Dear Mr. or Ms. Average Pet Owner: Thank you for contacting us animal rescuers, shelter volunteers, and foster-homes about your inability to keep your pet. We receive an extremely high volume of inquiries and requests to accept surrendered animals (and none of us is getting paid, OK?). To help us expedite your problem as quickly as possible, please observe the following guidelines: 1. Do not say that you are "CONSIDERING finding a good home" for your pet, or that you, "feel you MIGHT be forced to," or that you "really THINK it would be better if" you unloaded the poor beast. Ninety-five percent of you have already got your minds stone-cold made up that the animal WILL be out of your life by the weekend at the latest. Say so. If you don't, I'm going to waste a lot of time giving you common-sense, easy solutions for very fixable problems, and you're going to waste a lot of time coming up with fanciful reasons why the solution couldn't possibly work for you. For instance, you say the cat claws the furniture, and I tell you about nail-clipping and scratching posts and aversion training, and then you go into a long harangue about how your husband won't let you put a scratching post in the family room, and your ADHD daughter cries if you use a squirt bottle on the cat, and your congenital thumb abnormalities prevent you from using nail scissors and etc., etc. Just say you're getting rid of the cat. 2. Do not waste time trying to convince me how nice and humane you are. Your co-worker recommended that you contact me because I am nice to animals, not because I am nice to people, and I don't like people who "get rid of" their animals. "Get rid of" is my least favorite phrase in any language. I hope someone "gets rid of" YOU someday. I am an animal advocate, not a people therapist. After all, for your ADHD daughter, you can get counselors, special teachers, doctors, social workers, etc. Your pet has only me, and people like me, to turn to in his or her need, and we are unpaid, overworked, stressed-out, and demoralized. So don't tell me this big long story about how, "We love this dog so much, and we even bought him a special bed that cost $50, and it is just KILLING us to part with him, but honestly, our maid is just awash in dog hair every time she cleans, and his breath sometimes just reeks of liver, so you can see how hard we've tried, and how dear he is to us, but we really just can't . . ." You are not nice, and it is not killing you. It is, in all probability, literally killing your pet, but you're going to be just fine once the beast is out of your sight. Don't waste my time trying to make me like you or feel sorry for you in your plight. 3. Do not try to convince me that your pet is exceptional and deserves special treatment. I don't care if you taught him to sit. I don't care if she's a beautiful Persian. I have a waiting list of battered and/or whacked-out animals who need help, and I have no room to foster-house your pet. Do not send me long messages detailing how Fido just l-o-v-e-s blankies and carries his favorite blankie everywhere, and oh, when he gets all excited and happy, he spins around in circles, isn't that cute? He really is darling, so it wouldn't be any trouble at all for us to find him a good home. Listen, we can go down to the pound and count the darling, spinning, blankie-loving beasts on death row by the dozens, any day of the week. And, honey, Fido is a six-year-old Shepherd-Lab mix. I am not lying when I tell you that big, older, mixed-breed, garden-variety dogs are almost completely unadoptable, and I don't care if they can whistle Dixie or send semaphore signals with their blankies. What you don't realize is that, though you're trying to lie to me, you're actually telling the truth: Your pet IS a special, wonderful, amazing creature. But this mean old world does not care. More importantly, YOU do not care, and I can't fix that problem. All I can do is grieve for all the exceptional animals who live short, brutal, loveless lives and die without anyone ever recognizing that they were indeed very, very special. 4. Finally, just, for pity' s sake, for the animal's sake, tell the truth, and the whole truth. Do you think that if you just mumble that your cat is "high-strung," I will say, "Okey-doke! No problemo!" and take it into foster care? No, I will start asking questions and uncover the truth, which is that your cat has not used a litter box in the last six months. Do not tell me that you "can't" crate your dog. I will ask what happens when you try to crate him, and you will either be forced to tell me the symptoms of full-blown, severe separation anxiety, or else you will resort to lying some more, wasting more of our time. And, if you succeed in placing your pet in a shelter or foster care, do not tell yourself the biggest lie of all: "Those nice people will take him and find him a good home, and everything will be fine." Those nice people will indeed give the animal every possible chance, but if we discover serious health or behavior problems, if we find that your misguided attempts to train or discipline him have driven him over the edge, we will do what you are too immoral and cowardly to do: We will hold the animal in our arms, telling him truthfully that he is a good dog or cat, telling him truthfully that we are sorry and we love him, while the vet ends his life. How can we be so heartless as to kill your pet, you ask? Do not ever dare to judge us. At least we tried. At least we stuck with him to the end. At least we never abandoned him to strangers, as you certainly did, didn't you? In short, this little old rescuer/foster momma has reached the point where she would prefer you pet owners to tell her stories like this: "We went to Wal-Mart and picked up a free pet in the parking lot a couple of years ago. Now we don't want it anymore. We're lazier than we thought. We've got no patience either. We're starting to suspect the animal is really smarter than we are, which is giving us self-esteem issues. Clearly, we can't possibly keep it. Plus, it might be getting sick; it's acting kind of funny. "We would like you to take it in eagerly, enthusiastically, and immediately. "We hope you'll realize what a deal you're getting and not ask us for a donation to help defray your costs. After all, this is an (almost) pure-bred animal, and we'll send the leftover food along with it. We get the food at Wal-Mart too, and boy, it's a really good deal, price-wise". "We are very irritated that you haven't shown pity on us in our great need and picked the animal up already. We thought you people were supposed to be humane! Come and get it today. No, we couldn't possibly bring it to you; the final episode of "Survivor II" is on tonight." Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Pet Owner, for your cooperation. -- Author Unknown, but could be any shelter worker or rescuer
I think LJK needs a t-shirt with this on it!! And Thank You Notes with this should be sent out to all the people who surrender their pets!
