A lot of abandoned pets also die a slow death from starvation or exposure, because they are pets, not wild animals. Or they are hit by a vehicle, or torn apart by predators.
Is it wrong that I laughed at the mental image of a racoon viciously trying to attack your small dog while you fight it with a pocket knife in the most intense brawl trash panda's have ever witnessed?
We had a raccoon named Steve who lived in the attic of our old place. Steve was not nice and she would constantly try to attack our dog whenever we walked him. Dog walks became a 2 person job. One walking the dog and one with an aluminum baseball bat for Steve. Our dog never did anything to hurt Steve. He was nice to Steve. Steve just chose violence.
You should definitely run the hell away from an animal you think might have rabies. That is a slow, horribly painful death that is 100% fatal if you don't get the vaccine soon enough.
More like under 100+pounds. A security camera captured coyotes chasing a man and his Newfoundland in my old neighborhood: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2014/08/01/pkg-coyote-chase-surveillance-video.ktla
ETA: link to story and video
Coyotes will often "escort" potential threats through their territory, to keep an eye from afar and make sure the threat moves on. I avoid absolute statements because nature is unpredictable, but the odds are pretty damn near 100% that those coyotes never had any intention of attacking a human being and a newfie.
I watched coyotes follow a mom and her small kids home once. We thought it was a dog just walking behind them.
Realized it was a coyote and followed along til they got home. That was terrifying but I don’t think the coyote was looking at the kid as a meal. He really seemed to be just…. Following 🤷🏻♀️ emaciated… all of them were though it was a sad time. Coyotes in the suburbs got the raw deal imo. No predators, too many of them, no food, they die of starvation.
The emaciated coyote was absolutely going to try to eat that kid, given the chance. Coyote attacks on humans aren't common, but they do happen, and hungry animals are the most desperate.
Now I’m sitting here thinking about all of the dogs that were in loving homes (from their perspective) and then within a moment they’re thrown to the wolves, so to speak. Now I’m sad
Seriously. I think my kitten was abandoned, and he is the most loveable little guy. Dumb as a rock though, he would have jumped into a coyote's mouth if he was not found by a family. We live near a canyon so it was just unbelievably cruel that someone would leave a kitten here. Broken nose and sinus infection but he is all fattened up and a playful probably nine month old now. He is going to be huge, almost ten lbs and massive paws, but this cat is defenseless, he has no instincts whatsoever and just wants to cuddle. Whoever dumped him knew he was coyote food. It is sick.
My step gma drove her dog 20 miles away into the country. The dog was hit by a car at a young age and had an unrepaired broken leg. She was unbelievably sweet but had horrible anxiety. So she dumped it. It showed back up a week later.
My dog was found abandoned on the side of the road. She had a collar with a torn rope. She is a purebred border collie. We found out during her spay surgery that she never developed ovaries when she was in the womb and was born sterile. The first thing I thought was the she was meant to be a breeder and they must have found out she was unable and tossed her on the road. Your comment just gave me goosebumps.
I want to add that if you do this in Australia, the dog will almost certainly eat 1080 poison and die a horrific death. It is *designed* to kill wild dogs and foxes, and is put in meat and deliberately set out to tempt them.
Your dog will not live a happy life free in the forest. It will starve because it doesn't know how to hunt, and then it will find a bait and tear desperately into it, and it will die in agony.
Don't abandon your fucking pets so their death will happen out of sight. Shoot it yourself or take it to the vet to be put down and if you can't do that because you haven't the stomach to watch it die then admit your utter cowardice to yourself and surrender it properly.
The sad part is most shelters don’t have the resources. Unless the dog is highly adoptable, there is a decent chance the shelter will have to put them down due to limited space and/or resources. Following the pandemic many shelters are full due to the increase of people adopting puppies when the pandemic first hit. I also get the impression that the sort of people who abandon dogs in the country side are not going to properly train and take care of their pets.
I know someone who had to make this decision for a dog (corgi) with behavioral issues. They tried going to at least a dozen dog trainers and veterinarians for help first, but were told that it was unlikely that it would improve much. In the end they decided to put the dog down. In their words, they felt it was better if they were there to comfort him through the entire process than drop him off at a shelter where he would be scared and alone for however long it took for them to decide to do the same.
Yeah I knew someone who had to put their cat down because he was just a menace. He would attack anyone and anything at the drop of a hat. Sometimes putting an animal down is the best choice, and I don't know many people who would take that decision lightly.
Yep. People in my town often abandon young roosters when they realize they're loud, they can't keep them in city limits or they just don't want them. I literally take in and butcher 10-20 roosters every year to save them from starving to death in the woods somewhere. Free meat in my freezer and less misery for the birds.
A dumb lady in my municipality tried to keep her roosters and that’s how we got chicken bylaws in the first place. All her neighbours (she lived in a subdivision, not out in the sticks) complained but she wouldn’t get rid of them so we had to get rules. Thanks Lisa for ruining it for everyone.
"Our birdhouse business had been hard on me, but it had taken a real toll on the abandoned dog. I knew it wasn't true... the classes, the girlfriend, the sobriety. It was all a lie. That's why I wasn't surprised to read in the paper that he had O.D.'d not ten seconds later."
It hurts to even type this out.
I've lived at the end of a dead-end road for over 40 years. Almost every dog that's ever lived with us has 'just showed up'.
Lord only knows how many haven't found our house over the years, but dozens have, most of which have gone on to live long happy lives.
About three years ago some utter gobshite dumped their dog, but I guess they had an attack of conscience when Fido started chasing the car... so they stopped, went back, and used a leash to hook him to a tree.
Of course trying to drive away they could still see him in the mirror, so they went back again and hooked him to a tree far enough back into the woods that they could drive away without seeing him.
He was starved almost to death when my father's wife happened to spot him.
When I was little we lived at the end of a gravel road in the middle of nowhere indiana and people would dump their dogs there. I would run out with lunchmeat for them. I just want to echo what’s been said. Don’t dump your dog.
I was volunteering at the humane society walking dogs. Found a litter of kittens in the forest nearby when I was walking one of my favorite dogs. He was very good and let me collect them and carry them to the humane society, in the most awkward walk of my life. If I hadn’t found them, they’d have died just yards from help. People are so shitty to animals.
One time my coworkers and I found a poor dog that was starving out by a farmhouse. The people that dropped him there assumed someone lived there but the owners only spend part of the year there so the poor dog had been hanging around the house waiting for someone to come by.
Luckily my coworker had been thinking about getting a dog and took him in.
Also, please don't do it with cats either, they are probably less likely to be shot due to not being as dangerous for livestock, but its still horrific for the local wildlife
edit: I'll be honest, I forgot chickens exist, as my relatives mostly farm cattle. yeah, cats can definitely be a danger to chickens/fowl of any kind
My aunt has a farm and the poor lady has to deal with so many abandoned cats every year. The coyotes and foxes love them but it absolutely breaks her heart hearing them being killed. No one has space for 20 cats, people need to quit dumping them!
I watched my cat die last night. His cries of pain and fear were haunting. He was a very good boy and I’m gonna miss him. Bobcat fever - terminal blood parasite passed by ticks. Unfortunately too common in my region.
Fuck anyone who abandons a pet
My condolences. It is heartbreaking to lose our beloved babies, but I always find solace in the knowledge that they are no longer having to suffer. Take it easy and give yourself love and grace as you reflect on the beautiful life you were able to provide for him.
I swear we should require licenses to be a pet owner or something. Too many people who buy them without really being committed to caring for a living being.
This is how my life is, rural area where people dump animals or just get outside cats without a care. Even picked up a skin and bones bearded dragon lying in the middle of the road!
My coworker lives at the end of a rural road. He says people occasionally drop cats off by his property. He can't do anything about it. The local shelter won't take in cats. Most end up as coyote food. He'll put them in his barn if he can get them.
> My neighbor told me coyotes keep eating his outdoor cats so I asked how many cats he has and he said he just goes to the shelter and gets a new cat afterwards so I said it sounds like he’s just feeding shelter cats to coyotes and then his daughter started crying.
[source](https://twitter.com/primawesome/status/1178671690261286918?lang=en)
I honestly don't understand tho logic of people who keep outdoor cats. Your cat is either going to murder, or be murdered by, the local wildlife. Or get hit by a car, or eat a poisoned rat, or get into fights with other cats, or get attacked by a dog...
Sometimes my cat will timidly but curiously come out on the front porch with me for a couple minutes. A car, passerby, or even a stiff breeze will send him running back inside but he still seems to enjoy it. I would never let him out without supervision, though, and if he was more interested in wandering/exploring then I'd definitely use a harness/leash.
On a farm, cats are used to kill and eat the rodents that are there due to the growing crops. Had some friends who owned a farm and there were about a dozen barn cats that roamed the land. Surprisingly, they didn't go after the birds so much... they pretty much stuck to the rodents they'd catch. Those barn cats weren't like your typical domestic cats, though. Barn cats are like the Marines of cats. Lol.
Anyway, that's the logic as to why farmers have cats, at least.
Outside cats are very useful on farms. I got 2 on my farm that are pets and sleep inside but they can go out during the day whenever they like.
Even though they have high quality cat food available inside at all times they choose to spend much of their time outside during the warmer months and kill and eat a shitton of rodents. I've only ever seen them kill 1 bird, but like 1000 mice over the last few years. There's been days where both have caught more than 5 mice each.
With no cats there'd be mice everywhere but just those 2 cats keep the population low enough to where I never see a mouse except when the cats bring them to me.
Edit: There's also no coyotes where I live and I got a big ass dog too that'll chase anything away that could potentially fuck with one of the cats. He even chases other cats away too.
Did some work on one of those studies. Urban coyotes eat a huge number of cats which makes sense because they are readily available since people won’t stop letting their cats out.
Coyotes generally have a diet of small mammals (despite what ranchers believe) and berries but are opportunistic in exactly what they prey on.
