Number of dogs and cats put to sleep every year (allergic, terrier)

[Aptor hours]

In the neighborhood of 25 million! And that doesn't count the numbers that die of starvation, disease, the elements or being hit by cars. Please, please, please spay and neuter your pets. Your local shelter probably has a voucher they can give with low or now income. It is a sobering statistic. I just felt I had to give justice to animals tonight

[Bibi12]

All people that are not responsible and who are not breeding pedigree dogs should spay and neuter their dogs, thats common sense. But the US government also needs to crack down and or pass laws on irresponsible breeders and puppy mills. A large amount of animals put to sleep are from a puppy mills breeding dogs with serious character faults, or irresponsible owners buying a dog for their kid later realizing they cant care for it and send it to the pound.

Ive been reading especially about these puppy mills and how disgusting they are.. Why doesnt the US government crack down on them?
Puppy mill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Puppy mills, sometimes known as puppy farms[1], are large-scale dog breeding facilities that operate under substandard breeding conditions,[2][3] causing the development of chronic health problems, temperament issues, and hereditary defects in puppies that come from the mills.[2] The high numbers of euthanized animals (4 million dogs per year in U.S.) has led animal rights advocates to oppose the mass breeding of pet animals, a view that the profitable breeding industry opposes.

P.S. The highest statistic ive seen for dogs put to sleep each year is 3 million and for cats 4 which would be 7 million a year. Where did you get 25 million from? Here is a study that is usually cited but is a bit dated (2005) and it says about 4.4 million.
http://network.bestfriends.org/Blogs...l.aspx?bp=2162

Since the sampling size is enormous, covering a representative cross-section of communities throughout the U.S., and more than half of the total human population of the U.S., going far beyond the basis needed for a statistically valid projection, and since we have been calibrating the method of estimating for 13 years now, we can say with reasonable certainty that the number of dogs and cats killed in U.S. shelters in 2005 was very close to 4.4 million, about 47% of them cats, 53% dogs.

Here is another
http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/pet_overpopulation_and_ownership_statistics/hsus_pet_overpopulation_estimates.html (broken link)

[grannynancy]

The other thread on the pros and cons of neutering should be considered. People deserve to know the health and temperament implications.

I think the bottom line is RESPONSIBLE pet owners with intact dogs control their dogs and don't let them reproduce. Or if they do breed, it is only to improve the breed and keep up with their litters, a huge responsiblity. Those people are NOT the problem ......You CAN control the reproductive activities of an intact dog.

The ones who let their dogs breed are often unresponsible, don't take their dogs to the vets for check ups, don't care for their dogs and let them breed indiscriminately or those who want to breed to "pay for" the dog they have. You can have all the laws you want and, guess what, the ones who will break the laws will still be there and the responsible folks will be punished for their behavior.

I think if the AKC/UKC/CKC would be like the SV [germany] and require working titles/temperament tests/etc to register a dog in the breed registry with "pink papers" ie a dog that may be bred and have its offsrping registered, you could have much more impact on purebred puppy mills than by spay/neuter programs. People think having an "AKC" dog means something. It does not.

I don't know the solution for pet overpopulation anymore than I do for inner city crime. You can make all the laws you want but we don't have police enough to control violent criminals let alone animal infractions.

One thing that may also help is to lobby newspapers and craigslist etc. against running dog ads. I know of ZERO reputable breeders who advertise their dogs this way.

[miu]

Those numbers are very upsetting. I can't let myself near a shelter unattended. I currently have five dogs and five puppies in my care. I love them all, but it takes a lot of my time and energy to keep them all happy. Most of the money I make at my part time job goes to their upkeep. The puppies are a result of my terrier being a stray in SC that got knocked up. The rescue didn't want to abort them. I was going to pick her up to take home after the puppies were rehomed, but her foster mom couldn't keep her any longer. At least they will be small dogs around 20 lbs. People are always looking for small breed puppies in my area to adopt. But I am distressed that five more puppies came into this world because she wasn't spayed in a timely fashion. My guess is that me terrier is a cross between a Norwich terrier and a wire haired dachshund. But who knows? Then her previous owner also docked her tail. The puppies are not as long in their body as she is. They are all light brown but all look different from each other. Sigh.

[Keeper]

I too have more dogs than I really need because of the irresponsibility of many pet owners.

I live in a rural area and we are overflowing with dogs at the shelter where most will never find a forever home. They make you sign a statement that you will get the dog neutered, give you a discounted price at the vet (less than $100.00) but no one checks up to be sure this is being done. This spring will bring another load of puppies, dropped on the side of the road with Momma dog, at a shopping center or at the shelter. The puppies often get Parvo at the shelter and there is no money for vaccines or vet care.

