I agree with dogmom1961 about the multiple pet thing.
I'm also dismayed to see that UAN is yet another dog-cat centric organization. The number of parrots in households in the US rivals the number of cats. Why are they, and other pets, not included here?
I work hard as a volunteer with two separate organizations involved in parrot education and adoption. I'm tired of parrot discrimination.
Is this United Animal Nations, or United Dog and Cat Nations?
I also would like more than one vote because of having multiple animals that came into our home by various means - e.i. free kitten from a pet store out of a litter of 12, rescued from an abusive situation and from an ad in the newspaper.
I also wonder how valid/factual this poll is because I find that people that are members of organizations like UAN and other animal organizations understand and support shelters and the "lost abandoned" animals, therefore, the results will be higher on the adopted from shelter and rescued verses breeders and pet stores.
I'd like to know more about the number of parrots in the U.S. vs. the number of cats. I know a whole lot of people who have one or more cats, but not a single person who owns a parrot. Can someone show me where I can find those stats? I find it hard to believe but would love to see data. Thanks.
I did notice that the poll specifically asked where we met our MOST RECENT pet. I got my latest two on the same exact day - Easter Sunday 2007. One from a (step) family member who locked her in a pantry to protect her from their 2 yr old human terror and "forgot" about her for 3 days and the other from a rescue group that found out I had experience with service dogs-that one was found wandering the streets with an outdated microchip from a facility that had closed down 3 years prior and no leads to any humans.
I also agree with leftytoo that this poll may be biased because of our particular slant towards rescue vs. pet store purchases.
Just my 2 cents, didn't mean to start WW III. ;^)
Dori (aka: Magellan)
Posts: 42 | Location: Central Indiana | Registered: November 21, 2008
Points well taken! We are not at all partial to dogs and cats as pets (although these species do account for the overwhelming majority of pets we see in our temporary emergency shelters during disaster evacuations).
We realize most people will have more than one pet (UAN's 13 staff members collectively have more than 40 pets!), so we asked respondents to just indicate how they acquired their newest pet.
We have 2 dogs and 3 cats...all "found" on the street, under buildings, crying at the front door... The last 6 dogs we had were all "found"--in the desert, on the street, and one was from Animal Rescue (we felt the first "find" needed a companion. Little did we know....)
I agree with having more than one vote. Each dog/cat that I have had over the years have been rescued from more than one source; SPCA, found wondering in downtown Sacramento, from a friend that found a dog on the side of a freeway and I took her in, the Animal Shelter, and so on.
Posts: 1 | Location: Sacramento | Registered: April 14, 2009
As a married couple, through our individual then joint lifetimes, we have adopted most of our pets from animal shelters. Our current Australian Shepherd dogs we bought from a dairy farmer, who had more pups than were bought by farmers who needed them. The farmer screened us carefully, letting us know how busy this breed of dog is. We could not decide between 2 of them, so we ended up buying them both! They are great company for one another, and are now almost 11 years old!
Posts: 1 | Location: Pa. | Registered: April 14, 2009
I, as well, wish we could vote more than once....one cat I got from a shelter, one I rescued from the street, and then I have my little feral cat who found me....and I adore all three of them. I lost one in October, and he was rescued from a pet store....
I lost my Einstein, a 17 year old, 15 lb tuxedo cat, on 3/29/05. I now wanted a male tabby. I was on Dumb Friend's website one day and saw Iggy. He had the saddest eyes I had ever seen. I called DF and asked about his background. He was 8 years old and had a horrible neglected, abused life. I told them I would be down the next day to pick him up, he needed a mommy to love him. He walked around the apt, eat, sleep and went potty for 4 months and wouldn't 'talk' to me. Then one day he decided I was OK! It's been love ever since. He is affectionate, loving and my best friend. I made a great decision. We both needed each other. It was hard losing my Einstein. Iggy came into my life at just the right time.
Originally posted by Alexis: All great couples have a good story to tell. So what's yours?
Tell us how you met your most recent canine companion or feline friend.