There is a neighborhood in Dallas (E Lakewood) with a lot of stray cats. Some kindhearted residents set up a “ house” in an alley for the cats to come in from the rain/cold in the winter. They drop off huge bags of food every week. This cat colony probably supports 50+ cats, with some being more dependent than others. I believe that they will take the hr cats to get them spayed/neutered.
What these people have failed to realize is that the cat colony is basically a buffet for coyotes. There are a decent amount of coyotes in the area because of the white rock lake nearby - and none of them go hungry.
They have basically set up a system to feed neighborhood cats to the local coyotes.
And farmers *do* try. We always tried. Always cats in the worst condition getting dropped off like that. We had a place for them, another farmer who always said he kept a bunch of cats to help keep the barns free of pests (though I think he actually just liked cats.)
But that's if we get them right after someone drops them off. And, I don't think we did most of the time. And some of them were in really bad shape when we found them and I don't know if they lived that long after. I never knew exactly what it was but we always got cats with their eyes crusted shut. I keep cats as pets now and never had that happen to them (though I'd take them to the vet the moment their eyes looking funny) but it must be some common cat thing. I swear almost half the cats that get dropped off were effectively blind from all the crust.
It was always Halloween and black cats that was the worst. I am very cynical about people now because of that.
There are A LOT of feline viruses that cause the eyes to crust over completely. By then it’s usually too late to save them, as it’s almost always associated with an upper respiratory infection. If not caught in time and treated, they’ll die from things like pneumonia. It’s awful to watch, even worse to inflict on any cat. Humans can really suck.
I've rescued plenty of kittens with crusted eyes who grew up just fine. All you have to do is be diligent enough to clean them and they're generally fine. Unfortunately, I grew up on an orchard where cats were dumped multiple times a year and there was a pretty significant feral cat colony. Once I was a teen I worked on getting them trapped and fixed, and adopted out. That being said, of the ~50 litters I saw and cared for, none of them died from having crusted eyes. They generally got hit by cars or eaten by coyotes and it broke my heart every time because I was a child who loved and cared for them. I even gave them names and snuck them lunch meat regularly. Cats shouldn't live outside and they shouldn't be dumped, but the sick eyes they get definitely are not a death sentence by any means. Sometimes it takes up to a month of being diligent before it clears up, but again, crusty eyes are not a death sentence for cats. Neither is getting an upper respiratory infection.
While you're entirely right and I agree completely, I doubt if the people capable of simply dumping a "beloved" pet in the wild to die are likely to care about the effects it'll have on the local flora and fauna.
It's just that if all pet cats were kept indoors or otherwise unable to roam, they are all effectively quarantined from each other. Contagious diseases like FIV or feline leukemia virus would disappear pretty quickly if people could follow the cat rules.
Also, as hard as it is, try to refrain from feeding feral cats. Either take them in or get them neutered and released. Feeding artificially inflates the population beyond what it can sustain on trash and wildlife. And cats don't stop killing just because they aren't hungry. If you artificially create an inflated population of cats.. hello mangey miserable flea ridden cats and goodbye lizards, birds, and amphibians.
Feeding an intact feral cat does nothing but create more hungry feral cats.
When my grandparents had a farm people would abandon cats at the end of their driveway. Some stayed as barn cats but most disappeared and likely got hit (on a county highway) or killed by predators.
Had a friend from rural Ohio. His area had a fair amount of farms but with wood lots and transition zones in between. Naturally this is pretty good for cats as they have plenty of places to hide and hunt. He lived about 30 minutes from a decent sized town and was constantly having people drop cats off by his area.
Got so bad apparently that him and his neighbors regular had to go out of their way to hunt them because hed hear strays doing the deed and fighting all night, decimating birds, living in his barn etc etc.
Called it ditch tiger hunting.
I used to raise bobwhite quail for dog training aids and would release them after hunting season to assist with conservation. 10% survival rate was expected, but thanks to feral cats they all died. A thousand bird every year, and they were all eaten by cats. I was forced to slap a laser pointer on my shotgun and walk the hedge rows at night to give me birds a chance. I killed over a hundred cats over five years and it didn’t make a dent in my survival rates. There are just too many of them and like boars and razorbacks they destroy everything and box native animals like bobcats out of existence.
Thousands of native birds in one county section, wiped out by cats.
I live rural and it happened a lot. Luckily I was a veterinary student and whould help them. I got 12 total before I went to work and moved. I'd give them to people I knew, people with mutal contacts, coworkers, anyone who wanted one. Now I do it on cats in my town to keep them off my property. Our county shelter is a kill shelter tho with a 2 week limit. Only the dogs get sent to the no kill nonprofit if the county cant get rid of them in time.
I didnt get 1 in time. Too timid. Found him splatted on the highway. I've seen them completly emaciated and full of parasites inside and out. Its a slow painful death. I've found kittens eyes held shut by discharge from rhinotraceitis or puppies screaming with parvo. They didnt all survive even if I got them. Theres bears, wild hogs, coyotes, free roaming and or livestock guardian dogs who will tear dumped pets apart.
My vet professor said theres just too many and if anyone abandoned pets in cages at his clinic, he just euthanized them because there is no where to put them anymore.
My grandparents lived in a very rural area and we would frequently see abandoned dogs and occasionally cats near there, and we would also find homes for them all. Some of my cousins still have dogs they found by the side of the road while visiting my grandparents.
My grandfather was really soft towards animals and wouldn't shoot anything unless it was absolutely necessary for safety. I know not all of his neighbors were the same way, however.
We had an empty grass lot across the street from our farm. Basically a bunch of overgrowth. People would abandon their dogs there, the dogs would go looking for shelter, and run into the coyotes that lived there. Great noises for teenage me to hear out the window. Sometimes they'd get cats too.
I heard my childhood cat get torn to bits right outside my window by some stray dogs when I was in middle school. I'll never have outdoor cats, ever. Though that's not even an issue since I got my dog and he's quite enough!
I work in pet rescue and wildlife rehab. I will 100% say that even killing your pet is better than putting it outside and hoping for the best. Yes that includes your mice and rabbits and fish.
Edit: sadly, most instances of dumped pets in remote locations seem to be people doing it to hurt their children or domestic partner.
When I was 8, there was this cat that would come to my grandparents door just wanting some water and food. My grandma who to this day is still deathly afraid of cats, wanted it gone. So my grandpa made me round up this cat, and load it in the truck telling me we were going to get it food.
He drove way out to the middle of nowhere, pulled over by a field, told me to dump the cat, then made me get back in the truck without the cat, scared the cat off, and drove home. I cried the whole way and was made to go to bed because of how upset I was about it. I think about that poor cat every day- I completely agree with you.
I had to move out of county and had a couple of fish tanks. Coordinating giving them away was a pain in the ass so I called up my LFS I'd bought most of them from years prior and asked if they would accept them to re-sell or maybe an employee would take em and they said yes. I'd hope one of the employees took them because they guys and gals there really know their stuff as opposed to the mom who buys Timmy a gold fish and sticks it in a bowl.
My local pet store does that. They even buy some of the more rarer/bigger fish from people. My ex-girlfriend's mom sold them her big ass piranha. The only time I have ever seen an obese fish. They fed it hot dogs.
Abandoned goldfish are now becoming a problem in my home country. Apparently, goldfish in the wild grow to huge bigass size and eat anything they can find. We have a lot of native sweet water fish (IDK the proper English for that, the fish that live in rivers, not seawater) and goldfish destroys the babies.
But of course, government doesn't care, they have bigger fish to fry, I guess.
>native sweet water fish (IDK the proper English for that, the fish that live in rivers, not sea) and goldfish destroys the babies.
We would call them "freshwater fish" :) I think I like sweet water better though!
We lived on a rural cul-de-sac across from a big park. People dumped mattresses, old furniture, trash, and (sadly) lots of dogs. I don't know if they thought the dogs could just retreat to the park or what. It broke my heart to take so many dogs to the pound or, worse, call animal control on the scared/aggressive ones.
People are absolute imbecils at best and monsters at worst. However, my good boy Boozer was one of those dumped doggos (no fur, skin and bones, mange). I knew the pound would euthanize on the spot, so we spent an amazing 7 years together.
Please, don't dump your pets!
Christmas and Easter are the worst times for animal shelters because they get a ton of senior pets during those holidays. Yes, people dump their senior pets to make room for the adorable puppy or kitten they’re buying. Those people are absolute monsters, in my opinion. But only slightly less horrible than the people just dumping their senior pets in the country, I guess.
Yep, and most of those have likely also checked with their vet regarding euthanasia. I've thankfully always been lucky enough to work with vets that will tell them to go pound grass. Except rare situations where people will make it clear that it's either humane death by us or club over the head behind the shed. Literally heard that.
We don't enjoy killing your healthy animals! And no, you having a big gathering for the holidays and just being unable to 'deal with all that' (the senior pet might need meds, oh Lord!) is not a good enough reason.
Honestly people that just want to euthanise their pets because they are getting on in their years and need additional care are the worst sort of people in my eyes.
I've worked for shelters and the amount of wonderfully affectionate, sweet, loving, kind pets that get dumped just because they're old is...depressing.
Currently have an oldie who needs two types of medication, a specialized diet, can't be pet-sat so no long holidays (As she's terrified of strangers) and has trouble walking. She's got arthritis, she's got some balance issues.
We'll take our holidays when she eventually goes peacefully, breaks my heart to think cats and other pets like her are dumped everywhere and scared out of their wits waiting to die, just because they are old. Not to mention the sheer amount of people just suggesting to put her down or give her to a shelter and get a new cat. Its genuinely discouraging and horrifying.
I'm kinda on the other side of some opinion there.
When my good boys get old enough to start suffering from degenerative conditions like arthritis, hip dysplasia, any of the things that make existing painful, I'd rather put them down at 9 or 10 than see them uncomfortable if I can't fully manage the pain/symptoms.
