did you get them for Christmas?

helen.......have asked my man if I could have beautiful little donkey but the answer was NO unfortunately.

[Iceni]

In our area a number of locals keep donkeys. Donkey sausage seems popular as well - is there a connection perhaps ? Not of course suggesting that Helen wants a donk for this reason.

John

not

[Penny29]

Don't judge too quickly, especially if you are referring to the poster "Sheerik" - I know Sheerik and she runs an animal shelter in the Dordogne and has rescued countless cats and dogs from death row at the SPA, plus her refuge is constantly used as dumping ground by people who suddenly have unwanted kittens or puppies & many animals just get left in boxes by her front gates - her postings will all be about rescued animals who desperately seek good homes.

However, if you want to get on your soapbox about idiot pet owners then I'll gladly join you! The things that drive me mad with anger and frustration are:

1. Idiots who express surprise that their unsterilised cat has had kittens.

2. Idiots who are stunned that their unsterilised dog has had puppies.

3. People who buy a puppy as a companion to an older dog, then the two don't get on after 5 minutes, so they don't persevere, the just chuck the old dog out and keep the dear little puppy (until that one grows up).

4. People who breed dogs - aren't there enough unwanted animals looking for homes?

5. Lastly, and a bit unrelated - the ruddy Chasse. One of my beloved cats (an ex Sheerik rescue) was shot dead at the beginning of the season, and I have just spent hours in our vets, today, with another of my cats who has two broken back legs thanks to the ***ing hunt and it is extremely unlikely that the vet will be able to perform the miracle we crave. It is more likely that she will have to be put to sleep tomorrow.

We lavish all our animals with care and love & it makes me sick to the teeth to think that my darling cat is fighting for her life while other people out there are dispensing with their animals like so much used tissue paper.

If this all sounds angry and emotional then it's probably because that is exactly how I feel right now.

 

 

[Karen24]

I hope you don't include me in this. I have adopted three dogs and my beautiful cat was found as a tiny kitten in a box with his brothers and sisters in the middle of the countryside. Yes he has been castrated. I consider that my adult donkeys were 'rescued' from a dealer who could not even be bothered to pay for a farrier or supply top up feed during the drought. Baby donkey is a female and Daddy is a healthy stallion of eight or nine years old. Too old to be castrated. Need I say more?? My heart is bigger than my pocket and I live in fear of large vet bills.

I agree with the sentiment but surely it is better that homes are sought rather than animals simply dumped out of cars etc.

[Will]

I can assure you that in at least one of the post-Christmas 'homes wanted' postings there was a very good reason which would be most inappropriate to publish on the forum why a new home was wanted for several animals.

[Maddie]

I know there are often very genuine reasons for having to find homes for animals, ill health, bereavement, money difficulities etc.  I absolutely dread the thought that some day I may be in the same position and think "there but for the grace of God..."

For those of you that are in the very sad position where you are having to find new homes for beloved pets, I wish you all the luck in the world to find your animal someone who will love it as much as you do. 

I'll say no more for fear that my big mouth will get the better of me (even more) and I shall offend someone. Tricky subject I know.

Nicola

 

 

[Chouette]

Hi Penny29

I agree with everything you say and feel just as angry at those things as you  

Why some people get animals in the first place I just don't understand.  Where I live I am confronted everyday with people's neglect of their animals: rabbits (waiting for the pot) sitting in appalling rotting hutches, no bedding, no shelter from the cold and hardly any space to turn around in; ponies (and donkeys) out in fields with absolutely no shelter from sun, rain or wind, sometimes on their own without any companion animals; dogs chained up and out in all weathers, other dogs who spend their whole lives in the same garden who are never taken out or played with; pregnant cats who continue to add to the mountain of unwanted kittens; and so on................... 

The other day I saw a stray cat with a very small kitten trying to cross the road.  I stopped my car as soon as I was able and ran back to see if I could somehow help because I feared that they would get run over.  I found the mother cat meowing pitieously but the kitten had totally disappeared, then later that same day I was driving down the same road when I saw what must have been one of her other kittens lying dead in the road.  It was just so distressing

As for the chasse, it's probably best not get me started on that one   I am shocked and so sorry to hear about what's happened to two of your cats and really hope your vet was able to save the latest victim of those heartless, mindless s***s who get their kicks from maiming and killing animals.

