I need to cuddle my goggie now

[jedimaster91]

I volunteer at the local humane society in several different roles. On Thursday nights I assist for one of the behavior classes. The kennels close at 6pm and class this round starts at 7pm. There is a side entrance for the classes to use.

Today there was a cat cage outside said side door that had been washed and was left out to dry. This in and of itself is not an unusual occurrence. Cages need to be washed and rotated now and then.

One of our students needed to run and get something from her car. We'll say roughly 7:05. Students have been trickling in since about 6:45. I would say the last one wandered in around 7 on the nose. I mention the times because they are important. When that student came back from her car, she said a dog was in the cage outside and it hadn't been there 5 minutes before and it was crying. I went out to investigate and sure enough there was a scared little dachshund that hadn't been there when I came in around 6:30. Someone dumped a dog. And it's getting close to freezing outside.

Humane society policy is you can't just drop off a dog. There is actually a (small) fee for surrendering an animal. Metro on the other hand, does not charge for turning in an animal. The instructor (L) called the security guy who told us to bring the dog (and cage) inside and leave it behind the front desk. I went in search of a water dish and L and I donated some treats to the cause. After class was over we went to get a better look at the poor thing. The bottom of the cage was still wet from being cleaned, so L held the dog while I wiped the cage out with some paper towels. Then I held the dog for a bit. She was a very sweet little dachshund who loved being cuddled and gave lots of kisses.

Normally I don't like dogs that small; I find them to be too yappy and ill behaved. But I was *this close* to strapping that dog in my car and taking her home. I do have Ziggy's car harness in with me after all. I'm confident the humane society will take good care of her, but I felt so bad leaving her there. She obviously belonged to somebody and I can't believe someone would just leave her outside in the cold like that. I'm planning to call in the morning and check on her. The one ray of sunshine is that the humane society has security cameras and they might have caught whoever dumped the dog.

Wonder how hubs feels about wiener dogs.....

[LillFilly]

That is just sick and sad. What if they had dropped the dog off when no one was there? What if something attacked it? Wow, I hope the cameras caught them; I guess you could charge them with illegal dumping at the least, or maybe animal abuse, or not paying the required fee?

[bainsidhe]

Poor thing. I'm curious though. You mention there's *small* fee for dropping off an animal, but what if it isn't yours? My coworker lives in a semi-rural area and once found a very happy and very lost dog that clearly belonged to someone. She took him to the humane society so they could locate the owners and reunite them. Doggie was microchipped and the family was grateful to find their little runaway.

[tropicsgoddess]

I could never give up my dog for any reason. That was just incredibly wrong and cruel of whoever dumped that poor doggie like that out in the cold. I hope they catch the bastard that did that!

[Catwoman2965]

Sadly, the fee is why many people simply dump animals. many moons ago, I was visiting an ex BF who lived in an apt with no pets allowed. I found this teeny tiny adorable black kitten and he came out of the store and went "oh no, we cannot have pets and as we're moving the landlord is showing the apt, so you CANNOT keep in there!" he was several hours form my house, and it was a holiday weekend. i ended up paying to board the kitty at a vet then took it to the local shelter, where they charged me to surrender it, but I had no choice.

So I drive home, and was still living with my folks..which si why i didn't bring him back as we alrady had 2 cats. my dad says "oh i expected you to come back with another cat!" i said well, had i done that i figured I'd be looking for a new place to live! Then he handed me $20 to help pay for the vet! My dad was such a sucker for animals, i shoudl have just brought it hoem!

[Thatgirl71]

That is so sad, that poor little doggie. People that just dump their pets really piss me off.

[kansasgal]

All of my pets have come from the humane society after being dumped. Chrissy, my cocker spanial, was apparently a breeder's bitch who couldn't breed anymore, so when she was found she had been on the street for a long time..nails 2 inches long, weighed only 18 pounds, etc.

We took her (my son's Christmas present, so her full name is Chrissy Miss) and lived through the housebreaking (she had never been outside a cage, apparently). She is deaf because they never treated her ear infections, but is the most lovable dog now. She even tries to play, which is something she wouldn't do when we first got her.

We think she is about 10-12 years old, and we are going to make up for all of those years she wasn't able to play, etc.

Ruby is a lab mix who was dumped at our vet, she is a love, and Shadow is my little (really, she only weighs about 12 pounds) beagle, she was going to be killed by the breeder because she was the runt and had a hernia. I paid for the hernia op and took her.

I love all of my dogs, and can not stand it when someone dumps a dog or talks about it when I am there.

[ralerin]

So, what happened to the doggie? I want to know.

[Cai1987]

Sadly, the fee is why many people simply dump animals.

Yeah, unfortunately. We had to give up a cat once because we couldn't afford to feed both her and ourselves. The no-kill shelters all wanted between $50 and $75 to surrender her. We're like, hello, if we had $75 laying around, we'd be keeping the damn cat! Kitty ended up at the local SPCA. I hope she made it.

[PepperElf]

my bf and i went to the pet store this weekend to pick up gifts for his family's dogs and my cat.

while there we ooed and ahed over the rescue pets and saw a pair of blue cats.... apparently someone pulled a "meet the parents" and spray painted the cats blue and then dumped them in a box at the shelter.

although from the way people were going googlyeyed over them i don't think they'll stay in the store for long. even after the paint wears off.