Just wanted to explain my 'other'. Mollie adopted us. Her 'owners' live at the bottom of our hill - haven't even visited in the last year and a half. Go figure. She is a marvelous hound mutt.
The Obamas got a dog and didn't adopt it from a shelter. Had the Obamas gotten a parrot, the poll would have been about parrots.
Collecting specific data relevant to a specific topic does not make UAN cat- or dog- centric. Check their web site and see the enormous scope of their work.
Nobody claimed this was a Gallup poll or a sample of the general population. Anyone who got this e-mail knows who the target audience of UAN is.
That being said, I love parrots. I rescued one from the top of a friend's barn. I took him to a bird vet b/c he was listless and not eating much. The vet made suggestions, but said he was grieving because parrots develop such strong bonds. When I did find his person, I cried to see how overjoyed he was to see her.
Posts: 3 | Location: Liberty Hill, TX | Registered: June 28, 2007
I also wish that the options were different. I recieved a kitten from one of my managers at work, but it was really a rescue, because the kitten had lost her eye to herpes and was of of 17 her mother-in-law had. So she was really a rescue. Also, there are no mention of the #3 most popular pet right now, the ferret. Just my 2 cents.
punkinNC
Posts: 2 | Location: Midway Park, NC | Registered: April 14, 2009
In the Annual Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (2007-2008):
As of 2006, overall pet ownership in the US was 63%. Broken down by animal type: Dogs 39%, Cats 34%, Freshwater fish 13%, Birds 6% (I haven't listed the exotics, etc).
What is very interesting is the response to a question, "What would you do [with your bird] in the event of a disaster situation?".
3% Would bring their bird to a shelter. 60% would take their bird with them. 6% Would abandon their bird. 19% Haven't thought about it all. 14% Have thought about it but are not sure what they would do.
My oldest dog, Buddy, was adopted from the floods of '97 when I first volunteered with UAN/EARS at the fairgrounds in Roseville. Buddy was an escape artist, climbing out of his cyclone fence kennel. He used to climb my fence & visit the neighborhood. Thankfully, my neighbors would put him back in my yard, or he'd be sitting under the front yard tree or in front of the garage door when I got home from work. Buddy is 15 years old now & has slowed down a LOT. His nickname is "Mr. Mellow" or "Perry Como" because he is sooooo mellow!
Posts: 1 | Location: Sacramento, CA | Registered: July 05, 2005
While I'm a long-time cat person, I've been a bunny person as well for quite a while now, with the hodgepodge family of adoptees and fosters I have now as proof. Sneaky, you are correct in that there are very few rescues geared toward avian and exotic as compared to cat-dog, so maybe that can be your motivation to just get even further involved. UAN is merely following the population's ratio, and is not cat/dog-centric. There were shelter options in place for both Red River and Cedar Rapids rabbits and birds. As a member of an avian & exotic rescue (earps.org), and a UAN member since seeing the work being done in Katrina, I just decided to eventually fuse them together and have pulled aspects of each into what I do. Now, I'm an EARS volunteer with some excellent vet connections who can respond a disaster and take care of the ones that might end up in a shelter as a mystery to some people.
By far the oddest story of getting one of my pets is Miss Elsa Kitty. I was (trying) to respond to a rehoming ad placed on my apt complex's dumpster/front gate area. But in my attempt to just remember the phone number as I was walking back home I must have transposed numbers in my head, because I ended up calling someone else completely out of the blue who had no idea what ad I was talking about. But oddly, who was going through a divorce and needed to find a new home for his 2-yr old female cat. The owner thought I was a little crazy for calling out of the blue (and I am), but Miss Elsa sure has a good home!
DogGal: Re; you survey on birds in disasters, That's why we do tabling events. We need to educate these people, and get them THINKING! Even if they never put together an Evac-Pack, if we get them thinking about what they're going to do and where they're going, I'd call it a success!
Yes, I think this survey is slanted toward the first option, but only because the type of person who would become an EARS volunteer is the type that would take in a homeless pet before they would buy one. Actually, the first question needs to be broken down further: Went to a shelter to adopt Went to a rescue group to adopt Fostered for a shelter with no intention of adopting, but... I'm part of a rescue and I foster, and...