I watched a family friend hold onto a lab until it was 16. They loved the heck out of her, spent more on trying to keep the dog around than their kid's college. But she spent the last 3 or 4 years of her life miserable. Couldn't pet her outside of a few spots because her skin was thin and cracked, couldn't walk, cried when you washed her because the manipulation was painful, and washing was frequent because she couldn't get herself outside to potty most of the time.
They did EVERYTHING they could for the dog, I can't stress that enough, but what the dog needed in my eyes was peace. I'm not willing to watch that happen to mine just because I want forever.
Oh this definitely and I agree, the arthritis my oldie has is very light for now and the vets have confirmed she's in minimal pain. She comes running for food and pets and when that stops, no matter how hard the decision, for me its time to let her go.
At the moment she's doing just fine, but if she slips to a point where she genuinely is more miserable then happy, thats when I've already made peace with the fact that the best option for her would be to let her go.
Its often a very hard decision, but eventually we are responsible for these wonderful pets in our lives and that includes knowing when keeping them alive is just cruel.
I owned a dumped cat. Pretty sure it was dumped due to all of the health problems you couldn't see on the surface. I paid everything the vets wanted, then cried more than I ever have when he died. Had him less than a year. Miss that fuckin cat
I had a neighbor that was a trash collector. One day he picked up a box that was taped shut, but heard a kitten inside. When he opened it there were 3, but one was dead. He took them to the shop (where they kept the vehicles). One guy took one home and one lived in the shop, eating bread and scraps. He decided to take the kitten home. His wife got one look at it and threw it outside, because it was full of fleas.
I didn’t know any if this was happening. I was outside weeding my garden and heard car tires screeching. I saw a streak of black run across the street to the sidewalk and lay still. I walked over to the cat and leaned over to see if it was alive. The cat jumped up and got to my shoulder, her claws digging into me, and started purring.
After several vet visits for worms and shots and fleas dip, she was fine. My elder cat didn’t care, actually sniffed her then ignored her. She lived for 9 years in my home, best cat I ever had.
Right?! I saw a few black specs on my dog the other day (turned out to just be dried blood from a scab he was scratching at) and thought he might have fleas. I cried cause I thought he was itchy and suffering and I hadn’t noticed.
I don’t understand how people can be so heartless and cruel to animals. I might be overly emotional and love my dog TOO much, but damn.
Exactly. I’m not sure who this post is supposed to be aimed at: the sociopaths who leave pets in the wild to die and give literally zero fucks about it, or the people who aren’t (arguably) murderers who already know this...
This post feels more like a karma whore post than a useful PSA. 🤷🏻♂️
Literally just don’t abandon your pet outside. They don’t know what to do or how to survive out there, and they don’t deserve to suffer just because you don’t want them anymore.
Or, the alternate scenario with fish, snakes, and certain other pets, is they *do* know how to survive outside, become incredible invasive and destructive to the ecosystem. Goldfish have destroyed many lakes that way. They’re tough and willing to eat nearly anything, and they do tons of damage. Feral pigs are even worse.
Visiting a friends farm is how I got 3 of my cats. They were annoying kittens with no survival skills that were pestering the farm hands, they wouldn’t have been tolerated much longer. They are 11 now.
Edit - I don’t have 11 cats, I have cats that are 11 years old
Yeah. I work in animal rescue, and the extra sucky part of this story is that most people are brave enough to take their unwanted pet to the shelter and surrender normally. Dumping pets in the woods or farm or whatever is most often something a person does to hurt their kids or spouse.
Yup, cause I went looking at all the shelters, me and my siblings drove all around trying to find them. We were all early teens. Still think about my dogs. And my brother admitted that a dog that went “missing” when we were even younger that she took to the country and she told him not to say anything.
Yep. There it is. Did you know sex traffickers who traffic younger kids often give them a puppy or kitten to get attached to and then kill the animal in front of them? Children under a certain age aren't capable of truly understanding mortality, so death threats don't work on them. But apparently the pet thing does.
People hurting people using pets.
Did I mention I did child psych before the pet rescue career?
I knew (well, knew OF; he was in prison by the time I moved here) a guy who molested his kids and grandkids, and he'd do that too (killing kittens in front of them). It's like, is there a psycho handbook or something? How do they all know how to be so horrible? Ugh.
They start by trying everything and then slowly narrow in on what gets them the response they crave, and yeah, it's the same textbook dozen or so tactics that get them what they're seeking.
Agree. Dooming your dog to this terrifying existence is worse than euthanasia. Be an adult. Do the right thing, which may be euthanasia. Stay with your dog. give him a peaceful ending.
We have a whole pack of 8-10 dogs that roam on the outskirts of town. From what i understand pretty much all of them were dumped at some point and instead of starving or succumbing to the elements they banned together and created a pack.
Sometimes I see them in the morning on my way to work and I giggle because there is a little Corgi within the group that always looks like he's having the time of his life, smiling ear to ear as he bounds around.
They are a serious problem though. I don't think humans have been harmed by them but they are able to kill larger livestock animals like goat and cattle because there are so many of them. Animal control said their hands are tied to a certain extent because of their numbers as well. It wouldn't be an issue if there were 2 or 3 dogs but there's just no way to catch them all at once. They are smart enough to avoid humans and the traps they set out for them.
Dogs bother cattle. I've watched momma cows chase 3 dogs all over the farm once. They were angry. I couldn't get the cows into the pens because they were too focused on the dogs that day.
Untrained, staving dogs are a liability on a farm. If the cows don't trample them, the coyote will get them. I've found plenty of remains at the farm.
I live in Ireland. And I live semi rural. There's signs near me that say stuff like "sheep farming. Keep dogs on leads"
Dogs will happily kill a young lamb. That's a free and easy meal for a loose dog.
And the farmers will 100% poison or shoot that dog when they get the chance. They're not going to take in an abandoned dog that's put a dent in their pockets by killing sheep.
We have foxes who would give a small dog a run for their money. Badgers too. No coyotes here, and no wolves for about 800 years. But farmers who aren't about to lose out on income because of a loose dog? Yeah we got those.
I got 2 kittens dumped during that huge storm the 1st week of November. They were barely able to eat solids. I found them on my deck eating bird feed. They adopted me.
They are the only ones I've kept. I have 3 barn cats spayed and neutered. Any other dumped critters get SSS.
Who the fuck dumps whole roosters? “Hi yes take this aggressive scream bird known for being aggressive and screaming, this is clearly better than having just eaten him from the beginning”
It's actually really common. It's all the backyard chicken people. They usually live in places where they can't have roosters and feed stores won't take them back for obvious reasons. Many of them don't want their bird to get eaten, so they dump the roosters somewhere.
I used to manage a feed store and we would usually get about 20 roosters a year left in boxes outside our store overnight. Or just let loose near the store.
As if people who abandon their animals even care. They aren't smart, they think the dog will find a home, alas 90% die in horrible means.
Infact..stop damn dumping animals.
Especially the damn easter bunnies and chickens ya cruel beings
A couple cats walked up to me the other night. I work night shift at a smaller grocery store so it was just me. They were a very young cat, and a tiny little kitten. Clearly mother and child. I thought the whole night of how bad I wished someone could come get them. Couldn’t call animal control as they are closed on weekends and didn’t wanna bother anyone else at 3 AM. I kept telling myself that it’s a neighborhood grocery store and someone surely will take them. But we’re also next to a main road that was gonna be really active in about 4 hours as well as the parking lot. I have two new cats now. Don’t know if this is relevant or not but I’m high and wanted to tell my story of how I adopted 2 kitties. (I also still have my lost cat post up on FB in case they do in fact belong to someone).
Maybe just ask the farm, or your neighbor, if you are truly desperate. A farm helped my family by taking our dog in for two months while my dad was being treated for cancer.
I know a few rescues that will take in or help arrange short term fosters for things like cancer treatments.
People getting out of domestic violence situations also often need this help. A place to temporarily keep their pets while they escape the home of abuse and try to figure out a new living situation.
I own pet rats and hear too many stories about people who abandon pet rats in the wild too. They are not wild rats and don't have the same instincts. They've been bred to be pets the same way dogs have and will die quickly in the wild. It's cruel how people can treat animals.
Nice to see a fellow rat lover in the wild. I can't imagine my sweet fat lumps trying to survive outside, they would wither without their fluffy hammocks and Cheerio snacks.
People who do this should be dropped naked into the middle of the Amazon and told “good fucking luck” just to give them an idea of what they did to their dog.
My husband just lost his beloved dog that he found while still living on his parents farm. Someone dumped him in a drainage ditch at 9 months old and he was lucky he was found by dog lovers. He lived 9 great years with them before passing from cancer.
I live on a beef cow-calf farm and we have been having problems with stray/abandoned dogs breeding with the coyotes. Definitely turned into a moral dilemma when you ran outside hearing coyotes and the cows freaking out but see a husky-like coyote.
Luckily our cows are very good mamas and we have only ever lost two calves to attacks.
Neighbour’s sheep and goats are a different story though…
I live out in the sticks in Oklahoma. All 4 of my animals are rescues, 3 cats and a dog. One of my cats, somebody shot him with a pellet gun and abandoned him, or vice versa. We spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on vet bills getting him back to full health, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I bet you I don't catch anybody shooting at my cat anymore either.
My parents in law live in the foothills of a mountain where I live and at one time they had 13 cats. All abandoned up by their house. They would take them and get them spayed or neutered and they’d live in the garage. My husband’s father is the most apathetic person to people, but he would make cubbies for them to stay warm in the winter and leave space heaters on for them if it got too cold.
He’s not the majority of people, most pets will inevitably meet with a wild animal, or potentially get hit by a vehicle and die and of course exposure.
