Re: OT: Need feedback please - Wendy
Hi Belinda, I like this version too. I don't have a problem with your old version, but I've had to learn over the years to treat the average idiot with kid gloves. (not real kid leather. no leather. lol)I have a couple of offerings for you to consider on this letter in red. First I would put the 3rd and 4th paragraphs before the 2nd.Belinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Here is the revised version, thank you for your help!!Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no "Free To Good Home" ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat asthere are all kinds of lunatics out there that many people are not aware of. You must be very cautious and very carefully check out anyone who expresses an interest in your cat.Some people obtain free cats to train pit bulls to fight, and they are killed in a very violent and gruesome manner by these vicious animals. Then there are people who feed them to snakes as meals (some large exotic snakes require live food). There are crazy people who obtain free animals solely to abuse them. Others, referred to as "bunchers", buy them to make money by selling them to labs, where they are ultimately destroyed after enduring some horrific treatment. These bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs.Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in a horrible situation.I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand this cat over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you.I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to read negotiable. Please contact me for more information about screening a prospective adoptor for your cat if you wish.These links provide more informationabout just how dangerous free ads can be for your cat:http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.htmlhttp://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htmhttp://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.htmlI belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing.I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those years and nobody ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for a healthy, adult cat to get it from a positive and if they ever did the healthy adult cats immune system would fight it off.The bottom line isfelv isn't as contagious as most vets would have you believe. I would encourage you to join our group and find out about the many members who mix positive and negative cats who live for years with no problems and no transmission of disease. You can do that here:http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.orgPlease feel free to contact me anytime.-- Belindahappiness is being owned by cats ...Be-Mi-Kittieshttp://bemikitties.comPost Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittenshttp://adopt.bemikitties.comFeLV Candlelight Servicehttp://bemikitties.com/clsHostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design]http://HostDesign4U.comBMK Designs [non-profit animals websites]http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please (soapbox)
Phaewryn and Everyone, What you say rings true for me. Yes, I think there is a definite lack of animal abuse and welfare education in the U.S.. I think we are in denial still, as a society; I know I have been over the years.I was wondering if there is an event or time you can pinpoint that brought you to the realization about the plight of animals? I would like to hear your stories if you would like to share them. You can email me personally if it is something best addressed off the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED]I am interested in what things I can do on a larger scale. I joined an online site called Care2 and have been signing petitions and sending letters to my representatives, and forwarding the emails to my friends and family. I would like to do more. I have a website, I can do more there too.Here's my story: my education in animal welfare first began in the early 1980's when I wrote a college research paper on vivisection. I picked the subject because I had had an emotionally difficult time dissecting animals in my high school anatomy course. It upset me greatly and no one seemed to understand or care. Later, when I was taking college courses, I picked the topic of vivisection for my paper. I learned so much from doing that research. I had a course in biology at college and I struck up a friendship with the administrator of the research lab. I saw the conditions the research animals (mostly rats) lived under, being experimented upon, living in cramped cages, no love and affection, etc. He told me they were dismantling the lab and that the rats would be euthanized (which was better in my opinion than the life they were leading.) I took two of the rats home (I wanted to take them all home) and I named them Flora and Fauna. At first, the poor girls could not even stand up on their back legs in the roomy cage I had bought for them. They did not have the strength from living in small horizontal cages for so long.I told some fellow classmates about the fate of the rats, and they looked at me as if I was nuts! Maybe I was, but I could not stand to see them suffering. Flora and Fauna both developed cancer and did not live long (as most rodents do not) but I gave them a lot of love and attention in the short time I had them. After the education on vivisection, I decided to focus on stopping the use of all cosmetics (make-up) in my personal life and to educate as many of my friends and family as I could. Some were receptive, most were not. I never went back to wearing cosmetics, even after the cruelty-free versions became more available. I use mostly cruelty-free products and cleaners, and I talk about it where I can. Just the other day I convinced a co-worker not to declaw her kittens. I explained that it was mutilation. I did not mince words. I showed her on my own hand how it would be to cut off the end of my digits. She is not having her cats declawed.I have lapsed into complacency somewhat in past years, like giving up my vegetarianism after nine years. It was easier to rationalize it, living with a non-vegetarian husband. I am going to revisit that decision. At any rate, having Pippin in my life has already brought me many blessings, beyond her mere presence. It brought me to this list. Thank you for getting up on the soap box Phaewryn. Gina[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: (climbing up onto big bargain size soapbox) I think a harsh mental picture is what more people need to have. If more people cringed, we might live in a world that was more apt to protect animals. The fact that anyone on this list wasn't aware of any of those issues in itself speaks for the lack of animal abuse education in our society. Cringe away... have nightmares... cry... then go out and MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Lobby for harsher animal cruelty laws, lobby to have the states that require shelters give unadopted animals to research facilities change those laws (the term is called "pound seizure, I believe), Lobby to end animal experimentation or to at least stop allowing class B dealers (also known as "bunchers"). Picket, get out and hold a sign. We live in a wonderful democracy (those of us here in the USA) but it doesn't work if you don't use it, so WRITE your representatives and urge them to sponsor bills to tighten animal cruelty laws andchange the ones that effect animals in a bad way. Visit your local high school, and colleges, and see if they dissect cats or use animals in any of their labs, and if they do, urge them to stop, picket them, hand out flyers to all the students about all of the alternatives available these days. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Just make a difference. Until now, some of you may have been unaware, NOW, you are not. Before, you didn't know, so things happened around you without your knowledge, NOW you know, and you have the power to try to effect changes. That's what activism is, you see a wrong, and you set out to make it right. It's that simple. Now you
Re: OT: Need feedback please (soapbox)
