The times, they are a-changing…
Nov 03 2007
Posted to Spokane Craigslist. This is about the Central Washington Livestock Auction in Moses Lake. The person who posted this is Bill Demers. Well, hooray for you, Bill Demers. I am guessing you are not a “crazy animal rights activist” or a “bleeding heart woman who isn’t realistic,” just two of the epithets I’ve heard assigned to people who believe old, crippled horses should be put to sleep instead of canned.
For anybody who thinks that you can’t change public opinion…read this. You can. It’s not just the animal activists who are disgusted when you take your old horse, that you have allowed to go downhill miserably, to the auction. It’s your neighbors. Your friends. The people you work with. Everybody is getting the message that this behavior is NOT okay.
Horses for meat ——————————————————————————–
Reply to: sale-466438167@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-11-01, 7:49PM PDT
The Auctioneer at Saturdays auction said no more old, crippled, injured, swaybacked or unsalable horses will be accepted. The meat market will no longer accept these. The price of feed has made the price of horses drop to unbelievably low prices. Many nice horses were not even bringing 150.00 dollars. All horses must be inspected before unloading. A 25.00 dollar fee will now be charged for all horses and must be paid before the horse is unloaded. If you have one of these horses do what is right for an old friend and have him or her put down by your vet!
~~~~~~~~~~
Now, along the same lines…this news story came out:
Dead ponies dumped near popular trail
The news, of course, is acting like this is some kind of sadistic pony murder – which I think there’s about a 1% chance of. Meanwhile, all of the pro-slaughter folks are going to jump on this and blame it on slaughter being made illegal (even though that’s totally nonsensical, because the kill buyers are right there at Enumclaw, maybe 45 minutes away, tops). Now everybody is hunting down these folks. I predict what happened is they couldn’t afford hay (current prices here: orchard grass: $13.50/bale, timothy: $16/bale) and they WEREN’T big enough asshats to turn the ponies over to a killer, but they couldn’t afford euth and disposal. So they did it themselves, albeit in a bad location. Was it cruelty? Well, I haven’t seen the carcasses so I can’t tell you if they were good shots or not. But this IS going to happen until we all accept that healthy horses are going to have to be euthanized because of hay prices and the glut of horses on the market, just like healthy puppies and healthy kittens – and we do something to help the low income people who can’t come up with the (in that area) $500-$600. Times two ponies, that’s a $1000. It’s no wonder this happened. I’ll be shocked if it turns out this wasn’t the reason.
One of my best friends is an animal control officer. She has to put down pets every day. Nice pets, mean pets, mixed breed pets, purebred pets, old pets, baby pets. Pets that some spineless douchebag dropped off for her or another employee to deal with. It is not a fun thing to have to do, but it is necessary. (For those of you who believe no-kill is possible, please post your address and we’ll bring 75 pit bulls with various issues over to live in your yard.)
I’ve been heavily involved in rescue and (gasp! horrors!) animal rights for a long time. I don’t eat meat, I cheer when companies go cruelty-free (and I don’t care if they do it because of ethics or because they’re scared of the ALF folks), I really do think you should have to sell your possessions for cash if your animal needs vet care and you’re broke, but let me tell you, I do not believe no kill is possible. Not for dogs, cats, or horses. Not as long as selfish and lazy humans exist, and we all know we have no way of making them extinct. Let’s just suck it up and make sure a humane euthanasia (whether it’s chemical or a gunshot from a trained professional) – and a disposal that doesn’t endanger public health – is affordable for everyone.
One final note: My oldest cat is being put to sleep today. His name is Bud Man (yes, he came with it) and he is twenty and he’s a Russian Blue (no, not the typical blue-gray cat that everybody calls a Russian Blue, but an exotic looking wedge head that I’ve had breeders identify as most likely purebred). 21 months ago, I pulled him out of the West Valley shelter in Los Angeles, at age 19. His owner had been “transferred.” (Apparently to the moon, where you cannot bring your nineteen year old cat.) So Pet Owner of the Year dumped him in the shelter where he sat meowing for someone to save him, and of course I saw him online and drove over on a Saturday morning and bailed his little butt out. Well, in case Bud’s original owner is reading this – or you have a friend who had an old gray cat named Bud who abruptly disappeared when he/she moved from Los Angeles – Bud has had a nice 21 months. He’s slept in front of the space heater and sunned himself and batted the younger kitties in the face on occasion. No thanks to Asshat Former Owner. Now his heart has gone bad and his limbs are swollen and we can’t fix that, so today he will go to Kitty Heaven. Today his time is up. 21 months ago, he was fat and shiny and had a ton of life left, but you didn’t care. You cared about your own convenience. And that attitude is why we have a cat problem…and a dog problem…and a horse problem…Shame on you.
90 comments to “The times, they are a-changing…”
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Fugly, my sincere sympathies on the loss of your pet. And thanks for giving a nice retirement to old Bud.
I am so sorry for Bud. What a nice kitty reprieve he has had. I love my old codger kitty and will take care of him and his contemporaries until they either die or need to be put down. Shame on that owner to abandon Bud. How sad and heartless.
I saw the pony item on the news this morning. The reporter on KVOS? ( I think- the Seattle station) said it looked to them like someone had humanely killed the two ponies and dumped the bodies and hidden them under brush. I suspect what you say is true. Someone with an actual heart and no money doing the sort of right thing.
Another great post. Although I have heard them for years, I still do not understand the derogatory phrases “crazy animal rights person” or “bleeding heart.” Let’s add “do-gooder” to that group of insults too. These insults describe a person with compassion and empathy. Since when was compassion and empathy a bad thing? These are among the highest of human qualities.
Oops, should say “when were compassion and empathy bad things.” More coffee needed here!
Dear FHOTD,
May your Bud Man pass peacefully and may the hole in your heart heal over with good memories.
Fugly, sorry about the kitty.. thanks for making his last days happy!
That kind of ties in with a situation I’m sort of in right now. There is a feral female cat in our neighborhood, she just keeps having kittens. (I “stole” of them from her at one day old (bottle fed and now over 1 year old, I have two, one was given away), as she had them in a brush pile we were adding to and going to burn the next day) The idea of shooting her has come up, and at first I thought that was terrible – but isn’t it more terrible to catch this wild cat, take her to a shelter full of strange smells, fear, and noise, only have her euthanized in a few weeks, because no one can touch her?
I’m still on the fence, but I don’t think that catching her, spaying her and turning her back out would be a good idea, either.
Shit. I guess we good set up a backyard cat breeding operation, because her babies ARE the sweetest and calmest things ever! ….As long as you catch them, bottle feed them, and have children carry them around for the first few months of their lives.
Thank you for giving Bud a good life with you for 21 months. My sincerest sympathies go out to you. I know what it’s like to have to put a beloved animal to sleep – been there many times and it’s always heartbreaking.
Being introduced to guns later in life, I’m still kind of creeped out by the idea of shooting anything (but a steel target). But, slowly, I am coming to see that a (well-placed) bullet is a valid option for euthanisia. (Don’t tell anyone…. my husband calls me a tree-hugger)
I don’t normally post, but you’re little rant about the person who sent his pet to the pound when he was “transfered” irked me just slightly. Military people sometimes are sent TDY for a year+ at a time and don’t always have the luxury of taking their pets with them. And if they have no family or friends nearby to take care of their pet, Animal Welfare is about the best they can do.