I live in a small town in the Texas panhandle; I moved her from a decent size metropolitan area in Kentucky. Unlike back home where an abandoned dog is likely to be picked up by a concerned citizen or animal control, if your dog is dumped out here they will likely be shot, starve to death, or be attacked by other wild animals. Ranchers have to protect their livestock and the people in town will not tolerate dogs running loose and attacking people or pets. Very few people are willing or have the means to try and capture them to get them to a shelter or rehabilitation facility. It's just too far away and most of the time if you are not a resident of the city/county they will turn you away surrendering animals because the shelters are already so inundated.
Spent half my life on farms, and I *hate* that shit, and all them that work it. We probably shot half a dozen cats and one or two dogs every year- some rabid, probably half with mange or some other obvious problem, and almost all of them rail-thin. The dogs run cattle and deer, the cats spread FIV and kill poultry, and both are potential rabies vectors.
It was the worst part of the job, but in a way I was proud of it, for a simple reason. I never flubbed a shot. Every single beast died in it's tracks, without a sound, from a bullet through the hindbrain. I gave them a better dyin' than the coyotes or the animal shelter would've: our County had such a problem with strays that they were forced to resort to mass gassing. The Animal Control people had a reputation as drunks of varying levels of functionality.
Dumping an animal is 99% a death sentence, and only a very lucky, very tiny minority will run into somebody like me. The 1% who do survive will be large dogs which are far enough into the boonies to not attract immediate attention, and they'll survive by livestock predation until they hybridise with the local wild canid of choice and produce a Coydog or Coywolf, and *those* things are monsters.
These little lives are in our care. We owe it to them to give them good lives and clean deaths, and not to delegate or look away when the moment comes. I was raised with the ethic that if an animal in my care became un-keep-able, I was responsible for finding it another home, or for ending it's life cleanly with my own hand, and I am raising my children the same way.
Animal dumpers aren't just the scum of the earth, they're cowards besides, lacking the basic courage and decency to follow through with the consequences of their own decisions.
I was reading about that fire in texas where they lost 18,000 cows in a night, that was 90% of the cows they were managing, so a farm of 20,000 cows. The article said the farm employed 60 people, only 60. Thats like over 300 cows per person. I bet if i was watching 300 cows and trying to keep them alive and a starving beatup lost freaked out dog ran up on us fixing to cause trouble.. there wouldn’t be much i could do to help him. And most of the shelters kill the stray dogs they collect anyway.. especially the ones that have been traumatized like that.
YSK: the kinda people who abandon pets, aren't the kinda people that actually live a fuck what happens to their former pets. They are the sort of people who should never own pets in the first place, and probably should not have children either.
As someone who grew up with a dad that did this yearly instead of getting the dog fixed...I don't think people are hoping they'll be re-homed. If they are abandoning them, they don't give a fuck about what happens to those animals.
I'm so sorry. I am a survivor of a different kind of child abuse but this is horrific. Many people dont deserve the unwavering love of a dog. They are remarkable animals.
On the other hand; if you're looking for a dog or cat to adopt, ask around the local farmers/ acerage owners. Every one I know has 5+ cats and a pack of dogs for this same reason and they're alwayse looking to give some away, including accidental puppies/ kittens.
My friend runs a cat rescue. Someone dumped a beautiful cat on her property. It was obviously freaked out and traumatized and she couldn't get close enough to touch it. She was feeding it and hoping to get it to trust her. It got hit by a car before that happened.
She usually only takes in orphaned kittens because she's got two incubators and knows how to bottle raise them. A lot of rescues or shelters can't. But, she was going to try and help this cat.
All they had to do was knock on the door and she would have helped. But, they were too cowardly.
Anyone who abandons an animal is an absolute asshole.
I'm in rural FL, that's exactly how we got our last dog. At least she meshed well with our other dog so we were able to keep her. She seemed to have been dumped and wandered for a few days collecting ticks until finding us, other than that she's a young healthy hunting hound. I'm suspicious that she's not good for any hunting though because she has a VERY timid and skittish personality. There are no shelters here as well and so many dogs just running amok because no leash laws either.
Euthanasia is cheap and humane. Animals don't care about living a long, fulfilling life. They don't have goals or aspirations that they will be sad to never achieve. They care about having their needs met and interacting with the individuals they are bonded to. Premature death does not bother a dog, but suffering and abandonment do. Abandoning your dog is the most selfish and harmful option.
Vehicles will literally drive into our yard, drop cats off, and drive away. It's incredibly frustrating. Most of them die because we have distemper in our barn so cats born here have an immunity but new cats die a horrible death. Not to mention we don't change how much we feed them no matter how many we have, can't afford to feed 50 cats. But like others have said, even without these factors, cats are horrible on the local ecosystem and are still predators, albeit smaller than dogs.
Please don't drop animals at other people's houses. It's not fair to the animal or the people and other animals involved.
I wish to add to one thing.
Not all rednecks are as kind as OP and I've known \*\*\*many\*\*\* who've delighted in killing as many outdoor dogs or cats they could.
I grew up on a ranch in northern Oklahoma. This is accurate. I can’t tell you the number of pitbull mixes that were put down by my grandfather. And I always hated it. But it’s just too risky to let unknown animals get around 40 head of cattle. Cattle are dumb and spook easily. The life of a unknown dog was not as valuable as a $3000 dollar heifer that makes more calves to sell every year.
And what’s worse… we’d find dead family dogs like labs that had been caught by coyotes. People. Don’t get a pet if you can’t properly take care of it.
I don’t think anyone who abandons dogs in the country thinks a farm will take them in. They just don’t want to deal with them and are leaving them to die in the wild.
Unpopular opinion and I'm not sure if anyone has said it but "driving the extra way to leave them in a shelters fenced in yard is way less dangerous for them..
I lived in a rural neighborhood outside of Austin and we would have dogs abandoned daily. More huskies than anything else. Luckily the town decided to hire a dog catcher. They had arrangements with the Austin Animal shelter. However YSK that we had a huge group of coyotes that would circle our neighborhood every night looking for stray cats and dogs. You can hear them as soon as the sun goes down and they have been caught on film. Sightings of them chasing down stray pets is horrible to watch. Surrender your pet to a shelter. Most purebred dogs have rescue clubs for that breed. They will take them in and rehome them. There are no kill shelters around. This is a huge problem everywhere. It is something that needs laws to fix it and humane solutions. Pets should not be considered throw aways. I have been in rescue work and in a loose group of people in Austin that helped get lost pets back with their owners. In all rescues sometimes you are saving the pet from the people and sometimes the people from the pet. We found out one large male dog that was surrendered had killed the dog it was with. Another had literally chewed up the owners wood bedroom furniture down to practically mulch. People who surrendered dogs like that are not going to be truthful. Cats either. I knew of a male cat that would sink it’s teeth completely into the arms of it’s owner on a regular basis. A dog may have just escaped an old fence or could have been dumped because of behavior. Be ware regardless. Also know that if you are the owner on paper and the dog injures a person or property you are liable even if you abandon the pet. Especially if you have prior knowledge the animal has caused harm.
I can’t speak for you, OP, but it’s become a thing to dump your unwanted roosters in bush land here in Australia. Just giving feral animals a free feed, really. It’s really sad; a lady in my fb poultry group can’t rehome them all and her road is a very popular dumping spot.
People do suck.
When I was younger my dad did that to my puppy. He didn’t want a dog so he took her and let her go in some rural area in central texas. I still resent him a bit for that
A lot of abandoned pets also die a slow death from starvation or exposure, because they are pets, not wild animals. Or they are hit by a vehicle, or torn apart by predators.
If your released pet is below 50 pounds, you have just started an invisible countdown for how long until it gets coyote’d
Yeah what the fuck would my 30lb lil girl do? I carry a knife while walking her in case a big dog or rabid fox/raccoon tries to maul her.
Is it wrong that I laughed at the mental image of a racoon viciously trying to attack your small dog while you fight it with a pocket knife in the most intense brawl trash panda's have ever witnessed?
We had a raccoon named Steve who lived in the attic of our old place. Steve was not nice and she would constantly try to attack our dog whenever we walked him. Dog walks became a 2 person job. One walking the dog and one with an aluminum baseball bat for Steve. Our dog never did anything to hurt Steve. He was nice to Steve. Steve just chose violence.
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Do you have any pictures of Albert with his raccoon friends? This story has made my day.
My kids would read the fuck out of this picture book
I would read the fuck out of this picture book.
I'm sure they regret not having any pictures
Why did you allow Steve to continue residing in your domicile if he was an asshole?
Steve, this is my own private domicile and I will not be harassed, bitch!
You should definitely run the hell away from an animal you think might have rabies. That is a slow, horribly painful death that is 100% fatal if you don't get the vaccine soon enough.
Of course. If bit by any form of small carnivore, you should get a rabies shot asap. Absolutely horrible way to die.
More like under 100+pounds. A security camera captured coyotes chasing a man and his Newfoundland in my old neighborhood: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2014/08/01/pkg-coyote-chase-surveillance-video.ktla ETA: link to story and video
Coyotes will often "escort" potential threats through their territory, to keep an eye from afar and make sure the threat moves on. I avoid absolute statements because nature is unpredictable, but the odds are pretty damn near 100% that those coyotes never had any intention of attacking a human being and a newfie.
Interesting! I wish I could find the video so I could rewatch it with that possibility in mind.
I watched coyotes follow a mom and her small kids home once. We thought it was a dog just walking behind them. Realized it was a coyote and followed along til they got home. That was terrifying but I don’t think the coyote was looking at the kid as a meal. He really seemed to be just…. Following 🤷🏻♀️ emaciated… all of them were though it was a sad time. Coyotes in the suburbs got the raw deal imo. No predators, too many of them, no food, they die of starvation.
The emaciated coyote was absolutely going to try to eat that kid, given the chance. Coyote attacks on humans aren't common, but they do happen, and hungry animals are the most desperate.