Oh Ready I want to print this out and paste it all over the world!!!! It is the story of my life. Rc I would love it on a shirt!!!! (a little long I think) Thanks Ready it is nice to know I am not the only one who has all these evil thoughts about people.
and may i just add: “aww, it’s a kitten/puppy, you’ll be able to find him a home in no time!” Do you have any idea how many kittens/puppies we already have in foster care? Have you looked in the paper recently at “free to good home” ads? Have you taken your kitten/puppy to the vet for basic shots? No, i didn’t think so. You have no idea how delighted my coworkers are to euthanize perfectly healthy kittens/puppies, all because you are too damn lazy and irresponsible to get your animals spayed and neutered. It just makes their day. And if you say “i just wanted my kids to experience the mircle of birth,” I will come over the counter and smack you. Here’s a thought: bring your kids in here so they can experience the miracle of death- that YOU are directly responsible for.
I'm not sure what to say exactly. I've always found homes for my animals myself, if I had to re-home them. The only animal I ever surrendered to a shelter was a half ferral cat that I knew they'd put down, but I was unable to afford to do it myself at the time. I get what this says, but not all people who don't keep animals for life are bad.
More Surface Area Rc I would love it on a shirt!!!! (a little long I think) If you got like F size breasts it would increase the surface area of your shirt and give the men an excuse to read it8)
Jenn there ARE good hearted folks who in a bad situation cant keep their animals. I am not angry at them (and I too have rehomed an animal that I thought would be forever due to a severe life situation.) It is the blase folks we see season after season, year after year. I know one lady who has bought FIVE different animals through out about 2 years from various places and then decided one at time it wasnt a right fit (and would then go get another one a few weeks later and repeat the process) It is THESE people I am angry with. Anyone can make a mistake, but those who DONT learn from it and continue to repeat it at the expense of the animals are the ones I wish I could get through too. (almost said euthanize but that would not be nice) I also have a problem with rehoming unfixed animals. If you cannot keep your animal, ok fine... try to find it a good home. But giving away an animal that can reproduce is not helping our over population problem. The last loving gift you can give that animal is a $20 fix. Anyway as you can tell it has been a crappy week at work. We got over 30 dogs from ONE person and it burns me up to have to part of a team that gets to kill them. This person is relieved that we have rushed in to save him, his saga ends, ours just begins. Sorry if I have offended anyone. We all have different views. Animals are just animals to some people and I am cool with that.... to me it is a way of life and a driving force, so I get worked up. I dont expect everyone to see it my way but if I can get just one person today to rethink their thought process and save one litter of unwanted animals from being born, I will feel satisfied. If I can eventually put myself out of work, I will be elated.
I can respect that. You've got a hard job. I just wanted you to see the forest thru the trees too. Hang in there.
My favorite is when the parent says they got it for their 3 yr old and they forget to feed/clean it and mama and daddy don't want the responsibility. HELLO.. your 3 yr old doesn't take care of herself. Did you really think the child who still needs help getting dressed and going to the bathroom was going to remember to feed a pet without your constant reminders.
This was posted on another forum I frequent... Poor little fella. At least he was picked up by a kind-hearted person. How many other little "Nobodies" are there... probably millions. :-(
Oh this is right on the money!!! I totally agree with this. I have friends that rescue and foster as well..and I see what they go through each week..it's unreal. Don't get a animal if you don't have the time to spend with it and when your home he is in a kennel cause your to darn lazy to spend time with it or potty train it ect. Or get a puppy and not be home to care for it and he has been in a kennel for hours on end with no food or water and has gone potty on himself many times. Just sad. sheri
I hate the "we're moving and can't keep him". Why not just move to a place that will take your animal? When I was in my college/early 20's I had a deaf maltese that sounded like someone beating an opera singer to death when i left the house but I always found a place for us. It may have been a bit more expensive to rent a duplex or house rather than an apartment but there was always somewhere to go if I looked hard enough.
The day I wrote my resignation as an intake counselor (someone who took int unwanted animals all day) was when yet another "we're moving" lady came in... It had been a rough day and I tried not to judge at my job, honestly I did, but I asked her why she couldnt keep him and she said the new apartment did not take dogs. So I calmly asked if she had children, she said yes. I asked her if she checked out the apartment first to see if it took kids. I knew I was wrong and I did quit my job since it had apparently gotten to me! But some people just dont think. Or the animal really just isnt important enough to pay the pet fee etc.... (again I know some circumstances are different, some times you just CANT afford the extra fees, not meant for you!!)