Would you rather this person just left the animal to fend for itself when he left? At least he cared enough to try to take care of his pet.
No, I’m not military, but I do have a lot of friends and family who are. And when someone says the person was “transfered” somewhere I automatically think of the military and how they transfer people and send them TDY.
Just my 2 cents for what it’s worth.
FHOTD, I’m sorry about Bud. I certainly understand as I have 7 cats, 4 of which started out as one because some uncaring asshole dumped a young, pregnant cat in my yard. $500 vet bill later, she and her 3 kittens are now 7 years old and I still take care of them. We built them a “cat house” and they live the life of happy cats.
I’m not looking forward to the day I lose my 3 older cats I have in the house. 2 15-year old 22 lb. Scottish Folds (litter brothers) I’ve had since they were kittens, and my 11 year old female black Manx, also taken in as a kitten on the way to the shelter. They are all spayed/neutered.
Re the ponies – that’s sad. I hope they didn’t suffer.
Looks like I may have finally found someone (or a group of someones) who would not think me insane – I instructed my family that if anything happened to me, and they could not or would not take care of my animals – that they are to be put down. I was diagnosed with cancer and forced to address my own mortality. To this day, tho I am cancer free – those instructions stand firm. I could not ever face the fact that an animal I owned and loved for years face the possibility of an ugly end at someone elses hands.
skymist….
It does suck when people are transfered and can not take their pets, but IMO, if you can’t find a home for an unlikely to be adopted animal, isn’t it kinder to have them euthanized yourself? Then you can hold them in your arms and they aren’t faced with the terror being in an animal shelter situation for weeks, until they are euthanized. An old cat in his late teens? He was LUCKY than FHOTD adopted him. He stood a much higher chance of spending the last few weeks of his life being scared in a cage.
4 Horses and Holding, trap-spay-release is a great option. Once caught, you might have her tested for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, and rabies vaxed too. You may find a local group who will assist with the costs – but if not, it’s a charitable thing to do.
You could also trap her and have her euthanized immediately if you don’t think that is appropriate for some reason.
Dumping her at a shelter is the worst solution since it may be a day or more before they have time to euth her, and it usually involves a catch pole or clam shell net and a lot of struggling.
4horses — the “spay and release” option actually is a good one with feral cats, because if you just remove the cat, another one will move in, or if you leave her out there, she’ll just keep having kittens. So no matter what, there will be more kittens to deal with… but if she’s spayed and released, the arrival of more kittens will be delayed for a while.
FHOTD, I’ve also shared a few years of my life with an ancient cat, and it’s one of the things I can count on to improve my mood when I’m feeling down. Myrtle came to me in her late teens with hyperthyroid and terrible teeth, eventually required a leg amputation for bone cancer, got very arthritic, and then her kidneys and heart started to go. She had 3 1/2 good years with me, and was pampered to the end. BTW, she had been left behind in an apartment when someone moved out. The local shelter folks said that the beginning of the month is the best time to get really nice older animals, because the landlords bring them in.
I’d love to get to a point where inexpensive, humane euthanization (shooting included) was widely available for all horse owners.
Sorry to hear about Bud Man… but kudos to you for giving the old man 21 months of happiness before his timecard was punched.
I’ll never understand how a person can dump their aged animal in an auction/animal shelter/BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD… NEVER.
But, you see, this is the Human Nature of things. Look at what we do to our aged and infirm HUMANS… put them in Nursing Homes, many the human equivelant of the humane society… to languish and die. I’m not saying ‘don’t put your grandma in a home’, I AM saying ‘don’t put her there and forget about her like she’s yesterday’s garbage.’ I worked in an old folks home, and yes, I understand that it’s hard to come see your parent/grandparent/relative in a nursing home. But how would YOU like it if you were in a place like that and nobody came to visit you?
So I guess what I’m saying is that, in a society where we dump our old and infirm HUMANS, why would you expect the masses to do anything different with their animal family members? Sad, but true.
Hooray for the auctioneers advocating for people to pull their head out of their asses and to STOP trying to make a final $150 off their horses, or having the auction do their dirtywork for them. It’s been a long time coming.
I have been reading this blog, and I find it very entertaining. When I first started reading it I believe I read over 60 of your entries in one day. Keep up the good work!
I’m sorry about your loss. We met a woman at a shelter who was very kind-she only adopted older cats so they could live the end of their lives happily. I think that is a great thing to do. My instructor and her boyfriend found a stray cat near their house one day. It was wheezing, coughing and had all sorts of other breathing problems, so they thought it was older. They took the cat in and took it to the vets for vaccinations, a check up, ect. Turns out the cat was one year old. So, they either had to buy a 300 dollar cat inhaler, or change their lifestyle (no fabric softeners, only specific kinds of fabric, no insence) and the cat pees on everything. Her clothes, her carpet, even her! But she still decided to keep it.
I’m sorry for the loss of Bud. Glad the rest of his days were spent with someone who cared for him.
Thanks for what you did for Bud. There’s nothing that disturbs me more than to see older animals in shelters. They always looked so shell-shocked, like “WTF happened??!” And I am firmly against no-kill shelters. The majority of the animals that stay in there will never find a home and will instead be faced with the animal equivalent of life in prison. Many become neurotic, nearly deranged after a year or so in a cage (and I don’t care how “nice” the cage is or how big, it’s still a freaking cage).
Skymist, your post just blew me away. I have family in the military, including my son who is now out. If someone is in that situation, maybe they shouldn’t get an animal. If this cat was kept by someone for 19 years, the VERY LEAST these assholes could have done would have been euth. for this poor cat. I hope they had a least a few moments of guilt leaving that poor senior cat in a cage to languish.
I grew up in AZ where we feed hay year round, whether you board or own your own horse property… You feed hay YEAR round because there simply is NO Pasture.
Move forward to the late fall of 2004 when I moved to CO. I was caring for this old fulgy byb breeder’s pasture of yearling colts (about a dozen of them). Well, I had just started driving the fence line (since the pasture boardered the Airport… NOT a good idea for them to get out! lol).
Low and behold, I ran across (not literally) 3 dead horse carcasses. Two were yearlings (a buckskin and a sorrel) and the other a weanling (buckskin). I was mortified! I could not believe it. I asked my friend that was with me what we should do! Call the cops, animal control, what do we do? To which he replied, “nothing.”
All three horses had been shot in the head. And that was the first time I ever realized that some people (in areas that depend on pasture for feed) produce so many foals each year that they cannot afford to feed them all during the winter. And, that the horse market is too poor to support crap fuglies.
It was a horrible lesson, but one I am glad that I learned. I went back in the spring after the snows melted and took one of the skulls. I still have it, complete with its little bullet hole, to remind me of the waste and suffering that is created at human hands.
FHOTD РI am truly sorry for your loss today. I lost a cat earlier this year (she was 9, congestive heart failure) and a dog a couple of months ago (he was 16, internal hemorrhaging on the same day one of the horses had a gas colic, and my fianc̩ was out of town to boot). I miss them every day.
