Monroe Chat

My word! If it smelt that bad from the outside, it must be positively sickening when going in

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The SPCA is on the scene at a home in Clifton Heights, after neighbors called 911 to report a terrible odor.

Officers found 19 dogs, three birds, and one cat at the home in the 2500 block of Vestry.

The dogs are dehydrated and mangy.

At first, police feared there may be a dead body inside the house, because the odor was so fierce.

Local 12 was on the scene as animal control officers removed the pets from the home.

Yikes! I know how bad one dog can get. I can only imagine. How sad.

I'll never understand how anyone could neglect an animal. If you don't want to bother giving it food, water and basic shelter, why keep it? We saw that with the horses on C/D Rd. It was senseless.

Sadly, beer and cigarettes will often time come before the family pet. But if you are truly going thru tough times and can't afford pet food, call the shelter or any rescue organization and tell them you need assistance. They'll understand and be more than happy to help you out. I know C&C would plus we'll deliver, especially to seniors who can't carry a 40lb box of kitty litter. We want you to keep your pet. Times are hard for us, too and donations are down, but we'll get you the help you need.

If all else fails and you must move, are evicted or your home is foreclosed and you can't find placement with a rescue or no-kill shelter (all of whom are overwhelmed), then take your animal(s) to the shelter. They work very hard to adopt out all their pets and if they can't, euthanasia is quick and painless compared to being abandoned and starving. We are seeing far too many animals left to the streets - including Monroe.

Then there are those who feed 2-3 large dogs quite well, but their children go unfed.

Ellie wrote:Then there are those who feed 2-3 large dogs quite well, but their children go unfed.

Wow, I suppose that happens, too.

To add a line to Suze Orman's tag:
People first, then animals, then money, then things.

I consider myself an animal lover, but I don't like the SPCA having police powers.They've gotten too powerful. Last year the local news station showed the new animal shelter in Sharonville. If memory serves, that thing cost the taxpayers (of Hamilton County, in this case) $4.8 million!!!! The foyer has a fireplace and couches, for crying out loud!!!
My suggestion would be to take that $4.8 million and use it for spaying or nutering the dogs and cats that come in. When the animal catcher brings in a stray dog, it should be checked out for medical issues. If all is well and it is non violent, then fix it and put it right back where it came from. Picked up on S. Main street, dropped off on S. Main street. After a short time of being recuperated, of course.
Eventually the majority of strays will be fixed, thus not reproducing, thus no more strays being born. The ones who are fixed will eventually die off as well. There will always be the strays that don't get caught, but I can't think of a better way to help control the animal population, than to fix the ones that are out knocking up other strays (or getting knocked up). $4.8 million would pay for an awful lot of operations to curb the stray population. If a family/person wants to adopt one, they still have to pay to have it fixed before taking ownership, if I understand correctly.
And those strays with diseases or violent natures get put to sleep. Thus putting them out of the misery of a disease, and protecting the population of other living beings.
And if I understand correctly, the animal shelter in Sharonville is the second animal shelter in Hamilton County. What is it costing taxpayers to build and operate two animal shelters?

Fixit, if you put a stray dog back on the street with a sweet personality, he'll just end up mean and eventually will have to be put to sleep, thereby wasting the money spent on fixing him. I can't imagine my little dog out on the street without someone to feed him, protect him, and keep him out of poisons. He wouldn't survive. Most dogs who have been pets are not meant to be wild animals. Cats, perhaps are a little different.

However, I do agree with you that an animal shelter probably shouldn't have a lounge.

We went to Punta Gorda, Florida last summer and stayed at a timeshare that was home to 200 wild cats! They do just as you suggest. The locals know the cats and have named them, though they warn visitors to stay away because the cats are wild and most are unfriendly. The authorities round them up and fix them and then put them back where they found them. They keep reproducing. Of course, their problem is made worse by the fact that well-meaning restaurant workers feed them. Every night I enjoyed looking over my balcony on dozens of left over containers being devoured by hungry little cats. They say one little cat was picky and would only eat homemade chicken nuggets.

Pets are a different story. By putting out word that stray animals will be spayed/neutered if found, then maybe people would make sure they had the chips implanted or at least licenses. There must be a way to curb the pet population without warehousing these animals for months or years at a time.
The animal shelters want people to jump through hoops before they can adopt an animal. A friend of mine went to the Warren Co. shelter to see about adopting a cat. They had a questionaire for him to fill out (which is not a problem). One question dealt with whether or not he already had an animal. He said he did. A dog. The next question asked if the dog was fixed. His hasn't been. They refused him the adoption of the cat because he has a dog that hasn't been fixed. Saying that he (and his wife) are irresponsible pet owners for not having the dog fixed!!!
Didn't the Butler shelter make the news for fixing someone's dog before turning it back over to the owner, when they knew who the owner was, before the surgery took place? Almost as tho they refused to release the pet back to the owner, until the dog was fixed against the owner's wishes.
I digress. My thinking is to protect the pets, and curb the stray population. I would think that there's a better way to go about it, than what is currently being done.
As to the original subject of this post, people have no business keeping animals (or people) in conditions like that. It's not right for anybody, and bad for everybody involved. I think some of the people who take in 20 or 30 animals get caught up with the idea of "saving" a cat or dog, then lose site of the conditions the "savior" and animals are living in. A bit of a mental condition, I suppose. I work with a woman who loves animals so much she ended up with 5 or 7 dogs she had "found". Came a point that she knew it was too much for her and she got rid ofall but 2.