Phaewryn, I agree with you completely. I really liked Belinda's first draft. I think the shock is just what people need to open there eyes and see the horrible cruelty that there careless indifference causes for these poor babies. Why sugar coat it .We all want to turn our heads when faced with bad things but if we do nothing will change. Sheila in SC
Re: OT: Need feedback please (soapbox)
I'm with you on this! Totally agree! In a message dated 8/31/2006 8:15:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: (climbing up onto big bargain size soapbox) I think a harsh mental picture is what more people need to have. If more people cringed, we might live in a world that was more apt to protect animals. The fact that anyone on this list wasn't aware of any of those issues in itself speaks for the lack of animal abuse education in our society. Cringe away... have nightmares... cry... then go out and MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Lobby for harsher animal cruelty laws, lobby to have the states that require shelters give unadopted animals to research facilities change those laws (the term is called "pound seizure, I believe), Lobby to end animal experimentation or to at least stop allowing class B dealers (also known as "bunchers"). Picket, get out and hold a sign. We live in a wonderful democracy (those of us here in the USA) but it doesn't work if you don't use it, so WRITE your representatives and urge them to sponsor bills to tighten animal cruelty laws and change the ones that effect animals in a bad way. Visit your local high school, and colleges, and see if they dissect cats or use animals in any of their labs, and if they do, urge them to stop, picket them, hand out flyers to all the students about all of the alternatives available these days. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Just make a difference. Until now, some of you may have been unaware, NOW, you are not. Before, you didn't know, so things happened around you without your knowledge, NOW you know, and you have the power to try to effect changes. That's what activism is, you see a wrong, and you set out to make it right. It's that simple. Now you just simply have to start caring enough to take action. I'm not saying you don't care when I say that, I'm saying, from my own experience, it takes a LOT of willpower to take the time out of your busy life to actually DO anything to make the world a better place. No, it doesn't just happen, and no, others wont do it for you. So when I say you have to care ENOUGH to take action, I mean that you have to PUSH yourself to DO what needs to be done, because it's really easy to take a neutral stance in life, and let everyone else run the show, but it takes time, energy, and determination to go out and do it for yourself. WE, you and I, are the voice and protectors of the animals we rule over in our society, to give them voices, we have to put aside our own, and make room for their message in our lives, then, we have to go out and spread the message, because what good is a message that no one hears? Every tear I shed, though they may be many, is far outnumbered by the numbers of animals that suffer in our world, and my tears, though they may fall, will never make a difference in anyone's life but my own, and that just isn't enough. If only I could collect a dollar for every tear I cry, and give it to the cause that made them fall, then, perhaps, my sadness would be justified in itself. Actions speak louder than tears. (off my soapbox now) Phaewryn TAZZY'S ANIMAL TRANSPORTS SIAMESE COLLIE RESCUE Terrie Mohr-Forker http://www.tazzys-siameses-collies.petfinder.org/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wasiameserescue http://hometown.aol.com/tatorbunz/index.html http://hometown.aol.com/tatorbunz/myhomepage/petmemorial.html http://www.felineleukemia.org/ http://www.petloss.com/ TAZZY'S ANIMAL TRANSPORTS https://www.paypal.com/
Re: OT: Need feedback please
I agree with Wendy. I think the second paragraph is very harsh. I don't think it's so much the content or even the specifics that make it harsh, I think it's more the approach...and the graphicness. Your approach almost makes it sound like they are wanting something like that to happen to the cat and like they should know better, I guess. Personally, I had no idea until I got this email from you...so I know there are lots of us who don't know about these things! So you need to include the information, just maybe in a different way.I took a stab at rewriting from a slightly less harsh approach. Feel free to use or edit this to your liking...or to throw it out. But at least it should give you an idea for ways you might be able to share the same information without turning people off. Good luck!!Here's the paragraph (for some reason it's not pasting quite right into my browser. Hope it looks right for you - I'm getting a really long line of text rather than a paragraph. But all the info is there):Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who would take advantage of a free pet and use it for all kinds of unthinkable things. Believe it or not, there are actually people who use cats to train dogs to fight (encouraging the dog to aggressively mame and kill the cat), or to feed their snakes. There are actually sick, demented people who look for free animals to torture and beat until they finally get bored and kill them. Additionally, there are bunchers who sell free or cheap pets for anywhere from $30 to $100 to labs who will experiment on them and then kill them. I know you dont want any of these things to happen to Tiger, and that is why we require a minimum fee rather than allowing people to give away their pets. Marissawendy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think you should leave out the second paragraph. It's VERY harsh and will turn people off. Or at leasttone it down a lot.:)Wendy--- Belinda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: Hi All, Every once in a while I get people who post to the Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP and put free for the fee, it clearly say's at the TOP of the page this is not allowed, so I send them a drafted letter which I'm copying below with the reply I got from the person I sent it to. Please tell me if my letter is rude because that obviously isn't my intention and I don't want to scare anyone away BUT I do want them to realize how dangerous it is to post a pet for FREE. My letter follow below:Hi Kathy, Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no "Free To Good Home" ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there. I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight, or to spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him. Or maybe a sick, demented person who scours ads daily looking for an animal to torture and beat until they tire of them and finally put them out of their misery by killing them. Then there's the buncher who looks for free or cheap pets to take to labs where they are experimented on and then killed when they have served their purpose, these bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs. Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in some horrible situation like those I described. I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand Tiger over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you. I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to negotiable. Please read these links for more info about how dangerous this is for the cat: http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.html http://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htm http://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html I belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+/FIV, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing. I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my FeLV positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Belinda, I think the re-wording Marissa suggested is good - with only a minor adjustment. I would add if they haven't already died during the experimentation. to make it read... Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who would take advantage of a free pet and use it for all kinds of unthinkable things. Believe it or not, there are actually people who use cats to train dogs to fight (encouraging the dog to aggressively mame and kill the cat), or to feed their snakes. There are actually sick, demented people who look for free animals to torture and beat until they finally get bored and kill them. Additionally, there are bunchers who sell free or cheap pets for anywhere from $30 to $100 to labs who will experiment on them and then kill them if they haven't already died during the experimentation. I know you dont want any of these things to happen to Tiger, and that is why we require a minimum fee rather than allowing people to give away their pets. What do you think?? Kat (Mew Jersey)
