Any suggestions for no kill shelters?

[Martha Anne]

Originally Posted by VeronikaW

We need to rehome our cats. The previous tenants in our townhome had a dog that peed everywhere, and even though they ripped up the carpet, one of our cats poops on the floor and not his litter box. We know it's the previous dog, because he never did this before, and we've now moved him to the garage (because our son is about to start crawling), and he uses his litterbox in the garage. We've spent hundreds of dollars trying to "fix" the problem, but beyond moving (which we just can't do), there's nothing left for us to do.

It's heartbreaking, as we've had this cat for 6 years, and he's completely socialized and so loving, but my son is about to start crawling and we have a second baby on the way, and I can't be cleaning up cat poop twice a day.

If anyone knows of any place, please let me know. We tried the humane society, they wouldn't take him.

Thanks!

V. =)

For the future, be aware of Petfinder.com. This website will provide you with all the many local cat and dog rescue groups in your area, with phone number, etc. Just plug in your zip code.

I hope your cat is happy and well cared for now in the new home.

[jamesandveybe]

Kids in my community donated time to the local animal shelter. To their and my understanding, there are no 'no-kill' shelters. To do so would be to house unadopted pets until they died of old age.

[Ira500]

Actually, there are no kill shelters. Very few of them are the big, municipal run or Humane Society shelters, but they do exist, and they do have their share of old animals.
King County's animal shelter is supposedly " no kill" but the policy is that they don't euthanize adoptable pets..But pets come in there and get sick from the poor ventilation in the shelter, therefore are deemed unadoptable.

[jwb123]

According to this list http://www.saveourstrays.com/no-kill.htm these are the 'no kill' shelters in WA.

Alternative Humane Society, Bellingham
Animal Home Find
Animal Rescue Families, Bremerton
Benton-Franklin Humane Society, Pascoe
Cascade Animal Protection Society, Sumner
Cat Purebred Rescue, Seattle
Concern for Animals, Olympia
Dog Patch Humane, Colville
Friends of the Animals Foundation (FAF)
Harbor Association of Volunteers for Animals, Westport
Hooterville Pets SafeHaus, Woodinville
Humane Society of Snohomish County, Arlington
Northwest Organization for Animal Help NOAH, Stanwood
Pasado's Safe Haven, Sultan
Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Lynnwood
Purrfect Pals, Arlington
Save Our Critters Society
West Columbia Gorge Humane Society, Washouga

To be honest, they are likely more like 'low kill' and will only do so if an animal is truly unadoptable.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by Ira500

Actually, there are no kill shelters. Very few of them are the big, municipal run or Humane Society shelters, but they do exist, and they do have their share of old animals.
King County's animal shelter is supposedly " no kill" but the policy is that they don't euthanize adoptable pets..But pets come in there and get sick from the poor ventilation in the shelter, therefore are deemed unadoptable.

There is a big difference from a "no kill" shelter and a "humane" shelter. Back in my college town, Bozeman, MT, we had a "no kill" shelter and it was far from humane. They had more animals there than they knew what to do with, but since they were a "no kill" shelter they couldn't reduce their numbers. Apparantly the living conditions were appalling.

I feel badly for your cat - but unfortunately, that type of behavoiral problem makes them very difficult to adopt. I wouldn't adopt a cat that make a conscious choice to not use the litter box.

Before anyone criticizes that statement - would you?

[jabm67]

The only one in Seattle I know about is Animal Talk Rescue, in the Roosevelt district. We've fostered several litters of kittens for them.

[DestinationSeattle]

Originally Posted by bigtrees

There is a big difference from a "no kill" shelter and a "humane" shelter. Back in my college town, Bozeman, MT, we had a "no kill" shelter and it was far from humane. They had more animals there than they knew what to do with, but since they were a "no kill" shelter they couldn't reduce their numbers. Apparantly the living conditions were appalling.

I feel badly for your cat - but unfortunately, that type of behavoiral problem makes them very difficult to adopt. I wouldn't adopt a cat that make a conscious choice to not use the litter box.

Before anyone criticizes that statement - would you?

In our house, it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. Our cat already poops on the floor, right in front of his litter pan. He's done it for years. I'm just grateful he does the other job IN the litter, but I've given up trying to correct him on the other part. I used to scold him. Now I just roll my eyes, scoop it up, and flush. Part of the morning routine.

Fortunately, there are lots of people willing to take in animals with, shall we say, peculiarities. Bless 'em all. Heck, bless *anyone* who brings a critter home from a shelter. We've done it four times, and it's great seeing these fuzzballs be happy and get a second chance.

We have a no-kill cat shelter here in Alexandria. My boss volunteers there once a week. If nobody adopts one of their rescues, the cats live out their lives at the shelter. The drawback is that they can only take in so many cats before they run out of room. After that, they have to rely on the goodwill of foster-home volunteers. They get completely overwhelmed during kitten season, but they offer an incredibly important service. I haven't heard that the conditions there are bad or inhumane, but I'm sure there are other shelters out there where the cats aren't so lucky, unfortunately.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by DestinationSeattle

We have a no-kill cat shelter here in Alexandria. My boss volunteers there once a week. If nobody adopts one of their rescues, the cats live out their lives at the shelter. The drawback is that they can only take in so many cats before they run out of room. After that, they have to rely on the goodwill of foster-home volunteers. They get completely overwhelmed during kitten season, but they offer an incredibly important service. I haven't heard that the conditions there are bad or inhumane, but I'm sure there are other shelters out there where the cats aren't so lucky, unfortunately.

The problem we had with the no kill shelter in Bozeman is that it was the only shelter in town, so they had to take everything. They didn't have a network of foster-home volunteers, so they stuck the cats and dogs outside in temporary fences and other places that you really shouldn't stick cats and dogs, but they didn't have much choice.

Don't get me wrong, the people that ran the place had their hearts into it and tried to do what was best. But in this particular case, at that particular time, some people felt that the "no kill" policy led to less than ideal living conditions.

I never visited the place (I was in college) so I didn't experience what it was really like. But I did read about it in the paper a few times.