| Gary,
Sounds like you have thought up a discreet way of being a true SPCA
devotee. Influencing others to spay is quite a valuable PROACTIVE
approach. Anyone who advocates prevention of litters without homes
deserves a big THANK YOU and is a role model for us all.
Hopefully, your neighbor can be persuaded to take you up on the
spaying deal. Invoke them to OFFER reasons why they let their cat
procreate aimlessly (don't pry, just prod). Maybe tell them that
tons of animals are destroyed, etc. Quite possibly, they just don't
understand the diversity of the problem--educate them.
Best of luck,
Cathy
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| I agree, that this sounds like an excellent approach. If you were
to come on too strong they might just get mad and not take your
advice to spay.
Good luck,
Karen, Tristan and Tenzing.
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| Oh, I forgot. Another approach is to mail them some literature
on spaying, neutering, and the problems that result from the lack
thereof. Hopefully they can take a HINT!
This is a good way to remain anonymous. Local shelters usually
have lots of literature like this. They might even mail it for
you if you can't pick it up (send the shelter a pre-addressed stamped
envelope and a request note).
If anyone else knows of a similar situation, I urge you to do the
same.
Thanks in advance,
Cathy
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| I used to work at the Humane Society and saw more than my share
unwanted homeless cats and kittens. The very most horrible part
was finding a pregnant cat being released to us..."Please find her
a home, she's pregnant and we dont want the kittens"...Well, my
nasty reply was usually something like, "You mean if she was spayed
rather than 'La*d', you would have kept her?" Then to add to the
insult to the poor cat, for every 100 cats needing a home, there
may have been only 5 homes available...that's a heart wrenching
fact. Plus we had a chart stating that if one cat had one litter
a year, and 2 were females, and then those female kittens had a
litter a year, 2 of them being females, after about 3 years, that
original momma cat would have produced almost 3,800 kittens.
So now, by all means offer to spay the cat for the neighbors, or
you can try this...Contact Margie Rondeau at the Nashua Shelter.
She can send you some information about spaying and the ginger way
of educating people around you...It is a sin, and I agree with you
that this little 'ol cat is allowed to have kittens all the time.
If you really wanted to get "nasty" you could contact the state
veterinarian in Concord...Every pet that is sold or given away from
a home or a store is required to have health certificate. If the
state wanted to push it, they could be fined. In the same thinking,
it would be much cheaper to spay than get health certificates and
shots for every kitten in a litter. BTW: the state will not mention
you to the neighbor. That's kind of a rough road to take, but it
is an avenue.
Let us know what you decide, I know if any of us can help you, we
will.
jean
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| If you're friendly with your neighbors, I think your original
idea about offering to place the kittens through the "electronic
bulletin board" and offering our "fund" for the spaying is
an excellent one.
I think that having a friendly chat with them (assuming you speak to
them occasionally for other reasons) will have a more positive
effect on them than an anonymous mailing, simply because receiving
something anonymously could create a "somebody's watching me"
kind of feeling.Talking with them directly isn't too much
different from offering the type of advice neighbors often offer
each other.
Good luck. It's wonderful of you to be so concerned!
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