Re: OT: Need feedback please
I like that...it gives it a little more punch! Thanks Kat! :)MKat [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Belinda,I think the re-wording Marissa suggested is good - with only a minoradjustment. I would add "if they haven't already died during theexperimentation." to make it read...Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who would take advantageof a free pet and use it for all kinds of unthinkable things. Believe itor not, there are actually people who use cats to train dogs to fight(encouraging the dog to aggressively mame and kill the cat), or to feedtheir snakes. There are actually sick, demented people who look for freeanimals to torture and beat until they finally get bored and kill them.Additionally, there are bunchers who sell free or cheap pets for anywherefrom $30 to $100 to labs who will experiment on them and then kill themif they haven't already died during the experimentation.I know you dont want any of these things to happen to Tiger, and that iswhy we require a minimum fee rather than allowing people to give awaytheir pets.What do you think??Kat (Mew Jersey) Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Hey Belinda, I should have taken a little more time yesterday, other than saying to take the second paragraph out, to tell you that the rest of your letter was really good. I think the way that it jumps right into the worst case situations, and then describes them in detail really put me off. I even read it to my husband to make sure I wasn't being too squeamish and he looked at me like I was crazy, so I know I am not too off in my thoughts. He's pretty logical and even-minded. If you are entertaining the thought of changing the letter some to make it less harsh, you could be more general. Example: Instead of saying I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight, you could just say that some people obtain free cats to train pit bulls to fight, and they are killed in a very violent and gruesome manner by these vicious animals. Or instead of saying spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him, you could just say that some people feed them to snakes as meals. You could say that some crazy people obtain them solely to abuse them, and others, referred to as bunchers, buy them to make money by selling them to labs, where they are ultimately destroyed. Those descriptions are enough for me without getting so graphic. I think maybe the specific and graphic description of what happens to these cats is what turned me off right from the start. If you don't want to take out the gory details, at least switch the second and third paragraphs, so that people have some sort of warning of what they are about to read. Also, you could warn them that the next paragraph is graphic, and they can skip to the next if they don't need the details. I am one of those people who likes to have a choice what harsh mental pictures, or otherwise, enter my mind. It's the same for me with those people who hold up signs of aborted babies while I am driving by. I get really angry with them. I like to have the choice and I know others do too. If you decide you want to leave the letter the way it is, of course that is your decision. I am certainly not going to fault you either way. I was just giving my honest feedback to try to help you accomplish what it is you are trying to do. BTW, you are great at description; you should consider writing too! Have a great day! :) Wendy P.S. That guy David was a jerk. Can you remove postings that are not correct yourself? Would it be less stressful for you to do that, and just not worry about contacting them? Really though, people do need to know what goes on out there. Bad things do happen to animals. When I was coaching, we went out on the track one morning and the girls found a dead cat. I felt so bad for that cat, and the girls for having to see it. There really are some SICK people out there! __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Belinda, I went back and readyour original message and I dothinkwhatMarissa and Katsaid makes sense. The re-wording gets the information across in a less graphic way, but is still effective. Sometimes reallyintense information is too much for people to handle all at once and they shut down to the message. They might feel scared, guilty and/or helpless overcondemning theircats to this fate, and react out of that by blocking the very information you want them to hear. This is my own personal experience anyway. And, getting the message across is critical. I didn't realizewhat was happening to cats either until I went to your site Belinda. I am so thankful for the information you provide.Gina in Placerville Kat [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Belinda,I think the re-wording Marissa suggested is good - with only a minoradjustment. I would add "if they haven't already died during theexperimentation." to make it read...Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who would take advantageof a free pet and use it for all kinds of unthinkable things. Believe itor not, there are actually people who use cats to train dogs to fight(encouraging the dog to aggressively mame and kill the cat), or to feedtheir snakes. There are actually sick, demented people who look for freeanimals to torture and beat until they finally get bored and kill them.Additionally, there are bunchers who sell free or cheap pets for anywherefrom $30 to $100 to labs who will experiment on them and then kill themif they haven't already died during the experimentation.I know you dont want any of these things to happen to Tiger, and that iswhy we require a minimum fee rather than allowing people to give awaytheir pets.What do you think??Kat (Mew Jersey)Please visitmy Tigger Tales site! At the bottom of the home and links pages aremy merchant affiliate banners. If anyone uses my links to make a purchase, I will receive a percentage of all final sales.I am going to donate100% ofthe proceeds to animal welfare organizations.This is a great way to shop your favorite online pet stores and give something to a worthy cause. Thank you in advance! Get your email and more, right on the new Yahoo.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please - Wendy
Here is the revised version, thank you for your help!! Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no Free To Good Home ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there. Some people obtain free cats to train pit bulls to fight, and they are killed in a very violent and gruesome manner by these vicious animals. Then there are people who feed them to snakes as meals (some large exotic snakes require live food). There are crazy people who obtain free animals solely to abuse them. Others, referred to as bunchers, buy them to make money by selling them to labs, where they are ultimately destroyed after enduring some horrific treatment. These bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs. Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in one of the horrible situations like those I described. I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand this cat over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you. I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to read negotiable. Please read these links for more info about how dangerous this is for the cat: http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.html http://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htm http://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html I belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing. I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those years and nobody ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for a healthy, adult cat to get it from a positive and if they ever did the healthy adult cats immune system would fight it off. The bottom line is it isn't as contagious as most vets would have you believe. If your interested in checking the group out you can do that here: http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org Please feel free to contact me anytime. -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Hi MC, I think the one your talking about is the one Jim's friend Michelle Crean wrote, it is this one: http://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html I have a link to it on the page itself, the problem is those people don't bother to go to it or the instructions, or they read the instructions and do what they please anyway. Just an FYI, the ONLY people that get that letter are those that in spite of the rules on the page post a free ad anyway. -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