I’m glad that an auction house finally has the balls to tell people that they will no longer take old, crippled, injured, swaybacked or unsalable horses. Although, it’s hard to believe the meat buyers will not take them, normally as long as it’s still sort of standing and kind of breathing they would take it. I think all auction houses should have do this and have a fee for all horses, although I think $50 would deter more people from dropping old Trigger off, in addition to their normal cut of the selling price.
As for the ponies, I myself could never ever do such a thing, but a clean shot is better than a stun bolt to the forehead and being bled out to death and eaten by the Euros. I hope this story brings makes the national news. While the slaughter bill has been in congress for months, and the slaughter houses are temporarily closed, I don’t think there has been much national recognition by the general public on the issue.
Fugs,
I’ve been reading forever, but never felt compelled to post before today.
So sorry you have to say goodbye to Bud today. Bless you for making his final days peaceful and happy ones.
Re the ponies. It isn’t as much the cost of the Euth, as the cost of burial/disposal. $200+ for a backhoe if you have the room and more than that often for the knackers to haul your friend away if you do not.
Cremation is very expensive as well.
Answers need to be found here or more carcasses will be turning up.
As to the rescue wringing their hands about how “cowardly” the act that was?? Please. Cowardly is dumping your animals at an auction after they have given you their entire lives. Cowardly is not looking them in the eye and saying goodbye before pulling the trigger. Whiners. Sound byte much?
Lil
Oh I am SO sorry, I know it does not matter if you have had them a day or all their lives, once they have their little paws or hooves on your heart you are sunk!!!
You know you are doing the right thing, I really (REALLY) wish we could do this for humans as well, Yes, it should be his original gutless owner who is doing this for him but how lucky he is to have had you.
Poor old Bud, and anyone who does not believe in an after life can stop reading now, coz I do and Bud is going to be strolling straight over the Rainbow Bridge into kitty heaven, where he will be able to chase birds that do not mind being caught and hunt mice that will play for hours- I’m not even going to THINK about the ponies- at least they actually shot them instead of leaving them to starve to death!
Dear FHOTD, I’m so sorry about Bud. Rest assured you are doing the right thing by him. I know how it is.
From descriptions I have heard from deer hunters (I don’t hunt) a shot to the head drops a deer dead instantly. I think that shooting can be humane if done right.
Good post today, and I too am glad that the public’s perception is leaning toward the concept that it is uncivilized to dump undesirable animals at auction.
So sorry, Ms.Fugly, for your loss of Bud Man. Thanks for sharing that with us… Most of us have felt what you are feeling today, and our hearts are with you. Bless you for the wonderful home you gave him, for WHATEVER length of time. He had love and care and peace in his older days, thanks to you.
Last month we euthanized our 8-yr-old alpha female dog, Paden. She had been thrown away as a 2-month-old pup, and we adopted her from a shelter when she was 3 months old. We were delighted, and horrified, to find a purebred German shepherd (“our” breed) baby in our local shelter. She was beautiful and athletic and fearless. She grew up, ruled our pack of (ALL SPAYED AND NEUTERED) assorted dogs with a fierce snarl, and was a wonderful pet and protector for my daughters. When she was 7 we moved to the country, and Paden adored running our (fenced) acreage. At 8 she developed degenerative myelopathy. Her hind legs no longer obeyed her brain. She spent her last months at my daughter’s side, and slept with her at night. On a bright fall day, we spread a blanket under Paden’s favorite stand of trees on our hill, fed Paden 2 huge Baconators and a Frosty, as one must not head off on the journey with an empty stomach!, and a vet tech friend administered the final dose of merciful medicine. Paden died in my daughters’ arms being told she was a good girl and that we loved her.
Our place is full of animals, most of them rescues (although, only one of the horses is). It is hairy and noisy and often chaotic here, and it is a lot of work to feed and look after everybody, but it is worth it.
I always called our home A Peaceable Kingdom (a term I borrowed from the wonderful Roger Caras), as all the animals got along civilly, until our latest rescue, Merit, arrived. She is a nut case, 90 lbs of formerly abused German shepherd. She is brilliant and beautiful, and of course some asshat bred her at some point, so they could pass on her nasty temperament and her hip displasia! She would very much like to eat the other animals we have here. She gets to wear a muzzle, be kept on a leash or in a crate a great deal of the time. But she loves me, and I love her, and when she sits on my lap at tv time, it all seems worth it to both of us. And she and I know that no one will ever abuse her again.
One of my girls and her friends have gone riding this afternoon, and one of the friends is riding our rescued horse. So it is a good day.
This is a good day for Bud Man, too. He won’t be in pain, or afraid, or alone. Hugs, Fugly.
>>So I guess what I’m saying is that, in a society where we dump our old and infirm HUMANS, why would you expect the masses to do anything different with their animal family members?< <
I say that all the time – that I’m not actually SURPRISED by what people do to horses/cats/dogs because they are equally irresponsible with their parents and their small children, too! It’s just our world. Unfortunately there are few penalties for being irresponsible – there is always someone to clean up your mess, whether it’s animal control or CPS or whatever.
As for shooting being preferable to slaughter…you’re damn right it is. A well placed shot is a painless and instant end to a life. I have no problem with it.
I am only just starting to realise how lucky I am.
If I want a horse euthanized I call the knacker, who I know very well.
If it is an emergency he is there- any time of the day or night.
Of course he charges me extra- who would not charge for getting out of bed in the middle of the night, whatever the weather , and coming to shoot a horse??
The charge for a non emergency in social hours is $80.00 and for that he will shoot the horse and take it away.
If you wish it cremated and the ashes returned, in a very nice box with a plate on the side, the charge goes up to around $200.00- but I have always been highly suspect of this service- I just do not believe the people that offer it return the correct animals ashes and no-one is ever going to DNA check, now are they??
So, anyway, I have no desire to have the horse on my mantlepiece, so I have never gone down that road.
My knacker renders everything, these days, and uses the result as fuel- a great leveler, death, Racehorse and Shetland side by side, reduced to diesel fuel for a truck!!!
You really need to get someone to start a similar service- my knacker makes a very good living out of this- not just horses, he takes any stock, and he deals in sheep and pigs as well, the “dead stock” side of it fuels all the trucks and the livestock pay all the bills.
If he can do it, in the European Economic Climate, I am darn sure an American could make it pay as well!!!
Kirri – see, you have a better system that way in Europe. We simply do not have anything like that here. Our options are the vet and chemical euthanasia and pickup, which ranges from $300 on up depending on where you live – or selling the horse to slaughter. Rural Americans may be able to shoot & bury on their own land, but that’s not common as most of us don’t have that kind of land or are prohibited by zoning from burying livestock.
4Horses: catching, neutering and doing shots, then releasing back into the neighbourhood is a valid way to deal with a feral cat. In my community there is a cat rescue that does that, as well as dealing with pets. People can adopt a feral cat! My daughter, a cat fanatic married to a man with allergies to cats, looked into it. I told her it wouldn’t work for her, because the cat would be sleeping on her bed in 3 months time! She has a way with cats. The deal is that you provide the cat with food, and perhaps some sort of shelter, and it lives out a tolerable life, not starving, not making more feral cats, not living frightened in a cage.
