Working with Animal Shelters and Rescue Organizations is Not Always Wonderful

I've been a licensed Volunteer Wildlife Rescue person for decades and I do fostering for a feral cat organization. The whole episode with Ellen DeGeneres really touched a nerve. I love fostering the kittens and socializing them. I manage to stay comfortable with their coming to me for awhile and then moving on. This has taken a bit of up and down emotionally for me.

A really difficult issue for me is the adoption process. I know all organizations require a certain amount of paperwork before you can go home with a new animal. Almost all my dogs except one came from Shelters. I never had a problem adopting, but of course, being Animal Rescue I allways had an edge. I completely agree with some amount of background check and the proviso that you bring the animal back to the Shelter, not pass it on to someone, if you cannot keep it.

The particular oganization I work with requires those two issues be satisfied but also insists you have a name of someone who will take the animal in case of your demise. This strikes me as a bit much since most of the people in the organization including the gal who runs it have as many as 30 animals that they keep permanently. I can't imagaine they have anyone lined up to take these animals.

You must agree not to decalw the animal you're adopting.The declawing a is being touted as torture but I have had cats declawed without any damage to their personalities, a claim the organizations make. They say it's extremely painful. Possibly, but its done under anesthesia and again, my cat came home happy and comfortable from her surgery. If it stands in the way of being adopted and avoids having the animal euthanized than why make it an issue. I'd give up my nails to be allowed to live. SPaying and neutreing is not soemthign your pet just comes home from all bouncy but it's done. It has to be from the ovepopulation stand point..

I have found homes for several of the kittens only to have the head of the organization get into a verbal confrontation with the future adoptee and then decide the adoptee is too volatile. I can't even imagine how a confrontation would start in the first place unless your people skills are rusty. I think all these people do a basically slefless job but there are a lot of odd balls in the animal rescue field, not to judge,myslef included.

I dealt with one organization that required several pages of information from a friend. The friend then spent over an hour picking out just the right kitten and decided rather than split this kitten from it's litter mate she decided to adopt both. She was then asked to come back with her husband for further review. She did this only to be told after taht review that upon reviewing her paperwork they were turning her down because the cat she had at home was declawed. She promised not to declaw these kittens and offered the group unannounced home visits in the future if they still didn't trust her. Their answer was still a resounding "No!". I was floored. Here they could have a wonderful home for two kittens yet they were turning the her down.

I found a home for a kitten , the gentleman who wanted it was my Uncle. A long time cat person. Because he was elderly the answer for him was no. They said it wasn't his age but there was no other reason, in every way he was more than qualified.

It just astounds me that these groups can make it so difficult to adopt what is actual a commodity that usually is just given away. Free kittens. Who hasn't seeen that?

Every week end two of my previously fostered litter sit in a cage all day at Petco with the hopes they'll be adopted. Unfortunately, they hate being there, and being that they hate being in a cage they don't "present" well. They hide under the bedding and keep their backs turned to the people who come by. They certainly can't be held under the circumstances. People gravitate towards the kittens and they want playful, cuddly kittens. They don't want what appears to be unfriendly cats. These two are wonderful , affectionate cats. They are no longer kittens because they've been languishing for months now. Their adoptability is slim to none. Homes they could have gone to were passed on and now they just sit going nowhere, along with many m or cages of cats that are no longer cute little fuzz balls.

The shelters have walls and walils of cats in cages gong nowhere except to the euthenasia room..

This issue of course,also applies to dogs. No declaw issue but the screening can be the same problem. My local shelter, Teterboro Animal Shelter, does require papework and a fee for any animals they adopt out but they don't call and screen references and they don't do house checks. I was able to adopt my Chihuhuas immediately with only a 3 day wait for the spaying to be done. We also adopted a large Iguana through them with immediate pick up.

I absolutely feelhere should be some screening but not weeks and weeks of processing.

On the subject of adopting animals a new sight has been put up, dogsindanger.com. They showcase dogs that are already sceduled for euthenasia with a clock showing how much time they have left They are working on getting these, the neediest, shelter occupants adopted as quickly as possible. There are also numerous sites on line where you can look up adoptable animals in your area by zip code. Every dog breed has a dog rescue for that particular breed i.e. CHihuahua Rescue or DobeRescue these can be found on line as wellas through your local papers or phone book..

With the glut of animals needing homes I think the shelters and organizations have to do some rethinking of their adoption requirements.

There is no solution. The organizations are not willing to bend a bit. If anything , they get tougher and tougher. The group I represent has now come up with the idea of home visits. Not a lot of people want that. So you have the fee, the no declawing rule, the one day of viewing at the Petco store and the fact that more kittens keep coming in and the fact that the cats who hav been coming back week after week just get older and less adoptable and you have a real predicament.