It is the mentality that 'they are just dogs/cats'. The city allocate less 5K a year for food, for a shelter that has at least 20-60 animals a day.

The only good thing is they do keep the dogs at least 10 days and sometimes longer if the dog isn't aggressive.

The states should outlaw ALL Puppymills and not allow pet stores to sell them. I got a 5 yo teacup male yorkie who was from a puppymill. He had to have all but 4 teeth pulled. An older female yorkie rescued at the same time, had to have 8 teeth pulled and 4 tumors the size of baseballs removed. Something needs to be done about these horrible places. The weim I rescued from puppymill when she was 9 mos old weighed 40 lbs she was skin and bones and was terrified of ppl because the PM owner would scream at the dogs and kick the cages.

[brightdoglover]

In my enlightened state of Mass., there are few unwanted puppy litters due to neutering and spaying- shelters import puppies from other states for adoption.
However, there's no shortage of perfectly nice dogs who are 1-2 years old who stopped being cute, couldn't stay alone all day in the house, and "need more time and attention." Or people who move and can't have dogs where they move. (I have utter sympathy for those who lose jobs/homes and can't keep their pets, as long as they do more than lock them in the empty house or let them run loose and stray).
Apparently cats are treated even more cavalierly- like they'll just magically flourish as wild animals. The shelter I visited the other day, the good people at West Warwick Animal Shelter (RI) said they are having floods of cats. And most of their dogs are pits and pit mixes. Perfectly nice dogs just ditched and let to run away.
People suck. Support the good people who are doing right and trying to ease the suffering.

[miu]

Yes. The amount of adult cats languishing in shelters is even more upsetting to me. There seems more cats than dogs coming in and less people willing to adopt a cat. I have two cats, one a former stray and the other from an old co-worker who was allergic to her. I don't know if I can have cats after they go (they are 13 and 14 years of age). My dogs are fine with cats as long as they don't panic and run. So one cat they never bother, and the other one, they occasionally chase around the house.

If I had a farm, I would keep the puppies. I actually had a good time playing with them this morning... before I fed them so they were empty of pee and poop. lol. At nine weeks old, they are starting to get cool. They prefer me to their mom, as she's all about disciplining them with her clamping down on their throats and front legs with her mouth.

[Bibi12]

Originally Posted by Keeper

The states should outlaw ALL Puppymills and not allow pet stores to sell them. I got a 5 yo teacup male yorkie who was from a puppymill. He had to have all but 4 teeth pulled. An older female yorkie rescued at the same time, had to have 8 teeth pulled and 4 tumors the size of baseballs removed. Something needs to be done about these horrible places. The weim I rescued from puppymill when she was 9 mos old weighed 40 lbs she was skin and bones and was terrified of ppl because the PM owner would scream at the dogs and kick the cages.

Why are puppy mills allowed to exist? If you search it in google you can see how disgusting the living conditions are and all the problems the puppy has. I would even bet that a large majority of the puppies from puppy mills wind up being killed (in shelter) just because of their temperment issues. I was going to make a thread on puppy mills but it's too depressing.

Originally Posted by miu

Yes. The amount of adult cats languishing in shelters is even more upsetting to me. There seems more cats than dogs coming in and less people willing to adopt a cat. I have two cats, one a former stray and the other from an old co-worker who was allergic to her. I don't know if I can have cats after they go (they are 13 and 14 years of age). My dogs are fine with cats as long as they don't panic and run. So one cat they never bother, and the other one, they occasionally chase around the house.

Yeah here are the stats, look how many cats are reclaimed

Number of cats and dogs entering shelters each year:
6-8 million (HSUS estimate)
Number of cats and dogs euthanized by shelters each year:
3-4 million (HSUS estimate)
Number of cats and dogs adopted from shelters each year:
3-4 million (HSUS estimate)
Number of cats and dogs reclaimed by owners from shelters each year:
Between 600,000 and 750,000—30 percent of dogs and 2-5 percent of cats entering shelters (HSUS estimate)

So when a dog winds up going to a shelter it has a 50% chance of dying

By the way are all the dogs sold in those stores from puppy mills?

[Woof Woof Woof!]

People should serve jail time for backyard breeding and puppy mills.

[ZSP]

Originally Posted by Woof Woof Woof!

People should serve jail time for backyard breeding and puppy mills.

AMEN and AMEN....