licensing of animals — a rabies control measure even cats fall under in some areas — and the number and kind of animals people can keep. They respond to calls about neglected or abused animals, about vicious animals, as well as calls involving animals that disturb a neighborhood because of noise or odor. These departments also serve as a “convenience” to people who no longer want their pets, handling homeless animals through adoption, through killing adoptable animals who can’t find new homes, or, in some locales, through sales to biomedical research. A little research will help you determine which kind of operation you’re dealing with if you’re interested in the details — or in change — but it shouldn’t stop you from saving a life. Pets don’t get to choose where they end up, after all.
Animal-control shelters have never been well-funded operations, and this situation hasn’t much improved over the years in many areas, although some municipal shelters are able to engage their communities to raise funds and get volunteers. With so much required of them by law and so few resources, readying animals for adoption and counseling prospective adopters isn’t always at the top of the animal-control director’s list of priorities. And yet, because of caring people in many of these departments and in the communities they serve, municipal animal-control shelters can be good places to adopt.
Private nonprofit shelters
Private, nonprofit shelters come in all varieties. Some are squalid outfits that serve as little more than a fund-raising gimmick for the people in charge. Others are organizations with well-funded endowments and programs that not only help homeless animals but also work to improve conditions for all animals — and animal lovers — in their communities.
Most shelters fall somewhere in the middle: Their buildings could use some work, their budgets are always tight, and they do the best they can with what they have to provide for the animals in their community. Many good, loving pets are available at these shelters, like the ones in Figure 3-1.
Photo by Richard D. Schmidt
FIGURE 3-1: Shelters offer plenty of adoptable animals to choose from — kittens and cats both.
Shelter work is difficult and stressful, and employees and volunteers can suffer burnout quickly. A well-run shelter is as compassionate to its staff as it is to the animals, because one has a lot to bear on the treatment of the other. Look for a shelter where employees are helpful and knowledgeable and clearly interested in helping the shelter’s animals find responsible new homes.
The best shelters have a good handle on a cat’s history, health, and temperament before putting her up for adoption. They’ve also done what they can to enhance her chances of success in a new home through socialization and screening for the right home. They not only provide preadoption counseling but also offer behavioral advice after the adoption. Some even offer reduced-cost veterinary services for former shelter animals.
DON’T FORGET THE LOCALS!
“Humane Society” and “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals” (SPCA) are generic terms freely used in the United States and Canada by animal organizations that have no connection to one another or to national organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), based in Washington, D.C., or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in New York City. And yet, local shelters are often stymied in their fundraising efforts by people who have “given to the national organization” and consider their charitable efforts complete — even though money given to the HSUS and ASPCA is used to fund their own programs, not those of the local shelters.
Don’t forget your local animal shelter or rescue groups when giving.
These groups do the most for the animals in your community.
Volunteer Rescue-and-Placement Groups
Thousands of small groups do what they can for cats without the benefit of a shelter building, and many of these organizations are excellent sources for pets. Made up of dedicated volunteers, these groups rescue and tame feral cats, hand-raise motherless kittens, find homes for cats and kittens who need them, and raise money to help spay and neuter the pets of people who can’t afford the cost themselves, such as seniors on fixed incomes.
These groups fill a vital need. Some specialize in hard-to-place animals that a shelter may not even allow to be put up for adoption. By fostering cats in their homes, these grass-roots volunteers give hope to animals who are considered by some organizations to be too old, too young, too wild, or too disabled to be adoptable. With love and patience, many of these animals can turn around and become fine pets for people who understand their special needs.
Adopting a cat or kitten from a grass-roots community group is a wonderful way to reward these hard-working volunteers for selfless efforts on behalf of cats. It’s worth the effort to seek out one of these groups when it’s time to adopt a cat or kitten. Who knows? You may even decide to volunteer yourself!
Breeders: The Reputable, the Ill-Informed, and the Avoid-at-All-Costs
The Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) estimates that a very small number of cats (less than 5 percent) are pedigrees — that is, registered with the CFA or another organization. Although around 50 individual breeds of cat are recognized by various groups around the world, most of these breeds are pretty rare. Many of the rarer breeds hardly show up in “ordinary” pet homes at all, because their breeders are dedicated to preserving and improving the lines and either keep most of their kittens or place them with other dedicated breeders.
The more-popular breeds have many fans, including those folks who aren’t the least bit interested in showing — they just want a good pet with a certain “look.” But a lot of people don’t seem to realize that a cat is not like a piece of electronics. Finding a cat isn’t a matter of searching for the right product like the latest smartphone. Nor is it a matter of deciding on the right brand and then shopping aggressively for the best price and most convenient location.
Think of a registry as being like the department of motor vehicles — you fill out the paperwork and send in the money, and the DMV sends back something that says, in effect, “Yep, it’s a car.” That slip of paper doesn’t say a thing about the reliability of that car or whether the vehicle has a manufacturer’s defect that can cause you trouble down the road. The department of motor vehicles didn’t manufacture the car, and it’s not guaranteeing quality.
The