I agree that humane euthenasia is the kindest thing to do for many animals. I have only had to do it for pets that were already dying, or elderly and suffering, and it was done in the most comfortable way possible for the animal.
I had a house feral for several years until he passed away earlier this year. He was a true feral – captured in Dodger Stadium by a feral cat group. He never totally tamed but he enjoyed the heck out of the indoor life and slept on my pillow. I never touched him but he took bits of turkey from my fingers. He grudgingly kitten-sat when I fostered kittens. Even a true feral will use a litter box in 99% of cases. It’s not that hard to move one into your house.
thank you bill. its good to know were not alone out here.
my condolences to you, fugly, on the loss of bud. bless you once again for your kind heart AND clear head in not only providing a good home whenever you can, but for making the tough decisions and shouldering the responsibility where necessary. im sure buds happy last days and peaceful goodbye are thanks enough, but add mine in as well.
many hearts would not end up overworked and bleeding if certain other people simply HAD them.
Fugly, I am so sorry about Bud! I am glad that he got to have a very happy 21 months with you.
I had to put down my Toby, Rotty, on July 13th due to cancer. He was 9 yrs old and had a great 3 yrs with us. He was a rescue of sorts, the ppl we bought him from beat the shit out of him. He wanted to be my lap dog but 175 lbs of huge Rotty was a lil much.
http://tinyurl.com/2gh9zb
“Anne said…
Looks like I may have finally found someone (or a group of someones) who would not think me insane – I instructed my family that if anything happened to me, and they could not or would not take care of my animals – that they are to be put down. I was diagnosed with cancer and forced to address my own mortality. To this day, tho I am cancer free – those instructions stand firm. I could not ever face the fact that an animal I owned and loved for years face the possibility of an ugly end at someone else’s hands.
November 3, 2007 8:38 AM”
Ann, I do not have cancer but was given a certain amount of time, if I keep my lungs safe and clean.
I have been thinking about what to do if I get a horse. My husband has said that he would keep the horse forever just to have a piece of me around. I honestly don’t know if he would go out and love on the horse like I would.
If my Basha, rescue cat, is still with me then she will be put down after I am gone. I know that she would be very depressed we are soul mates and it would be cruel to leave her here.
http://tinyurl.com/2dp3zc
It has been hard to face the future and being uncertain how long I have. Hubby refuses to talk about a will and what I would like done. I told him no funerals and when he spreads my ashes I want him to play Van Halen’s Runnin With the Devil, LOL.
ps re: dumped ponies… personally, i would rather be walked out into the bush and shot than packed on a double decker bound for slaughter.
the fact of death is not what bothers me. its the MANNER of death and the associated trauma that does. death comes to us all, but peace and dignity in death are a gift.
to paraphrase chopper read: id rather go at the hands of a crying friend than a smiling enemy.
Has any one seen the movie “In Pursuit of Honor”? It deals with how “A group of cavalry men defy orders to destroy hundreds of army horses”.
It shows how when the guys are running to Canada how they had to shoot some of the horses.
Here in Idaho you can euthanize your own animal. Our cruelty laws are pretty lax here. On the East side of the state is an area called Wolverine Canyon. Many ppl take their pets up there to shoot them and then leave them for the coyotes. Hell, you can shoot your neighbors dog or cat for being on your property here.
A girl I knew couldn’t pay for her dog’s food so she was going to take it to the hills to shoot it. She didn’t try to find it a home at all. So I paid for it’s food for a few months, I would go and get the food and drop it off at her house. One day that dog wasn’t there and I asked where he was and she said that they “did away with him”. Her reasoning was that “she was tired of him digging holes”.
I told her what I thought of her using the F-word as almost every word in a sentence and walked away. I have no clue what the thing is up to now and don’t care to know. That kind of mentality is the reason why I keep pretty much to myself now.
I often tell my husband that I want to be dropped off in the middle of the Frank Church Wilderness of No Return just to get away from the ass backwards idiots that populate Idaho.
Friend of mine actually found a pair of ferrets, in their cage, with a cat carrier and their immunization papers in it, left beside a dumpster at her boyfriend’s apartment complex. The male, for what I’ve heard, has some major trust issues now, but I haven’t been over to see them myself yet.
Honestly, I’m sick of the human race. Let’s all quit and make our own.
Wow…that is an outrageous price for hay. I’m getting mine $2/bale in NW NJ. It’s usually $3, but the price goes down if you pick it up yourself.
My normal hay guy sells his for around $4.50-$5/bale.
If anyone would like phone numbers, email me. anglwscbdwings@gmail.com
Okay, just a little note.
To all the numbnuts out there who think that Timothy hay for $16 is expensive, try $23-24 in SoCal. Alfalfa is around $13-15 and Orchard is somewhere in between.
Im not complaining, I only feed two extremely handsome, fat and healthy Quarter Horses. (exactly what I can afford)
australians are paying 2-3 times the prices fugly quoted, if you think those are outrageous. thats IF they can find any. this coming summer might be the worst yet… at this rate well soon be recycling the water from the bodies of farm suicides.
We were discussing the issue on another board- euthanasia isn’t even the issue for horses compared to disposing of the carcasses. A quick and easy death is what SHOULD happen for these poor guys, and yet their owner is going to be arrested while 100 ponies just like them are going to be left to starve to death in a field because their owners are too gutless to do what needs to be done
Also, sorry about your kitty
I have a cat who has been mentally imbalanced since I got her at the shelter (I think she has kitty autism or something). That was 15 years ago. I hear all the time from people that she “would have been gone” if they’d had her, but I took her on and she’ll be here until her time comes.
She is sleeping on my hand right now, makes it kind of hard to type.
And why can’t we have a system here to take care of unwanted horses? There was a discussion on anotehr board of local, not-for-profit facilities that would use the meat for zoos and the like. I’m not sure it’s feasible, but there has to be something good that could be done with 1100 lbs of meat.
Hereford Texas has a “Used Livestock Dealer.” That’s what they call themselves. If an animal dies by non-chemical means they will come pick it up and process the carcass for pet food. The own the Merrick Pet Food Co. Free pickup. It’s a shame more places don’t have something like this. But when a town is named after a breed of cattle what do you expect?
So sorry about your Bud Man – bless the both of you. I know it hurts, no matter how long they share their lives with us.
Fugly, when your heart recovers, you know there will be other cats who need you. Bud was lucky to have you in his life. As are we readers, not to be brown nosing or anything.