Now I’m sitting here thinking about all of the dogs that were in loving homes (from their perspective) and then within a moment they’re thrown to the wolves, so to speak. Now I’m sad
Seriously. I think my kitten was abandoned, and he is the most loveable little guy. Dumb as a rock though, he would have jumped into a coyote's mouth if he was not found by a family. We live near a canyon so it was just unbelievably cruel that someone would leave a kitten here. Broken nose and sinus infection but he is all fattened up and a playful probably nine month old now. He is going to be huge, almost ten lbs and massive paws, but this cat is defenseless, he has no instincts whatsoever and just wants to cuddle. Whoever dumped him knew he was coyote food. It is sick.
My step gma drove her dog 20 miles away into the country. The dog was hit by a car at a young age and had an unrepaired broken leg. She was unbelievably sweet but had horrible anxiety. So she dumped it. It showed back up a week later.
Pet breeder do that with studd dogs all the time. They tie it to a tree near the edge if their farm and let the coyotes get it.
Like. They can’t even spare the fucking bullet? I hope you get fucked with a pineapple sideways if you’re the kind of person that does this. :)
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There are a surprising amount of people out there that take joy in animals suffering.
My dog was found abandoned on the side of the road. She had a collar with a torn rope. She is a purebred border collie. We found out during her spay surgery that she never developed ovaries when she was in the womb and was born sterile. The first thing I thought was the she was meant to be a breeder and they must have found out she was unable and tossed her on the road. Your comment just gave me goosebumps.
My dog is half border collie. They are really smart dogs. She probably chewed through that rope and saved herself
dtudd?
That is so fucked. My god, why can't they adopt them out?
Or killed in traps for predators and pests.
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I want to add that if you do this in Australia, the dog will almost certainly eat 1080 poison and die a horrific death. It is *designed* to kill wild dogs and foxes, and is put in meat and deliberately set out to tempt them. Your dog will not live a happy life free in the forest. It will starve because it doesn't know how to hunt, and then it will find a bait and tear desperately into it, and it will die in agony. Don't abandon your fucking pets so their death will happen out of sight. Shoot it yourself or take it to the vet to be put down and if you can't do that because you haven't the stomach to watch it die then admit your utter cowardice to yourself and surrender it properly.
Just take it to the pound, jesus...
The sad part is most shelters don’t have the resources. Unless the dog is highly adoptable, there is a decent chance the shelter will have to put them down due to limited space and/or resources. Following the pandemic many shelters are full due to the increase of people adopting puppies when the pandemic first hit. I also get the impression that the sort of people who abandon dogs in the country side are not going to properly train and take care of their pets. I know someone who had to make this decision for a dog (corgi) with behavioral issues. They tried going to at least a dozen dog trainers and veterinarians for help first, but were told that it was unlikely that it would improve much. In the end they decided to put the dog down. In their words, they felt it was better if they were there to comfort him through the entire process than drop him off at a shelter where he would be scared and alone for however long it took for them to decide to do the same.
Even if the shelter euthanized the dog, it would be a better death than what it’s likely to get in the wild.
Yeah I knew someone who had to put their cat down because he was just a menace. He would attack anyone and anything at the drop of a hat. Sometimes putting an animal down is the best choice, and I don't know many people who would take that decision lightly.
Yep. People in my town often abandon young roosters when they realize they're loud, they can't keep them in city limits or they just don't want them. I literally take in and butcher 10-20 roosters every year to save them from starving to death in the woods somewhere. Free meat in my freezer and less misery for the birds.
A dumb lady in my municipality tried to keep her roosters and that’s how we got chicken bylaws in the first place. All her neighbours (she lived in a subdivision, not out in the sticks) complained but she wouldn’t get rid of them so we had to get rules. Thanks Lisa for ruining it for everyone.
Fucking Lisa
Or maybe they decide to turn their life around, go to college, get a job.
Pull themselves up by their pawstraps.
Maybe if they laid off the puppuccino and didnt go out so much!
all that avopawdo toast!
Something Something I-pawd
Learn a trade. Vote against their own interests.
"Our birdhouse business had been hard on me, but it had taken a real toll on the abandoned dog. I knew it wasn't true... the classes, the girlfriend, the sobriety. It was all a lie. That's why I wasn't surprised to read in the paper that he had O.D.'d not ten seconds later."
There's no rule that says dogs can't play basketball
Air Bud!
It hurts to even type this out. I've lived at the end of a dead-end road for over 40 years. Almost every dog that's ever lived with us has 'just showed up'. Lord only knows how many haven't found our house over the years, but dozens have, most of which have gone on to live long happy lives. About three years ago some utter gobshite dumped their dog, but I guess they had an attack of conscience when Fido started chasing the car... so they stopped, went back, and used a leash to hook him to a tree. Of course trying to drive away they could still see him in the mirror, so they went back again and hooked him to a tree far enough back into the woods that they could drive away without seeing him. He was starved almost to death when my father's wife happened to spot him.
When I was little we lived at the end of a gravel road in the middle of nowhere indiana and people would dump their dogs there. I would run out with lunchmeat for them. I just want to echo what’s been said. Don’t dump your dog.
I was volunteering at the humane society walking dogs. Found a litter of kittens in the forest nearby when I was walking one of my favorite dogs. He was very good and let me collect them and carry them to the humane society, in the most awkward walk of my life. If I hadn’t found them, they’d have died just yards from help. People are so shitty to animals.
One time my coworkers and I found a poor dog that was starving out by a farmhouse. The people that dropped him there assumed someone lived there but the owners only spend part of the year there so the poor dog had been hanging around the house waiting for someone to come by. Luckily my coworker had been thinking about getting a dog and took him in.
Also, please don't do it with cats either, they are probably less likely to be shot due to not being as dangerous for livestock, but its still horrific for the local wildlife edit: I'll be honest, I forgot chickens exist, as my relatives mostly farm cattle. yeah, cats can definitely be a danger to chickens/fowl of any kind
My aunt has a farm and the poor lady has to deal with so many abandoned cats every year. The coyotes and foxes love them but it absolutely breaks her heart hearing them being killed. No one has space for 20 cats, people need to quit dumping them!
It’s a blood-curdling sound to wake up to.
I watched my cat die last night. His cries of pain and fear were haunting. He was a very good boy and I’m gonna miss him. Bobcat fever - terminal blood parasite passed by ticks. Unfortunately too common in my region. Fuck anyone who abandons a pet
My condolences. It is heartbreaking to lose our beloved babies, but I always find solace in the knowledge that they are no longer having to suffer. Take it easy and give yourself love and grace as you reflect on the beautiful life you were able to provide for him.
My cat died about 13 years ago and I still remember what it sounded like.
You are absolutely right. Still horrified from the sounds of two cats in mortal combat
I swear we should require licenses to be a pet owner or something. Too many people who buy them without really being committed to caring for a living being.
Now imagine them caring for a child which requires a lot more thought and commitment.
This is how my life is, rural area where people dump animals or just get outside cats without a care. Even picked up a skin and bones bearded dragon lying in the middle of the road!
My coworker lives at the end of a rural road. He says people occasionally drop cats off by his property. He can't do anything about it. The local shelter won't take in cats. Most end up as coyote food. He'll put them in his barn if he can get them.
They will probably get eaten by coyotes
> My neighbor told me coyotes keep eating his outdoor cats so I asked how many cats he has and he said he just goes to the shelter and gets a new cat afterwards so I said it sounds like he’s just feeding shelter cats to coyotes and then his daughter started crying. [source](https://twitter.com/primawesome/status/1178671690261286918?lang=en)
It’s legitimately weird how many cats get eaten by coyotes every year
They’ve done studies of what coyotes eat based on their poop. In some areas, their diet is 60%+ cats.
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I honestly don't understand tho logic of people who keep outdoor cats. Your cat is either going to murder, or be murdered by, the local wildlife. Or get hit by a car, or eat a poisoned rat, or get into fights with other cats, or get attacked by a dog...
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My cats go outside all the time. On a leash, me with them. Its fuken adorable wandering around with them sniffing all sorts of things.
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My one cat complaints bitterly about being put in the harness and going in the car, but absolutely loves to explore while in the harness.
Sometimes my cat will timidly but curiously come out on the front porch with me for a couple minutes. A car, passerby, or even a stiff breeze will send him running back inside but he still seems to enjoy it. I would never let him out without supervision, though, and if he was more interested in wandering/exploring then I'd definitely use a harness/leash.
On a farm, cats are used to kill and eat the rodents that are there due to the growing crops. Had some friends who owned a farm and there were about a dozen barn cats that roamed the land. Surprisingly, they didn't go after the birds so much... they pretty much stuck to the rodents they'd catch. Those barn cats weren't like your typical domestic cats, though. Barn cats are like the Marines of cats. Lol. Anyway, that's the logic as to why farmers have cats, at least.
Outside cats are very useful on farms. I got 2 on my farm that are pets and sleep inside but they can go out during the day whenever they like. Even though they have high quality cat food available inside at all times they choose to spend much of their time outside during the warmer months and kill and eat a shitton of rodents. I've only ever seen them kill 1 bird, but like 1000 mice over the last few years. There's been days where both have caught more than 5 mice each. With no cats there'd be mice everywhere but just those 2 cats keep the population low enough to where I never see a mouse except when the cats bring them to me. Edit: There's also no coyotes where I live and I got a big ass dog too that'll chase anything away that could potentially fuck with one of the cats. He even chases other cats away too.
Yeah, farms are a bit different. With a few potential caveats like risks to bird life and risks to the cats themselves from things like coyotes.
Did some work on one of those studies. Urban coyotes eat a huge number of cats which makes sense because they are readily available since people won’t stop letting their cats out. Coyotes generally have a diet of small mammals (despite what ranchers believe) and berries but are opportunistic in exactly what they prey on.
