Healthy cats may have to be PTS,RSPCA Warns.

spike7451

I just read this on Purrs,it's made me very sad & angry.Sad at the poor cats that may be pts & angry at the irresponsible owners!...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/pets/8649073/Healthy-cats-may-be-put-down-RSPCA-warns.html

The number of abandoned cats reported to the organisation in 2010 rose to 10,610, a 28 per cent increase on the previous year, which itself saw a 40 per cent rise on 2008.

Many of the charity’s shelters are so full that RSPCA officers have been finding private boarding or foster homes for the animals.

Dog charities also disclosed that they faced an increase in the number of animals they were forced to put down.

Figures showed a total of 7,866 dogs were taken to Battersea Dogs And Cats Home in south London in 2009, of which 2,815, or 36 per cent, were destroyed.

Some 69 per cent of those destroyed were healthy but judged too much of a risk to be offered for re-homing because of their temperament or behaviour.

Hovel_lady

Makes me very sad and cross too. Sometimes I just don't understand people at all.

rising_from_the_ashes

It's getting even more out of hand and only getting worse as peoples' incomes are getting more and more squeezed.

I honestly think all the charities would be better off spending money offering everyone free neutering as I'm positive many, many people would take this up and this would cut down on the number of "unwanted" babes.

I can afford to keep my animals (thank god, I don't know what I'd do without them), however, I know I really struggled with the "initial" costs of 2 sets of jabs (about £90 here - nothing like vets4pets near me) and neutering (again around £90) - it's a lot of money to find.

redrufus

Quoted from the article - "If we have to resort to putting healthy animals to sleep then we may have to choose the ones who have been here the longest and are therefore the least 'homeable’.”

Well, nothing new there then!! The RSPCA put healthy animals down everyday. Quite a few cats at the branches local to me can only be rehomed with children 8yrs +, I can understand it with older cats but not so much the younger ones. Their rehoming criteria in my opinion may be a little too tight.

All the rescue centres are full to bursting, especially with staffie type dogs that no one wants, many of these dogs are put to sleep everyday. Perhaps the RSPCA needs to work a bit closer to the other local charities to try and help them rehome. Or they could stop the TV adverts and mailshots, save the money and build more housing??

Just my opinion, but the RSPCA do wind me up!:mad:

geri1965_2

Well, the RSPCA can't really win whatever they do. If they stop the TV adverts and mailshots their income will be reduced and the work they do will suffer.

They are criticized for spending money on education and other campaigns, which takes it away from rehoming, but if people aren't educated then the problem will get worse.

At the end of the day the people who dump their unwanted animals are to blame, not the people who are in the unenviable position of having to decide which animals get put to sleep.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

So now they are admitting that they put down the ones they can't sell so easily? After all, at this rate, it is going to be more profitable to flog branded products, collars, foods, toys, Freedom Food certificates than it is to get involved with the unpleasantly messy business of animal care :whistle:.

Got to be better for their business in the long run to be branded as the voice of animals but not the ones who are actually going to do anything about caring from them - adverts will now be 'give us money or we will kill this fluffy wuffy pedigree puppy'.

redrufus

geri1965 wrote: »

They are criticized for spending money on education and other campaigns, which takes it away from rehoming, but if people aren't educated then the problem will get worse.

I'm not sure the situation can get much worse? Is the education making any difference???
I've been homechecking for a rescue for the past 3 years, all the pounds are full to bursting, sadly a lot of dogs that are there are only there for their seven days and won't make it to a rescue as none have the space, but this is not because rescues aren't trying, there is a forum specially for all the rescues to get together and try and save as many as possible from the pounds around the country, many dogs/cats are waiting in foster homes to until a space or home comes up.
It is a fact of live, healthy animals are put to sleep everyday, I just wish people would realise that the RSPCA aren't as Rosey as they make out they are.
It's stoppping all those t!@* breeding with dogs that shouldn't be bred with in the first place just to be dumped when they grow up.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

One of the problems is the way they come across. It's a very middle class 'don't be a silly working class chappie, listen to your betters when we tell you what to do' attitude.

I had dealings with some of them when I was with one of my exes, as his mother was a 'doggy' person. The attitude was that commoners shouldn't be permitted to have pets, single parents shouldn't have pets, children from poor families shouldn't have pets, the only people capable of having pets owned large suburban semis and did their shopping at Waitrose. And all dogs should be pedigrees purchased from breeders with full papers, as that would exclude the riffraff.


The way I have been patronised and insulted by people who obviously have an acute superiority complex would make anyone's blood boil.

EpsomOldie

I agree with RedRufus and JoJo re the RSPCA. I really don't have much time for them as their conduct (IME) is very different from the image they portray of themselves. I would advise anyone who is having problems continuing to look after their companion animal to avoid the RSPCA like the plague! They routinely euthanise healthy animals. Unfortunately it is the organisation most people think of and turn to when they need to rehome an animal. I know several older neighbours who have pets and assume that when they (owner) die, their pet will be looked after and rehomed by the RSPCA. I quickly inform them of their policy of euthanising most animals. They were appalled and made enquiries of other charities to ensure what their policy and practice is before advising relatives what should be done with their pet upon their death. One of them was very angry as she'd made the RSPCA a beneficiary in her will (she changed it!) and rang them to tell them and why.

I find animal welfare charities like Cats Protection etc put far more time and effort into rehoming and couldn't care less about people's class, accent, income etc. They will also ask that the animal is returned to them for further care / rehoming if new owner's circumstances change.

olias

What a surprise!

A thread, the essence of which is about irresponsible owners, turns into an RSPCA bashing thread. This forum is so predictable....

Why no criticism of Battersea dogs home? - The article states 69% of the animals they put down are healthy.

I disagree with a lot of the way the RSPCA is run, and think some things could undoubtably be done better, but please...Every time a thread on here mentions them, then the armchair critics and complainers come out of the woodwork.

I have had involvement with about a dozen animal rescue charities over the years and they all put down healthy animals - in fact I would go so far as to say most are forced to do so at some stage due to funding, space, etc etc.

Why do all these critics not save their anger for the real problem - irresponsible owners. How often do you read threads in this forum about, 'oh my cat/dog/guinea pig/rabbit has had a litter - aren't they cute'. Just re-read the article - especially the bit about discarded staffies - That's 3600 idiots who have either bred them irresponsibly, or accuired one, then discarded it for whatever reason...in Greater London alone!!!

Olias

pigpen

That's not new.. they've done it all along.. they killed 45 kittens last year once they reached an age they wouldn't be homed easily.. maybe they should review their homing policies, deal with infection and actually bother caring for their animals