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The only real change will come if spay/neuter becomes law with hefty fines for NOT having it done. If not fines, then save the taxpayers money and have these people do 6 months of Community Service. Let them paint bridges and municipal buildings. Let them clean city hospitals. That kind of law, if enforced, would make kittens and puppies so valuable that only those who really love them and can afford them will buy or adopt them. Those getting them on a whim and those lacking two dimes to rub together would be weeded out.
Not even remotely enforceable. There are too many people who have outdoor cats. You can't prove those cats are owned by anyone. Just because someone feeds a cat in their yard, doesn't mean it's their cat. Breeders also -cannot- spay/neuter their cats, so they'd have to have an exemption. Some cats are too sick for surgery. They'd have to have an exemption. Some non-prof shelters keep animals indefinitely; they spay/neuter just as soon as they have the funds to do so, and not a moment sooner.
And if there's a threat that you're going to get in trouble, fined, forced into community service, it's easy to get out of; just toss the cat out the door and claim it's not yours.
That'll just make it worse, not better. Except maybe where you live, since your neck of the woods seems to be the exception to the rule.
[quote=AnonChick;18889973]Not even remotely enforceable. There are too many people who have outdoor cats. You can't prove those cats are owned by anyone. Just because someone feeds a cat in their yard, doesn't mean it's their cat. Breeders also -cannot- spay/neuter their cats, so they'd have to have an exemption. Some cats are too sick for surgery. They'd have to have an exemption. Some non-prof shelters keep animals indefinitely; they spay/neuter just as soon as they have the funds to do so, and not a moment sooner. [quote]
If a cat is too sick to spay/neuter it would be required to get fixed as soon as it got well. Breeders of course would be exempt. It's not the breeders causing the problems. It's irresponsible and dirt poor cat owners. I'm not saying a law would fix the problem entirely, but it would, I'm sure, start to make a big difference over time. Rome wasn't built in a day.
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And if there's a threat that you're going to get in trouble, fined, forced into community service, it's easy to get out of; just toss the cat out the door and claim it's not yours.
Then they lose the cat. It gets picked up and taken to a shelter. When the leash law first came to be were I live it took a few years before a real difference was noticed. Some dog owners denied they owned their dogs... but neighbors would rat them out and they'd lose the dog plus get a fine. The longest journey starts with the first step.
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That'll just make it worse, not better. Except maybe where you live, since your neck of the woods seems to be the exception to the rule.
Apparently it is were the price of vet care is concerned. This is just middle America. Nothing special here..........
Not even remotely enforceable. There are too many people who have outdoor cats. You can't prove those cats are owned by anyone. Just because someone feeds a cat in their yard, doesn't mean it's their cat. Breeders also -cannot- spay/neuter their cats, so they'd have to have an exemption. Some cats are too sick for surgery. They'd have to have an exemption. Some non-prof shelters keep animals indefinitely; they spay/neuter just as soon as they have the funds to do so, and not a moment sooner.
And if there's a threat that you're going to get in trouble, fined, forced into community service, it's easy to get out of; just toss the cat out the door and claim it's not yours.
That'll just make it worse, not better. Except maybe where you live, since your neck of the woods seems to be the exception to the rule.
Agreed...there's no way to enforce a law like this unless each and every home is visited regularly by the "Kitty Police" and all records for each cat checked. Who would be willing to pay for this? No one. To avoid fines, people would be dumping their in-tact cats and the situation would get even worse...people are already unwilling to shell out a small amount of money or spend the time to take their cats to the many low-cost S/N clinics out there, and the threat of being fined further if they're caught with an in-tact cat in their home makes the cat a "liability" and a "hassle" in their eyes. With shelters overflowing, this is the LAST thing we or the homeless cats of this world need .
Most shelters already S/N kittens before they adopt them out, and I think this is a better way of dealing with it...every breeder, shelter and individual selling (or giving away) kittens should have to wait until they are at least 6 months old and S/N'd at their own expense before relinquishing them to anyone. If shelters can't afford to do this, the potential owner should have to put up a percentage of the adoption fee in advance to cover the procedure, then pay the remaining balance when they pick up the cat. If individuals and/or breeders can't afford to do this, they should not be breeding in the first place! For the people who find pregnant strays (happened to me once) and are kind-hearted enough to foster them until they're old enough to be S/N'd and adpoted out, there should be some kind of compensation or incentive...a local group here helped me out, paid for 1/2 of the cost to spay the mother and helped me find homes for the 4 kittens she had, who I agreed to foster as long as they needed me to (which wasn't very long...they were SUPER cute and actually I had to turn a few people down because there were homes already waiting for them by the time they were old enough to go to them). The mother cat went to my BF's family, they were the ones who found her curled up with a big 'ole belly in the bushes in their front yard. They fell for her even though they were straight-up "dog people" and had never been owned by a cat....
I agree with your vents about how high vet bills are and share your frustration.
