Strays

YES. It's mostly cats. If one lives in the country, it's not uncommon. People get their kid an animal for X-mas. Then the parents have to take care of it. Or it starts to grow up and isn't cute anymore. So dump it in the country where no one can see you while you're heading into town to buy another "cute" kitten or puppy. At one point, I had 25 cats here, from them being dumped when they turned into "ugly" teenagers. Now I don't get any anymore. The neighbors are getting them. They already have quite a few, and our home now has an adult male who won't tolerate anything new. Or most of the older cats either. I always kept the cats fed, but dumped dogs I had to turn in. Our dogs would only kill them. The more the merrier doesn't apply with jealous dogs. I'd like to catch some of those people. It should be punished. They're letting these animals die of starvation! It's inhuman.

i think its another side affect of the economy. people are having a hard time just feeding their family and yes they should be responsible for the pet, but they just can't make it happen. we see a ton of stray cats running around our neighborhood but not many dogs. The Friends of Orange County Homeless Pets is where we got our cats and we donate quarterly to keeping them going. A lot of families though are feeling like something has to give, and sadly its the pets.

I have a problem with people leaving their stray cats on my strip because they know I will feed them and if possible find them homes. I have three cats of my own that were strays that were tame enough to become family members. I have a deal with the vet here to get discount on getting the cats fixed so I bring in the strays and get them fixed and needled. There are some that are wild too that I help. They can't be in a house but they are doing well and are fed and have shelters in the back if they need it. Though I would love to not have any strays around knowing every cat has a warm loving home, that is not always the case. What makes me angry are the thoughtless people who dump the cats here.

trashy people like that are all over the place, all over the world. what can we do? my area seems to like animals, but i am sure there are some who dont. i dont know everyone in the neighborhood. maybe we should make the initiative to do something about it with people we know to stop these loser people from continuing their stupidity. if we band together and just do it, we can make it happen, for the best.

I have indeed seen alot of strays where I live. Most of them are cats though. We get alot of wandering dogs here and that just gets annoying. You end up spending alot of time finding their homes or finding someone that will take them in. The majority of my animals have all been rescues or abandoned animals. I just wish people would take care of their animals too.

I think that this is a big problem everywhere. I take care of a fairly large feral cat colony. I built a shelter for them, make sure they have plenty of food and water, and take care of them when they are sick... the best I can, anyway. Feral cats don't tend to let you too close unless they are sick enough they are pretty much beyond help. I, also, bring the kittens in when I find them and keep them inside until they're old enough to be spayed/neutered, then release them back into the colony. People know I take care of these strays, so they tend to dump them at my house. I came home from work one night and found two puppies tied to my porch. Since I work long hours, I couldn't take care of the puppies, so I took them down to Best Friends... a no kill shelter about 50 miles from me. Since those of you here obviously love animals, I thought I would share the following with you. Dr. Taylor does not mind anyone passing this on, but please include his contact information if you should decide to post this anywhere. Warning... it's a tear jerker. The Miracle of Life... "Come quick, come quick," their mother said. "The time is growing near." She feels that when the kittens come the children should be here. She told them that a big orange Tom took "Kitty" as his wife. "It's wonderful, a gift from God, the miracle of life." At half a year young "Kitty" feels too painful and too scared to appreciate six miracles, blind-eyed and yellow haired. But she knows these lives depend on her and nature tells her how and as she cleans them, children ask, "Mom, can we go now?" But now and then for six more weeks the children visit her to play with six new magic toys made of life and fur. The six weeks pass, the newness gone and new homes yet unfound, Mom bundles up six miracles and takes them to the pound. Where lovingly, with gentle hands and no tears left to cry, the shelter workers kiss them once and take them off to die. And "Momma Kitty" now shes called mourns her loss and then, she's put outside, and of course, she's pregnant once again. Dad tells "Kitty" STOP THIS NOW or you won't live here long! But deep inside of Momma Cat, this time somethings wrong. Too young, too small, too often bred now nature's gone awry, Momma Kitty feels it too and she crawls off to die. She too is freed from this cruel world, and from her time of strife. How harsh the truth, how high the price this "Miracle of Life?" By Barry Taylor, DVM docvet@cyberportal.net Dr. Taylor is from New Hampshire. If you need info on early spay/neuter please contact him. If you live in NH, Dr. Taylor offers a low cost spay/neuter assistance program. He is located in the lakes region.

i have taken care of several stray cats that came to my work, at a group home. I was not permitted to allow them in the house, but I made sure they had fresh food and water, also when the weather was too hot or cold, I opened up the outside utility room which stays cool in summer and warm in winter because of the furnace/ac units. so they could get away from the elements. No strays right now, the ones i was taking care of got new homes.