Can they do this? Dog shelter

[JoesLove]

I went to the 'pound' I guess it was..animal control facility. My friend was looking at a puppy and then she saw he had a bunch of fleas on his neck.. so she was really afraid of bringing fleas home to her dogs. Well she said something and the guy goes 'yeah, they all have fleas' and I was pretty shocked that these dogs have to live like this..and when I saw some through the window they were panting so hard even though they were inside.. and some were pretty skinny like the puppy was like 4 months and you could see some ribs and hipbones sticking out. Is this all legal? Is there anyway I could 'report' for the dogs having to leave flea infested? I just feel so bad

[ILoveMyPaint]

thats horrible, and strange since most of those animal control places make sure all the animals are healthy and well taken care of. im sure you could report it somehow.

[joustinggirl]

Pounds are run very different than Humane Societies.

[horselady]

It is not legal , contact the county that he is in and the state if you have to.
that puppy and the other dogs should be taken care of properly and fed. watered. and de-flead.
These agencies get paid by the towns in the county, I know in my area every town pays for the humane society and the dog control officer. So there are higher ups to call
Good luck

[appy&paints]

Dogs at the animal shelter or pound in our area don’t get flea stuff. I talked to the guy in charge of the shelter and the mayor about this and other thing and nothing ever got done and I was told that there was nothing that could be done because so many dogs come in and so few go out, that they cant do all that stuff

[wildcat180]

Sorry, but it IS legal. All they have to provide, like anyone else, is food, water, and shelter. There's NOTHING that says the animals have to be flea free. Are YOU legally required to provide flea and tick treatment for YOUR dogs? It's entirely possible that those puppies came in within a matter of days and they were skinny to begin with. You were there for, what? A half an hour? Not exactly enough time to see what goes on day to day. It could be those dogs inside that you saw panting were running around like nut cases because of the upset that people coming in and dogs being moved around causes.

If that's not enough for you, think of the alternatives that those dogs could have had. Being left on the street to fend for themselves, get hit by cars or receive other injuries and not get medical attention, or be in abusive and neglectful houses.

If fleas were the reason your friend refused to rescue that puppy, I feel sorry for that puppy. I mean, come on. She could have stopped off at a grooming shop and had the pup dipped to remove the fleas. So that pup got left in a shelter for a stupid reason. Poor dog.

However, you are still welcome to complain to whoever you wish about the conditions. In NJ, the health department was responsible for shelter inspections, so you can start there. I believe they are obligated to inspect every complaint, whether there's merit or not.

[Luvridn]

Have to agree with wildcat....although it is not IDEAL for dogs to be kept in those conditions, most of the time shelter/pound dogs have 2 weeks max before they cross the rainbow bridge. They are so overcrowded, that really an animals only chance is to be adopted by a decent owner or their owner to claim them. Otherwise....

At any rate, the pound is not really a place to be terribly picky. If fleas and low weight is the worst of the pups problems, he really is lucky. Often you are looking at Parvo, coccidiosis, or horrid worm infestations, if not distemper.

[Sunlei]

Houston animal control had problems taking reasonable care of the dogs too. They get the worse of the neighborhood strays,dogs turned in by police when they arrest people, called "prisoners dogs" by animal control people. When there are stray dog packs or agressive strays it's the animal control dog catcher who fetches them. Dogs that bite people and get a ticket have to spend 10 days in quaranten. People that can't afford the vet have to leave their dogs at animal control..called "Rabies control". They have concrete boxes the dogs spend their 10 days in. The personal hose out the boxes and all runs with dogs in them.

Pups born in the runs used to just stay born on the concrete and die. I put a few of these freshborn chilled to the bone wet-pups in my pockets one winter and saved them by walking out the door with them. i stole the pups so sue me

The dog caretakers used to not feed or water the dogs on sunday so they would not poop or pee as much. water was a formed concret dish filled with the run washing. food was thrown on the floor where multi dogs in each run fought over it. They never ever checked any incoming dogs for microchip or tattoo.

Dogs were sold to medical research labs after 5 days or put in a box and hooked to car exaust to euth. them.

The medical reasearch labs cherry-picked the best healthy friendly dogs--PEOPLES LOST PETS.

Needless to say...this inhumane treatment of dogs and cats was loudly protested and the Houston rabies control had massive changes.

They are now not up to the Humane society or SPCA standards but much improved in all areas.

Make your local animal control get better..don't let them remain in the Dark Ages.

I edited to add. Sure your friend should have taken the flea pup right to a vet for shots and a bath. That pup could be dead now

Fleas are a health hazard they drink a lot of blood and they bite people too. Get the health department to clean up that place! if not for the dogs for the HUMANS in with the facility.

[OSUJillyBean]

Ditto Wildcat.

[SpotsNGlory]

ok, it may be LEGAL,BUT theres no excuse for the thin body condition/environment they[pups/dogs] are in... I am sure the HSUS would not approve of this being the legal part, neither would the governor.

If I were you, I would go any step to get higher authority over this problem[State Governor, Representative, Senate, City or anyone that is involved in your state with the government] or even contact the HSUS to get into this problem. I understand, if they give the dog a shelter theres no problem, but they dont need to treat it like trash and let it suffer while in their cage- thats not right...I dont care if its even a animal control pound, they have to care[give water,food,air] and provide basic necessities for the dog until it gets adopted or euthanized.

I would not let this slide under me - that is not right.

Maybe the next time you visit, video tape the dogs or take pictures and show the condition of the thin/flea infested dogs, show it to the mayor/government and lets see what they tell you - now, is this fair for them?

