There ought to be a law, to stop the breeding. I am normally not one for more laws. In fact I believe the more laws a society needs, the less civilized it is. But something has to be done. There are far too many unwanted pets and homeless animals, so why make more?
​It should be against the law to breed animals. Those who claim to be "responsible breeders", should have to treat it as a business, apply for permits, pay license fees, pay taxes, be subject to standards and inspections. These permits should be strictly governed just like any other business. There is no reason for a "hobby" breeder.
For too long these people have skirted responsibility, by allowing animals to breed, intentionally or not, and need to be held accountable for the animals, who didn't choose to be born, but deserve a lifetime of care, not to be sold or given away to strangers, to be abused or abandoned.
It's time human beings grow up and take responsibility for their actions, especially as they effect innocent animals.
Shelters are full, beyond capacity, rescue groups are maxed out, yet people keep dumping pets and let more be born. Perhaps it is an unintentional consequence of No-Kill movement and the stepped up rescue efforts. But the fact remains that the source of these surplus animals has been ignored. And the source is the ignorance of people and the blatant disregard they have for these animals.
Until that is addressed and people change, this problem will go on, animals will be killed needlessly, and as always, when it comes to human folly, it's the animals that suffer.
Unfortunately, people rarely do anything just because it's the right thing to do, they must be threatened with punishment or bribed with reward. So, there ought to be a law. And it must be enforced!

How is it that some of the biggest, well known, supposed animal welfare organizations, are actually causing more harm to the very animals they are supposed to be helping?
PETA won't be happy until there are no more domestic animals at all. And Best Friends is too busy with their numbers game to care what fates actually befall the animals. Theoretically, No-Kill means a shelter kills no more than 10 percent of adoptable animals. They are not supposed to kill animals due to space or time constraints. TNR, or Trap-Neuter-Return programs have helped these numbers, unfortunately, there are still too many cats being born and abandoned. Which leads to the latest ill advised trend, RTF, or Return-To-Field. With this approach, cats are literally dumped back on the street, in the "vicinity" where it was found. Many of these cats are tame, lost or abandoned, not all are true ferals, able to fend for themselves. Additionally, no one is contacted upon the return, to verify if there are more ferals, or an entire colony that needs containment, or to provide education as to the responsibility of caring for animals. RTF cheapens the value of these living, feeling beings, does not promote respect, empathy or compassion.
I find it hard to believe any animal rescue organization could condone abandonment as an option. They claim shelters don't have enough room or time to work with all the cats, but isn't that what No-Kill is about? Shelters are not supposed to kill animals for space or time constraints. With RTF, they can dump cats, claiming they weren't killed in the shelter, but who knows, they could very well die on the streets, especially if not street-savvy.  But as long as the numbers are good, that's what counts?
Also, what about no more homeless pets? Isn't RTF just adding to the already unacceptable number of homeless pets?
I will never be a supporter of RTF, the criteria followed by shelters is arbitrary and ambiguous, the very concept is absurd. It is too easy for shelters to label a frightened cat as feral and therefore, unadoptable. Abandonment should not be considered an option.
All cats deserve better. There needs to be a concerted effort between shelters and rescue groups, (many of which are already doing most of the work by rescuing shelter animals or volunteering to do shelter adoptions), to provide education to the public. Many already provide funding for spay and neuter, much to their credit. But there needs to be more of a push in education, options for fixing, options for keeping pets. It can't continue to be so easy to dump cats, and should not be promoted as a solution, by anyone.

The term "Compassion Fatigue" has been in the forefront a lot lately and has been applied to all sorts of situations. But many people don't know what it really is. To those of us in animal rescue, it's often used to describe what we feel due to the physical, mental and emotional exhaustion of the world of animal rescue. This is actually closer to the definition of "burn out", similar to working long hours at a stressful. thankless job with little to no compensation or control.
Compassion fatigue implies a loss of compassion for the suffering of others. Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to animal rescuers. To arbitrarily apply the term to anyone involved in animal rescue is an insult. We may experience burn out, need a break or find another way to help, but the compassion is not lost!
I have lost something, the patience to deal with the people who put these animals in harms way, intentional or not, through action or inaction. In this day and age, with the vast amount of information literally available at everyone's fingertips, ignorance is no excuse. I will educate but I will not give a pass for poorly executed efforts, no matter what the excuse, especially when it endangers the lives of the animals I care for.
This is not compassion fatigue, which is the lack of compassion for the suffering ones, these people are not suffering, but the animals are.
I'm in it for the animals, so my compassion is right where it should be. 

