All in the Family

I'm fifty four years old, so I normally don't need to check the weather eye on my desktop.... every bit that has ever been broken or sprained or seen a surgeon's stitch paints a pretty reliable picture. So this morning, I wanted to get out early for our hike while we could still still see the icy patches instead of finding them by trial and error. As it happens that worked out very well because the first few flurries were starting on our way back and now its going full tilt.
It wasn't all that long ago that it was pretty darned difficult to be a middle aged woman. There were no legal protections for the 'good woman behind the man" when she was replaced with a newer model. Worse, it was impossible for a woman .... even one who may have been working and actually paying the bills ... to get a credit rating of her own if the need arose. In other words, they couldn't buy a car or a house .... or even get utilities hooked up without a huge deposit.... or insurance at an affordable rate.
I'll be the first to admit that its not a perfect one yet ... but its a much better time to be a middle aged woman at least.
Sadly .... the same cannot be said for middle aged pets. Its no wonder that people who work rescue develop attitude about 'irresponsible pet owners" It only takes a quick browse through the 'free to a good home' section of Kijiji to make one's blood boil:

• someone has just had their second child and so is giving away a 3 and a 7 year old pair of Golden retrievers http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-pets-to-give-or-donate-Purebred-Golden-Retrievers-Free-to-good-home-W0QQAdIdZ103429268
• someone else is trying to find a home for her mother's 8 year old cocker spaniel http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-pets-to-give-or-donate-Cocker-Spaniel-free-to-good-home-W0QQAdIdZ103735922
• someone else is looking for a home for a six year old declawed cat because it doesn't get along with the kids http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-pets-to-give-or-donate-Mature-Orange-Tabby-Cat-for-Adoption-W0QQAdIdZ102823768
• someone else is moving and needs a home for their five year old cat http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-pets-to-give-or-donate-tuxedo-cat-W0QQAdIdZ102624156
• someone else wants to move his 'severely allergic ' girlfriend in and so is looking to move out the six and the seven year old cat http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-pets-to-give-or-donate-FIZZY-HER-SON-SHOUTY-DESPERATELY-NEED-A-NEW-HOME-W0QQAdIdZ102018387
• someone else is trying to find a new home for her 8 year old cat with no reason given at all http://halifax.kijiji.ca/c-pets-to-give-or-donate-Wonderful-male-tuxedo-cat-to-a-good-home-W0QQAdIdZ103278008

And that's only a sampling of the free give away ads and doesn't begin to include the ones who were simply abandoned and scooped up by AC's around the province. ( Although as a sidebar note to that, for some reason the Kings County AC site is no longer up and if you are reading this Darlene email me at the webmaster link for the homeless pet pages if you need to post your lost and found or even your adoptable listings please) Right now the HRM Lost and found listings has at least one more senior lab cross

What do these listings have in common? The dogs and cats are described as sweet The same theme runs through the mature adults listed with rescues around the province: Tessa , Sasha , Caspar ,Zeus , Spirit and of course dear little Pumpkin . And those are only the ones actually listed as seniors. There are well over a dozen more dogs and even more good kitties who are in that 'middle aged' zone where they are not quite old enough to be classed as seniors but are too old for the 'gee i want a puppy or a kitten crowd"

Right here, right now, nobody ... not even the society ... has the resources to accept every owner surrender. Not unless they want to follow Cape Breton's example and kill three out of every four that come in the door. So how can these good pets be protected? They are innocent bystanders and should not be penalized because of their owner failings.

I know I sound like a stuck record, but I still maintain that the free online ad sites just make it too darned easy to treat good pets like disposable items. Kijiji is a great place to find things ... that's where I got both Ruby and Henry's toddler beds and my couch set to name just a couple of the treasures I've found.... but its no place to peddle or give away living breathing sentient beings. As a sidebar note to that, anyone who feels the same is free to join the facebook group Change the Law! Stop Selling Pets Online in Nova Scotia if they choose.

But I'm wandering afield here. What to do in the short term. If there is no 'room at the inn' for every pet about to become homeless, do we wait until the pet is either taken out and dumped or given in desperation to someone who will sell them to a lab for research or used in a puppy mill or taken into an animal clinic to be 'put down'?

Or do we pick another path? What if the society was to promote 'stay at home' private adoption listings? While this is done on a catch as catch can basis by a couple of the small groups like P.E.T. PROJECTS and Border Collie Rescue , it could be ever so much more effective if done by the official 'voice for the animals" by:

• scheduling appointments to discuss the surrender listings which would provide much more accurate information about the pet which would in turn be safer for adopters
• charging a modest listing fee that could be recouped by the individuals in turn charging a modest adoption fee. It should never be cheaper to adopt a pet than the current rate labs pay for research animals
• and of course listing all of these good pets on petfinder. It doesn't have to become a work intensive thing for the society ...... any of these listings that I have seen on Petfinder involve the adopter directly contacting the individual not the rescue group.

Why do I think this is a good idea?

• the 'surrender' interview could be used as a problem solving tool for situations that are really only short term
• it would provide a measure of protection for animals who might otherwise be 'dumped' and of course a way of identifying some of them who do
• it would protect consumers by inhibiting the 'pawning off' of behavior and health problems on the unsuspecting public,
• it would of course provide a meaningful database of uncommitted pet owners that could in turn be shared with other rescues and reputable breeders
• it would also protect the animals if staff were given the discretion to accept animals they genuinely believed were in harms way and the ability to refer the owner to the society constables for investigation.
• and sometimes, just sometimes.... the entire process might just give the pet owner time to reconsider the value of years of loyalty and prompt them to seek another solution. When this happens, it should be encouraged and supported in every possible way to 'reward' such good behavior.

At the end of the day, this could become one of the most effective education tools in the society's arsenal. Instead of leaving 'irresponsible adopters' out in the cold, they should be welcomed into the animal loving community where they can learn more socially responsible ways to be a good guardian.