This completely sucks!

RoyalRaccoon · January 2010

In the last day or two I made an introductory post and said I had just adopted a dog from the local pound, but I was stuck waiting 2 weeks to bring him home since that was the soonest he could be neutered. Guess what! Earlier today I get a call and the lady says he has come down with signs of kennel cough, they canceled his appointment for Wednesday, and they can't give me any sort of estimate on how long it will take. OMG, I felt like screaming "Of course he got kennel cough, you don't separate the sick animals!" They told me when I went for my volunteer orientation(the same day I adopted him), that dogs with kennel cough are medicated for 7 days, and then it takes as long as another week or two for them to be fully recovered. With that, and the very long wait list at their clinic, I estimate that I'll be waiting at least another month! He'll be stuck in a cramped, damp kennel for another 4 weeks! My body feels like it is buzzing because I'm so mad! I just hate this shelter! I've never had good views of this shelter since I learned they base their prices on how purebred/exotic one of their unqualified employees says an animal is. Honestly, the list of ethically wrong, and stupid things they do is long! It's like they have no common sense or love for the animals unless those very animals are bringing in big bucks! Hope I can make it through my volunteer work tomorrow without giving them a piece of my mind!

SunnyDaysDontLie · January 2010

I'd say, 'Let me take him home, and I'll take him to a trusted vet'. I've never been too big on shelters, as you don't know who's had the animals before you, and like you said, some shelters don't separate the sick from the healthy.

RoyalRaccoon · January 2010

Many people do try to say that, but unless the animal is spayed or neutered it can't leave their property. I really don't see why they can't do spay/neuter contracts like breeders do. I guess some people do, but I don't have a problem not knowing where an animal came from if I'm adopting it from a shelter. Fortunately not all shelters keep their sick animals with their healthy ones. The county run shelter has 1(might be 2) beautiful quarantine rooms just for sick and aggressive animals, but a lot of privately run shelters like the one where Darwin is, are so money hungry that they don't care. Truth be told, that shelter spent a LOT of money to build and landscape two big dog parks on their property when they should have spent it on medical treatment for the shelter animals.

SunnyDaysDontLie · January 2010

PrinceSushi wrote:

Many people do try to say that, but unless the animal is spayed or neutered it can't leave their property. I really don't see why they can't do spay/neuter contracts like breeders do. I guess some people do, but I don't have a problem not knowing where an animal came from if I'm adopting it from a shelter. Fortunately not all shelters keep their sick animals with their healthy ones. The county run shelter has 1(might be 2) beautiful quarantine rooms just for sick and aggressive animals, but a lot of privately run shelters like the one where Darwin is, are so money hungry that they don't care. Truth be told, that shelter spent a LOT of money to build and landscape two big dog parks on their property when they should have spent it on medical treatment for the shelter animals.

I got my dog Kitty [don't ask] at a no-kill shelter. She was previously abused, and always bit and nipped at anyone that came within three feet of her. She still bites at my father whenever he makes a wrong move, but who can blame her? I'd do the same thing if I were a dog. Maybe you can put out a lawsuit on them? I'm not too trained in law, and I probably sound like a complete idiot. But, wouldn't it be possible to do that, considering you were -this- close to getting Darwin, and all of the sudden he came down with KC?

RoyalRaccoon · January 2010

It's really 50/50. All the abused dogs I've ever brought home never developed nippy personalities, but I can't say that's exactly luck. The shelters in my county are so strict about aggressive dogs that they generally euthanize them if not claimed, because they don't want lawsuits against them if someone takes a dog home and gets attacked by it. I'm not worried about prior abuse with Darwin, he actually behaves like he was someones little lap dog. He doesn't necessarily look abused, and his weight loss and matted hair could easily be from being lost on the streets. I can't do anything about KC. It would be like me getting mad that someone caught a cold in a hospital. Dogs that go into shelters without a bordetella vaccine are almost guaranteed to develop it. I'm just upset that they don't make any effort to try to prevent it's spread, and lower the number of cases. There also isn't anything I can do about his sterilization since a contract was signed that says the adopter understands that policy is an animal over 5 months(might be 6) can't leave the property without being sterilized. However, if Darwin gets so sick he dies on their property I will demand a cash refund(they normally give credit towards another dog when people return adopted ones, or have them die within 30 days of being adopted.) on his adoption fee since he never left their property, and is thus still their responsibility, and if they refuse I will seek legal action because it's not right that they can do that, and keep the money.

SunnyDaysDontLie · January 2010

PrinceSushi wrote:

It's really 50/50. All the abused dogs I've ever brought home never developed nippy personalities, but I can't say that's exactly luck. The shelters in my county are so strict about aggressive dogs that they generally euthanize them if not claimed, because they don't want lawsuits against them if someone takes a dog home and gets attacked by it. I'm not worried about prior abuse with Darwin, he actually behaves like he was someones little lap dog. He doesn't necessarily look abused, and his weight loss and matted hair could easily be from being lost on the streets. I can't do anything about KC. It would be like me getting mad that someone caught a cold in a hospital. Dogs that go into shelters without a bordetella vaccine are almost guaranteed to develop it. I'm just upset that they don't make any effort to try to prevent it's spread, and lower the number of cases. There also isn't anything I can do about his sterilization since a contract was signed that says the adopter understands that policy is an animal over 5 months(might be 6) can't leave the property without being sterilized. However, if Darwin gets so sick he dies on their property I will demand a cash refund(they normally give credit towards another dog when people return adopted ones, or have them die within 30 days of being adopted.) on his adoption fee since he never left their property, and is thus still their responsibility, and if they refuse I will seek legal action because it's not right that they can do that, and keep the money.

Well, hey, we can't be thinking he's gonna die, now can we? It's pretty much exactly like that. Kitty fears men, especially with hats on. You can't get near her enough to brush her, so she's constantly shedding. We literally have to tranquilize her to brush/cut her fur. Its not that she constantly doesn't come near us and nips, she's actually dropped both of those behaviors. I don't know what to tell you, really.. I mean, I don't know the kennel, though I can understand your anger at them not taking proper precautions to prevent the spread of KC.

RoyalRaccoon · January 2010

Yeah, I guess it's bad to think about that, but my brain always runs a mile a minute with a million "what ifs". That's sad. I'm curious why she doesn't like men in hats, but at the same time it might be really sad to know. I had a lhasa apso that was like that when it came to bathing and brushing her. The people that had her were going to dump her in front of the shelter(the shelter wouldn't take the dog since it was from another county) while we were looking at a doberman, so we just said we would take her. She calmed down after a few years though; it's just a long recovery process.

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This completely sucks!

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