[Penny29]

Hi All,

If my rant offended some then I apologise, I did say I was feeling very emotional when I wrote my last posting (and no, Karen, I didn't mean you - one donkey isn't the same as litter upon litter of kittens and I know how much you love your donkeys from the PM you sent me). Like you, my pockets are only so deep otherwise we would be offering a home to your baby donkey.

However, the bulk of my posting still stands, I understand that some people may have inavoidable reasons for giving up a pet, those are NOT the people my rant was aimed at. Enough said.

On the good side my baby cat is now likely to survive her ordeal by the huntsman - the vet is more than optimistic that she will live although, always now, as a disabled cat. Fortunately, she is the most home loving of cats and so this should not pose too much of a problem. The fact that she survived 9 days in sub zero temperatures with 2 broken back legs and managed to drag herself home remains nothing short of a miracle to us.

 

 

 

 

[Russethouse]

Penny, thats really good news about your cat. Must be a great Vet !

[Penny29]

Thanks, Gay,

He is the absolute best! I saw the Xrays - at least 20+ bullet fragments across her entire hind quarters - most vets would not have even tried let alone succeeded. These vets are in Thiviers - I would happily, more than happily, reccommend to anyone in the N Dordogne.

 

[Karen24]

Sorry Penny,

I still haven't got the hang of this forum. I will be more precise in future. My response was meant to be to Mr Helen16. Nicola you are so absolutely right in what you say!!

Penny, I cannot tell you how sorry I am to read about your cats. It is horrific enough to read about what happened, I do not even want to imagine how it is for you. Every morning when my cat Tiger comes home safe and sound I already offer up a silent prayer of thanks to the gods. Now I am even more fearful. At least with dogs we can protect them in the grounds but how on earth can we protect our cats. I cannot bring myself to keep my cat indoors, his pleasure is to go and hunt and explore. I am so pleased that your little cat has been saved.

Chouette and Penny, I am so with you in what you both say. As if the chasse is not enough to scare most of us silly, the cat of a french friend was recently killed, caught horribly in one of the traps set by his neighbour. Why would anybody want to set traps!!! The mad trapper doesn't even keep sheep anymore.

I am so much against violent protest but sometimes I can almost empathise with the animal rights extremists. A couple of years ago my daughter saw the wife of the farmer who set the traps kick a tiny baby lamb over the width of two fields to teach it to go home. Cruelty to animals is universal, in most cases it is impossible to stop it. My silent protest is that I have not eaten meat since the mindless and cynical slaughter during the foot and mouth outbreak. To me it was the final straw.

All we can do, I guess, is to give our own animals the best lives possible while they are in our care.

Karen24

[Tresco]

I was relieved to see that the cat looks set to recover.

As to chucking them (pets) out, we have gained another cat, a traumatised cat who had no fur on its hind quarters or tail, no eyebrows, covered in cuts, scared, and starving. That's how it was. Things are very different now, physically, but he still jumps if I pick up the broom suddenly, or even fallen sticks under  the garden.

My own (old) cat is nearing the end of his days, and we were anticipating a bit of freedom in the near future, but there you go. I have fallen in love with the new boy, and his arrival seems to have given our old, flat cat, a new lease of life too.

I'm sorry, but I have to avert my eyes when I see the words 'baby donkey'  - I just can't afford to keep one. Good luck with finding a home for him/her.

tresco

[Guest CFrost]

Men!!!! I asked MY man if I could have Sheerik's lovely black great dane to add to the one I already have.  He also said NO.

[SaligoBay]

Saw something on the Reuters website last week that just horrified me more than anything I've read here.

Someone threw a baby in a plastic bag out of a car.  He was so little he still had his umbilical cord attached.  

I was mildly surprised when a friend abandoned unwanted puppies in the garrigue, but I'm afraid the human baby incident was truly horrific.   

It's not often the news does that to me.