Honestly, its a touchy subject and different views, but I dont like it when a government runned pound, has failed to care for their dogs[strays or not] and provide simple basic basic necessities.

[JoesLove]

Originally Posted by wildcat180

Sorry, but it IS legal. All they have to provide, like anyone else, is food, water, and shelter. There's NOTHING that says the animals have to be flea free. Are YOU legally required to provide flea and tick treatment for YOUR dogs? It's entirely possible that those puppies came in within a matter of days and they were skinny to begin with. You were there for, what? A half an hour? Not exactly enough time to see what goes on day to day. It could be those dogs inside that you saw panting were running around like nut cases because of the upset that people coming in and dogs being moved around causes.

If that's not enough for you, think of the alternatives that those dogs could have had. Being left on the street to fend for themselves, get hit by cars or receive other injuries and not get medical attention, or be in abusive and neglectful houses.

If fleas were the reason your friend refused to rescue that puppy, I feel sorry for that puppy. I mean, come on. She could have stopped off at a grooming shop and had the pup dipped to remove the fleas. So that pup got left in a shelter for a stupid reason. Poor dog.

However, you are still welcome to complain to whoever you wish about the conditions. In NJ, the health department was responsible for shelter inspections, so you can start there. I believe they are obligated to inspect every complaint, whether there's merit or not.

You were right about how we dont have to keep our animals flea free but I think you misunderstood some of what I said. I wasnt necessarily complaining about the shelter, I just had concern, that the animals had to live 'itchy' like that. I am glad they have that, especially since Im married to a Marine and in a Military town I see A LOT of pets for 'sale'. My friend is trying to get the puppy actually.

[JoesLove]

oh sorry...she was afraid of bringing fleas home on her clothes but she is trying to get things together to get that certain puppy.

[sundancer maiden]

Many things that are legal are not morally right. Bring this to the attention of anybody and everybody you can think of!

[wildcat180]

Originally Posted by JoesLove

You were right about how we dont have to keep our animals flea free but you made very rude comments. The puppy has been there about a week, and sure it couldnt have been their faults. But YOU do NOT know how that shelter was set up. You can only see the dogs through the window, in their kennels. If you want to actually see them you have to go on their computer on their website and write down the ID number. All I was asking was if they are allowed to let all their dogs have fleas and such. And there has been cases on animal cops that if the fleas are bad enough they do confiscate the dog. My friend is actually trying to adopt the puppy, I said nothing about how we were reconsidering, I just simply asked if this is a legal/normal thing.

<Snip.>

However, if you honestly feel the shelter is wrong, do as I said and contact your local health department. My educated guess is, they're used to the routine of being inspected due to a complaint. Before you do, though, I'd get all the facts of the situation. Health Departments and SPCAs do have a thing called "nuisance complaints" and they don't get taken very seriously.

[Katy Boatright]

The pound dogs here have fleas - it's way too expensive to treat 100+ dogs when usually over half of them get euthanized.

That skinny puppy could have parvo. Or it could have been neglected before the pound got it.


I mean, you can't expect all of the dogs to be 100% happy and healthy. Keep in mind that most of these dogs come from the dumpster where they haven't had proper care. I can guarantee you that all pounds/humane societies have sick and or dying dogs/puppies.

I'd also like to add:

If you want the pups to be treated for fleas, donate money or go buy the pound some paramite. You'll soon realize how expensive it can get.

[lawcat]

Animal control here in Southern CA is totally overwhelmed this time of year and in my opinion, they do the best that they can to deal with a really bad situation. They provide the minimal basics and vet care that they can - but puppies that come in skinny aren't going to get fat in the pound, its just not feasible to provide the kind of care that a sick, malnourished puppy might need. They by law cannot euthanize for several days (unless seriously injured or ill) if the puppy was brought in as a stray. Although I wish the pounds could do better, there are no funds for that. So, if your friend wants a not skinny, no fleas puppy she would probably be better off going through a dog rescue group than the pound.

[A J]

Unfortunately, it is not always feasible or possible to provide perfect care for animals in shelters. As one member stated, the Humane Society is a seperate organization. For example, our local animal shelter takes in the dogs, cats, and other animals that they believe will be able to be adopted. Animals that are obviously sick, mean, terribly undernourshided, etc all get sent off to the local shelter because the HS doesn't have the man power, money, or space to take them all in, and they are a no-kill shelter here.

The pound, however, gets stuck with all the "unwanted" animals that are not likely to be very adoptable (and some others as well that get a direct ticket right there). There are sometimes hundreds of animals there - lets see, even if you're using cheap flea stuff, at $10/mnth times 100 animals (and I'm sure there's more than that), you're already at $1000 a month JUST for flea stuff - and with all the animals that come and go, I doubt cheap stuff would keep fleas at bay anyways. Good stuff - $50/month so, $5000 for 100 animals. Chances are, they are lucky if that's not nearly their entire care budget.

As for skinny, there could be many reasons. Worked up dogs is a pretty normal sight at a kennel - it is VERY stressful for dogs to be in that enviroment, and some dogs, depending on personality, will act completely differently than they would in a home enviroment. Unless the dogs were cooped up with no air flow baking in the sun, I don't see how a panting dog would be a problem.

I know shelters can be shocking sometimes, but if you are really concerned, one of the BEST ways to HELP IMO is to go volunteer and actually put some elbow grease into the situation. Often man power is one of the largest problems for shelters of any kind, and they do not get money to pay enough help and must rely on volunteer. Plus, then you can see for yourself if the situation is as bad as it first appeared....remember, these are no longer anyone's beloved pets - they are waiting to be PTS or the few lucky ones who get adopted or taken out by rescues...