Given the countless cases of animal abandonment and abuse in Croatia, castration of cats and dogs is the only effective way of reducing the number of abandoned animals. More and more municipalities and cities are making the decision to enforce permanent sterilization of cats and dogs in their respective areas. In accordance with that decision, all cat and dog owners who have yet to sterilize their pets will have to do so.
Unneutered human-owned pets can be in heat and mate, just like strays. Owners usually do not take responsibility for their pets’ offspring and get rid of kittens and puppies in horrible ways, without realizing that the solution to their problem lies in a couple of hundred kunas and a routine veterinary procedure.
Others let the little ones grow a bit and then give them away, through ads or by word of mouth. Although they did not kill them or throw them onto the street, such owners are no less irresponsible: every kitten and puppy they give away is taking away a potential home from an animal that has been saved from the street by volunteers – one that was previously abandoned or that was part of a litter of strays with no owner. These kinds of owners usually give the young ones away with no questions asked and no criteria set, to the first person who expresses interest, just “to get rid of them,” without considering the conditions they will be living in. They do not care if their future home is in a yard, a shed, or a house; if they are going to be living right next to a road, if they will be provided with veterinary care and be castrated... It is not uncommon for such kittens and puppies to be run over by cars, die of illness, or, if they are “lucky,” live long enough to continue reproducing and, in turn, create new offspring to be killed, thrown away, or to take up the homes that could have belonged to strays.
Let’s not forget the many unneutered human-owned tomcats that wander the streets – especially in Dalmatia, where it is widely considered that cats are in fact street animals – and mate with stray cats, which, in addition to exposing them to sexually transmitted diseases and incurable illnesses, contributes to the growing population of neglected stray cats.
Cat and dog owners!
On behalf of all those who will be born on the street or thrown into the garbage, we ask you: sterilize your pets! By doing so, you are directly contributing to rescuing stray kittens and puppies, as there are more foster homes left for them.
If, on the other hand, you did not sterilize your pet in time and it had a litter of young ones: give them away responsibly! Find them good homes, where they will get adequate veterinary care and, most importantly, where they will be castrated once they reach sexual maturity. Spay the mother cat/dog as soon as the young ones turn two months.
Think of the thousands of others who do not have the opportunity to be saved and who are going to die in the street because there are not enough homes for everyone…
People looking to adopt!
Adopt cats and dogs rescued from the street. By doing so, you are saving two lives at the same time: the life of the animal you are adopting and the life of the next stray animal that takes its place in the care of our organization or individuals. By adopting kittens/puppies from a home litter, you are supporting the misconception that “it is easy to find foster homes for kittens/puppies (especially if they are attractive), so there is no need for sterilization.”
If you want a kitten/puppy of a particular breed and there isn’t one available to adopt, we beg you: do not buy it through a suspicious ad for a couple of hundred kunas. The people posting these kinds of ads are “manufacturers” that keep purebred or mixed breed animals, have them mate constantly, and torture them by making them have several litters a year in order to make a profit. By buying purebred cats/dogs without papers, you are contributing to the suffering of the animals that are in the hands of such creatures, but also of their offspring that are often weak, full of parasites, sick, unsocialized, and that are growing up in inappropriate living conditions.
If you want a particular breed, buy it from a verified and registered breeder: this kind of cat/dog has to have a birth certificate and vaccination booklet and it will not be going to a new home before turning three months old.
In conclusion
Yes, every cat and every dog needs a home. Those rescued from the streets, the ones from home litters, those “manufactured” in bulk, and the purebred ones. However, keep in mind that your choices have a direct impact on the market and the supply and demand ratio. If it becomes hard to sell the kittens and puppies “manufactured” in bulk, there will be fewer “manufacturers;” if more people choose to adopt rescue animals instead of those from home litters, there will be fewer unneutered human-owned pets.
Your choices really can make a change, so choose wisely...
The Animal Protection Act (NN 102/17, 32/19 in force since01/04/2019) contains certain regulations concerning pets. Under the title “Protection of Pet Animals,” part six of the Act(Art. 51) prescribes as follows:
(1) Pet animals must be ensured keeping conditions in line with their needs.
(2) It is prohibited to keep and handle a pet animal in a manner that poses a risk to the health and safety of other animals and people, in particular children and animals.
(3) The movement of pet animals in a manner that poses a risk to the health and safety of other animals and people is prohibited.
(4) It is prohibited to keep dogs constantly tethered or to keep them in separate dog-keeping areas without enabling them to move freely outside of those areas.
(5) The conditions and manner of keeping pet animals from paragraphs 1, 3, and 4 of this Article are prescribed in the general acts of representative bodies of local self-government units.
The Act also touches on the control of pet breeding (Art. 52 of the same Act). The following is prescribed on this subject:
(1) The owners of pet animals must ensure controlled reproduction of animals that are under their control.
(2) The owners from paragraph 1 of this Article must provide care for the offspring of their own pet animals.
(3) If the owners of pet animals do not want to provide care for the offspring of their pet animals, they shall bear the costs of their care, and in the case of dogs, the costs of their permanent sterilization.
(4) If the owners of pet animals do not provide care for the offspring of their pet animals, a veterinary inspector, upon determining the abandonment of the offspring of their pet animals, may impose a measure of permanent sterilization of the pet animal, at the expense of the owner.
The full text of the Animal Protection Act can be found here.
Original article by: Prava šapa