this is the one i was actually thinking of: http://cats.about.com/cs/kittencare/a/freekittuns.htm On 8/31/06, Belinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi MC, I think the one your talking about is the one Jim's friend Michelle Crean wrote, it is this one: http://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html I have a link to it on the page itself, the problem is those people don't bother to go to it or the instructions, or they read the instructions and do what they please anyway. Just an FYI, the ONLY people that get that letter are those that in spite of the rules on the page post a free ad anyway. -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com -- Spay Neuter Your Neighbors!Maybe That'll Make The DifferenceMaryChristineAIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCatsMSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]ICQ: 289856892
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Hey Belinda, Your revised letter sounds good. I think you are fantastic doing all that you do to help these animals. :) Wendy __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Changed this paragraph a bit: Some people obtain free cats to train pit bulls to fight, and they are killed in a very violent and gruesome manner by these vicious animals. Then there are people who feed them to snakes as meals (some large exotic snakes require live food). There are crazy people who obtain free animals solely to abuse them. Others, referred to as bunchers, buy them to make money by selling them to labs, where they are ultimately destroyed after most likely enduring many horrific experiments. These bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs. I think I'm happy with that, it gets the point across but isn't too graphic, my priority isn't being politically correct but hopefully keeping the cats posted as safe as possible. Many people just have no idea how horrible some humans can be, I was a uninformed one myself not too many years ago. I never would of though anyone could do something so awful to any living creature but the internet has quickly made me aware of many horrible things. -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
I couldn't agree more! I love the new paragraph...I think it conveys what you want to without being quite so harsh. We're all lucky to have you advocating for our animals!!Mwendy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hey Belinda,Your revised letter sounds good. I think you arefantastic doing all that you do to help these animals.:)Wendy__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo! Small Business.
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Belinda,I hope you did not think I was trying to ask you to be politically correct. I wasn't. My main focus was from a psychological viewpoint of how messages are perceived by people. I so appreciate what you are doing to get the message out there. I heard you loud and clear reading the information on your website and it gave me a wake up call. I'm not easily upset by graphic details like that. I want to know the facts. Some people will fall through the cracks and I would like to see those people get on board too. I guess we can't reach everyone.Sincerely, GinaBelinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Changed this paragraph a bit:Some people obtain free cats to train pit bulls to fight, and they are killed in a very violent and gruesome manner by these vicious animals. Then there are people who feed them to snakes as meals (some large exotic snakes require live food). There are crazy people who obtain free animals solely to abuse them. Others, referred to as "bunchers", buy them to make money by selling them to labs, where they are ultimately destroyed after most likely enduring many horrific experiments. These bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs.I think I'm happy with that, it gets the point across but isn't too graphic, my priority isn't being politically correct but hopefully keeping the cats posted as safe as possible.Many people just have no idea how horrible some humans can be, I was a uninformed one myself not too many years ago. I never would of though anyone could do something so awful to any living creature but the internet has quickly made me aware of many horrible things.-- Belindahappiness is being owned by cats ...Be-Mi-Kittieshttp://bemikitties.comPost Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittenshttp://adopt.bemikitties.comFeLV Candlelight Servicehttp://bemikitties.com/clsHostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design]http://HostDesign4U.comBMK Designs [non-profit animals websites]http://bmk.bemikitties.comPlease visitmy Tigger Tales site! At the bottom of the home and links pages aremy merchant affiliate banners. If anyone uses my links to make a purchase, I will receive a percentage of all final sales.I am going to donate100% ofthe proceeds to animal welfare organizations.This is a great way to shop your favorite online pet stores and give something to a worthy cause. Thank you in advance! Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com. Check it out.
Re: OT: Need feedback please
OK, MC have added it to the page itself: http://adopt.bemikitties.com -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
No Gina, I think it was my frustration with the political arena slipping out. I agree with most everything everyone pointed out, I don't want to scare anyone away, people need to know the facts. I know many people don't have a clue as to how awful animals get treated sometimes. I've been dealing with a lot of puppy mill stuff with one of my rescues and it just disgusts me how cruel we as humans the supposedly superior species can be. -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Very nicely stated Belinda. Us two leggers can be a bit dense and sometimes a strong word is necessary to get through - I think you found a good balance. I too want to offer kudos for both your website and the wonderful things you do - you're a responsible caretaker for the companions we've been gifted with ~ Evan Dee Belinda wrote: Changed this paragraph a bit: Some people obtain free cats to train pit bulls to fight, and they are killed in a very violent and gruesome manner by these vicious animals. Then there are people who feed them to snakes as meals (some large exotic snakes require live food). There are crazy people who obtain free animals solely to abuse them. Others, referred to as bunchers, buy them to make money by selling them to labs, where they are ultimately destroyed after most likely enduring many horrific experiments. These bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs. I think I'm happy with that, it gets the point across but isn't too graphic, my priority isn't being politically correct but hopefully keeping the cats posted as safe as possible. Many people just have no idea how horrible some humans can be, I was a uninformed one myself not too many years ago. I never would of though anyone could do something so awful to any living creature but the internet has quickly made me aware of many horrible things.