I live in NY- and it's not unusual for a spay / neuter cost to run $600. I volunteer at an animal shelter in Westchester and even in this "wealthy" area, you wouldn't believe how many people balk at the adoption fees even when all the spay / neuter / vaccinations / meds are included. (We're talking $100 for a kitten, $150 for a puppy, $50 for adult dogs and cats). That is a BARGAIN. If you found a kitten / puppy on the street and had to actually pay for the above, you'd be spending several times that amount. The inability of some to process this through their thick skulls is stunning.
The shelter had a "special" on cat adoptions - $5 per cat. (This was provided the applicant was still screened pretty vigorously to weed out sickos.) I and many others STILL thought this was a horrible idea. You don't want the type of person who will nickel / dime/ bargain shop for adoption fees to be adopting!
I currently have 3 rescued cats- 2 older and 1 kitten. The kitten was rescued from death row at Animal Care & Control in NYC. His neutering was free, and they were so glad someone was taking him, they waived the adoption fee. Monkey is such a joy to have around.
Have to say thank goodness for pet insurance, or I would be in the poor house. I just have accident / injury coverage, but at $20 / month per cat (or I pay a lump sum of less than that at the beginning of the policy), I found it to be well worth it. Saved my behind and has already paid for itself.
My lovebug, Mickey - I adopted at age 11, had him for 6 months when we found out he most likely had a cancerous tumor in his soft palate. Even the diagnostic stuff to determine just what the hell this was was so expensive. $4,000 by the time all was said and done and my sweet baby crossed the Rainbow Bridge. That's without a $1,500 MRI (which I didn't do because at that point, we were seeing it was an untenable situation.) I had ASPCA insurance and know it wasn't the best coverage, but I was reimbursed at $2950. It was more than I expected. Right after, my other cat Chico needed a mast cell tumor removed (ka-ching! $800!) I got $600 back.
It never ends in my house. My other cat bit him a few weeks ago and to treat the infected bite (it had abcessed and I never even saw the bite until it did!) $500. Got back close to $300. Pasquale (the biter) just had to be treated for severe ear infections from when he was in the shelter. $500 again. I have PetPlan for him, and I am about to find out how good the plan is. I've read some very good reviews for PetPlan and hope I find those reviews to be true.
So, not sure how feasible this is for someone who has 15 rescues (GOE, you really are an angel and thank goodness for people like you.), but for those like me, I would highly recommend.
My OWN health insurance has changed for the worse, and I joke that my pets' insurance is better than mine.
Man...reading some of these prices is just mind-boggling.
I am SO grateful my regular vet has reasonable prices for standard things like S/N, office visits, etc...if I had to pay $600 every time I got a creature S/N'd I wouldn't have been able to help with any of the strays that have crossed my path, and I would have had to stop at 3 permanent animals instead of 7. I'm seriously going to hug that man when I see him next month, LOL!
My Mom has had several pets that needed medication, and she looks for the medication cost online, then the vet office will match that price. She just brings in the print out of which one is the least expensive of that medication. Usually she looks at Petmeds.
I will pay more though, to go to a vetnarian that has a cats only section, and a dogs section. Our vet has that, where the dogs go in one side, the cats on the other. There are special cat only vets in our city too. I would pay extra for that.
Vets are free enterprise. They have no duty to you or I to adjust prices to match your income and what you can afford. If they overcharge, people will not use them and they will have to lower prices or go out of business. but if people are paying the prices they charge, why can't they charge as much as they can get?
GoE, about the only thing you can do is if they are the ONLY vet in the area and they are gouging for the sake of gouging. You can also file a ethics complaint if they are the ONLY Vet in town and they charge high prices to line their pockets at the sake of the good and welfare of all pets. But if there is another vet who charges less, your complaint would be baseless as you have an option to use other veternary services. Are there other vets in your area that you can use that don;t charge so much?
Vets are free enterprise. They have no duty to you or I to adjust prices to match your income and what you can afford. If they overcharge, people will not use them and they will have to lower prices or go out of business. but if people are paying the prices they charge, why can't they charge as much as they can get?
GoE, about the only thing you can do is if they are the ONLY vet in the area and they are gouging for the sake of gouging. You can also file a ethics complaint if they are the ONLY Vet in town and they charge high prices to line their pockets at the sake of the good and welfare of all pets. But if there is another vet who charges less, your complaint would be baseless as you have an option to use other veternary services. Are there other vets in your area that you can use that don;t charge so much?
Hmmmm.....according to what others have posted here, my vet really didn't gouge me or overcharge me. There are even some on here who have higher neuter bills than I do. I never did say that my vet is the only vet locally here either, and where you got that idea, I just don't know.
This is not a complaint thread. This is a vent thread, for those of us who feel the burden of vet bills from time to time. And I want to clear something up with you right here right now. No matter the price, I would get my cats the best care possible, and I have. They are special needs cats and not just anyone is going to handle them. I am very lucky that I have the wonderful vet that I have right now, for I have been to some real scum bags. Just because we are willing to pay high prices, does not mean we don't recognize a shyster when we see one, nor does it mean, that at times we do sacrifice willingly until all bills are paid.
Are there other Vets you can use that charge less? What are the other Vets charging for the same services in you area?
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