To 4horses and holding, I have fed, trapped, and spayed/neutered relocated 6 feral cats who took up residence in the backyard of a housebound elderly friend who could not care for them but wanted them to have a chance to survive. It took me 4 months and over a thousand dollars, one cat would be much easier. Find out from your vet the best place to have a feral cat spayed. Not all hospitals in our area accept ferals, and they must understand these are not your neighborhood cuddly kitties. Find out how to arrange on short notice to bring one in. I wanted mine tested for FE/Leuk, HIV first, we won’t go further but that is a choice you must decide. Get a safe large cat/wild animal trap. A rental company in our area carried some, and I ordered one from online. (I disinfected the rental units prior to use.) Open the trap, and disable it so it can not shut. Put in lovely cat food. One feral site recommended mackerel, but after watching a kitty get choked on a bone I missed I would stick with wet cat food. Feed at the same time for a few days until the cat feels secure. Then, on a day convenient for you and the vet and the hospital(pm prior to close usually not on Fri, Sat, or Sun) enable the trap. And watch. You cannot leave a set trap and a cat alone, too many bad things can happen. When you get lucky, throw a towel over your angry scared kitty in a trap and bring it in (she stays in the trap at the vet) and hope her tests are negative. Spayed, vaccinated, and released back into her home territory all you have to do is provide some sort of outdoor shelter, some food, and water if needed in your area. I think a fed barn cat (spayed) can have a very nice life, if far from the road and protected from predators. Good luck, this is alot easier than bottle feeding new kittens.
Glad I’m in the Midwest – - good grass hay (timothy, for the most part) is $2.50/big bale from our neighbor. We also have a rendering company that will pick up a horse carcass for less than $50, so around here there is no excuse for not using euthanasia if a horse needss to take the long walk.
Has anyone paying those exorbitant hay prices tried chaffhaye? On another forum there were people talking about it and supposedly it’s not much more than $3-4 per bale (equivalent) and supposedly really good for the horses. I think you can google it and find out about it, it comes in 50# bags I think. Someone on the other forum said the shipping is a killer, but if there were several people wanting to use it, you could always split up the shipping. Just wanted to pass that info along, for what it’s worth.
skymist said…
Would you rather this person just left the animal to fend for itself when he left? At least he cared enough to try to take care of his pet.
I think she would have rathered that the person THOUGHT AHEAD if he was in a job that required moving on short notice. You check around and make contingency plans for someone to take your pet, put the pet down, or just flat out don’t have a pet until you are in a position in life to provide stability for said pet.
And susan- compassion and empathy are not bad things, but people who don’t use their noggins and think that keeping things alive at all costs is a kindness over letting something go to heaven painlessly are not good people. Compassion and empathy need to be tempered with common sense and taking the long view.
As for those shot ponies: thanks whoever decided to leave a biohazard of that magnitude out where people could run across it. Christ, there’s a little something called a renderer, they can take care of your dead animals for a small fee.
We just got a ton of hay and a ton of shavings the other day. The hay was BEAUTIFUL (59lb bales) but it cost near $13 a bale. Ouch. It was worth it though. It was the kind of hay where we call the dealer and pre-order another truck load of it because it’s that nice. Good enough that I wanted to eat it.
But what really hurt were the shavings. $4.75 a bag. My trainer cringed and recalled when she could get shavings for $0.90 a bag. We give our horses a bag of shavings a day. You do the math.
Needless to say, our board over the winter is going to be $1,500 a month and I have to sell my custom horn to get through it. But unlike many we see on here, I am willing to take the measures to make sure the hole-steen-urs are warm and fed and in work during the winter.
I would put myself down before I put an animal down because of the financial burden. I chose to take them on, they are my responsibility.
By the way, anyone want a beautiful Paxman 25A detach bell with a MB flight case? Asking $7,500. Please?
Just an idea on shavings – it may not be possible for some of you, but in our area there is a wood furniture manufacturer, and they will give away or sell ($25) a trailerful of wood shavings. You have to pick them up, but I know people who’ve even loaded the backs of their pick-ups. It might be something that will help some of you…..
“I’m glad that an auction house finally has the balls to tell people that they will no longer take old, crippled, injured, swaybacked or unsalable horses. Although, it’s hard to believe the meat buyers will not take them, normally as long as it’s still sort of standing and kind of breathing they would take it. I think all auction houses should have do this and have a fee for all horses, although I think $50 would deter more people from dropping old Trigger off, in addition to their normal cut of the selling price. “
It’s money, honey. Canada doesn’t take these horses, Mexico does because they have a huge market for cheap leather (which goes into making cheap saddles, which goes on a cheap horse, which puts another horse in the kill pen). It’s still expensive to ship from here to Mex.
Buyers don’t have to even go anywhere to get horses, they’re brought to them now, and they’re picky about what they’ll take. Been like that for a while back east, finally starting to hit here. Basically, if the horse isn’t freezer ready, it ain’t going to sell (and, yes, even in the great NW there’s been a lot of horses put in local freezers).
Don’t think southern sales have such a problem, Mexico is close enough and they don’t care what they take.
Basically, no one wants these horses. A Mexican buyer might pick up a 100 or so and hope 1/2 live to the border, but it’s just not worth it, really.
Kirri,
Do you got a link to animal biodiesel? It would be great to have one here, but don’t know how the animal rightist would go for it. Last time I checked it was $750 to dispose of a horse here (over 5yr ago), I think the renderer has since been shut down by PETA. If there was an actual benefit (besides face cover) for yuppies, they may see past the PETA whacks and actually allow it.
Do you know if your knacker also uses old grease?
I am so glad Bud found you. Yay, for Bud. He got his retirement in the sun and now life is starting to suck for him it is going to end peacefully.
Fugly I’m sorry for the loss of your cat. We had to have one of our horses put down this week – the cost of having the body removed was £235 (about $500 I think?), then there will be a vets bill too. I can understand why someone would take their horses out and shoot them, themselves if money was short, I doubt the ponies suffered.
I just saw this on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCiFnk2L5B4
It’s three drunks getting the drunkest of them onto horseback. The horse is a saint for tolerating it.
So sorry for the passing of Bud. You did right by him, first by giving him the home he deserved, and then by knowing when it was time.
Re: Hay prices- glad I live where I do!
On second thought, maybe not tonight. Tropical storm Noel bearing down on us- pretty much guaranteed to lose power. Four foot iguana living in son’s bedroom (son at university)needs her heat lamps. In the past, she slept with him during outages. DO I HAVE TO SLEEP WITH A FREAKIN’ LIZARD?? IS THIS NOT BEYOND THE CALL?
On second thought, maybe not tonight. Tropical storm Noel bearing down on us- pretty much guaranteed to lose power. Four foot iguana living in son’s bedroom (son at university)needs her heat lamps. In the past, she slept with him during outages. DO I HAVE TO SLEEP WITH A FREAKIN’ LIZARD?? IS THIS NOT BEYOND THE CALL?
ROTFLMAO
I’m pro-slaughter, and I’m not jumping all over it being silly.
Fugs, sorry for your loss, you are a good person. As for the ponies, sounds more humane than the alternative. The problem with Washington is that most of the hay produced is going to Japan. Since they really don’t have the land to grow their own hay. Hay is still affordable here in Montana, but I don’t know for how much longer. The horse industry is in absolute crisis, I don’t know when people are going to realize this. The industry (registries, organizations, vets, etc…) created it, and they need to fix it. About the military. The young people who are in the military are commonly having to find homes for their pets, but they keep on getting pets. I know as young people just out on their own, they can be impulsive, but pets still require a lifetime commitment, and people MUST consider that prior to ownership. The military should address this issue during training so that there are not sooooo many pets dumped at the shelters every time a company gets deployed or transferred, its just not fair to the animals. It happens all the time in Washington.