Talk about an impossible dream, to run a feral cat clinic and shelter, funded entirely on donations, in order to treat feral or non-owned cats for free. This would include spay/neuter, treating illness and injury, providing interim housing during treatment, socialization or whatever is needed to get these cats off the streets and into a home, or at least a safe situation.
The majority of feral cats are in fact friendly, most are scared and become quite leery of people, and who can blame them? These are cats with no homes, abandoned, left to fend for themselves, and by whom? People.
Having no owners, there is no one to pay for the care they desperately need. Care that is life altering, improving the quality of life for these cats, resulting in permanent homes or hospice.
Sadly, the plight of these cats has been ignored by our local animal control institutions. Even with the advent of the Best Friends No Kill Utah initiative, which is dependent on reducing the numbers of cats taken to and killed in shelters, none of Utah's animal shelters have fully embraced the program. Of course, it seems they have not even fully embraced their role in humane care of the animals they are charged with caring for.
Even with the "rebranding" of feral or non-owned cats, as "community cats", there has been little progress. 
So here's the dream, to somehow find the financing to open a privately run cat shelter, capable of providing veterinary care, housing, and taking in all overflow or "unadoptable" or death-row cats from shelters state wide in order to provide humane care and get the help that is so desperately needed to these cats. 
Impossible? I guess time will tell.

My last  few blogs have been about our local animal shelters. Although I did not name any one entity specifically, I have found all to be in similar condition. They claim to be "no-kill" or working on it. Yet hardly a day goes by without another facebook post pleading for the lives of animals on death row, or rescues to take in and pay for veterinary treatment of ill or injured animals. There is also the regular updates on woeful conditions and shabby treatment, including euthanasia methods, of the animals. Yet nothing changes. Shelter management does nothing except wait it out, eventually the uproar dies down, new, naive volunteers take the place of those who burn out, and all goes on as before.
Rescue groups remain full, overloaded, continuing to enable the shelter culture of doing as  little as possible. They don't seem to mind passing on basic animal care, posting adoptable animals, working on enrichment for the animals or enforcing animal abuse laws.
I know I've said this all before, and my opinions have not changed. With each new management installation, or atrocious report, comes the confirmation. 
I realize changes are needed on all levels, from shelter employees, management, municipal leaders, etc. But that's not the main point of today's blog. In my opinion, one of the most important tasks not being done, is the education aspect. Shelters should also be responsible for educating the public, promoting responsible pet care and ownership and not making it so easy for people to dodge responsibility. They need to be upfront about an animal's chance of adoption, of ever leaving the shelter alive.
So the rest of this blog is directed to those responsible for the existence of animal shelters in the first place. If people would take an active, caring, responsible approach to the owning of animals, we would not have overloaded shelters, full of animals to be warehoused until they are killed. We would not have overburdened rescue groups. We would not have heart broken elderly dogs and cats, callously dumped  when they become inconvenient. We would not have litters born on the streets, left to fend for themselves, if they make it. We would not have animals roaming at large, unaltered and breeding. We would not have animals abandoned, left behind, when people move. We would have no need for feral cat programs, since all cats would have homes.
So wake up people! Take responsibility for the animals you bring into your lives. This means a life time commitment to the well being, care and safety of these animals.
Ignorance is no excuse! There are so many options out there. Do your homework, make sure you are ready for the commitment. Pet ownership is serious, and should not be taken lightly. These animals should not be treated as disposable objects, they are living, breathing, feeling beings and deserve to be treated with respect and kindness. Put yourselves in their place, imagine how you would feel in similar situations. These animals depend on you. 