Re: OT: Need feedback please (soapbox)
(climbing up onto big bargain size soapbox) I think a harsh mental picture is what more people need to have. If more people cringed, we might live in a world that was more apt to protect animals. The fact that anyone on this list wasn't aware of any of those issues in itself speaks for the lack of animal abuse education in our society. Cringe away... have nightmares... cry... then go out and MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Lobby for harsher animal cruelty laws, lobby to have the states that require shelters give unadopted animals to research facilities change those laws (the term is called "pound seizure, I believe), Lobby to end animal experimentation or to at least stop allowing class B dealers (also known as "bunchers"). Picket, get out and hold a sign. We live in a wonderful democracy (those of us here in the USA) but it doesn't work if you don't use it, so WRITE your representatives and urge them to sponsor bills to tighten animal cruelty laws andchange the ones that effect animals in a bad way. Visit your local high school, and colleges, and see if they dissect cats or use animals in any of their labs, and if they do, urge them to stop, picket them, hand out flyers to all the students about all of the alternatives available these days. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Just make a difference. Until now, some of you may have been unaware, NOW, you are not. Before, you didn't know, so things happened around you without your knowledge, NOW you know, and you have the power to try to effect changes. That's what activism is, you see a wrong, and you set out to make it right. It's that simple. Now you just simply have to start caring enough to take action. I'm not saying you don't care when I say that, I'm saying, from my own experience, it takes a LOT of willpower to take the time out of your busy life to actually DO anything to make the world a better place. No, it doesn't just happen, and no, others wont do it for you. So when I say you haveto care ENOUGH to take action, I mean that you have to PUSH yourself to DO what needs to be done, because it's really easy to take a neutral stance in life, and let everyone else run the show, but it takes time, energy, and determination to go out and do it for yourself. WE, you and I, are the voice and protectors of the animals we rule over in our society, to give them voices, we have to put aside our own, and make room for their message in our lives, then, we have to go out and spread the message, because what good is a message that no one hears? Every tear I shed, though they may be many, is far outnumbered by the numbers of animals that suffer in our world, and my tears, though they may fall, will never make a difference in anyone's life but my own, and that just isn't enough. If only I could collect a dollar for every tear I cry, and give it to the cause that made them fall, then, perhaps, my sadness would be justified in itself. Actions speak louder than tears. (off my soapbox now) Phaewryn Please adopt a cat from Little Cheetah Cat Rescue!!! http://ucat.us/adopt.html Low cost SpayNeuter services in VT, and Emergency Financial Assistance for cat owners:http://ucat.us/VermontLowCost.htmlSpecial Needs Cat Resources: http://ucat.us/domesticcatlinks.html The Sofa Poem: http://ucat.us/sofapoem.html Please shop online through i-give and support the Feline Veterinary Emergency Assistance Program:http://www.igive.com/FVEAP Shop at GREAT stores, like Drs. Foster Smith, Pet Food Direct, Musician's Friend, and LOTS more!It doesn't cost you a single penny more, and it makes so much difference to a sick cat in need! No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/434 - Release Date: 8/30/2006
Re: OT: Need feedback please
There is nothing wrong with your letter. I have first hand knowledge of one woman who cut a hole in a cat's throat, drained the blood into a chalice and drank it. The cat lived by the way. Feeding live cats and small dogs to fighting animals is a well established practice--it gets the animals to taste blood.I've heard the kittens for snake food stories from very reliable sources who named names. The belief among these people is that there is no real difference between a live kitten and a live mouse/bird etc. Most animal "rescue" organizations refuse to adopt out black cats and sometimes any solid cat near Halloween. People don't realize the dangers and most are going to be grateful for the information. Some may ignore it but at least they have the knowledge. If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow man. St. Francis - Original Message - From: Gina WN To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 1:51 AM Subject: Re: OT: Need feedback please There was nothing rude about your reply. If a person really puts the welfare of their animal first, they would not be offended by the information you provided. In my mind, they care more about their ego than they do about Tiger. They are the creeps.GinaBelinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi All, Every once in a while I get people who post to the Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP and put free for the fee, it clearly say's at the TOP of the page this is not allowed, so I send them a drafted letter which I'm copying below with the reply I got from the person I sent it to. Please tell me if my letter is rude because that obviously isn't my intention and I don't want to scare anyone away BUT I do want them to realize how dangerous it is to post a pet for FREE. My letter follow below: Hi Kathy,Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no "Free To Good Home" ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there.I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight, or to spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him. Or maybe a sick, demented person who scours ads daily looking for an animal to torture and beat until they tire of them and finally put them out of their misery by killing them. Then there's the buncher who looks for free or cheap pets to take to labs where they are experimented on and then killed when they have served their purpose, these bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs.Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in some horrible situation like those I described.I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand Tiger over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you.I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to negotiable.Please read these links for more info about how dangerous this is for the cat:http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.htmlhttp://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htmhttp://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.htmlI belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+/FIV, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing.I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my FeLV positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those years and nobody ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for a healthy, adult cat to get it from a positive and if they ever did the healthy adult cats immune system would fight it off.The bottom line is it isn't as contagious as most vets would have you believe.
RE: OT: Need feedback please
I totally agree, what Belinda said needed to be said. But people get so ornery when they think you're telling them how to take care of their pets. I've politely confronted people leaving pets in the cabs of their cars or out in the bed of a truck without water on very hot days, and they just get all "f*** you"and all you can do is say, well fine, I guess you don't mind your doggie'sbrains getting boiled. Although on the flip side, I've written privately to people trying to freecycle pets and told them about the ghouls who hang out on lists for all the reasons stated. One person obviously would have liked to keep her pet, but there was a problem with her kids, or something, so I suggested things she could try. She, at least, was polite in her reply. One day we just happened to stop at a Petco on the day of a pet fair, and there was a table manned by the local no-kill, HOPE Safehouse. Young couple with toddler girl in stroller come up to ask if they take surrendered pets. (They do, actually, but the worker could see what was coming and said no.) Young couple says their dog tried to bite their daughterbecause she was bothering it. Worker, who has heard this so many times, snaps, "Maybe you need to train your daughter," and they just look at her like she's from the Planet Zorg. That never occurred to them. There's so much people don't know about "animal stuff" -- how quickly they can die in cars, how kids need to be TAUGHT to treat them, how there are predators out there worse than any coyote. They all think they come with this innate knowledge of how to "have" a pet. Diane R. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of MarylynSent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 6:00 AMTo: felvtalk@felineleukemia.orgSubject: Re: OT: Need feedback please There is nothing wrong with your letter. This electronic mail transmission and any attachments are confidential and may be privileged. They should be read or retained only by the intended recipient. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the transmission from your system. In addition, in order to comply with Treasury Circular 230, we are required to inform you that unless we have specifically stated to the contrary in writing, any advice we provide in this email or any attachment concerning federal tax issues or submissions is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, to avoid federal tax penalties.