We have the knackery option here in Australia too, or at least where I live. The driver is very experienced and the relief for the animal is instant.
We had a calf shatter her leg last summer and the knackery only comes out in the mornings so we got the vet to put her down. He said the needle would cost about $250, and then there’s the visit fee, etc.
My old cattle dog had to be put down 6 years ago. She was losing the use of her rear legs and started to drag one leg. She’d been on pills which helped a bit but in the end I made the decision to put her down. The vet happened to be out that day and she died peacefully at home.
I’ve seen both sides of the coin, euthanasia versus a bullet, and they both have the same result of instant relief for the animal.
It is not illegal in Washington State to kill your own pet if it’s done in a humane way.
I like that. (Got it from the pony link) it goes with your point, fugly.
Fugly! I recently picked up a dumped kitten (trying to convince my mom to let him stay!)He’s very unique looking and we’ve been playing guess-the-breed. Deciding a SiameseX… Thanks to your refernce to your cat I was thinking wait a minute…. looked up lots of info on Russian Blues, and am now emailing a breeder to ask her opinion. Thanks for your unintentional help!
Also, I’m very very sorry for the loss of your kitty. Thanks for giving him a lovely retirement home.
I hate it when animals are dumped, many shelters (at least around here) will take animals for free or for a very small donation, or they could be given to a friend.
Godspeed little Bud Man.
You were loved, and will be missed.
We recently had a couple old cats dumped, by family members of a disabled elderly owner, at the shelter where I volunteer. One was twelve, the other ten.
Plenty of life and years left, but long enough in the tooth to practically guarantee they would not be adopted, around here.
Those poor cats were thrust into the DMZ, and the hell they were experiencing showed in their eyes, every minute of every shell-shocked day.
The family members called, nearly every single day, to make sure that we “had not killed them.”
It was made abundantly clear to them when they dumped the cats that euthanasia was their most likely end. Still, they persisted in their plan, despite several other options suggested by shelter staff.
Shoulda heard the names they called staff when the cats were eventually euth’d. Because, you know, it was staff’s fault.
First to give you all a laugh:
http://tinyurl.com/34x9wp
Next, we have a BYB here in South Central ID whos husband is in the Navy, or so she says. I don’t know what to believe but what to believe the best. Here is a link to her ads on Dream Horse.
http://tinyurl.com/35pzuo
More in the local news re the ponies. The rescue (Why did they call a rescue in on this again?!) anyway, the rescue is paying for a necropsy to “determine if the ponies suffered, and if so, the people responsible will be prosecuted…”
Further, they are putting up a $5000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.
Um..ok, these are the same people begging for money…constantly with the most heart-rending pictures ever. Seems to me they could be putting that donor money to better use than a pitchfork posse hunt like this.
$5000 could sure buy a lot of hay for those actual rescues living in your “full pastures” there, Pasado.
I know where my donor money won’t be going in the future.
Lil
australians are paying 2-3 times the prices fugly quoted, if you think those are outrageous. thats IF they can find any. this coming summer might be the worst yet… at this rate well soon be recycling the water from the bodies of farm suicides.
———
We’ve got about 90 rectangle bales stored at the moment and when the hay truck comes every month we get another 20. I can’t remember how much per bale but the less than $10? I do not think so 0_0
Numbers don’t stick in my head but when we had a mare euthanised mmm year before last it wasn’t very expensive.
The City Council own the land all around the rubbish dump and that is the designated “animal burial” site.
We floated the mare to this spot, and a worker from the dump had brought a tractor out and dug a big hole. He had leveled the ground next to the whole so that the horse could be stood there to be euthnaised, then easily moved into the whole after death and buried.
He was a horseman himself and offered to hold the horse for us so we could leave. We ended up staying until the first injection but left before the second one.
Granted we didn’t have to pay a burial fee because a cousin runs the dump and our business had just paid them a $40,000 check for some earthmoving work!
The fee was about $60 though, and as I said I do not think the actual vet was all that expensive. Less than a hundred dollars? I’ll have to check with mum.
Fugly, your note about your lovely cat was very poignant. It’s always heartening to hear about people who give a damn about the older individuals in this world, human, feline, or otherwise. I just picked up my 14 year old cat and gave her a big squishy hug. She will be spoiled and loved until she takes her last breath.
And if I may have some input on the feral cat situation: the life of a feral feline is NOT an easy one. I would have to say that a few days at the shelter prior to euthanasia is 99% likely to offer a better ending for that female cat than a life out in the open. They run the risk of fighting with other feral cats or wildlife. They have to worry about being hit by cars. If they are somehow injured, they can’t get treatment.
On top of that, you have to consider the environmental ramifications of having semi-wild cats running around. Even if they have enough to eat, cats still kill for fun or to hone their hunting skills. Our local university has scores of feral cats on the property and surrounding areas; as a result the chipmunks, squirrels, songbirds, and native reptiles have taken huge population hits. Adding new predators can seriously disrupt the ecological balance. As animal lovers, we have to consider the impact that ALL animals will suffer as a result of our actions, even if those animals happen to not be as cute or as appealing as cats.
Maybe the previous owners of Bud couldn’t handle him being put down, and thought the shelter would do it. I don’t think it’s very fair to talk bad about them, you have no idea what their life situation was. Maybe they even regret taking him there. Who knows?
Euthanasia of any animal is never pleasant but sometimes it is really what is best. A shot to the head by means of a bullet or a captive bullet is usually less traumatic for the animal then the euthanasia (if you’ve seen enough horse euthanized with barbituates then you’ve probably seen at least one of them freak out, rear up, fall over backwards, paddle, etc… it’s not pleasant for anyone).
Animals have no concept of what a gun is or that it is a method of death (I once had a down cow actually lick the end of the rifle… it was not a good moment for me but I tried to take comfort in that she had no idea what was coming). And a shot takes milliseconds from conscious awareness to unconscious brain death IF done correctly. However, it is not as easy as one would think.
Horse (and cow) brains are pretty tiny and hidden in a great big head. I highly recommend anyone who spends a lot of time around horses and livestock learn the appropriate method for emergency euthanasia. You may be the first on the scene of a horrific trailer turnover… the highway patrol will shoot horses to humanely put them down but they are usually not trained to do so and the result can be unpleasant. Your own horse or a horse at the barn may have a catastrophic injury and the nearest vet is an hour out. Know how to do this and hopefully never have to do it.
You’ll be glad you know when the idiot at your barn gallops their OTTB bareback over a fence after watching one too many Parelli videos and breaks it’s leg/neck/back etc. Euthanizing a horse (or any animal for that matter) is hard, watching them suffer in unbearable agony for any length of time is so much worse.
The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine has compiled a booklet that instructs the lay person on the correct way to euthanize various animals. I have provided a link to the horse page.