Just as the original ASPCA brought about radical changes to the way animals were treated at the turn of the last century, we need a group to step up and radically change the way government funded animal shelters are run. There needs to be a total revamp in shelters across the country. These animals are not trash, needing to be disposed of as cheaply as possible. They are living, breathing, feeling beings that deserve to be treated humanely, with kindness and respect.
My vision for such an endeavor would be a privately run shelter and co-op resource center to provide spay and neuter, veterinary care, housing options, adoption and education. It would include multiple rescue groups with no hidden agenda other than the humane care of animals. It would contract with cities to handle the animals with caring, well trained officers, dedicated to the compassionate handling of animals as well as investigation of cruelty cases. It would include lawyers well versed in animal cruelty law to prosecute such cases, lobbyists to promote more laws with stiffer penalties and public input to encourage judges to hand down such penalties.
I know, dream on right?
The fact remains, there needs to be change from within and without. Public outcry only goes so far. Career politicians know how to say what people want to hear in order to placate the masses. After a while, things settle down, out of sight, out of mind. Meanwhile, nothing has really changed.
Meanwhile, shelters carry on just as they always have, more than happy to slide by, doing the bare minimum when it comes to animal care, more than happy to let rescue groups do the work, whether arranging adoptions, providing transport, paying for veterinary care, etc. When the current volunteers get frustrated, burn out or get kicked out for speaking up, they just wait for the next group to come along. And so it goes.
I am hopeful eventually we will see radical change, shelters adopting and following shelter standards, providing proper training, promoting education, avoiding becoming the easy dumping ground when people choose to shirk responsibility. Shelters need to be managed much the same as a veterinary/boarding facility, including meticulous attention to record keeping, which includes daily animal care, managing medical conditions and providing enrichment.
This type of approach guarantees increased morale among staff, better care for the animals, an uplifting, less stressful environment which promotes healing and well being for all.

I'm taking a break from Calling All Rescuers to address another issue prompted yet again by recent events.
 My comments are specifically directed toward the care of cats in shelters, but apply generally to all the animals.
My clinic has worked with several local animal shelters and in the past, we have made suggestions and brought to attention instances we felt could be improved upon. We have been met with a multitude of excuses, reasons it could not be done, or outright apathy.
These comments may have been construed as personal attacks by some, but were always offered out of genuine and sincere concern for the welfare and humane treatment of the animals the shelters are charged with caring for.
There are numerous books on the subject of Shelter Medicine written for shelter staff, any of which can provide direction for training, policies and procedures. There are the "Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters", available for free download from the Association of Shelter Veterinarians website. (Which in my opinion should be required reading for all shelter managers and employees, and over the years I have personally provided copies to shelters) Were they ever read? I don't know.
We have been willing to assist in such training with the caveat that it be taken seriously, that official protocols be implemented, adhered to and strictly enforced.
There seems to be a shelter wide deficiency in personnel trained in the basic and medical care of animals and a lack of policies to ensure their safety.
A multilevel training program would be easy to do, but would require the desire and commitment of those involved, to accept change, and embrace established procedures for record keeping, intake exams, regular monitoring of animals, to be able to cross-train, so individuals can perform various duties when needed, to have immediate transport available for medical cases rather than waiting until it's  more convenient.
There needs to be a concerted effort to continue with adoption efforts, reuniting owners with lost pets, provide basic care and seek veterinary care when needed, to educate the public on responsible pet care, as well as investigate and enforce penalties for animal cruelty.
We all realize no shelter is 100% no-kill, and there are times when euthanasia is the most humane option. But even that should be determined by someone qualified to make the decision and should be carried out in a humane and timely manner. Animals should not be left to linger in limbo, especially when they are suffering.
Often the sooner a problem is addressed, the easier it is to treat. Preventative care far outweighs the costs of catastrophic care, not only from the financial point of view, but also for the suffering of a sick or injured animal.
There also needs to be a system in place to check and double check on the whereabouts and status of EVERY animal brought to the shelter, daily, hands-on monitoring and proper written records. That way, no animal falls through the cracks, gets forgotten and not attended to.
Every shelter today needs to be aware of and commit to the "Five Freedoms for Animal Welfare" which are:

     1) FREEDOM FROM HUNGER AND THIRST
         by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor.

      2) FREEDOM FROM DISCOMFORT
          by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.

      3) FREEDOM FROM PAIN, INJURY OR DISEASE
          by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.