Actually, we also need to add: I work at a shelter and fell in love I work at a vet and someone dumped a pet/never came back for their pet I do TNR and I took in a litter of kittens to socialise until they are old enough and...
Personally, I have seven cats (three still living), two I went to the humane Soc to adopt, two I took off the streets in my neighborhood, one a friend took off the street and couldn't keep, one I got from a notice posted at a pet store ("will be put down if they don't find a home by moving day"), and the most recent I took from a one-person cat rescue up north with the intention of adopting her out through our rescue in the city but ended up keeping when she turned out to be the perfect therapy-pet. Technically, the last one falls unter the "got from a shelter" option, but I did not go with the intention of adopting.
Briansnoopy; I love your story! That adoption was just meant to be!
Posts: 335 | Location: Milwaukee, WI | Registered: July 05, 2006
Ooops - should've said 'Other' My most recent adoption was the "holy terror" at my vets. They were going to take him, a 9 month old, neutered, smallish male cat, to the local humane society because he was so aggressive with other cats and swiping people ... which would've been a death sentence, as he was "not suitable for the adoption floor".
One of the staff brought him over for me to see and when I held out my hand for him to sniff, he swatted it and drew blood. Did I mention not a candidate for the humane society?
I offered to foster him for a month to see how he'd do in a home with other cats close to his age (3 younger ones) and if, maybe he needed to be part of an outdoor colony.
Within a week, I had a self-adjusting fur stole who'd climb up on my chest to snuggle. At a month, though, he still had issues with his feet being handled and would swat if stressed ... so, of course, he's mine now.
And this morning, I woke up with the snuggle butt on my chest.
OK, Brian. This is a two fold request/answer. Back in Bowling Green you had a great binder of information about exotics and POCs of rescue groups. Is there anyway you can share this information? Post to UAN website or something? Next while being interviewed about Pet Disaster Preparedness, the local newspaper reported asked about preparing to care for her parrot. I was dumb founded. I didn't know what to tell her about a kit for a bird. She had been struggling during the ice storm trying to find someone to keep her parrot that had heat. Does anyone/group have information about preparing for exotic pets?
quote:
Originally posted by briansnoopy: While I'm a long-time cat person, I've been a bunny person as well for quite a while now, with the hodgepodge family of adoptees and fosters I have now as proof. Sneaky, you are correct in that there are very few rescues geared toward avian and exotic as compared to cat-dog, so maybe that can be your motivation to just get even further involved. UAN is merely following the population's ratio, and is not cat/dog-centric. There were shelter options in place for both Red River and Cedar Rapids rabbits and birds. As a member of an avian & exotic rescue (earps.org), and a UAN member since seeing the work being done in Katrina, I just decided to eventually fuse them together and have pulled aspects of each into what I do. Now, I'm an EARS volunteer with some excellent vet connections who can respond a disaster and take care of the ones that might end up in a shelter as a mystery to some people.
Wow, what great stories -- so many lucky animals!! You've all inspired me to tell about my dogs. We adopted Nikki (left) from an independent rescuer who had found her living under a truck on her street. We adopted Dewey (right) a year later from a shelter, where he had been living for two years.
Regarding disaster preparedness for animals other than dogs and cats -- we do have some preparedness tips on our Web site specifically for reptiles and amphibians, and one for birds in progress.
I seem to attract dogs who need help. Placed one and then a friend called me to take another. I have an owner turn-in from sharpei rescue plus my friend's that I'll have to place plus the other 3 I got from sharpei rescue, a rescue group and in front of the mall on Xmas Eve! I started a animal supply website so I could donate money to all the rescue groups I support - tune in to www.petzooplies.com
I rescued one from the top of a friend's barn. I took him to a bird vet b/c he was listless and not eating much. The vet made suggestions, but said he was grieving because parrots develop such strong bonds. When I did find his person, I cried to see how overjoyed he was to see her.