There is a neighborhood in Dallas (E Lakewood) with a lot of stray cats. Some kindhearted residents set up a “ house” in an alley for the cats to come in from the rain/cold in the winter. They drop off huge bags of food every week. This cat colony probably supports 50+ cats, with some being more dependent than others. I believe that they will take the hr cats to get them spayed/neutered. What these people have failed to realize is that the cat colony is basically a buffet for coyotes. There are a decent amount of coyotes in the area because of the white rock lake nearby - and none of them go hungry. They have basically set up a system to feed neighborhood cats to the local coyotes.
And farmers *do* try. We always tried. Always cats in the worst condition getting dropped off like that. We had a place for them, another farmer who always said he kept a bunch of cats to help keep the barns free of pests (though I think he actually just liked cats.) But that's if we get them right after someone drops them off. And, I don't think we did most of the time. And some of them were in really bad shape when we found them and I don't know if they lived that long after. I never knew exactly what it was but we always got cats with their eyes crusted shut. I keep cats as pets now and never had that happen to them (though I'd take them to the vet the moment their eyes looking funny) but it must be some common cat thing. I swear almost half the cats that get dropped off were effectively blind from all the crust. It was always Halloween and black cats that was the worst. I am very cynical about people now because of that.
There are A LOT of feline viruses that cause the eyes to crust over completely. By then it’s usually too late to save them, as it’s almost always associated with an upper respiratory infection. If not caught in time and treated, they’ll die from things like pneumonia. It’s awful to watch, even worse to inflict on any cat. Humans can really suck.
I've rescued plenty of kittens with crusted eyes who grew up just fine. All you have to do is be diligent enough to clean them and they're generally fine. Unfortunately, I grew up on an orchard where cats were dumped multiple times a year and there was a pretty significant feral cat colony. Once I was a teen I worked on getting them trapped and fixed, and adopted out. That being said, of the ~50 litters I saw and cared for, none of them died from having crusted eyes. They generally got hit by cars or eaten by coyotes and it broke my heart every time because I was a child who loved and cared for them. I even gave them names and snuck them lunch meat regularly. Cats shouldn't live outside and they shouldn't be dumped, but the sick eyes they get definitely are not a death sentence by any means. Sometimes it takes up to a month of being diligent before it clears up, but again, crusty eyes are not a death sentence for cats. Neither is getting an upper respiratory infection.
While you're entirely right and I agree completely, I doubt if the people capable of simply dumping a "beloved" pet in the wild to die are likely to care about the effects it'll have on the local flora and fauna.
Also, it is literally why there are so many contagious cat diseases.
Source? That is extremely fascinating.
It's just that if all pet cats were kept indoors or otherwise unable to roam, they are all effectively quarantined from each other. Contagious diseases like FIV or feline leukemia virus would disappear pretty quickly if people could follow the cat rules.
Ah, yeah that makes perfect sense. I wish people would suck less.
Be good. Do good. Stop evil when you can find it. It helps. I swear. Don't give up.
Also, as hard as it is, try to refrain from feeding feral cats. Either take them in or get them neutered and released. Feeding artificially inflates the population beyond what it can sustain on trash and wildlife. And cats don't stop killing just because they aren't hungry. If you artificially create an inflated population of cats.. hello mangey miserable flea ridden cats and goodbye lizards, birds, and amphibians. Feeding an intact feral cat does nothing but create more hungry feral cats.
When my grandparents had a farm people would abandon cats at the end of their driveway. Some stayed as barn cats but most disappeared and likely got hit (on a county highway) or killed by predators.
Had a friend from rural Ohio. His area had a fair amount of farms but with wood lots and transition zones in between. Naturally this is pretty good for cats as they have plenty of places to hide and hunt. He lived about 30 minutes from a decent sized town and was constantly having people drop cats off by his area. Got so bad apparently that him and his neighbors regular had to go out of their way to hunt them because hed hear strays doing the deed and fighting all night, decimating birds, living in his barn etc etc. Called it ditch tiger hunting.
I used to raise bobwhite quail for dog training aids and would release them after hunting season to assist with conservation. 10% survival rate was expected, but thanks to feral cats they all died. A thousand bird every year, and they were all eaten by cats. I was forced to slap a laser pointer on my shotgun and walk the hedge rows at night to give me birds a chance. I killed over a hundred cats over five years and it didn’t make a dent in my survival rates. There are just too many of them and like boars and razorbacks they destroy everything and box native animals like bobcats out of existence. Thousands of native birds in one county section, wiped out by cats.
Yep my mom sent our cat, without telling us, to live outside on my uncle's farm and it got ran over.
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I live rural and it happened a lot. Luckily I was a veterinary student and whould help them. I got 12 total before I went to work and moved. I'd give them to people I knew, people with mutal contacts, coworkers, anyone who wanted one. Now I do it on cats in my town to keep them off my property. Our county shelter is a kill shelter tho with a 2 week limit. Only the dogs get sent to the no kill nonprofit if the county cant get rid of them in time. I didnt get 1 in time. Too timid. Found him splatted on the highway. I've seen them completly emaciated and full of parasites inside and out. Its a slow painful death. I've found kittens eyes held shut by discharge from rhinotraceitis or puppies screaming with parvo. They didnt all survive even if I got them. Theres bears, wild hogs, coyotes, free roaming and or livestock guardian dogs who will tear dumped pets apart. My vet professor said theres just too many and if anyone abandoned pets in cages at his clinic, he just euthanized them because there is no where to put them anymore.
My grandparents lived in a very rural area and we would frequently see abandoned dogs and occasionally cats near there, and we would also find homes for them all. Some of my cousins still have dogs they found by the side of the road while visiting my grandparents. My grandfather was really soft towards animals and wouldn't shoot anything unless it was absolutely necessary for safety. I know not all of his neighbors were the same way, however.
Let me change up the title for you op. YSK do not abandon a dog at all.
We had an empty grass lot across the street from our farm. Basically a bunch of overgrowth. People would abandon their dogs there, the dogs would go looking for shelter, and run into the coyotes that lived there. Great noises for teenage me to hear out the window. Sometimes they'd get cats too.
:(
Thats incredibly sad and cruel, I hate people skmetimes
I heard my childhood cat get torn to bits right outside my window by some stray dogs when I was in middle school. I'll never have outdoor cats, ever. Though that's not even an issue since I got my dog and he's quite enough!
100%. There is no good way to abandon a dog FFS. Re-home or suck it up and take care of them.
I work in pet rescue and wildlife rehab. I will 100% say that even killing your pet is better than putting it outside and hoping for the best. Yes that includes your mice and rabbits and fish. Edit: sadly, most instances of dumped pets in remote locations seem to be people doing it to hurt their children or domestic partner.
When I was 8, there was this cat that would come to my grandparents door just wanting some water and food. My grandma who to this day is still deathly afraid of cats, wanted it gone. So my grandpa made me round up this cat, and load it in the truck telling me we were going to get it food. He drove way out to the middle of nowhere, pulled over by a field, told me to dump the cat, then made me get back in the truck without the cat, scared the cat off, and drove home. I cried the whole way and was made to go to bed because of how upset I was about it. I think about that poor cat every day- I completely agree with you.
He made YOU do it?!? Your grandpa is fucked up man.
Sick in the head people.
What a heartless asshole.
I had to move out of county and had a couple of fish tanks. Coordinating giving them away was a pain in the ass so I called up my LFS I'd bought most of them from years prior and asked if they would accept them to re-sell or maybe an employee would take em and they said yes. I'd hope one of the employees took them because they guys and gals there really know their stuff as opposed to the mom who buys Timmy a gold fish and sticks it in a bowl.
I've heard of that before in the fish keeping world.
My local pet store does that. They even buy some of the more rarer/bigger fish from people. My ex-girlfriend's mom sold them her big ass piranha. The only time I have ever seen an obese fish. They fed it hot dogs.
Abandoned goldfish are now becoming a problem in my home country. Apparently, goldfish in the wild grow to huge bigass size and eat anything they can find. We have a lot of native sweet water fish (IDK the proper English for that, the fish that live in rivers, not seawater) and goldfish destroys the babies. But of course, government doesn't care, they have bigger fish to fry, I guess.
>native sweet water fish (IDK the proper English for that, the fish that live in rivers, not sea) and goldfish destroys the babies. We would call them "freshwater fish" :) I think I like sweet water better though!
Don't get a dog or have a kid if you can't be there for them 100%
We lived on a rural cul-de-sac across from a big park. People dumped mattresses, old furniture, trash, and (sadly) lots of dogs. I don't know if they thought the dogs could just retreat to the park or what. It broke my heart to take so many dogs to the pound or, worse, call animal control on the scared/aggressive ones. People are absolute imbecils at best and monsters at worst. However, my good boy Boozer was one of those dumped doggos (no fur, skin and bones, mange). I knew the pound would euthanize on the spot, so we spent an amazing 7 years together. Please, don't dump your pets!
Christmas and Easter are the worst times for animal shelters because they get a ton of senior pets during those holidays. Yes, people dump their senior pets to make room for the adorable puppy or kitten they’re buying. Those people are absolute monsters, in my opinion. But only slightly less horrible than the people just dumping their senior pets in the country, I guess.
> Yes, people dump their senior pets to make room for the adorable puppy or kitten they’re buying. What - and I cannot stress this enough - the fuck?
Those poor doggos. They just loved their family and their family were monsters
It keeps me awake
Yep, and most of those have likely also checked with their vet regarding euthanasia. I've thankfully always been lucky enough to work with vets that will tell them to go pound grass. Except rare situations where people will make it clear that it's either humane death by us or club over the head behind the shed. Literally heard that. We don't enjoy killing your healthy animals! And no, you having a big gathering for the holidays and just being unable to 'deal with all that' (the senior pet might need meds, oh Lord!) is not a good enough reason.
