Expert: Lee Meyer - 8/6/2008

Question
I had two feral cats thatwere very friendly I feed them 3 times a day they let me pet them they were my friend . Then I seen a ad for the Humane Leauge of Lancaster Pa it said feral cat program  catch/ release  we will spayed/neuter  for $10 dollars  so I got a cage cought The 2 feral cats and 6 kitten I said I will get the 2 feral cats spayed  so they wouldnt have any more kittens, so I bought them to the Humane LEAUGE Rt 30 Lancaster we the lady said I should of made appointment to get them spayed I said to her well what am I supposer tell this cats lets come back in two week and I will take you for another ride. so I said to the lady  went do you do spaying she said on Tuesdays and Fridays I said ok Keep the 2 feral cats and I will call to see is their is appointment on tuesday and if not I will be back here tommorrow(which I was their on SUNDAY AUG 3) AUG 4 TO PICK THEM UP IF SHE COULDNT SPAY   THEM. Monday can as soon as I got home from work I went on the computer to see if the Doctor got back to me ,their was an e-mail from Nacomi Bissonnette saying their are no appointments until Sept so I said to myself I will go get the cats. but as I read on she said I checked on you feral cats and they were EUTHANIZED yesterday which was the same day I had bought them in Aug 3. the lady at the front desk told me the first day cats are bought to their clinic they will be dewormed and they it a few days later so I thought I had time to get my cats spayed and set free but that wasnt the case their ad should say catch and we KILL I think that place should be closed down who know how many animals this happen to. their address is  Humane League of Lancaster  2195 Lincoln Highway East, Lancaster Pa 17602  phone#717393-6551  and fax 717295-1391  thank you  for your time Im so mad at this place or Kill place  

Answer
Hi Kim,

I am sorry to hear they put the cats down.  It would have been nice to have contacted you beforehand so that you could have had the chance to take them somewhere else.

The one issue that may have come up is that they had so many worms, if they would have de-wormed them, all those worms dying off inside them would have killed them.  I do know that does happen in animals that look otherwise normal, especially if they are heartworms.  

Most shelters are not no-kill shelters.  Most places evaluate animals based on a number of factors.  I wouldn't even say no-kill shelters are totally innocent in this, as they tend to pick and choose which animals they want, and the ones they don't select go to place or kill shelters (so there is animosity between the no-kills andthe others).  Both types of shelters have finite space.  One only lets in the animals it wants; the other takes all animals, but because of space, they have to euthanize them.

Perhaps some of the anger needs to be focused on people who keep flooding these shelters with their unwanted animals.  The shelters wouldn't have to euthanize animals because of space constraints if people were not abandoning the pets they said they would be responsible for.

I know you were trying to do the right thing, that is what makes this so maddening.  But you have to recognize these people are not there and enjoy putting animals down.  They don't look forward to it or get off on doing it.  The vet techs, doctors there, enjoy and love animals.  I volunteer at shelters, I know people are just like you and me, they are pet owners themselves.  I could not do their jobs day after day and get through the day.  I don't know why they put them down.  Did you ever get medical reasons from anyone?  I would ask to speak to the doctor there (or whoever evaluated them) and get their reasons for putting them down.  There had to be more to it that they just wanted to put them down.  

Again, I am sorry about your little guys.  They know you loved them and knew you were the one looking out for them. You didn't let them down.  

Lee