Omfg seriously!?

[Laurelin]

Was working at the shelter yesterday. This girl comes in and looks around a bit at the dogs, and then goes to this really emaciated cur mix. She kneels down and I kind of move on to other tasks, but later I hear her start going off on one of the workers.

"Are you feeding this dog? Why doesn't this dog have food?"

Um.... this is a dog that was brought in by AC because of neglect. He was basically skin and bones and we're rehabilitating him. There is a SIGN on his kennel about his special feeding schedule. Can you not read? You don't just free feed a dog that has been starved for who knows how long. Of COURSE we're trying to put weight on him. Of course he looks terrible, he's only been here a day or two! The poor worker told her we feed him on a schedule and are trying to get his weight up. She didn't say much but just left.

Oh yes, the shelter just routinely starves the dogs. You would think people would understand that many dogs came in from bad situations. Many were strays who HAD NO FOOD. Many were NEGLECTED. Just because there's a dog in there that looks starved doesn't mean we starved him.

I just thought that was crazy.

 

[Domestika]

People are always on the look out for animal neglect....even among people who are there ONLY to help animals! People want to be able to point something out and save a dog from a horrible fate and feel really good about themselves.
Though...I guess that's not such a bad thing! But some people do it more in the vein of "SCOFF, you are doing something WRONG".

 

[Squishy22]

You shouldnt free feed ANY dog.

 

[ACooper]

I think if she had asked some questions in a normal civilized manor it would have been fine, but to freak out and be accusatory right off the bat is a little uncalled for.

I understand that not all shelters and rescues are nice places to be, it always depends on who is running the show.............so it IS good that there are people who "watch" the "rescuers" too

 

[SmexyPibble]

When I worked at the shelter people would act like we starved the dogs as well. We had a lot of starved dogs coming in and it was so hard not to smack their owners so hard that their cheeks burned off.

A dog was brought in with his brother, who was also starved. Supposed to be a German Pinscher but they looked like Chihuahuas or MinPins being so scrawny. The guy insisted that the starved dogs were always like that. He also brought in some starved cats, as well and said he had four more dogs at home. We had to go in and check out the other dogs. They said they'd had a baby and couldn't keep these two dogs, but insisted they were wonderful with kids. So why did they bring these two in instead of some of the other four because they had a baby..if they were so wonderful with kids?

People confuse me so much!

 

[Laurelin]

One would think she could read the label on the kennel though. They always list medical stuff on there. I just thought it was odd she seemed to genuinely think that you need to let a starving dog eat as much as it wanted and it was cruel to limit food intake. Very strange. We usually get the people commenting on dogs' weights in something along the lines of 'That's so sad.' or 'Wow, she's skinny' and then they go on to actually read the dog's story.

Though, she didn't mention a thing about the emaciated boxer across the hall. No idea why.....

 

[Laurelin]

When I worked at the shelter people would act like we starved the dogs as well. We had a lot of starved dogs coming in and it was so hard not to smack their owners so hard that their cheeks burned off.

One would think that'd be the logical assumption. Dogs are being brought IN starved because the shelter takes in a lot of abused dogs.

People make me mad too. A good portion of the dogs we get in are underweight. We're not talking underweight like not as plump as the average pet, but with bones sticking out all over the place. The ones that are owner surrendered are the worst. I get to look at them and silently curse them under my breath while I lead their dog away.... fun stuff.

 

[radiopassive]

It's sad when someone so uninformed takes up a such a good cause. Of course they only mean good, but... what do they say about where the path paved by good intentions leads?

 

[Punkygirl0101]

You shouldnt free feed ANY dog.

I free feed my dogs, and as you can see from the many pictures I post I have very fit, lean, active dogs . And they are dachshunds too!

 

[ACooper]

I free feed my dogs, and as you can see from the many pictures I post I have very fit, lean, active dogs . And they are dachshunds too!

I agree that some dogs can be free fed and others can't.

Orson would eat himself into oblivion if it were available all the time..........he gets fed twice a day and is constantly searching for a handout in between, LOL

My Gram's dog (little scruffy mutt of some sort) was a nibbler and picked at his food all day long, always had food in the dish and was never over weight........he actually had to be 'enticed' to eat.

 

[TheGoldenRetriever]

Um.... this is a dog that was brought in by AC because of neglect. He was basically skin and bones and we're rehabilitating him. There is a SIGN on his kennel about his special feeding schedule. Can you not read? You don't just free feed a dog that has been starved for who knows how long. Of COURSE we're trying to put weight on him. Of course he looks terrible, he's only been here a day or two! The poor worker told her we feed him on a schedule and are trying to get his weight up. She didn't say much but just left.

She should have read the sign on the kennel before shooting her mouth off, agreed, but I think she meant well even if it didn't come across that way. Even though she left without saying much more, I hope she at least listened and maybe researched a little later.

Probably a lot of well-meaning people, if they encountered an obviously starved stray, might try feeding it as much as possible as quickly as possible ... perhaps while waiting for AC to arrive. They don't realize is that doing this will KILL a starved dog. They have to be fed slowly and carefully on a schedule, just as your shelter is doing! It's the same with starving children ... organizations like CARE feed these children slowly and carefully ... for the same reason. Excess food fed too fast to any starving mammal kills them.

 

[Pops2]

common sense is NOT a common virtue.
most people seem to confuse their mouth and their ears and use them in the wrong proportion, LISTEN twice as much as you speak not the other way around.

 

[Boemy]

I free feed my dogs, and as you can see from the many pictures I post I have very fit, lean, active dogs . And they are dachshunds too!

I free-fed my lab mix and she stayed a lean 50 lbs all her life. Also, she would only eat when we, the humans, were eating. It was funny watching her hanging over her bowl with her eyes on us, waiting for us to take the first bite.