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Belinda, I think it's very telling that you have sent this letter out often and only received negative replies twice. It's very similar to twenty people telling you they liked your presentation and one person saying they didn't - you dismiss the twenty and dwell on the one (I do anyway). I work at a college and I go batty at the number of students who don't read the directions. I think your response was appropriate. If someone attacks you like that you have every right to respond. There is no need to feel guilty about giving him as good as he gave! Maggie PS Thanks for the work you do with that group!
Re: OT: Need feedback please
I want to thank everyone for taking the time to let me know what you thought. I will leave my letter as it is, thanks!! PS. I did reply to him after his reply to me that I changed his ad without his permission so I could just remove it to (this was a subsequent reply to the one I sent in my post). I told him he was the one that was going to have to deal with replies to his ad and apologised for losing my temper. I told him my priority is and always will be the safety of the animals listed for adoption. Haven't heard from him since. -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Okay, for what it's worth, here's my 2 cents... What Belinda is trying to convey with this letter needs to be said. I don't think the way she said it was rude, but it is a harsh light of reality that most people, (as Diane points out), are completely ignorant of. I think the fellow that wrote back to Belinda has other issues that don't involve finding his cat a home, he obviously has a chip on his shoulder that Belinda didn't put there. My only suggestion is to tone down the graphic content of the letter. I'm remembering the letters that the ASPCA used to send out. The ones with the pitiful pictures of abused and neglected animals on the envelopes. I never opened them, I put them quickly into the trash with my eyes closed. I always felt guilty not being able to look at the images, not being strong enough to read about their plight. Maybe it's because I've seen those faces first hand, maybe I'm more faint of heart than most, but it wasn't until they changed their tactics and started putting the "after" shots on the cover of their request for contributions that I opened them and sent what money I could. If we're going to reach the people that are open to listening to the message, we have to do it in a way they can hear. We have to be diplomatic and assume they have some feeling for the animals they are looking to place and they just aren't aware of the dangers that lurk out there. It's an opportunity to educate, but first we have to figure out a way to get them to listen. Nina Rosenfeldt, Diane wrote: I totally agree, what Belinda said needed to be said. But people get so ornery when they think you're telling them how to take care of their pets. I've politely confronted people leaving pets in the cabs of their cars or out in the bed of a truck without water on very hot days, and they just get all "f*** you"and all you can do is say, well fine, I guess you don't mind your doggie'sbrains getting boiled. Although on the flip side, I've written privately to people trying to freecycle pets and told them about the ghouls who hang out on lists for all the reasons stated. One person obviously would have liked to keep her pet, but there was a problem with her kids, or something, so I suggested things she could try. She, at least, was polite in her reply. One day we just happened to stop at a Petco on the day of a pet fair, and there was a table manned by the local no-kill, HOPE Safehouse. Young couple with toddler girl in stroller come up to ask if they take surrendered pets. (They do, actually, but the worker could see what was coming and said no.) Young couple says their dog tried to bite their daughterbecause she was bothering it. Worker, who has heard this so many times, snaps, "Maybe you need to train your daughter," and they just look at her like she's from the Planet Zorg. That never occurred to them. There's so much people don't know about "animal stuff" -- how quickly they can die in cars, how kids need to be TAUGHT to treat them, how there are predators out there worse than any coyote. They all think they come with this innate knowledge of how to "have" a pet. Diane R.
Re: OT: Need feedback please
I think you should leave out the second paragraph. It's VERY harsh and will turn people off. Or at least tone it down a lot. :) Wendy --- Belinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi All, Every once in a while I get people who post to the Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP and put free for the fee, it clearly say's at the TOP of the page this is not allowed, so I send them a drafted letter which I'm copying below with the reply I got from the person I sent it to. Please tell me if my letter is rude because that obviously isn't my intention and I don't want to scare anyone away BUT I do want them to realize how dangerous it is to post a pet for FREE. My letter follow below: Hi Kathy, Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no Free To Good Home ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there. I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight, or to spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him. Or maybe a sick, demented person who scours ads daily looking for an animal to torture and beat until they tire of them and finally put them out of their misery by killing them. Then there's the buncher who looks for free or cheap pets to take to labs where they are experimented on and then killed when they have served their purpose, these bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs. Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in some horrible situation like those I described. I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand Tiger over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you. I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to negotiable. Please read these links for more info about how dangerous this is for the cat: http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.html http://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htm http://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html I belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+/FIV, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing. I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my FeLV positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those years and nobody ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for a healthy, adult cat to get it from a positive and if they ever did the healthy adult cats immune system would fight it off. The bottom line is it isn't as contagious as most vets would have you believe. AND FIV is even less contagious and harder to give to another cat as it takes a deep bite wound to for it to be even possible to transmit it from one cat to another. If your interested in checking the group out you can do that here: http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org Please feel free to contact me anytime. 253 891-1197 Here's someone named Davids reply, just got it: oh wow that was rude. did you think it was absolutely needed to go on for 3 paragraphs about what COULD happen to him. i think you are the demented one! these people will get there hands on animals no matter what i say in my ad or what i don't say. but thanks for the help, i guess. i have decided to keep him so take it off all way, creep! I'm afraid my reply was rude, I just am tired of people not reading or following directions and then yelling at me for it when I point it out, I lost it this time :( I'm really tired of people like you who are *too lazy to read or if you did follow directions tell me I'm rude*, *your email was VERY rude*, mine was informational, but I wouldn't expect someone like you to know the difference. Take the ad off yourself, it's a free service and this is part of it being free! I usually get a reply saying they had no idea of the dangers and they
