RE: A cautionary pet tale to share with your neighbors, because I know You Would Never ....
We used to live in rural Iowa and had the experience of a LOT of dumped animals, cats, especially. There was an instance of some sort of flesh eating disease that went through the 'pack' of cats at one point and we had to put down every one we could catch. It was heartbreaking and spread to some of our pets as well. I don't ever want to go through that again.
It's just heartbreaking and as much as you want to save them all... as you mentioned, the cost becomes prohibitive really fast. I wish there was an easy answer.
We live in town now, but there are still cats and dogs that wander around our neighborhood with no home. My daughter has rescued too many! And my husband... well, let's just say we have 2 dogs and three cats (we would have more, but one dog and two cats recently passed away due to old age).
My husband rescued quite a few animals from the side of busy city streets and highways when he was a mail carrier as well.
I'm sorry... I'm just rambling now as your post has brought up a lot of memories. :/
You have a great writing style, btw. I have an odd fondness for bullet points and lists! :)
Sigh. Hello fellow rescuer. You've been through a lot! The flesh eating thing is terrifying! And they say it's the kids that have pets following them home but I've noticed quite a few husbands are bringing animals home too.
I've contracted a mild case of cat scratch fever. I'm sure this little one was close enough to share it with my cats. They say there's no reason to treat it unless it turns nasty. I'm not waiting. It's colloidal silver for everybody for two months.
As people have stopped by, I've started to remember all the dogs we rescued in the city. But in most cases the dogs were just lost. I learned all kinds of methods for finding owners. And plus it's just much easier to work with a fully staffed animal control center.
The neighborhood where I grew up had cats that were basically community cats until a boy got bit and had to get rabies vaccinations. Yeah. Cat traps were suddenly a thing. I think my dad carried off 3 in one week and he wasn't the only one carrying cats away.
Animals always induce rambling, though. Have you noticed?
I call this my UseeIsee... It's the only way I can tell a long story. You're welcome to use it. It also works great with short stories.