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext/INF-AN/
INF-AN_EMERGEUTH-HORSES.HTML
FHOTD… I am truly saddened by your loss but it sounds like he’s had an amazing second chance at life. Kudos to you for making the right decision to save him and then to know when to let him go.
lilmercy – Pasado’s is always sticking their nose in all publicized animal story in order to gain more donations. Gee, if the ponies are dead, fat, and there is a sinlge bullet hole, I say let it go. The ponies did not suffer if it was a good head or heart shot – no necropsy necessary.
FHotD,
You truly are a wonderful human.
Makes me glad and hopeful about our species.
Very sorry about your Bud, you were his angel.
I know Susan Michaels of Pasado is going to ride this story, I hope locals can contact her and let her know about this site. There is enough hysteria and it will only serve to fill her coffers, not help horses. Her rescue farm is a a tiny showcase farm, rather than a place that can take a lot of horses for rescue.
Just another question on the feral / loose cat situation….
Does anyone know if it possible to castrate a male cat by banding (like you would a pig or other such livestock animal)? There is a male cat who roams around our neighborhood, who is not neutered, and he appears well-fed (that could be because of our “starving” cats who always have food available, or they weave around your legs and are dangerous).
I saw somewhere online that is a possible way to neuter a cat, also…. but I was wondering if it is really safe to do? Anyone have any ideas?
I really can’t afford to spay and neuter all the loose cats in our neighborhood – good heavens, it’d cost a fortune!We have, within the last year, had to have 2 male cats neutured, one female spayed, and have another female and another 2 males who are due to be…. I can afford to take care of mine, but not, unfortunately, the local “wildlife”. However, I do have lots of little rubberbands, and if that is a valid way, I could get my husband and some of his “manly” friends to band the males we can manage to catch. (That will be a challenge in itself, as I am far more likely to capture one of my own cats)
4horses – as posted above, feral cats really do a number on the local wildlife. Personally, I have no room in my heart for a tomcat (my little kitty was beaten up by one). Frankly, I am shooting the next one I see. Trap him and get him out of there. You should be able to get Havaheart traps from your local shelter or rescue. I am glad you are up soooo early too!
Skymist:
We are a military family and many military folks (mostly the youngest of them)are very irresponsible with their pets. I feel that bases should offer education on pet ownership for military families.
I have 4 dogs and 3 of them will be geriatric by the time we face our next move and I will have to weigh whether they can make a 3000 mile trip without alot of stress. The last thing I want is to have my dog suffer a long death just because I can’t let go and forced him to make the trip BUT do you think I’d just drop them off at the pound?? No, I’d have he/she euthanized at the vet where I could be with them and say good bye.
The shelters here are overrun with retread pets from people going TAD. Not to mention dogs being abandoned on the streets because the owner was afraid to bring them to the pound.
I think we live in an “I wanna” society and maybe the responsible thing for military members who don’t have family to take those pets until they come home should just not have pets until they have a more stable situation.
There was an organization who would foster military pets during deployments and TAD but I haven’t heard anything about them in a few years.
When the barracks rats in my husband’s unit want a to have a homey experience, complete with pets, they can come to my house. My dogs insist that they never get enough attention.
4Horses&Holding,
We have the Sheena Foundation here in South Central ID. They help with spaying and neutering mostly of cats.
http://www.sheenafoundation.com/
RE: moving and leaving your pets behind, try living in a college town. Every May it’s the same old story. College students who adopted a cute little puppy or kitten during the school year just drive away and leave them behind at the end of the year. The lucky ones are taken to the shelter, but many are just turned lose. Every apartment complex near campus has a bunch of feral cats living in the vicinity.
The local vet school and humane society run a big feral cat spay-release program. It pisses me off every time I hear about it. People won’t catch ferals and bring them in to the shelter because they don’t want them euthanized, but they will catch them, take them to be spayed/neutered and then turn them back out to a miserable life on the streets where they get hit by cars, killed by dogs, and die sad, painful deaths. And that’s not even getting into the effect all those damn feral cats have on the local wildife population.
People suck.
Many years ago I adopted a 5 year old cat from the humane society. She was a wonderful, sweet cat. The owners brought the cat in to the shelter because they were moving and couldn’t take the cat with them. Then, I discovered that the cat had epilepsy. Nothing scares the crap out of 8 year old child like the sight of his new cat havng an epileptic fit on the living room floor. &^^%$#@(* lowlife b@stard liars that dumped the cat at the humane society. The vet said the cat had probably suffered a head injury and developed epilepsy. After discussing the options with the vet, we decided we would just deal with it and the cat lived the rest of her life with us.
People suck. Oh, wait, I already said that, didn’t I?
Anyway, I’m sorry to hear abut your cat, FHOTD. One of my mules is named Bud Man, BTW. Well, his mother was a Clydesdale, so what else could I name him?
Gina posted: “Maybe the previous owners of Bud couldn’t handle him being put down, and thought the shelter would do it. I don’t think it’s very fair to talk bad about them”
Damn, girl. *They* didn’t have to put him down, personally. That’s what vets are for. They owed him that, and the fairytale ending Bud got ain’t the norm, for sure.
How weak and lame. Spare your own feelings and sail along DeNial, at the expense of your pet’s helpless suffering and emotional misery.
4theHorses…
Honestly, I don’t think that this particular tom cat is a stray. I think he lives nearby and comes visiting (and we always feed our kitties plenty at night, after the dog comes in). Also, the feral female lives in the woods across our road (we think).
One of our cats was a “wild” tom, he showed up one night, rubbed on my legs, purred, jumped in my lap – what else could I do? I gave him some dog food (no other kitties were currently living here), and when he was still here the next day, I bought cat food. He stuck around, grew to be HUGE (a sleek 13+ pounds of muscle), got neutered, and stayed the absolute sweetest cat I’ve ever had the pleasure to know (and I’ve had & known a bunch of them). I named him Gabriel (after the angel, since he showed up when I really needed a friend), and he was the absolute coolest animal. I still miss him every day…. I found him dead on the road about 1/4 mile away one morning a few months ago. He only lived with me for about 18 months and cost me a small fortune in vet bills (neutering, dislocated leg (2x’s), abcess in his tail) – but even the vet and assistants said he was about the nicest cat they’d ever handled.
Ha – I’m tearing up even now thinking about him.
4horses – I am sorry for your loss.
I’m sorry about Bud but I would wager his last 21 months were probably better than his first 17 years. I cannot FATHOM dumping an animal I’ve had for years at a shelter or a rescue without some HUGE reason. And moving just ain’t good enough. As a former military brat our family and many many families we knew have moved a huge assortment of animals (including horses) all around the world! Yeah it can be a PITA but that is hardly a secret when you get one in the first place. And yet military people overall are some of the WORST offenders for dumping animals at shelters. Some of them dump them for EVERY move and just get new ones when they get where they are going. Some don’t even bother taking them to a shelter. Some bases have started requiring registration and CHIPPING of all animals so they can trace the ones that are dumped. Small wonder many rescues and shelters won’t adopt out to military personnel.
And I so agree, there is no such thing as NO KILL. LOW KILL is possible but No Kill is another term for pass the buck. I am against euthanazing healthy animals BUT if a geuine attempt is made at finding a new home is made and there are no takers it is better than being dumped somewhere. And some animals are just not going to be adoptable.