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Wendy, Unfortunately people need to know these things DO happen, most people have no idea that all of these things occur on a daily basis (I know this for a fact because I was one of them not too long ago). Candy coating or not talking about doesn't make it go away. I can't just omit it and tell people they can't put free because I say so, they have to know there are real reasons for it otherwise they just think I'm stupid and I would be doing the animals posted a disservice. Toning down may work but I won't white wash it, any suggestions on toning it down but still get the point across?? -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Hey Belinda, I agree that people need to know that horrible things do happen, but I think you can say a lot without being specific. You don't want to turn people off to the service that you are offering them/their animals. I have some ideas for toning it down, but let me get back to you in the am when I have more time to think. Have a great night. :) Wendy --- Belinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Wendy, Unfortunately people need to know these things DO happen, most people have no idea that all of these things occur on a daily basis (I know this for a fact because I was one of them not too long ago). Candy coating or not talking about doesn't make it go away. I can't just omit it and tell people they can't put free because I say so, they have to know there are real reasons for it otherwise they just think I'm stupid and I would be doing the animals posted a disservice. Toning down may work but I won't white wash it, any suggestions on toning it down but still get the point across?? -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties http://bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candlelight Service http://bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting web design] http://HostDesign4U.com BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] http://bmk.bemikitties.com __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
OT: Need feedback please
Hi All, Every once in a while I get people who post to the Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP and put free for the fee, it clearly say's at the TOP of the page this is not allowed, so I send them a drafted letter which I'm copying below with the reply I got from the person I sent it to. Please tell me if my letter is rude because that obviously isn't my intention and I don't want to scare anyone away BUT I do want them to realize how dangerous it is to post a pet for FREE. My letter follow below: Hi Kathy, Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no "Free To Good Home" ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there. I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight, or to spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him. Or maybe a sick, demented person who scours ads daily looking for an animal to torture and beat until they tire of them and finally put them out of their misery by killing them. Then there's the buncher who looks for free or cheap pets to take to labs where they are experimented on and then killed when they have served their purpose, these bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs. Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in some horrible situation like those I described. I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand Tiger over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you. I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to negotiable. Please read these links for more info about how dangerous this is for the cat: http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.html http://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htm http://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html I belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+/FIV, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing. I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my FeLV positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those years and nobody ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for a healthy, adult cat to get it from a positive and if they ever did the healthy adult cats immune system would fight it off. The bottom line is it isn't as contagious as most vets would have you believe. AND FIV is even less contagious and harder to give to another cat as it takes a deep bite wound to for it to be even possible to transmit it from one cat to another. If your interested in checking the group out you can do that here: http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org Please feel free to contact me anytime. 253 891-1197 Here's someone named Davids reply, just got it: oh wow that was rude. did you think it was absolutely needed to go on for 3 paragraphs about what COULD happen to him. i think you are the demented one! these people will get there hands on animals no matter what i say in my ad or what i don't say. but thanks for the help, i guess. i have decided to keep him so take it off all way, creep! I'm afraid my reply was rude, I just am tired of people not reading or following directions and then yelling at me for it when I point it out, I lost it this time :( I'm really tired of people like you who are too lazy to read or if you did follow directions tell me I'm rude, your email was VERY rude, mine was informational, but I wouldn't expect someone like you to know the difference. Take the ad off yourself, it's a free service and this is part of it being free! I usually get a reply saying they had no idea of the dangers and they are happy to learn about it. I've only had one other person be rude like this in all the time the service has been available. Please don't candy coat anything, I know I can be tactless sometimes and I only want to help these kitties that is the priority, so any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks guys. Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com -- Belinda happiness is being owned by cats ...
Re: OT: Need feedback please
i don't think it's rude at all. am thinking, tho, that some shelters DO let special-needs cats go for no fee, but that's AFTER they pass their adoption/application process. in those cases, it's to make room for more easily adoptable cats, while doing their best to make sure the cat gets a good home. so not sure about how to handle that--at a shelter that's FULL of cats, sometimes a reduced/no fee is the only way that an FIV/FeLV has a chance On 8/29/06, Belinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi All, Every once in a while I get people who post to the Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP and put free for the fee, it clearly say's at the TOP of the page this is not allowed, so I send them a drafted letter which I'm copying below with the reply I got from the person I sent it to. Please tell me if my letter is rude because that obviously isn't my intention and I don't want to scare anyone away BUT I do want them to realize how dangerous it is to post a pet for FREE. My letter follow below: Hi Kathy,Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no Free To Good Home ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there. I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight, or to spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him. Or maybe a sick, demented person who scours ads daily looking for an animal to torture and beat until they tire of them and finally put them out of their misery by killing them. Then there's the buncher who looks for free or cheap pets to take to labs where they are experimented on and then killed when they have served their purpose, these bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs. Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in some horrible situation like those I described.I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand Tiger over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you. I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to negotiable.Please read these links for more info about how dangerous this is for the cat: http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.html http://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htmhttp://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html I belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+/FIV, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing.I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my FeLV positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those years and nobody ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for a healthy, adult cat to get it from a positive and if they ever did the healthy adult cats immune system would fight it off. The bottom line is it isn't as contagious as most vets would have you believe. AND FIV is even less contagious and harder to give to another cat as it takes a deep bite wound to for it to be even possible to transmit it from one cat to another. If your interested in checking the group out you can do that here: http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.orgPlease feel free to contact me anytime.253 891-1197Here's someone named Davids reply, just got it: oh wow that was rude. did you think it was absolutely needed to go on for 3 paragraphs about what COULD happen to him. i think you are the demented one! these people will get there hands on animals no matter what i say in my ad or what i don't say. but thanks for the help, i guess. i have decided to keep him so take it off all way, creep! I'm afraid my reply was rude, I just am tired of people not reading or following directions and then yelling at me for it when I point it out, I lost it this time :( I'm really tired of people like you who are too lazy to read or if you did follow directions tell me I'm rude, your email was VERY rude, mine was informational, but I wouldn't expect someone like you to know the difference. Take the ad off yourself, it's a free service and this is part of it being free! I usually get a reply saying they had no idea of the dangers and