       4) FREEDOM TO EXPRESS NORMAL BEHAVIOR
           by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal's own kind.

        5) FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND DISTRESS
            by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

​Sound familiar?

​

Chapter 7   LIMITS
We all need to accept limitations. We are not super-heroes, with unlimited superpowers. There is generally only so much one individual can do, materially and physically.
We need to acknowledge as well as accept it. There is no shame in that.
It's all too easy to keep saying yes, to take on just one more, until one more becomes many, then too many.
Limitations can be monetary, time, space, capacity, knowledge, skills, experience, physical ability, access to services, etc. These are material and physical issues.
There are also emotional limitations. Fortunately, or in some cases, unfortunately, the one unlimited superpower most rescuers have is the size of their hearts, which accounts for the huge capacity for giving as well as heartaches and heartbreaks.
As I said earlier, we all start out convinced we will change the world. As time passes, we find this is not the case. Sadly, we must eventually come to terms with the fact that we only have so much to give. There are finite limits.
There have been many times I've had to accept my limitations, to see when it's time for changes, to let go and move on.
We all know too well the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome. We've all done it. It is just as crazy to continue doing things that make us unhappy, that only add to the stress and aggravation, just because that's how it's always been done, or we think we're the only ones that can do it.
We are not alone in the world. There are plenty of others just as capable and willing to help.
We just have to let them.

Chapter 6   TIME
Another way to help you deal is to slow down. Give yourself the gift of time. There always seems to be a sense of urgency with what you do, but does it really help to rush around?
Compare that to what happens when you try to rush through heavy traffic. You generally don't get any further ahead, only more annoyed.
So slow down, move over, let that bunch of cars coming up from behind pass you by. You'll still get where you're going, and arrive in a much better mood. (Pay attention to how you happen to be driving, it's a pretty good reflection of your emotional state.)
Another way to slow down is to do one thing at a time, and then finish it. We all tend to multitask, there's often so much to get done, that we start multiple projects, then feel overwhelmed because there's not enough time to work on, let alone finish any of them.
That's when it's time to slow down, focus on one project at a time, finish it, then move on to the next.
Even if you currently have multiple projects going on, make a list, prioritize, set some aside so you can focus your efforts. The sense of accomplishment will grow with each completion.
Time is a gift, one of the few things in life you can never get back once it's gone. So, waiting for all the hard work to be done before giving yourself permission to have fun won't work. You'll be waiting a very long time.
Remember, although the work you do is important, it is not all that you are. You are so much more.
So don't forget to have fun. Enjoy time, don't waste it by spending it being miserable.
Go ahead, allow yourself to have fun and enjoy life.
You deserve it!

Chapter 5    VENTING
It helps to vent. One way to do this is to talk to someone, anyone, yourself, family, friends, pets or a journal. It doesn't matter to who or how, only that you let things out. Just as ventilation brings in fresh air and lets out the old, talking can do the same with thoughts and emotions.
It often helps to talk to other rescuers, to reaffirm that you are not alone, that your feelings are not all that abnormal.
It is important however, to be aware of the extent and intensity of your venting, of the possible negative impact it may have. You want relief but not at the expense of others. You don't want to perpetually unload on the same loved ones or create a toxic emotional environment for those at home.
Also, try not to overload on pets emotionally, as they will soak up as much as they can in an effort to help.
If you feel this is happening, find other ways to vent. This is where a journal comes in handy. I find I can write to myself and say anything that comes to mind, even things I wouldn't normally say out loud. I can use words, symbols, expletives or doodles. Sometimes I go back to reread parts, others I never look at again. But that's the beauty of it, anyone can do it, on any piece of paper, at any time. It can be shared or kept private. Pages can be ripped out to symbolize cleansing, or highlighted to be treasured. And there's no worry about dragging anyone else down.
There are other ways to relieve built up pressure. You can also turn down the heat. Take a break, even a small one, to get your mind off all the stuff swirling around in your head. Let thoughts and emotions come and go. Let them be frivolous, carefree, happy. Take a vacation from worry. Do puzzles, games, coloring books, read a fun magazine, engage in a hobby. It doesn't have to be complicated, just fun.