4Horses&Holding please catch that mom cat and get her tested for FIV/FeLeuk. asap. If pos. for FeLeuk euthanasia is best for the cat nation at large but FIV positive cats do well once they are spayed/neutered unless they are already sick with something fatal. You would also want to get shots (rabies, combo, leuk.) while she is being spayed. And you MUST feed here, doesn’t have to be Science Diet but she has to have a place where there will be food and water every day. Adult ferals ARE tameable. I and a bunch of other people have been taming them for years not realizing of course that it couldn’t be done (according to some organizations) so we just went ahead and did it! And you can do it outside unconfined too. It just takes time, patience and food!! I have a houseful of former ferals tamed at all ages and have adopted out a bunch of them of different ages. I have two outside right now waiting to come in that went from mini rabid mountain lions to cute and cuddly. Unfortunately I have a TINY house and the current population has already let me know I am oversubscribed! So some have to cross the bridge before new ones come in.
But everyone is spayed and vaccinated. Yes you feel why am I doing this for someone else’s cat? Well you aren’t, you are doing it for the cat! Not to mention the kittens that hopefully will now never be born.
Those ponies might have been old, sick, foundered, cushings etc. The people should have just put the bodies somewhere else where only animals would find them. (assuming they were humanely dispatched)
I’ve been debating whether it is time for my dog to go. I have had her about five years and she was an old dog when I got her. She belonged to my elderly next door neighbor who had gotten to the point that she was afraid the dog would trip her and she couldn’t get up. Since I had dog set her she asked if I would take her.
I know she is getting old and some days she seems to be completely out of it and other times she is fine. She is deaf, and sometimes has trouble getting up. She sleeps a lot. The vet thinks she may have had a mild stroke. She is has also become incontinent, after she is gone I will have to get a new rug.
I can’t decide what is best for her.
BlueWillow said…
How weak and lame. Spare your own feelings and sail along DeNial, at the expense of your pet’s helpless suffering and emotional misery.
Wow, you didn’t need to be so rude =) I’m a nice person, really. So now you think I let my pets suffer! You don’t have a clue…. I have NEVER done this, I’m just saying we don’t know the full story with this cats previous owner. I’ve had to put down a few animals, and I miss all of them to this day. All these people on here saying this or that about this cats owner, no one knows what happened.
So far I haven’t heard about anyone in my area (southern New England) killing horses/ponies they can’t afford to keep by shooting them and leaving the bodies somewhere out in the woods. But I can see it happening, not least because in this North Shore (north of Boston) area it’s illegal in a lot of towns to bury a horse on your own property, and it costs around $600 to have the body hauled away after euthanasia. There aren’t many folks within a reasonable distance who even offer the service.
I was lucky that my 23-year-old QH gelding was put down at my friend’s farm in New Hampshire, where he spent the last three summers of his life in semi-retirement, and we were able to have him buried in her front pasture. I have a photo of the grand old guy, taken the previous summer, grazing at the spot we chose to lay him to rest. My friend’s chestnut mare he doted on is buried beside him. It made it a tiny bit easier, knowing what a happy place he’d be laid in, to say goodbye when I knelt by his head as the vet gave him the merciful injections.
damn i’m crying again sorry
Okay, that was two years ago, when the disposal fee in my area was $500, now it’s $600, and if my now-15-YO TB lives another decade, I bet it will be up to a grand, easy, to have his body disposed of, given the way prices are going in this part of the country.
So while it’s sickening to think of someone shooting their horses and abandoning the bodies, it doesn’t surprise me. Heck, given that the ponies were put down beside a popular riding trail, you have to wonder whether the person(s) responsible took them to a place where they’d had happy times, and said goodbye to them in a place they’d loved. Just a thought.
Sorry to hear about your Bud, Fugly. Thanks for giving him a beautiful last 2 years.
All animals should be so lucky.
I think what you did for the cat was a really kind deed. People who do that sort of thing don’t deserve animals, it breaks my heart.
On another note, I completely agree with you about humane slaughter, however I disagree that slaughterhouses are always evil – I do think there is a place for them. As somebody from england I can’t comment on the situation over there, but I know there are lots of slaughterhouses here that are professional and well run, keep the horses calm and dispatch them quickly and painlessly with a bullet to the head.
Its not the option I would choose for a horse of mine, but I think when properly controlled, they do have a valid place in society.
I know I sound like my mother right now, but bless your heart for giving Bud not only a happy, comfy 21 months, but a peaceful, dignified death as well.
People too often forget that a significant part of “animal rights” is the right to die well. It’s not a warm, fuzzy thought, but it must be addressed. Personally, I would rather see donations go into turning gas-chamber setups into humane euthanasia practices than into no-kill endeavors that almost always fold within a couple of years.
Here’s the rest of the pony story, it was just as you thought it would be:
http://tinyurl.com/33wpnj
Too bad she didn’t save herself alot of trouble and just have them shot on her property in the first place, instead of pussing out and having someone else ‘take care of it’ for her.
Sorry to hear about your loss, and our deepest sympathies for you. He will be waiting at the Rainbow Brige for you. No doubt about that!
As for his previous owners, we all know how much they should suffer, for viewing him as disposable. How much do we all wanna bet, they got another cat after they moved?
The pony story turned out just as I predicted. The owner isn’t a horrible person but she did puss out of dealing with it and the guy who “took care of it” for her has the world’s WORST judgment.
As for Bud Man, he left this world purring away. I’m so glad he didn’t have to go before his time.
Gina said…
I’m just saying we don’t know the full story with this cats previous owner. I’ve had to put down a few animals, and I miss all of them to this day. All these people on here saying this or that about this cats owner, no one knows what happened.
November 4, 2007 7:34 PM
Gina said…
BlueWillow said…
How weak and lame. Spare your own feelings and sail along DeNial, at the expense of your pet’s helpless suffering and emotional misery.
Wow, you didn’t need to be so rude =) I’m a nice person, really. So now you think I let my pets suffer! You don’t have a clue…. I have NEVER done this, I’m just saying we don’t know the full story with this cats previous owner. I’ve had to put down a few animals, and I miss all of them to this day. All these people on here saying this or that about this cats owner, no one knows what happened.
November 4, 2007 7:34 PM
We know enough that whoever had Bud before did not think enough beforehand, didn’t care, or was too big of a weenie to do right by this cat. He should not have been left in a shelter and to an uncertain fate.
Animal ownership is about taking care of them. Part of taking good care of them is thinking ahead to the future and making plans that include the fate of your animals, be it arranging a new home, figuring out how to take your pet with you, or letting them go to heaven.
Sorry, but dumping them somewhere is a cowardly move.
What bothers me most about these ponies is that I don’t see any possibly way to shoot them both at the same time. I mean one of them would have to have the other one get shot in the head.
While i don’t agree with this I do have to sympathize with the owners (supposed?) condition.
New reader here, been browsing a while and had to comment on this one. Kudos to you for taking in Bud when he had no one else. I am a veterinary technician and have seen plenty of strays and beloved pets euthanized. The strays who could make great, loving pets are the sad part of the job but stories like you and your Bud are the ones that make me love my job. Great blog!