Here's my cat , Rusty. He's a beautiful and awesome cat that I acquired through Craigslist. Before you ask yourself and think , "Why didn't you go to the animal shelter and rescue a cat if you wanted one? Why are you supporting the massive amounts of animals on Craigslist"? I DID TRY!
I once found this animal shelter out in the country area nearby me. It looked kind of like a farm. It was wonderful! I went in and looked around at all the cats they had to offer. One cat caught my eye that they brought over to me. He was so small and clinged onto my jacket. THIS was the kitten I wanted. The lady pulled out a spiral notebook where I wrote down my name and number and I walked away with my new kitty in my cat carrier. Simple as that. My boyfriend also left them a nice $60 donation out of the kindness of his heart to help them out.
Here he is to the left in the picture. I don't have him anymore because I gave him to a family member when I had to move out of that apartment back home for half a year. To the right of him is Peeper. She is a FIV positive cat that was also acquired through craigslist many years back before I had met my boyfriend. ( She was his cat )
So before I got Rusty...my boyfriend and I finally decided to get a house together. We were there alone with his cat Peeper and I wanted my own kitty again. So I thought that we could go back to that wonderful shelter out in the country setting again. I went there and saw a bunch of cats walking around. I kind of had my mind set on this orange cat and told them alright I'm ready. I was taken over to another building and waited quite a bit before someone came out and handed me an application the size of a large novel. I looked at the application and then looked at my boyfriend with a raised eyebrow. We then both walked away back to our car and drove off. There was no way in hell I would be filling out this novel getting the shakedown and paying almost $200-300 for an adoption fee.
I looked on Craigslist for a week or two before I found a kitten in the same city not far from me. There were tons of kittens and cats looking for a home on Craigslist. Guess what? They are all free or nearly free with an adoption fee of $20 and you are on your way with your new pet no questions asked.
I just saw an article in my local newspaper with the same shelter out in the country kind of crying for help needing volunteers for the massive amount of cats and dogs they have in their place. I got very angry because I know why they have such an influx of animals sitting there right now. They won't let go of them!!
Of course, when you throw a giant application and fees to adopt you aren't going to get people wanting to go through the hassle. You think these people are not worth it to take that pet in their home just because they don't want to go through that arduous process? Think again! Why am I going to pay $300 for a cat at the shelter when I can take that same money and go buy myself a purebred kitten no questions asked? Look at this adorable purebred Ragdoll. Only $300..the same price the shelter wants to charge for some old cat that has medical problems. I'm not trying to be insensitive but I'm just being truthful to the fact of how people would think logically about their choices and what to do with their hard earned money.
Stop crying about $300 cat litter costs a week when you can change that by giving people a chance at adopting one of the many animals in your shelter. You rather let that cat sit in your shelter because you are afraid of what's going to happen to it. Let it go. You can get a perfectly sane person with the perfect country house with 3 acres of land and money to blow take your cat or dog and possibly abuse it. So why is it okay for that person to adopt your animal and abuse it ? Just because they went through your arduous process? Nah ..nah... that's not okay!
I'm sick and tired of seeing sad posts on Facebook showing dogs in animal shelters saying to adopt an animal because it's the right thing to do and they are overflowing with pets. We didn't have such an epidemic of animals in shelters until the last 10 years or so because that's when the giant applications and fees came to exist. You could basically walk into a shelter 10 years ago and hand them your ID and a small fee and you were good to go.
I read an article online about a lady who wanted to adopt a dog but she said they would basically take one look at her application and scoff at it because she lived in the city. She had to get her mom to go in and apply for the dog she wanted because her mom lived in a nice big country home with plenty of outdoor room for the dog to run around. They ofcourse let her mom have the dog and she then took the dog from her mom for her own place in the city. I feel so bad when people have to lie and go through hoops to give an animal a loving home. The shelter would rather leave the dog cooped in a cage which is a lot smaller than a city apartment than give it a home with someone willing to spoil their little hearts out.
Also, I don't understand why no-kill shelters are taking in feral cats. They aren't meant to be pets. You are just stressing that cat out with it being around other cats and people coming in constantly to look at the other cats. That cat would rather be out in the wild where it grew up. You are creating your own costs by doing that.
There you go folks...one of the REAL reasons why shelters are overpopulated with animals today. I just felt like people are misguided and blind to this. It really is a big problem that shelters are doing this. They are only hurting themselves. I totally support their cause but they need to snap out of it and wake up to reality. People don't want to be investigated and go through the shakedown. We have Craigslist...and it's a wonderful tool to get a loving pet that won't overwhelm your personal life or lifestyle.
What do you think about animal shelters doing this? Let me know your feelings in the comment section below. I will post your opinion as long as it's stated in a pleasant adult-like manner.
My name is Vanessa and I am a big animal lover. My two cats, Rusty and Peeper get totally spoiled. I love my Craigslist cats and they will always have a wonderful, loving home till the day they pass away over the Rainbow Bridge.
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