FREE Pets ?????????????

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SQ

Senior Member - Vegan for the animals
Joined
Jul 21, 2007
Messages
17,208
Location
central New Brunswick Canada
See Carol's Ferals ...............
http://www.carolsferals.org/no-more-free-kittens/

Giving cats and kittens away for free is a bad idea for many reasons:
■Free implies worthless. It devalues the animal.
■When NO money is involved, people tend to make snap decisions. Cats that are taken home on impulse are very often no longer wanted once the novelty wears off and they are cast out. This only leads to more breeding cats in need of homes.
■There are unscrupulous people who seek out free kittens for a variety of reasons – to be sold to animal testing labs, used for snake food, or used as dog fighting bait. We have recently heard about two day old kittens being hooked and used as musky fishing bait. These people are good at fooling others, and pretend to be bringing the cat or kitten into a loving home.
■When animals are given away, there is a very strong likelihood that they have not seen a vet. They have not had a proper start on life, and you are often getting a sickly kitten. Kittens need de-worming or flea treatments, vaccinations, tests for diseases like Feline Leukemia and FIV, and they most certainly aren’t spayed or neutered – which can be done at 8 weeks of age. When you take a free kitten, you get what you pay for – you get a sickly cat that didn’t get a proper start in life – vet attention, proper nutrition, or adequate weaning.
■Once all the free kittens are gone, the mother cat is left to reproduce another litter. Why get her fixed? After all, the kittens go like hot cakes! When you take a free kitten, you are supporting this cycle.
■Pet stores are happy to take a batch of free kittens off the hands of the public. Big corporate stores get the picture and understand that RESCUE work is necessary and do not engage in this practice. But smaller independent pet stores take kittens off the hands of folks and make a tidy sum selling the UNfixed kittens to anyone with money. This undermines the work of rescue organizations. RESCUE organizations put people through strict adoption interviews and have signed contracts that ensure the proper care of the animal for it’s entire life. Pet stores that sell animals DO NOT DO THIS. We need to stop patronizing pet stores that sell animals for profit.
■Some pet supply stores that help RESCUES include Petco, Petsmart, Pet Supplies Plus and ChowHound. Know who you are buying from before you spend money in stores that profit from FREE KITTENS and animals bred for production of income!
■You can make a difference. When you see FREE KITTENS signs on the road, stop and give the owners the number to Carol’s Ferals (616-560-0555). Keep this flier handy in your car and share it. Knowledge is power. Pass it on. Save lives. Help bring about a day where there are no FREE KITTENS signs.
 
My "free" GSD cost me 1000 dollars for heartworm treatment and for the electric fence to keep the dog in the fence. (She can jump/climb over a 11 foot fence.)
 
"Free implies worthless. It devalues the animal." Really? Obviously she equates having value with money which is such a capitalist ideology. She makes a lot of grandiose assumptions; yet, I can understand some of her points. But, paying for an animal is no guarantee the animal will end up in a loving home. I'm also thinking of all those expensive purebreds who are returned to the breeder or end up in rescues. Evidently shelling out thousands of dollars for a dog or hundreds on a cat didn't guarantee a caring home. People pay money for shelter animals and there is no guarantee (despite the shelter's best efforts to screen applicants) they will end up in good homes and some animals are even returned to the shelter. I can certainly understand screening potential people interested in a free pet but even that may not work out.

Once, I adopted two rats from a woman who was giving them away free to a good home and she wanted references including a vet reference. She met me at my house and asked me a whole whack of questions. She wanted to be certain I was not a snake owner and that I would provide a good home. I never found her questions and coming to my home intrusive because I understood what she was doing. She adopted a female rat that turned out pregnant and she was determined the babies would not end up as snake food or in bad homes despite being free.

Enough of my long rant....
 
RatsForever said:
"Free implies worthless. It devalues the animal." Really? Obviously she equates having value with money which is such a capitalist ideology. She makes a lot of grandiose assumptions; yet, I can understand some of her points. But, paying for an animal is no guarantee the animal will end up in a loving home. I'm also thinking of all those expensive purebreds who are returned to the breeder or end up in rescues. Evidently shelling out thousands of dollars for a dog or hundreds on a cat didn't guarantee a caring home. People pay money for shelter animals and there is no guarantee (despite the shelter's best efforts to screen applicants) they will end up in good homes and some animals are even returned to the shelter. I can certainly understand screening potential people interested in a free pet but even that may not work out.

Once, I adopted two rats from a woman who was giving them away free to a good home and she wanted references including a vet reference. She met me at my house and asked me a whole whack of questions. She wanted to be certain I was not a snake owner and that I would provide a good home. I never found her questions and coming to my home intrusive because I understood what she was doing. She adopted a female rat that turned out pregnant and she was determined the babies would not end up as snake food or in bad homes despite being free.

Enough of my long rant....

That was not any kind of "rant." It was a well thought out, open and honest statement regarding your experiences. Nope... not a "rant" in my view. Just really good information to keep us in the loop in case anything like that ever happens to us. :hugs: :rose: :heart:
 
I think her points are sincere and well meaning. I don't think she meant it in a bad way at all. A lot of people will put more value in an animal they paid for. I knew a girl who boasted about her next pet, it was going to be a GSD, at the cost of $2400. She took pride in that price. Something about good genes and champion line and all that. She had her mutt from the shelter already, but she told me she was going to put all her money, training and efforts on the expensive dog and not her mutt. According to her, the mutt was only to be a pet sadly. I wish I had smacked her.
 
Actually, I thought this was great!
What she says is true ....
Many people do not value animals if they are free and many will get free pets on impulse and then dump them.
Having pets spayed and neutered and then selling them at a low cost sounds like a great idea to me,
and it would help to prevent more homeless animals in the future.
I wish all the idiots on kijiji dumping their animals to anyone who will take them off their hands would do this.
Like the very many who get free pets on impulse and then dump them a few weeks, or months later

Some people giving away free pets will screen, use a contract with a return clause, etc, but unfortunately they are the exception.
 
Actually, I thought this was great!
What she says is true ....
Many people do not value animals if they are free and many will get free pets on impulse and then dump them.
Having pets spayed and neutered and then selling them at a low cost sounds like a great idea to me,
and it would help to prevent more homeless animals in the future.
I wish all the idiots on kijiji dumping their animals to anyone who will take them off their hands would do this.

Some people giving away free pets do care and will screen, use a contract with a return clause, etc, but unfortunately they are the exception.
 
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