Thinking About Adopting an Abused Pet?

Things You Should Know Before Bringing Your New Family Member Home

Adopting a rabbit, a ferret, a bird, a hamster, or even an iguana from an animal shelter or rescue means you just might be saving two lives: The life of your new pet and the life of another unwanted, neglected, or abused pet who now has the chance for rescue because a new spot at the shelter or the rescue has opened.

This sweet little rescued ferret is in need of a home. He’s available right now from Broward Ferret Rescue but you can find many more needy critters like him at peftinder.com.

Many have discovered the joys of adopting a rescued pet but the fact is, adopting a small animal or bird from a shelter or rescue can prove challenging. Before you head to your nearest shelter or rescue, there are several things you’ll want to take into consideration:

• Do you and your family have the time and the patience that is needed to care for an animal who has gone through trauma? For example, if you adopt a bird who is pulling out her feathers and who is depressed, do you have the patience and the time that is required to help rehabilitate her? Or, will you remain calm when your newly adopted hamster takes a bite out of your hand when you’re trying to pet him?

• Are you really prepared for the work that is involved with an abused pet? Or, are you adopting because the pet’s story has pulled at your heart strings? Whether you are considering adopting an abused or neglected guinea pig or ferret or another type of animal, you must be prepared to care for her her entire life and to realize that it’s a big and expensive commitment. Many small animals have been traumatized by being abandoned or left to fend for themselves and will be untrusting at first. And, there is no guarantee that your new family member will ever completely trust you.

• Do you have children? Many times shelters and rescues will advise against rescue pets, such as rabbits and ferrets, going to homes with children.

• Are you ready for the financial responsibility? Unlike dogs and cats, small animal and avian veterinarian care can be extremely expensive, and you may find it difficult to find a qualified vet. Can you afford the cost of the care that your pet may need in the long-term?

• Many times you will not know your new pet’s background and it may take considerable time for them to learn to trust you. In some cases, they may never be the cuddly pet that you expected when you adopted them. Can you live with that?

If you’re not sure whether you and your family are ready to adopt a rescue animal, consider talking with the rescue or animal shelter to determine if you can foster the pet.  Fostering will give you the opportunity to see if you and the pet are a good match and if you can handle any problems she may have.

Because many shelter and rescue pets have been abandoned, neglected or abused, it is essential that you really think about whether adopting a rescue rabbit, guinea pig, hamster, bird, or iguana is right for your family. Bringing home a pet then returning her to the shelter or the rescue will only cause more trauma in her life.

“Everyone’s pet is the most outstanding. This begets mutual blindness.” – Jean Cocteau

This Christmas, Don’t Be Responsible For Another Eve

The puppy looked like a carcass when she was found locked beneath the house on the night before Christmas. Her rescuers called her Eve.

Eve’s owner left her for nearly five weeks without food and water. The owner later told the court in Auckland, New Zealand (after she had dodged the system for six months) that she had left the puppy in care of a relative while she went on holiday. While the owner was enjoying her vacation, Eve survived by eating flies and her own faeces.

This happened two years ago. I don’t know what punishment was meted out to the owner (a month locked under the house seems reasonable to me) but, reportedly, Eve is doing well in her new home.

This story touched me particularly. Eve is a Rhodesian Ridgeback / Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross breed. My own Angel, found in similar condition to Eve, is a ridgeback / pitt bull mix. When found, Eve weighed 22 lbs; she should have been double that! When found, Angel was nothing more than a carcass herself. Eve was found in December, 2007; she was 11 months old. Angel came to us in December, 2007; she was 11 months old.

Today, I suspect Angel and Eve could look like twins.

Anyway, here’s the thing. In bringing any pet home, you are taking on a commitment for the life of that pet. It is your responsibility to nurture your pet and, in doing so, I hope you will come to cherish him. Don’t let your pet become another Angel or Eve.

“The kind man feeds his beast before sitting down to dinner.”  ~Hebrew Proverb

Resources: petabuse.com

When Does The Brutality End?

It’s January 26, 1999 in Columbus, Ohio and a man adopts a cat from the Citizens For Humane Action. About a week later, he beats the cat, pokes out its eye, breaks its jaw and legs and leaves it alive, in agony and a barely recognizable bloody mess in the laundry basket.  Later, he calls his girlfriend and asks her to take the cat to the Humane Society and tell them that she found it by the road. Instead, she took the cat to an emergency vet where there was no choice but to euthanize it.

The cat shown above is not the one discussed in this article but another sad and unresolved case that ended in death for the poor little creature.

Supposedly, six or seven other cats and a puppy had been adopted by this man previously and were tortured and mutilated. In court the man pled guilty to a charge of torturing one cat – the one from the Citizens For Humane Action – in an apparent effort to avoid the publicity of a jury trial. For his crime he was sentenced to 90 days in jail (45 suspended), 5 years probation, mandatory counseling and he was forbidden from owning any living thing during the 5 year probation period.

Here’s the thing. Just how much of this is true?

You know, I’m as sickened and angered as the next person by the brutalization of any animal and when I first read of this incident on pet-abuse.com I thought it would be an ideal case on which to base an article. Problem is, I really can’t find any proof that the horrific acts occurred. What I have found, however, is an online diatribe against this man that smacks of internet stalking. Message boards are filled with hate and vitriol towards him yet no-one has offered any substantive proof of their claims.

Another side to this story is presented here:

http://www.knightsofliberty.com/lyingaboutshonrahrigwedontplayaround.html

Now I’m not defending anyone, nor am I saying that there’s no truth to the allegations. I simply don’t know what the truth is. What I do know is that all too often someone gets the wrong side of a story, or deliberately distorts it, and a host of well-meaning but otherwise ignorant people pick up on it and spread misinformation across the web in a heartbeat. And if this man is innocent, then what has been done to him is almost as callous as the acts he purportedly committed on the cats.

So, please, remain vigilant in your efforts to bring animal abusers to justice but do your research and be absolutely sure of your facts before you condemn someone who just may be innocent.

“Love of animals is a universal impulse, a common ground on which all of us may meet. By loving and understanding animals, perhaps we humans shall come to understand each other.” ~ Dr. Louis J Camuti.