elainegrey (
elainegrey) wrote2019-07-31 03:33 pm
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Today's distraction inspired by someone musing about adopting a pet. It's been a year since Greycie Loo passed on. Christine and i are gently poking around cat-or-dog. I am a cat advocate, thinking that the two boy-os might could use someone young around. That's when we got Greycie: after GreyBrother died, and GreyBeard and Mr M were looking at their older years. Greycie's the only cat we have ever acquired from an organization: they rescued feral cats from Moffett Field in the Bay Area. I don't recall ANY adoption form. (She's also the only girl-cat.)
All the other boy-os came to us from the neighborhood or friends.
These adoption forms have agreements that you will allow the shelter folks to come visit and inspect. I was surprised when i saw this on donkey adoption several years ago -- but apparently this is common now? One requires a "co-signer" if you are over 65 years old.
I can appreciate a foster group wanting people to consider all these things, but putting them in as terms of an agreement seems ... well, i find it off-putting that i am agreeing to include the adoption group in some of my decision making if i'm moving or other cases. I valued the "tell us about all the pets you have had and what happened to them:" that seems very valuable. Getting a reference from the family vet and a non family member: that sounds good. Demanding that you must monthly treat fleas and ticks is ... problematic in my opinion. In California, for example, an inside cat has no need of tick care. It makes all the sense in the world for North Carolina, particularly in this area with such problematic tick issues. Demanding absolute agreement, without noting any exception for when a vet may suggest that you do NOT treat and so on, is not a responsible way of expressing the expectation.
All the other boy-os came to us from the neighborhood or friends.
These adoption forms have agreements that you will allow the shelter folks to come visit and inspect. I was surprised when i saw this on donkey adoption several years ago -- but apparently this is common now? One requires a "co-signer" if you are over 65 years old.
I can appreciate a foster group wanting people to consider all these things, but putting them in as terms of an agreement seems ... well, i find it off-putting that i am agreeing to include the adoption group in some of my decision making if i'm moving or other cases. I valued the "tell us about all the pets you have had and what happened to them:" that seems very valuable. Getting a reference from the family vet and a non family member: that sounds good. Demanding that you must monthly treat fleas and ticks is ... problematic in my opinion. In California, for example, an inside cat has no need of tick care. It makes all the sense in the world for North Carolina, particularly in this area with such problematic tick issues. Demanding absolute agreement, without noting any exception for when a vet may suggest that you do NOT treat and so on, is not a responsible way of expressing the expectation.
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Between that and vets that require bloodwork even when there's no decision to be made, I'm dubious that I'll adopt another animal after Basil goes. I don't like the control wielded by outside forces.
Best wishes with your decisions around adopting a pet!
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I suspect a cat will find his or her way to you. My larger concern after our experiences as cat people with dogs is that Carrie continues to be good with cats, but she clearly is. It's proved impossible for us to have cats except for porch kitties.
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Anyhow, with the cats from IAR in Durham, I think they required that the cats be indoor-only, which was my plan anyhow, and the foster parent came over to deliver them, and we hung out for a while while they got settled, but it was very low-key and we just talked about pets and played with them, and I guess I didn't have any bad-owner red flags. Sophie's foster mom was pretty attached to her and would have kept her if I (or someone else) was not the right situation. I got Dutch from the vet's office; there was a last-minute form to fill out, but they knew me and my other pets, so just a formality.
With Andy, I got him from a rescue in Greensboro (through Petfinder, which has good filtering on their site, so I could look at only cat-friendly small dogs in the age-range I chose) so did not have a home visit, but probably agreed to some intrusive things that never happened (oh, I think I agreed that if I needed to re-home him that I would call them first and they would take him.) I never got his chip transferred to my name; it involves some weird mailing in of stuff from the rescue that I never did; I really should do that.
Donkey rescue?
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At any rate, I'm happy to report that the shelter I support doesn't do this.
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If you go to a shelter and bring the cat home yourself, it’s unlikely anyone would visit. (Although I see your point about not wanting to sign up for it even theoretically). I think the consultation on moving is to discourage people abandoning cats. The shelters see all the negative outcomes every day and that's reflected in the form. I agree with you that medical decisions should be left to the vet.
You might check if there is a local area pets group on Facebook. People in my neighborhood pet group are always posting about pets that need homes.
Good luck!