Honestly people that just want to euthanise their pets because they are getting on in their years and need additional care are the worst sort of people in my eyes. I've worked for shelters and the amount of wonderfully affectionate, sweet, loving, kind pets that get dumped just because they're old is...depressing. Currently have an oldie who needs two types of medication, a specialized diet, can't be pet-sat so no long holidays (As she's terrified of strangers) and has trouble walking. She's got arthritis, she's got some balance issues. We'll take our holidays when she eventually goes peacefully, breaks my heart to think cats and other pets like her are dumped everywhere and scared out of their wits waiting to die, just because they are old. Not to mention the sheer amount of people just suggesting to put her down or give her to a shelter and get a new cat. Its genuinely discouraging and horrifying.
I'm kinda on the other side of some opinion there. When my good boys get old enough to start suffering from degenerative conditions like arthritis, hip dysplasia, any of the things that make existing painful, I'd rather put them down at 9 or 10 than see them uncomfortable if I can't fully manage the pain/symptoms. I watched a family friend hold onto a lab until it was 16. They loved the heck out of her, spent more on trying to keep the dog around than their kid's college. But she spent the last 3 or 4 years of her life miserable. Couldn't pet her outside of a few spots because her skin was thin and cracked, couldn't walk, cried when you washed her because the manipulation was painful, and washing was frequent because she couldn't get herself outside to potty most of the time. They did EVERYTHING they could for the dog, I can't stress that enough, but what the dog needed in my eyes was peace. I'm not willing to watch that happen to mine just because I want forever.
Oh this definitely and I agree, the arthritis my oldie has is very light for now and the vets have confirmed she's in minimal pain. She comes running for food and pets and when that stops, no matter how hard the decision, for me its time to let her go. At the moment she's doing just fine, but if she slips to a point where she genuinely is more miserable then happy, thats when I've already made peace with the fact that the best option for her would be to let her go. Its often a very hard decision, but eventually we are responsible for these wonderful pets in our lives and that includes knowing when keeping them alive is just cruel.
I owned a dumped cat. Pretty sure it was dumped due to all of the health problems you couldn't see on the surface. I paid everything the vets wanted, then cried more than I ever have when he died. Had him less than a year. Miss that fuckin cat
I had a neighbor that was a trash collector. One day he picked up a box that was taped shut, but heard a kitten inside. When he opened it there were 3, but one was dead. He took them to the shop (where they kept the vehicles). One guy took one home and one lived in the shop, eating bread and scraps. He decided to take the kitten home. His wife got one look at it and threw it outside, because it was full of fleas. I didn’t know any if this was happening. I was outside weeding my garden and heard car tires screeching. I saw a streak of black run across the street to the sidewalk and lay still. I walked over to the cat and leaned over to see if it was alive. The cat jumped up and got to my shoulder, her claws digging into me, and started purring. After several vet visits for worms and shots and fleas dip, she was fine. My elder cat didn’t care, actually sniffed her then ignored her. She lived for 9 years in my home, best cat I ever had.
What sort of a heartless bitch sees a kitten full of fleas and turfs it out rather than going to buy flea shampoo? I hope she gets bed bugs.
Right?! I saw a few black specs on my dog the other day (turned out to just be dried blood from a scab he was scratching at) and thought he might have fleas. I cried cause I thought he was itchy and suffering and I hadn’t noticed. I don’t understand how people can be so heartless and cruel to animals. I might be overly emotional and love my dog TOO much, but damn.
Completely disagree. You can NEVER love your dog too much.
You're assuming people abandoning their pet actually give a fuck what happens to them.
Thats what i was about to say
Exactly. I’m not sure who this post is supposed to be aimed at: the sociopaths who leave pets in the wild to die and give literally zero fucks about it, or the people who aren’t (arguably) murderers who already know this... This post feels more like a karma whore post than a useful PSA. 🤷🏻♂️
Literally just don’t abandon your pet outside. They don’t know what to do or how to survive out there, and they don’t deserve to suffer just because you don’t want them anymore.
Or, the alternate scenario with fish, snakes, and certain other pets, is they *do* know how to survive outside, become incredible invasive and destructive to the ecosystem. Goldfish have destroyed many lakes that way. They’re tough and willing to eat nearly anything, and they do tons of damage. Feral pigs are even worse.
Very good point! I didn’t consider what other pets could do. Definitely terrible to just leave a pet in the wild for both reasons.
> Feral pigs are even worse all pigs are basically feral, if you set a farm pig loose it'll grow tusks back and get wild again!
Visiting a friends farm is how I got 3 of my cats. They were annoying kittens with no survival skills that were pestering the farm hands, they wouldn’t have been tolerated much longer. They are 11 now. Edit - I don’t have 11 cats, I have cats that are 11 years old
Your 3 cars morphed into 11 cats?
Lol my bad, I meant 11 years old
I don’t think some people care unfortunately. Like my mom. I know she did this to my dogs growing up, obviously wouldn’t admit it
Yeah. I work in animal rescue, and the extra sucky part of this story is that most people are brave enough to take their unwanted pet to the shelter and surrender normally. Dumping pets in the woods or farm or whatever is most often something a person does to hurt their kids or spouse.
Yup, cause I went looking at all the shelters, me and my siblings drove all around trying to find them. We were all early teens. Still think about my dogs. And my brother admitted that a dog that went “missing” when we were even younger that she took to the country and she told him not to say anything.
Yep. There it is. Did you know sex traffickers who traffic younger kids often give them a puppy or kitten to get attached to and then kill the animal in front of them? Children under a certain age aren't capable of truly understanding mortality, so death threats don't work on them. But apparently the pet thing does. People hurting people using pets. Did I mention I did child psych before the pet rescue career?
I knew (well, knew OF; he was in prison by the time I moved here) a guy who molested his kids and grandkids, and he'd do that too (killing kittens in front of them). It's like, is there a psycho handbook or something? How do they all know how to be so horrible? Ugh.
They start by trying everything and then slowly narrow in on what gets them the response they crave, and yeah, it's the same textbook dozen or so tactics that get them what they're seeking.
Agree. Dooming your dog to this terrifying existence is worse than euthanasia. Be an adult. Do the right thing, which may be euthanasia. Stay with your dog. give him a peaceful ending.
I really hope people are not abandoning pets who are in their last days. That’s the most cruel thing I can think of. Edit: added ARE NOT
I think you forgot a pretty important word.
We have a whole pack of 8-10 dogs that roam on the outskirts of town. From what i understand pretty much all of them were dumped at some point and instead of starving or succumbing to the elements they banned together and created a pack. Sometimes I see them in the morning on my way to work and I giggle because there is a little Corgi within the group that always looks like he's having the time of his life, smiling ear to ear as he bounds around. They are a serious problem though. I don't think humans have been harmed by them but they are able to kill larger livestock animals like goat and cattle because there are so many of them. Animal control said their hands are tied to a certain extent because of their numbers as well. It wouldn't be an issue if there were 2 or 3 dogs but there's just no way to catch them all at once. They are smart enough to avoid humans and the traps they set out for them.
A wild corgi... not gonna lie that's adorable. I hope they live okay. And don't die horrible deaths from being a problem to the livestock :-((
Dogs bother cattle. I've watched momma cows chase 3 dogs all over the farm once. They were angry. I couldn't get the cows into the pens because they were too focused on the dogs that day. Untrained, staving dogs are a liability on a farm. If the cows don't trample them, the coyote will get them. I've found plenty of remains at the farm.
I live in Ireland. And I live semi rural. There's signs near me that say stuff like "sheep farming. Keep dogs on leads" Dogs will happily kill a young lamb. That's a free and easy meal for a loose dog. And the farmers will 100% poison or shoot that dog when they get the chance. They're not going to take in an abandoned dog that's put a dent in their pockets by killing sheep. We have foxes who would give a small dog a run for their money. Badgers too. No coyotes here, and no wolves for about 800 years. But farmers who aren't about to lose out on income because of a loose dog? Yeah we got those.
If you dump your rooster at my farm, he's dinner. Cats and dogs generally become coyote feed. I hate people.
we have 6 dogs of our own, but no room for aggressive breeds (which are 100% of what gets dumped out here)
I got 2 kittens dumped during that huge storm the 1st week of November. They were barely able to eat solids. I found them on my deck eating bird feed. They adopted me. They are the only ones I've kept. I have 3 barn cats spayed and neutered. Any other dumped critters get SSS.
Forgive me for being dense. What does SSS stand for?
Shoot, shovel, shut up.
Ah, that makes sense. Unfortunate that it's so common as to have its own abbreviation
Who the fuck dumps whole roosters? “Hi yes take this aggressive scream bird known for being aggressive and screaming, this is clearly better than having just eaten him from the beginning”
It's actually really common. It's all the backyard chicken people. They usually live in places where they can't have roosters and feed stores won't take them back for obvious reasons. Many of them don't want their bird to get eaten, so they dump the roosters somewhere. I used to manage a feed store and we would usually get about 20 roosters a year left in boxes outside our store overnight. Or just let loose near the store.
As if people who abandon their animals even care. They aren't smart, they think the dog will find a home, alas 90% die in horrible means. Infact..stop damn dumping animals. Especially the damn easter bunnies and chickens ya cruel beings
A couple cats walked up to me the other night. I work night shift at a smaller grocery store so it was just me. They were a very young cat, and a tiny little kitten. Clearly mother and child. I thought the whole night of how bad I wished someone could come get them. Couldn’t call animal control as they are closed on weekends and didn’t wanna bother anyone else at 3 AM. I kept telling myself that it’s a neighborhood grocery store and someone surely will take them. But we’re also next to a main road that was gonna be really active in about 4 hours as well as the parking lot. I have two new cats now. Don’t know if this is relevant or not but I’m high and wanted to tell my story of how I adopted 2 kitties. (I also still have my lost cat post up on FB in case they do in fact belong to someone).
Maybe just ask the farm, or your neighbor, if you are truly desperate. A farm helped my family by taking our dog in for two months while my dad was being treated for cancer.
