September 26 is the day to remember shelter pets. We’re supposed to light a candle for those who have died due to owner neglect or lack of space in shelters so they were euthanized. I believe this campaign is wrong and will not donate my time or money or effort toward it.
Why? I’ve had one stray and three shelter animals in my life for 20 years, not all together. Some I’ve adopted have died regardless of kind care, great food and respect and just because they were old and I’d had them for over 10-15 years after abuse and shelter care and they’d had no real health care but spay/neuter at a shelter.
This should be for the shelter pets who lived as well. Yes, I’ll light four candles for the rescues I’ve had over the past 20 years and one for another rescue anywhere with a loving owner. That is my pledge.
We had a pact in our neighborhood. I had dogs and cats. Another neighbor had birds and reptiles. I’d bring the lost or tossed dog or cat to the nearest shelter and they knew me by now. They placed me in the euthanasia room, where I could see the chart for the day’s executions, the pet must have sensed the odor, and they used the universal scanner to find the chip that could find the owner.
Usually they did find the owner. We only had to adopt one cat, which whom I shared custody with a neighbor and it was only a couple of weeks until we found him a good home. We named him George, why, after years, I do not recall.
Often to raise money shelters give sad stories of abandoned and abused pets. I worked as a volunteer for one shelter for several years in many areas including dogs, cats, development, public relations, special events/volunteer management.
Do you know that people who are supposed to represent us in Washington are trying to shut down the government (which means your great-aunt won’t get her Social Security next month) in order to keep seniors, the poor and middle class from buying health insurance?
We have to make a change and Maddies’ Fund and SFSPCA and others did that for shelter animals but it has to go further as the money train must end, the training wheels need to come off.
Unfortunately people care is far behind dog and cat care. But it must change as well and will be a difficult road to know that caring for all from a young age through retirement and beyond is something rich people don’t want us to have.
When I bring my dog to the vet I get to be there. When my cat died, I held him in my arms. When my dog died the neighborhood gave a tree to the city in her memory. Today, people know my dog’s name but when I take her to get her nails trimmed I go to a groomer to cut nail costs by 2/3 by being the “tech” and calming her for the two minutes it takes.
Yes, we pay cash for our dog’s vet expenses, both hip removals, and nail-cutting. I bathe and groom her myself. Our nation had designed a system in which in preparation for ACA employers have cut back on their healthcare options and are forcing employees into HSA’s or making workers part-time so no health insurance whatsoever for a single mom and her kid. No-one with a pre-existing condition can get health insurance. No-one who is middle class can afford COBRA if they’re laid off. No poor person can afford much at all.
Dear anti-ACA, cash is not the solution. We pay cash for insurance because there is a risk pool and a lot of money to be made. Insurance doesn’t insure people, it makes investments on our premiums, denies claims then begs the government for a bailout and gets one. In the USA, we treat animals better than people. Dee
Cooking with Dee 