No Such Thing As Free to Good Home

(as appeared in the Anderson News)

Before the signs start going up on bulletin boards around town, advertising free spring kittens and puppies, I want to say this: There is no such thing as "free to good home." And before I get on my soap box about it, let me tell you that I used to do this, too, before I got into animal rescue and understood the problem. Before I knew that 7 million animals are euthanized every year in this country, it never occurred to me that giving away free stray kittens and puppies was adding to the problem. I thought I was doing a good thing, finding homes for the unwanted. I never thought past the adoption-to the point 6 months later when the kitten or puppy goes into heat and has 3 or 4, or 12 or 13, babies! Of course, who can afford to spay or neuter all the stray animals dumped on our doorsteps? I couldn't. That's why I started a spay/neuter assistance program (you can pick up an application at the local library).

So why are they not free? Well, it costs about $130 or more to get a cat tested, vaccinated, and "fixed." For dogs, it's even more. Instead of your "free" kitten from the Walmart parking lot, you could have gotten one from the animal shelter with all of this already done for only $65.

So what about those of you who aren't even going to put $65 into a cat? Well, some things are better left unsaid. But what I CAN say that the paper CAN print is this: It might not cost you directly here and now-but it's going to cost the county and its residents plenty when that one cat turns into thousands in only four years. And it won't just cost the cash that will have to be put out to deal with the overpopulation problem and inevitable euthanasia. It will also cost shelter employees, volunteers, and rescue groups the emotional burden of seeing the offspring from your one free cat have to be put to sleep because there is no room in the shelter.

Now that there is low-income assistance for spay/neuter in this county, there is no excuse this year to give away or accept free kittens or puppies. Don't do it, please!

Victoria King