Secret Cat Adoption Tip Inside!

Some of you have expressed concern with a tweet from Hill's® touting the advantages of purebred cats. In fact, they have a similar statement regarding purebred dogs,

It is critical to know that purebred animals can come with their own set of "purebred problems", including major health and temperament defects. This is exacerbated if the source of your pet is a puppy or kitten mill where earnings and not responsible breeding is the driving business goal. It is also important to realize that breed is more predictive of appearance than anything else.

Shelters around the world are coping with an excess of animals who need loving homes. To that end we must adopt from the existing supply of homeless pets rather than to create a demand for unscrupulous breeders to fulfil. Additionally, about 25% of shelter populations are, in fact, purebreds. It is therefore possible, with patience, to get a specific type of dog or cat without contributing to our pet overpopulation problem.

I have reached out to Hill's and was assured that they would make some changes in their materials. They do spend a lot of corporate capital working with shelters and I am confident that we will be pleased with the results. When they do I will gladly share it with you.

Finally, here are some spcaLA faqs for adopting a pet.

PSSST: Here is my secret for success when adopting a cat: Sit in our cattery, wait for a cat to pick you- and voila - done!!

Stop Playing Three Card Monte With Our Pets

this is what no-kill should look like

The term "no-kill" was abandoned years ago by enlightened and legitimate organizations as it became synonymous with horrific and sometimes hoarding conditions, as well as touted  by ignorant politicians, less than savory “rescue” groups and fundraisers to assuage a concerned public that all was well with the animals. After all, it's a catchy, quick concept phrase that achieved its original purpose of sparking an aspirational dialogue which advocated that all animals able to be physically and mentally rehabilitated should be placed into homes. (Even San Francisco, the birthplace of the term ceased its’ use a decade ago.) 

this is often what no-kill looks like

Unfortunately, mayors using the term to set goals, "rescues" promising life to a heartbroken pet owner who can no longer keep a pet, or city pound struggling to reach said no kill goal, are perpetuating a major fraud on the humane, well-meaning public. (Nothing here is intended to criticize those legitimate rescue groups without whose help we would be lost.)

 A major "adoption" festival in Los Angeles, where most of the pets were simply moved to "rescues" and could well be condemned to live out their lives in agony in an airline carrier is disgraceful. These are not adoptions into loving homes but rather a Three Card Monte game with our pets. Un-vetted "rescues", often just hoarders, some who may have already been convicted of animal cruelty, may be holding your former pet in miserable cesspools of anguish while advertising and soliciting funds for their “sanctuaries”. Other "sanctuaries" are simply warehousing our pets in crates in places where they will never be seen by potential adopters and will never find a home. 

The shell game of moving pets from location to location solves nothing - except maybe soothing the collective consciences of the perpetrators and the uninformed public. I don't expect that the public be knowledgeable in the nuances and ins and outs of this business. I do expect that they be told the truth. I am also not talking about legitimate transports such as our Air Chihuahua™   program where our excess of little dogs is sent to a state with no little dogs and is greeted by a line of adopters awaiting their arrival. I am speaking of removing animals from the shelters and stashing them in the dark corners and recesses of our city.

or this - from a no-kill location

Finally, those vestigial clingers to this sham suggest they are the righteous and the rest of us are - what - pro-kill? 

It is time that we expose this for what it is and commit to treating our animals humanely, to finding them forever homes, to educate those who know not what they are saying, and to prosecute those that deceive us and harm our pets.

Athletes Unload Their Pets via Twitter

Recently, professional athletes are using Twitter to unload their family pets. 

courtesy Google images

Kendrick Perkins  (basketball), Anthony Davis (football) and Isaiah Stanback (football) all posted the desire to sell their dogs on Twitter, and at least Perkins and Davis sold their family pet in under an hour with the requirement by Davis to "Just don't be mean to him".

As I am willing to defer to the professionals in sports, I would ask that they, in turn, let me and other credentialed professionals find unwanted pets new homes. Notwithstanding the difference between merely getting rid of a pet to the first bidder and actually finding a pet a new home-(The former accepts the tweet for the highest bid while the latter searches, screens and tries to assess compatibility with the family)- there are darker issues at play here. Is the allure of the pet the fact that is belongs to a famous athlete? Is the intention to re-tweet and resell to the highest bidder? What is the effect on the dog who must travel, and readjust to new surroundings. Is this the message that pro athletes, often viewed as role models, want to convey to our youth about commitment and responsibility?

I would advise these athletes and those that will imitate them to turn their pets over to a local humane society or spca with a donation sufficient to ensure their well-being while they wait for a new family. 

While it is certainly possible that a good home may be found using Twitter. gambling with a pets' life is not the game these athletes should be playing.  

Article first published as Pro-Athletes Unload Pets Via Twitter on Technorati.