Friday, November 8, 2013

They Are So Cute

If you don't know, I volunteer twice a week at a no kill pet shelter. I show up on Monday and Thursday mornings to walk some of the large dogs, usually from five to eight of them. It takes about an hour and a half, and each one of them is walked two blocks down, two blocks back. I try to give each a little bit of personal attention. Other than that, they spend most of their time in the kennel. Don't get me wrong, I am not a wonderful person who gives his time unselfishly. I'm not that nice. I don't volunteer to clean out the filthy kitty litter pans. I don't pick up dog shit out in the dog yard. I don't clean out the dog's kennels. That is icky shit that I leave for the paid staff. Anyway, that isn't the purpose of this post, to make you think I'm a do gooder. It also isn't the purpose of this post to make you come over to Abandoned Pet Rescue and adopt a dog or cat. They are all so cute and cuddly, I'm sure you would love them, but what I want to do is weed out the people who are expecting too much. To discourage the people who adopt a dog or cat on a whim only to find out later what it really means to own a pet.

Cats poop. They poop in a box in your house, and that box needs to be cleaned out regularly, and by regularly I don't mean once a week. They shed, they can make you allergic, and they scratch. They scratch your furniture, they scratch your rug, and they may scratch you. A cat can be very loving and sweet, but in the blink of an eye something can startle it while it is curled up in your lap. That could result in IBS, or Irritable Balls Syndrome. As for dogs, they also poop. Only they don't poop in a box in your house, they will just poop in your house until you teach them otherwise. I once heard that you should always be who your dog thinks you are, and that is the person who picked them out when they were a puppy. Not the person who loses it when they come home to a house full of pee puddles, and poop piles. Just suck it up, keep your cool, and clean the turds up off the floor. One other thing. A dog will eat grass sometimes when you walk it. The dog is doing that because it has an upset stomach. If you see your dog eating grass, leave it outside until it barfs it all back up. Otherwise you will be on your hands and knees mopping up slimy puke puddles off the living room floor. So if none of that bothers you, please come and adopt a pet from your nearest animal shelter. You probably won't regret it.

12 comments:

  1. You are doing a wonderful thing! How compassionate of you.

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  2. No,no,no,no.. I am not. I enjoy walking the dogs. The people who show up to help with adoption events every weekend, and foster pets are the compassionate ones.

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  3. It has to be good exercise for you!

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  4. Well said, Alan. I've never been sorry that I adopted my dog and cat and I'm not precious about my furniture or rugs.

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  5. The first pic is adorable, but I can't identify what got rejected in the second. Pee, poop, grass, hairball...please clarify.

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  6. That is a puddle of bile filled dog puke. One of five left around the house that morning. I don't know what got into Chandler, but he was not feeling too good. Next day, fine.

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  7. When you guys go out do you put Bette in a crate? Do you send her to her crate when she has an "accident"? I never believed in crate training before our last dog but boy do I believe in it now. Worked great - we have THE best dog ever. And to this day, she goes into her crate whenever she wants and loves it (of course for years now the door has been off the crate). Just a thought.

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  8. I was crate trained and look how I turned out...

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  9. Fellow Dog Lover, I borrowed a crate when we first got her, but she was so good I returned it. It was after I returned it that she decided her bladder wasn't big enough to last more than an hour.

    Hostess, So you don't pee on the carpet? Good girl.

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  10. I have 10 cats and they see me as their maid, cook, and bultler. They take over my bed at night so that I'm forced to stay in one position. I clean their pukey hairballs, their vomit because they ate too much or too fast. I have to keep their litter boxes immaculate or they will do their business outside the box. Finally, I am their doorman when they want to go outside (I live in the country) then five minutes later they wanto come in. This happens all day by the way. So yeah, love your animal companions and never give up on them.

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  11. Garrett, why don't you install a pet door, and get one of those automatic feeders and automatic poopy box cleaners?

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  12. Garrett....you are a crazy cat lady!!!

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