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Belinda I don't think that you were rude at all.Maybe they just don't like to be told the facts!! You did the right thing. SherryBelinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi All, Every once in a while I get people who post to the Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP and put free for the fee, it clearly say's at the TOP of the page this is not allowed, so I send them a drafted letter which I'm copying below with the reply I got from the person I sent it to. Please tell me if my letter is rude because that obviously isn't my intention and I don't want to scare anyone away BUT I do want them to realize how dangerous it is to post a pet for FREE. My letter follow below: Hi Kathy,Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no "Free To Good Home" ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there.I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight, or to spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him. Or maybe a sick, demented person who scours ads daily looking for an animal to torture and beat until they tire of them and finally put them out of their misery by killing them. Then there's the buncher who looks for free or cheap pets to take to labs where they are experimented on and then killed when they have served their purpose, these bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs.Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in some horrible situation like those I described.I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand Tiger over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you.I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to negotiable.Please read these links for more info about how dangerous this is for the cat:http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.htmlhttp://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htmhttp://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.htmlI belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+/FIV, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing.I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my FeLV positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those years and nobody ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for a healthy, adult cat to get it from a positive and if they ever did the healthy adult cats immune system would fight it off.The bottom line is it isn't as contagious as most vets would have you believe. AND FIV is even less contagious and harder to give to another cat as it takes a deep bite wound to for it to be even possible to transmit it from one cat to another.If your interested in checking the group out you can do that here:http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.orgPlease feel free to contact me anytime.253 891-1197Here's someone named Davids reply, just got it: oh wow that was rude. did you think it was absolutely needed to go on for 3 paragraphs about what COULD happen to him. i think you are the demented one! these people will get there hands on animals no matter what i say in my ad or what i don't say. but thanks for the help, i guess. i have decided to keep him so take it off all way, creep!I'm afraid my reply was rude, I just am tired of people not reading or following directions and then yelling at me for it when I point it out, I lost it this time :( I'm really tired of people like you who are too lazy to read or if you did follow directions tell me I'm rude, your email was VERY rude, mine was informational, but I wouldn't expect someone like you to know the difference. Take the ad off yourself, it's a free service and this is part of it being free!I usually get a reply saying they had no idea of the dangers and they are happy to learn about it. I've only had one other person be rude like this in all the time the service has been available.Please don't candy coat anything, I know I can be tactless sometimes and I only want to help these kitties that is the priority, so any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks guys.Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP
Re: OT: Need feedback please
Dear Belinda: I personally do not think your letter was rude in anyway! You were sharing information that you knew. This individual obviously has some issues! I would encourage you to continue educating those individuals that are trying to help rehome cats that are inexperience at it. If these individuals truly love cats and want to help them, they will welcome the information that you will provide. You go girl!! Precious Pets, Almost Home Association --- Belinda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi All, Every once in a while I get people who post to the Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP and put free for the fee, it clearly say's at the TOP of the page this is not allowed, so I send them a drafted letter which I'm copying below with the reply I got from the person I sent it to. Please tell me if my letter is rude because that obviously isn't my intention and I don't want to scare anyone away BUT I do want them to realize how dangerous it is to post a pet for FREE. My letter follow below: Hi Kathy, Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no Free To Good Home ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is very dangerous for the cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there. I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight, or to spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him. Or maybe a sick, demented person who scours ads daily looking for an animal to torture and beat until they tire of them and finally put them out of their misery by killing them. Then there's the buncher who looks for free or cheap pets to take to labs where they are experimented on and then killed when they have served their purpose, these bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars a pet from these labs. Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for that animal and I personally would rather euthanise a pet than take a chance that they could end up in some horrible situation like those I described. I get emails every single day about some poor pet that has endured horrible things until they finally died or were killed. I have even been told by some of my rescues how a whole family will come to look at an adoptee making them appear quite normal, only to find out later the pet was tortured again and again until it finally died or was killed. Please, please be very, very careful who you hand Tiger over to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe when he goes to his new home!! Thank you. I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know these kinds of things happen a hundred times a day to innocent animals. I've changed your ad to negotiable. Please read these links for more info about how dangerous this is for the cat: http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.html http://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htm http://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html I belong to a group of people who are all owned by FeLV+/FIV, most if not all have other cats who are negative. Some let their cats mix some don't, it's a personal preference thing. I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my FeLV positive, he was + at 5 months of age. I just lost him last month to anemia at 11 years of age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just lost him in May after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be cancer. He lived, ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion had spats with all his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those years and nobody ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for a healthy, adult cat to get it from a positive and if they ever did the healthy adult cats immune system would fight it off. The bottom line is it isn't as contagious as most vets would have you believe. AND FIV is even less contagious and harder to give to another cat as it takes a deep bite wound to for it to be even possible to transmit it from one cat to another. If your interested in checking the group out you can do that here: http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org Please feel free to contact me anytime. 253 891-1197 Here's someone named Davids reply, just got it: oh wow that was rude. did you think it was absolutely needed to go on for 3 paragraphs about what COULD happen to him. i think you are the demented one! these people will get there hands on animals no matter what i say in my ad or what i don't say. but thanks for the help, i guess. i have decided to keep him so take it off all way, creep! I'm afraid my reply was rude, I just am tired of people not reading or following directions and then yelling at me for it when I point it out, I lost it this time :( I'm really tired of people like you who are *too lazy to read or if you
