As many of my Facebook friends know by now, I’ve been trying to find a home for my neighbors cat Gizmo this week. In the past, Gizmo has occasionally shown some signs of aggression and our neighbors have had him medicated to mitigate this behavior. Most of the time he’s fine, but his mood is a little unpredictable. They now have a new baby at home and they don’t trust the cat around the baby. I wasn’t really aware of any of this until Saturday night I saw the cat in our yard. This stuck me as odd since he’s an indoor cat, so I went next door to let them know he was out. My neighbor proceeded to let me know that they have been having these issues with Gizmo, and they were planning on having him put to sleep on Wednesday!
As an animal lover, I think I was mostly shocked that things had gotten so bad with Gizmo that they would consider putting this young, healthy cat to sleep instead of trying to work it out. When I told Margot what our neighbor said, she went back over and asked that they take Gizmo back inside (we live on a fairly busy street) and please give us a little time to reach out to our contacts at Danbury Animal Welfare to see if we could find a home for him.
I began my search by contacting the folks at DAWS and telling them the story about how he was going to be put down in a matter of days. I wasn’t really surprised when they told me that the shelter was full (seems like that always are), but they gave me some suggestions of other shelters I could try. With the help of a few friends, we probably contacted anywhere from 6 – 10 different local animal shelters and rescues, and no one was able to take him. Many of them forwarded Gizmo’s story to other contacts they had, but it seemed that no one would be able to help him. By Tuesday morning I was loosing all hope of being able to help him, but I was very excited when my contact at DAWS got back to me and said that she had found someone that would be able to foster Gizmo until room at the shelter opened up. With that, it looked like Gizmo was going to get a second chance, and I was happy to tell our neighbors that we had found a place for him.
This brings me to the real reason why I’m telling this story. Even though Margot and I volunteer at DAWS, I never really realized how difficult to place an animal in a short period of time. I’m just one guy looking for a home for one cat, but I quickly got the impression that these shelters get a lot of requests from people looking to surrender pets. Shelters will usually ask that you put your name on a waiting list and they’ll contact you when they have room. Unfortunately you’re competing for space with scumbags (I’m being nice) that dump their pets off on the front steps of shelters instead of going through the proper procedures.
So what can you do? The best thing you could do is try to solve any behavioral problems before it becomes an issue. One of the shelters I contacted was nice enough to send me a bunch of links and phone numbers to organizations that help deal with behavioral issues (I’m happy to share is anyone would like to see them). This hits home with Margot and I because our cat Rosy also shows aggressive behavior and we actually feel lucky that we adopted her because we feel that many people wouldn’t have the patience for her. However, while we brush off her behavioral issues now, I think we see that we really need to start taking it seriously and help her now, instead of having to keep her locked up when there are other people around.
What if you need to surrender your pet? If your options are limited to surrendering your pet, try to anticipate this to give yourself enough time to find a home for them. Put your pet on a waiting list at more than one shelter. Ideally it is best to try to place your pet in a forever home; shelters are great for animals that need them, but they can be very stressful to some animals and some animals just never adjust to life in a shelter. Try to find someone you know and trust to give your pet a home if possible. If you find someone willing to take your pet in, be sure that they’re able to care for the pet and that they’re aware of any issues. It may seem easy to hand your pet off to the first person willing to take them in, but it’s not fair to anyone if that person is ill equipped to deal with them.
What should you not do? Avoid putting “free to a good home” ads in newspapers or on sites like Craigslist! These ads make easy targets for people looking to abuse animals, use animals for dogfighting, or for laboratories. People looking to circumvent the adoption process at shelters will typically look for animals this way, so please encourage everyone to avoid placing these kinds of ads. Also, try not wait until the last minute when the situation has gotten to the point where you feel like you have to take desperate measures to deal with your pet. A little bit of planning can go a long way to easing your pets transition to their new home.
What is the BEST thing you can do? Realize that pets are a long term responsibility and that they rely on you for food, shelter and love. Life changes, things happen, do your best to be prepared so you and your pet can be together forever.
If you made it this far, I do apologize for the long post but I hope someone will find it helpful at some point.
Here’s a shot of Gizmo from a couple of years ago. He’s off to start his new life tonight–wish him luck!!
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