Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Being Inhumane - In Pictures.

I'm still very very angry about what ALMOST happened with this little Tortoiseshell Mama Cat and her kittens.   At first, it was just a sad and simple rescue:  Cat and four kittens brought in for euthanasia, volunteer sees what's going on and offers to save the family. 

HOWEVER ....When the shelter was approached about their culpability, they denied sending the Mama Cat and her 4 kittens for euthanasia, I couldn't figure out why.  Why would they deny doing that?  They kill animals all the time.  It's a "high kill shelter".  

Uh uh.  That isn't right.  If it doesn't make sense, it probably isn't true. 

The By-Laws say that every stray has 3 days to be claimed by their owner UNLESS the animal is suffering and a vet feels it's humane to euthanize.  That's the way that the 3 days stray time can be waived. 

This Mom and babies had only been there for TWO days.  She  suffered for TWO DAYS without anybody noticing that she was in pain.  When shelter staff  finally noticed, SOMEBODY scrambled and sent her out to the vets be euthanized. 

I know this is true.  I spoke with the staff at the clinic - including the veterinarian.  This family was NEVER to be treated or examined.  Just killed.  So somebody at the City is in deep "doo-doo" for not obeying the by-law.

Let's not forget how this cat suffered.  The following are pictures of this poor baby sent to us by the veterinarian who is taking care of her.  (Gore alert)  The wound has been cleaned and held together, so look much better than when she came in. 



The infection went into her mammary glands and the last picture shows the extent of the necrotic tissue.  This shelter left her in a TINY cage with FIVE kittens (one was euthanized) crawling over her and trying to nurse on her sore belly for two days. 

My God, I can't imagine...



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

And to continue with nurturing her young...what a fighter, what a beautiful soul....speedy recovery little one.

Anonymous said...


I agree with Anonymous, Beth..what a dear soul she is...hope she is doing better..I am assuming she will need to stay under the vet's care for a while...how are her babies doing ? They must be very tiny and need bottle feeding...praying that all will go well for all of them AND the very caring foster parent who rescued them . Gail

Anonymous said...

What an amazing Mama:) She is truly a special girl. Big hugs to this very brave little family. I can only imagine how wonderful she feels now that she is being taken care of.
Praying all goes well...

Caroline said...

Wow, so who approached the shelter on fessing up?? Unbelieveable! This shelter reminds me of the ones in the southern US who still use gas chambers to euthanise like they did in the Holocaust.

They are so behind the times... Anyone in Hamilton that knows someone with money needs to step forward and offer some sort of pilot project that won't affect the city employees (cause heaven knows that would be a fight so let the city keep control of them) but can offer some sort of fund for better vet care and spay and neuters.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here. Sry.

Beth, please set up a post on Pinterest so we can spread word of your blog.

House of Mystery said...

Mama should be named Angel. She cares for her kittens like a Angel.

Caroline said...

PS The gash is in the same spot as a spay scar would be, do you think this is the result of a botched spay??

Kudos to you Beth and volunteer.

Anonymous said...

It is hard for me to blame the shelter staff for this oversight. No matter how hard we try no one is perfect and human error happens. Unless it is expected that shelter staff do complete physicals on all incoming including full body exams this type of oversight can happen.

I question how she came to be in the shelter and would put the blame on whoever did this to her or whoever did not provide the care she needed before she ended up in this shelter. She obviously had a caregiver, being friendly and such. Before you condemn shelter staff, step back and think about the root cause of the issues that contribute to the pet problem in this shelter. People just cannot afford high cost vet bills for one reason or another. Some people are living hand to mouth and are not as blessed as you are.

I am thankful that you are helping this little girl but I, unlike you, do not hold shelter staff accountable for not noticing - when you know very well that this time of year they are flooded with incoming unwanted friendly pets.

hmacross said...

Dear Anonymous - While it is true that we do not know how this mama cat and her kittens came to the shelter, what we do know is that in her two days there she was not properly cared for. Either she was not examined upon arrival and therefore her injuries were not noticed (this is against procedure in almost every shelter I have been to or volunteered in) - or the injuries were noticed but ignored. Either way the shelter IS RESPONSIBLE for the cat once it is brought in.