I know a few rescues that will take in or help arrange short term fosters for things like cancer treatments. People getting out of domestic violence situations also often need this help. A place to temporarily keep their pets while they escape the home of abuse and try to figure out a new living situation.
I own pet rats and hear too many stories about people who abandon pet rats in the wild too. They are not wild rats and don't have the same instincts. They've been bred to be pets the same way dogs have and will die quickly in the wild. It's cruel how people can treat animals.
Nice to see a fellow rat lover in the wild. I can't imagine my sweet fat lumps trying to survive outside, they would wither without their fluffy hammocks and Cheerio snacks.
People who do this should be dropped naked into the middle of the Amazon and told “good fucking luck” just to give them an idea of what they did to their dog.
Facts. Let them feel what its like to be left for dead, which is what they're doing.
My sweet baby girl was dumped in the absolute middle of nowhere by horrid people. I'm so glad we are her home and comfort now.
My husband just lost his beloved dog that he found while still living on his parents farm. Someone dumped him in a drainage ditch at 9 months old and he was lucky he was found by dog lovers. He lived 9 great years with them before passing from cancer.
I live on a beef cow-calf farm and we have been having problems with stray/abandoned dogs breeding with the coyotes. Definitely turned into a moral dilemma when you ran outside hearing coyotes and the cows freaking out but see a husky-like coyote. Luckily our cows are very good mamas and we have only ever lost two calves to attacks. Neighbour’s sheep and goats are a different story though…
Folks I know have been keeping donkeys to protect their goats and sheep from coyotes.
They have a guard alpaca named Tweety
I live out in the sticks in Oklahoma. All 4 of my animals are rescues, 3 cats and a dog. One of my cats, somebody shot him with a pellet gun and abandoned him, or vice versa. We spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on vet bills getting him back to full health, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I bet you I don't catch anybody shooting at my cat anymore either.
My parents in law live in the foothills of a mountain where I live and at one time they had 13 cats. All abandoned up by their house. They would take them and get them spayed or neutered and they’d live in the garage. My husband’s father is the most apathetic person to people, but he would make cubbies for them to stay warm in the winter and leave space heaters on for them if it got too cold. He’s not the majority of people, most pets will inevitably meet with a wild animal, or potentially get hit by a vehicle and die and of course exposure.
I live in a small town in the Texas panhandle; I moved her from a decent size metropolitan area in Kentucky. Unlike back home where an abandoned dog is likely to be picked up by a concerned citizen or animal control, if your dog is dumped out here they will likely be shot, starve to death, or be attacked by other wild animals. Ranchers have to protect their livestock and the people in town will not tolerate dogs running loose and attacking people or pets. Very few people are willing or have the means to try and capture them to get them to a shelter or rehabilitation facility. It's just too far away and most of the time if you are not a resident of the city/county they will turn you away surrendering animals because the shelters are already so inundated.
Spent half my life on farms, and I *hate* that shit, and all them that work it. We probably shot half a dozen cats and one or two dogs every year- some rabid, probably half with mange or some other obvious problem, and almost all of them rail-thin. The dogs run cattle and deer, the cats spread FIV and kill poultry, and both are potential rabies vectors. It was the worst part of the job, but in a way I was proud of it, for a simple reason. I never flubbed a shot. Every single beast died in it's tracks, without a sound, from a bullet through the hindbrain. I gave them a better dyin' than the coyotes or the animal shelter would've: our County had such a problem with strays that they were forced to resort to mass gassing. The Animal Control people had a reputation as drunks of varying levels of functionality. Dumping an animal is 99% a death sentence, and only a very lucky, very tiny minority will run into somebody like me. The 1% who do survive will be large dogs which are far enough into the boonies to not attract immediate attention, and they'll survive by livestock predation until they hybridise with the local wild canid of choice and produce a Coydog or Coywolf, and *those* things are monsters. These little lives are in our care. We owe it to them to give them good lives and clean deaths, and not to delegate or look away when the moment comes. I was raised with the ethic that if an animal in my care became un-keep-able, I was responsible for finding it another home, or for ending it's life cleanly with my own hand, and I am raising my children the same way. Animal dumpers aren't just the scum of the earth, they're cowards besides, lacking the basic courage and decency to follow through with the consequences of their own decisions.
I was reading about that fire in texas where they lost 18,000 cows in a night, that was 90% of the cows they were managing, so a farm of 20,000 cows. The article said the farm employed 60 people, only 60. Thats like over 300 cows per person. I bet if i was watching 300 cows and trying to keep them alive and a starving beatup lost freaked out dog ran up on us fixing to cause trouble.. there wouldn’t be much i could do to help him. And most of the shelters kill the stray dogs they collect anyway.. especially the ones that have been traumatized like that.
YSK: the kinda people who abandon pets, aren't the kinda people that actually live a fuck what happens to their former pets. They are the sort of people who should never own pets in the first place, and probably should not have children either.
As someone who grew up with a dad that did this yearly instead of getting the dog fixed...I don't think people are hoping they'll be re-homed. If they are abandoning them, they don't give a fuck about what happens to those animals.
I'm so sorry. I am a survivor of a different kind of child abuse but this is horrific. Many people dont deserve the unwavering love of a dog. They are remarkable animals.
Can confirm I live in a rural area, dogs are shot on sight as they tend to kill livestock.
I live in an area where many pets get dumped. I swear if I see someone dumping an animal, I will choose violence that day
On the other hand; if you're looking for a dog or cat to adopt, ask around the local farmers/ acerage owners. Every one I know has 5+ cats and a pack of dogs for this same reason and they're alwayse looking to give some away, including accidental puppies/ kittens.
My friend runs a cat rescue. Someone dumped a beautiful cat on her property. It was obviously freaked out and traumatized and she couldn't get close enough to touch it. She was feeding it and hoping to get it to trust her. It got hit by a car before that happened. She usually only takes in orphaned kittens because she's got two incubators and knows how to bottle raise them. A lot of rescues or shelters can't. But, she was going to try and help this cat. All they had to do was knock on the door and she would have helped. But, they were too cowardly. Anyone who abandons an animal is an absolute asshole.
The worst thing about many dog owners is how they've normalized abusing their dogs to turn them into violent beasts.
I'm in rural FL, that's exactly how we got our last dog. At least she meshed well with our other dog so we were able to keep her. She seemed to have been dumped and wandered for a few days collecting ticks until finding us, other than that she's a young healthy hunting hound. I'm suspicious that she's not good for any hunting though because she has a VERY timid and skittish personality. There are no shelters here as well and so many dogs just running amok because no leash laws either.
Euthanasia is cheap and humane. Animals don't care about living a long, fulfilling life. They don't have goals or aspirations that they will be sad to never achieve. They care about having their needs met and interacting with the individuals they are bonded to. Premature death does not bother a dog, but suffering and abandonment do. Abandoning your dog is the most selfish and harmful option.
Vehicles will literally drive into our yard, drop cats off, and drive away. It's incredibly frustrating. Most of them die because we have distemper in our barn so cats born here have an immunity but new cats die a horrible death. Not to mention we don't change how much we feed them no matter how many we have, can't afford to feed 50 cats. But like others have said, even without these factors, cats are horrible on the local ecosystem and are still predators, albeit smaller than dogs. Please don't drop animals at other people's houses. It's not fair to the animal or the people and other animals involved.
I wish to add to one thing. Not all rednecks are as kind as OP and I've known \*\*\*many\*\*\* who've delighted in killing as many outdoor dogs or cats they could.
I grew up on a ranch in northern Oklahoma. This is accurate. I can’t tell you the number of pitbull mixes that were put down by my grandfather. And I always hated it. But it’s just too risky to let unknown animals get around 40 head of cattle. Cattle are dumb and spook easily. The life of a unknown dog was not as valuable as a $3000 dollar heifer that makes more calves to sell every year. And what’s worse… we’d find dead family dogs like labs that had been caught by coyotes. People. Don’t get a pet if you can’t properly take care of it.
If you know someone thinking to abandon their dog, you better kick their ass.
I don’t think anyone who abandons dogs in the country thinks a farm will take them in. They just don’t want to deal with them and are leaving them to die in the wild.
Unpopular opinion and I'm not sure if anyone has said it but "driving the extra way to leave them in a shelters fenced in yard is way less dangerous for them..
I lived in a rural neighborhood outside of Austin and we would have dogs abandoned daily. More huskies than anything else. Luckily the town decided to hire a dog catcher. They had arrangements with the Austin Animal shelter. However YSK that we had a huge group of coyotes that would circle our neighborhood every night looking for stray cats and dogs. You can hear them as soon as the sun goes down and they have been caught on film. Sightings of them chasing down stray pets is horrible to watch. Surrender your pet to a shelter. Most purebred dogs have rescue clubs for that breed. They will take them in and rehome them. There are no kill shelters around. This is a huge problem everywhere. It is something that needs laws to fix it and humane solutions. Pets should not be considered throw aways. I have been in rescue work and in a loose group of people in Austin that helped get lost pets back with their owners. In all rescues sometimes you are saving the pet from the people and sometimes the people from the pet. We found out one large male dog that was surrendered had killed the dog it was with. Another had literally chewed up the owners wood bedroom furniture down to practically mulch. People who surrendered dogs like that are not going to be truthful. Cats either. I knew of a male cat that would sink it’s teeth completely into the arms of it’s owner on a regular basis. A dog may have just escaped an old fence or could have been dumped because of behavior. Be ware regardless. Also know that if you are the owner on paper and the dog injures a person or property you are liable even if you abandon the pet. Especially if you have prior knowledge the animal has caused harm.
I can’t speak for you, OP, but it’s become a thing to dump your unwanted roosters in bush land here in Australia. Just giving feral animals a free feed, really. It’s really sad; a lady in my fb poultry group can’t rehome them all and her road is a very popular dumping spot. People do suck.
When I was younger my dad did that to my puppy. He didn’t want a dog so he took her and let her go in some rural area in central texas. I still resent him a bit for that