Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Part 1 of 2 (What should I do? Looking for advice)

I received an application on Reggie. Cute little sweet Reggie. Seemed like a good application.
Mom, Dad, one kid in high school and one in college. 30 acre farm w/ horses and has lived there 25 years. Currently owns a JRT female WHO IS NOT SPAYED. UGH! My heart sank. Darn it.

I emailed them back and told them:


Hi XXXX -

I am sorry at this time I am unable to approve your application because your current dog is not fixed. You are taking some serious risks not having a female fixed. Females who have not been fixed have higher risks of breast cancer. Attached is a few pictures of Sasha.. she was thrown out of a car by her owner b/c they couldn't afford the surgery to remove the tumor. A good person took her in but also couldn't afford the surgery and contacted me. I am happy to say that Sasha is happy, healthy and SPAYED in her forever home. We got to the cancer just in time... any longer and she would have been dead.

If you decide to spay our female please feel free to reach back out to us. And for more reasons why spaying / neutering is so important check out the following


Why Spay or Neuter?
  • If you think that just having one or two litters won't hurt anybody, this fact should change your mind: according to the Humane Society of the United States, 10,000 babies are born in the U.S. on any given day. On that same day, however, 70,000 puppies and kittens are born. Match those two statistics up, and you'll see that there will never be enough homes for all the animals born in this country unless we all take responsibility for spaying and neutering our pets. Change begins with YOU! Spay or neuter your pet!

  • Spayed/neutered pets live longer, healthier lives

  • Spaying your female pet greatly reduces the risk of breast cancer and completely eliminates the threat of uterine and ovarian cancer.

  • Neutering your male pet prevents testicular cancer and prostate problems, and helps him avoid serious health problems like hernias and perianal tumors.

  • Males neutered at a young age are far less likely to develop dominance or aggression-related behavior problems, including possession and food guarding, territory marking (lifting his leg on everything in sight), aggression toward other dogs, and "humping" inappropriate objects.

  • Neutering your male pet relieves him of the constant urge to go out in search of a female in heat. Ridding him of his urge to roam could very well save his life, and save you from a terrible broken heart.

  • Spaying your dog or cat eliminates her heat cycle and the mess that goes with it. Also, females in heat often cry and howl incessantly, develop nervous behavior, and attract every unaltered male dog in the neighborhood to your yard!

  • Altered animals are generally more docile and easier to train

  • In the span of seven years, an unspayed cat and her offspring can produce 370,000 kittens!

  • In the span of six years, an unspayed dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies!

She followed back up with me saying she had made an appointment with her vet to have her dog fixed on July 28th. Oh good, I was able to educate someone! YAY!

I spoke to her on the phone too and she seemed like a very nice women.

I called her vet office today and almost started on cry. I told the vet office who I was and why I was calling. She asked me the name of the client and I told her. She said that the women's dog was up to date on shots and had a littler of puppies Feb 2009. I said in a disappointing voice "Oh really" and sighed. The women on the phone said "is there something wrong with that?" I told her yes there was. People shouldn't be breeding.

The women at the vet office said there is nothing wrong with being a reputable breeder. I said reputable? Does she show her dog? "Well no" the vet office women said. I said "Then she shouldn't be breeding. There are 4 million dogs that die every year b/c there are too many dogs in this world." She said if people don't breed their pure breed dogs how are people supposed to get pure breed dogs? I said "Oh really, I have 30 pure breed dogs in my rescue right now." She said well we will never see eye to on this then. "What else did you want" she said in a nasty tone.

I was so flustered I couldn't even talk. I can't believe that someone who works at a vet office is so STUPID! I am sorry but STUPID is the only word I can describe her as... I am seriously thinking of writing a letter to the vet. I just can't believe that someone can be that un educated.

Anyway so I emailed the women and asked her:

Was this her first litter?
How many puppies did she have?
Why was she breed?
Do you know who has the puppies?
Were they vet checked? Given shots? Spayed / Neutered before they were sold/given away?


Waiting to see her answers.....

So, my question is. What do you think of this situation? Should I allow her to adopt? Do you think it was a one time, got talked into it, made a mistake will never to it again type of thing?

I mean we all make mistakes and / or don't know what we are doing is not a good idea....the fact that she is going to have her female spayed to me is a good sign that she understands the importance. Maybe by educating her and explaining the importance she will educate other people... maybe she can educate the HORRIBLE women at her vet office.. LOL!!

The funny thing is last week I had another women apply for a dog and her male wasn't fixed. I gave her the same information about the importance of spaying and neutering. But her email back was very mean. I will post another blog with the email chain.. very odd.....

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I'd say if she is willing to have the dog fixed w/o issue, that is a step in a positive direction.

elizabeth said...

I'd let her adopt. You educated her, she took your advice and is doing the right thing. What she did with her dog is in the past and shouldn't affect her now.

Dog Rescuer said...

Thanks Allison and Elizabeth -

That was my thought too and the lady was really nice. Everyone makes mistakes and as long as she understand that now. I am hoping she gets back to me, I emailed her yesterday just to understand a bit more about why she breed her dog.

The lady at the vet office really flustered me... hopefully that lady didn't call her and tell her I was horrible..LOL I couldn't speak I was so flustered.. my friend at work said she couldn't believe I kept my cool b/c she would have yelled at the women.. LOL