I know  exactly what you mean!I cant stand it either.My mom and I used to do pet rescue...it was horrible how people buy animals that they "HAVE to HAVE" then after the novelty of the new exciting period wares off and their friends arent impressed anymore,that pet becuases a pest,in the way and out of budget.I hate it also when they buy a dog/cat/ecyt,dont spay it,then it gets pregnant,,,OOPS i didnt know little Fluffy and that bad Spike dog next door would have babies if I left them unattended,here let me dump it on you! UGHHHHH!When will people learn?!
Katy

Ugh I know what you mean!  I rarely have problems with the people I place animals to, since I talk to them first and pull up a contract... and I WILL take back OR assist in placing an animal I bred... BUT It never ceases to amaze me how many people who get (from other breeders or from petshops) rats, rabbits, mice, gerbils, hamsters, degus, chinchillas, any of various other rodent species, ferrets, fish, guinea pigs, even cats, email me or call me wanting me to take their pets because they dont want them anymore.  Gets me even more when some of them get offended because I do not consider their dumping their pets on me a "wonderous gift" that i could turn aroudn and sell to make money on or use ina  breeding program!!!  The "best" ones are those that not only want to "dump" their pets but want me to PAY THEM money on top of it becuase they expect me to breed the animal and "profit" off the resulting offspring!!!  Theres a woman who is practially stalking us to take her cat from her- We've given her a list of no-kill, cageless cat shelters in the area, even told her that we would foster her cat but only after it went thru a particular shelter we volunteer with (thus getting it a free vet exam, shots, spay and food/supplies for duration of the fostering) yet she refuses.  Doesnt want to take the cat to a shelter.  doesn't want to keep it.  Doesn't understand why we do not want this cat dumped on us!  I feel sad for the cat, but I have certain house rules for the safety of my animals, its not too much to ask the cat go to the shelter first for a free vet exam and be put in the "system" so that its food/vet bills are covered, Its not like abandoning the animal without knowing where it would go since I work for that shelter and said I'd foster the cat if it was brought in to the shelter.  No she wants to put the cat directly into a house, no shelter!  i told her to post a pet adoption ad- oh no, can't do that- she's too scared of placing the cat to someone she doesnt "know"  (heck, she doesn't even know me.  She got my number from a person who knew a person who adopted a rat from me and met one of pet cats)!

And then theres morons who leave a cage/tank/box with an animal in it on the door step of your house or a petshop!  no care about when anyone will find the animal, if a wild animal will find the pet first, if the person who lives there or owns the store is even ABLE to take in or care for the animal!

Some people just seem to feel no responsibility at all when it comes to animals.  My daughter Jess' ex  boyfriend was in the store I work at yesterday and told me his parents had just got a new puppy.  I was SO angry.  They had a puppy a year or so ago, it was the sweetest little thing, but they got rid of it because when it got excited it peed on their legs - it was a puppy for crying out loud!!!  What did they expect it to do?.  I said to him "what are they going to do when THIS one pees on their legs?".  
It's pathetic, some people just should not be pet owners.

All that and I forgot our zoo stories:
It is very rare that we are able to take in unwanted pets, but occasionally there are spots for them.
Mia, our boa, was found in the closet of a frat house over the summer with no food or water, the owner just left her there hoping she would still be alive come next fall. Our hedgehogs were both pets, but they were too stinky. Our Indian star tortoises were brought into the country illegally, given as gifts, and the people who recieved them asked us if they were allowed to keep them (they doubted it), we contacted fish and wildlife, they are now with us. A tarantula was kept under the bed of a soldier at our nearby military base in a butter container. We had a savannah moniter once name Phil. His owners apparently thought he could live in the city and turned him loose. He was found on one of our busy roads, badly burnt due to the hot summer asphalt. He lost many toes and most of his tail, and was severly neglected. We nursed him back to health and he lived out a long happy life.

All these animals are used in our programs. We highly stress which animals make good pets (our rats!) and which make very bad pets. We highly stress the importance of research. We handle our hedgehogs with gloves so kids will see them as a little bit less cuddly. We display nearly all our animals on bark or sticks, to show that they are not pets (although we all cuddle them behind the scenes! ). I'm sure there are more stories about our ed animals that I haven't heard or can't remember. Its just so sad!

*Sigh.*


Okay, look, I'm sorry but I just have to say it:


This is PRECISELY why retail stores should NOT be selling live animals.