[kansasgal]

Sigh. Once again we have been adopted...son called, and while on his pizza delivery route, he found a small (probably 3 months) puppy that had been left out with no food or water and was just wandering around. He brought the puppy over here with the understanding that when he got his new apartment, puppy would go with him. Puppy is a Rottweiler/Shepard mix. Hubby came home from group and met puppy...Harley (his new name apparently) is very cute and is fitting right in..now I have 4 dogs, lol.

[JarethsPet]

The cat in my icon is actually my rescue pet. I wasn't allowed to have pets for some time because of no pets rental. I love cats. I was going to get myself a kitten the ex-roomie and I decided a pet who was already trained would be better. I was on petfinder on and off for weeks and kept seeing this cat go on the site and off just as much.

I went to a meet and greet for him because he was so damn adorable in his pictures. They made no mention that he was an abused cat. I quickly found out why people kept sending him back, he was afraid of everything and everyone. The shelter refused to tell me what happened to him so I guessed that he was abused by humans. I got him when he was 7 months old. He's turning 3 this year.

I could not turn my back on this poor cat. 2 months after I got him and tried my hardest to become his friend, I finally earned his trust in a silly way. I had been trying to placate him with treats to come out from whatever furniture he shoved himself under.. my roomate said to give him time and shamefully I started crying because I felt so bad for him and wanted his friendship(I was sitting on the floor). I don't know if it was because he felt my sadness or that was just the day he decided that he wanted love, the little fuzzer came out from under the bed and curled up in my lap. My roomate grabbed the camera and took pictures that I now have forever. ^_^

[Golden Phoenix]

JarethsPet, that made me well up.

Our pets are all rescue animals, with the exception fo Moo, he was born here.

The Stig & TG were my first, they are a pure white tom and a tabby british shorthair. When i got them The Stig was terrified of everything, it was 3 days before he came out from behind the blanket chest when i got him home. Their owner had died suddenly and at a young age. 3 years on stig is still nervous, but is a very loving cat that adores cuddles.

Rey was unwanted by a friend. She was bullied by their other cat. We realised after we got her back here it was more likely she was bullied by their 2 boys, she is jumpy and full of nervous habits, she over-grooms to the point of losing fur, poor thing. She's skinny and still looks like a kitten even though she's full grown, she'll probably never achieve adult size now.

Moo, Rey's son. A little sod, but we love him. Patterned like a cow, hence the name.

Mop, a friend-of-a-friend gave him up into our care, he was black and tan when we got him, till we bathed him, he's black and white. He's a shih tzu. He's had a broken jaw at some point. He was one big mat of fur, he couldn'tt urn his head. He had also been starved. He now looks like a dog again and is learning to play.

I wouldn't trade them for the world

[ShadowBall]

All the cats I've ever owned were plucked right up off the street or were from a litter thrown by a cat plucked off the street. The most recent addition was my younger boy cat that looks like some kind of Maine Coon mix (as in has the markings, but not the fluff). He was in the backyard and I began feeding him, and he was just sweet as pie - purring like a chainsaw, throwing himself and wanting to be petted. I didn't know if he was lost or abandoned, but he came in "just for the winter" as per my mother. That was about 5 years ago. He's still here. Mom hates him because he's shredded the walls in a few places, but I don't care because I hate my mom at times and she can shove her house right up her ass.

My mom's older dog was also picked up right off the street. One day she just saw this beautiful fluffy white dog (less fluffy American Eskimo dog, it seems) walking around alone and collar-less downtown. She opened the car door, the dog jumped in and suddenly she had a dog. I'd say said dog is about 12+ years old now. The only bad thing is my mother actually said she wasn't going to see if someone lost the dog or not because she didn't care if it belonged to someone else - she was still keeping it.

I can only hope the dog wasn't owned and someone suffered having never found their lost dog. I love this dog - she's beautiful, quiet and smart...and a bit quirky (like she hates rubber bands and the sound of scissors), but I'd hate to think she belonged to someone who wanted her back.

[Hanzoku]

Both of our cats are 'lost and founds'. The first, Mug, surprised my GF when she was living in Brussels. She was in a ground floor apartment with a big window that opens at the top, roughly 8 feet off the ground or so. So she's in her room, doing her studying thing, when suddenly the curtains go flying and this year old grey and white British Shorthair is blinking and looking around.

She stuck up all sorts of flyers in the local neighborhood, checked in with the local vets (and checked his health, perfectly healthy), but noone came forward and claimed him. She ended up registering him, getting him chipped in her name, and he's been living with us every since (well, 'us' once I moved over).

What I think happened is someone got him as a kitten at the beginning of the school year, and threw him out when they moved home at the end of the semester. When he jumped into my GF's apartment, he was still sleek, well-groomed, not badly fed, and very social (with her), so its not like he was a stray cat for that long. The one thing we can never figure out is how he got through that window... there was no car parked outside, and he's never shown himself as much of a jumper since.

Our second cat we got as a kitten - a little over four weeks old, which was a bit young for him, but if I remember correctly, his mother didn't make it. She had ended up in a construction site pit where she gave birth to her litter and they couldn't get out again. Luckily they were found and taken to the local charity animal clinic. Since I wasn't working at the time, I ended up being his 'mommy', making sure he ate his kitten porridge and introducing him to solids. (He wasn't impressed, he wanted more porridge.) I think what took the most time was convincing him that my arm was not his mommy, and that sucking on my jacket wasn't going to get him anywhere.

The only pet who came from a good situation was our dog, who we bought from a breeder since my girlfriend wanted a specific type of dog (Cavalier King Charles for those who are interested). This one my girlfriend took primary care of, so she's definitely looks to her as the boss. I'm playmate/sometimes-boss, when she hast'a listen to me, grumble grumble.