'nuf said.

at my store we make sure people are willing to take care of things before they are sold....this isn't 100% of course, as we can't follow everyone home, but for the most part we have pretty responsible people coming in to start with. Other than the college students...if we feel they're not going to make good pet owners, we scare them off by telling them the truth about owning any pet...people will litterally come in and ask us what the easiest pet to care for is...I'm just like, well, a pet is a responsibility, if you're not willing to deal with it, then you're not ready for a pet. We have some very dedicated rattie owners that come in though makes me happy...as far as taking animals back, we do it on occasion...it's hard not to. Some woman was going to let her anoles loose(mind you, I live in mass...not florida)...this was in the middle of the winter too. I told her they'd be better off having their heads chopped off, because at least that way they won't suffer...but that we'd take them if it's really gonna come to that..she said she bought them for her son and he didn't wanna care for them anymore...I of course gave her the responsibility speach, and she comes back with "well, it's a 10 year old boy, you know how it is"....I'm just like...um..YOU bought them for him...duh..anyhoo..yes, it drives me up the walls....

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!
That way only people who really really wanted animals could get them, and not those for whom it is a passing fancy. People make me sick.

we had people dump dogs at the boarding kennel where i used to work. they'd make a kennel reservation and just never show up to pick the dog back up. we of course wouldn't have accurate contact information, and couldn't find them, or else the person would just flat out refuse to take the animal back.

there was a set of pitbulls (mama and daughter) that were nice dogs but the owner had trained them to be cat killers. the kennel manager sent them to the pound (she was upset about it, but they'd been there for months) but they ended up being saved at the last minute by a former kennel employee.

there was a gorgeous peach and white pit who was dumped. i wanted her so badly but i couldn't take her because of my lease. another one of the kennel staff took her.

there was a woman who dumped her golden retriever puppy because her boyfriend wanted her to get rid of it. she told our manager that if we didn't take the dog she was going to take it to the pound and have them put it down. there was nothing wrong with this dog at all!! no health problems, no behaviour problems, but the boyfriend wanted it put down. taking it to the pound was not enough. our manager wouldn't let her take the dog. one of the office staff adopted her.

i just don't understand.

Yeah, it's an unfortunate fact that we're starting to live in a "disposable" society.  It started with the little animals...  hamster, gerbils, guinea pigs...  progressed to dogs and cats, and not it's moving on to children and spouses.  

I've always said that the way we (as a society) treat our animals, is eventually the way we'll treat our children.  It's being proved out (unfortunately).  Until people realize that taking something in as a pet is a lifetime commitment, and start to act as such, there is very little chance of in improvement in society.  Cheerful, ain't I?  

Ok, I'm out of rant mode now.  It just frustrates me, and is one of the reason I never intend to have children.  I don't want them to grow up in a disposable world.

Hi, Jody.  I just PMed the info to you.

Dumping pets is a huge problem.  My gray tabby came from an unusual "dump".  My mom went to the grocery store.  It was warm that day so she had her window on the car rolled down about 4 to 5 inches.  Well, someone comes along and get this: dumps 2 kittens into my mom's car while she was away shopping, through the open crack in the window.  They were far too young and small to have gotten in there themselves.  Mom comes home and says to everyone "I've got kittens in my car!"  So me and mom fished 2 very frightened kittens out of the car.  One was black and one was the gray tabby.  We sheltered them and fed them.  They where at least over the weened age.  In the end we kept the tabby and gave the black cat to a friend of my grandmothers who wanted a cat.  The black one lived a long healthy happy life with the lady and the tabby lived a long and healthy life with us.  Unfortunatly the tabby "tibby" passed away recently due to a facial tumor that could not be removed by the vet.  She was at least 13.  

But I understand where all this comes from.  I love my pets and they always stay with me till the end.  I couldn't believe someone would "dump" kittens in a random car in the parking lot. It makes me very sad and angery to this day.  But we did gain a wonderful cat, and so did my grandmother's friend.

ABSOLUTELY! I'm with you on this one. This is EXACTLY why I also decided not to have children. End of gene pool.

Thanks!   But now you're making me feel guilty.   You see, I decided not to have kids for several reasons; overpopulation of the world by irresponsible morons is only one reason. I'm also very selfish because I'm not willing to go through pregnancy, labor, and breast feeding, much less sacrifice the next twenty-some-odd years of my life. Honestly, I know beyond a doubt that I am too selfish for that and that I would make a lousy mom. I greatly admire loving, nurturing moms, including my own mom. I just don't think I'm up to that task myself.

Ensie and Mary, then, shouldn't we be the ones to have children?
We treat our animals with love and respect, and a dogs life is almost as long as childhood. (minus ~5 years)

I don't believe that we have an over population problem. Greed is the problem. This world can feed everyone on it. We have the technology along with the earth's natural resources for our support.

There are children being thrown away because of a terrible thing called apathy. A lot kids these days raise themselves, and then they grow up to work and leave their children alone at home to be ignored as well as raised by the media that doesn't support good family values. They have fundamental questions about sex and drugs and morals etc, with no one but the tv and their young inexperienced friends to turn to.
H