AZ Humane Society

I read this and feel that there are some holes in his story, but I feel badly for the cat. It is sad that the Humane Society's in all states are over crowded with animals and that some have to be put down. They also deal with abused and neglected animals so who knows what condition this cat was in. Maybe they could not have helped it at all or the cats condition could have been caused by this man.
Even with all the donations they get everything still costs a lot of money and they must put what they have to the animals that can get help. I don't mean to sound rude, I also love animals.

He signed the cat over to be put up for adoption not to come back.

None of the stories I could find explained how he found out the cat was put down. I can only assume he came back to try to adopt his cat back only to find out she was put down.

What I find odd about the man's story, how could a nine month old cat keep him clean for over a year?

I think it is awful that they have to put animals down but money doesn't come out of thin air. If you take a donation over the phone and it turns out to be fraudulent the donation disappears, if you take payment over the phone and it is fraudulent you are out the payment for services rendered, big difference.

What is really bothering me is that he probably signed over the cat for adoption figuring he could come back and adopt the cat for 50 dollars saving himself 350 dollars. After all he said the injury was not life threatening so he could have come back later after he had the money.

Sorry if I am taking an opposite point of view but I volunteered at the humane society here for four years as a teen. No one wants to put down animals but sometimes the budget requires it. :(

Spay and neuter....please....that is why so many animals are put down everyday!!!!

Honestly, I think there is more to the story than just what is being told here. News stories often are written or reported to elicit an emotional response from the readers/viewers and it may not be the whole story.

I've worked as a veterinarian for many years, both in general practice and emergency practice, and the simple truth is that we cannot treat animals for nothing. We may give lower cost options, and sometimes we may knock a little bit off the bill, or try to come up with a payment plan, but more often than not people don't pay their bills and we cannot afford to keep treating animals for free. By "signing the cat over", he is relinquishing ownership. Therefore it is up to the facility to do whatever they feel is necessary, or in the best interests of the pet. He no longer has any say in what they do - it's not his cat anymore. If the cat's injuries were too severe to be able to treat appropriately for minimal cost, then the shelter had to make a decision that would not allow the cat to suffer. Animal shelter workers have to make difficult decisions every day and often suffer from emotional burn-out. Thousands of healthy animals are euthanized every day because pets are not spayed/neutered, allowed to breed at will, and are not taken care of adequately by their owners, or are simply abandoned for whatever reason. I am not defending their actions - any place I've worked would accept credit card payment over the phone if offered by the owner of the credit card. But there may be more to the story than you think.

To me, this is a story that didn't need to happen. Why did he take the cat to the Humane Society instead of an emergency veterinarian clinic? A regular clinic would've probably taken the credit card info over the phone.

And why did he sign the cat over instead of taking her to a regular clinic?

And, this was not a simple repair. The cat was cut through muscle from the abdomen to the thigh.

We all make choices and sometimes they turn out badly. This sounds like another example of how someone wants to place blame elsewhere instead of sharing the blame. Perhaps the clinic mislead him about treatment or perhaps, more than likely, he wanted to to be so and made assumptions.

Very sad story for everyone.

I'm an animal lover and still retain my CA veterinary technician license although I work in laboratory sales (human).

He signed it over and unfortunately the shelters have to figure out how much money it will cost to treat a cat and HOPEFULLY get it adopted (most of them don't) or euthanize the cat. I worked at so many clinics (especially emergency) where the owners never came back. It's an awful position to be in because we can't find homes for all of them. There are some awful shelters, more awful pet owners and a lot of great rescue organizations.

Bottom line: adopt from a shelter and obviously spay and neuter your pets (not you M., "you" the stupid public that won't).

I'm sorry to hear this - no, I haven't heard anything about it. There are some cold and stupid people out there. Hope they have to spend lots of money dealing with this issue after this.

It is sad that it just hurts the animals in the long run, but I'm sure one issue is that far less people will give them charitable donations after this. Money they won't even know they will lose over what they've done here.

Dawn

I did see that on the news. It was such a shame. I did hear they are now reviewing their credit card policy but too late for this poor kitty and his owner.
They said the cat was suffering and had to be put down since it couldn't get the operation immediately.
I'm an animal lover and could never work for one of these places that puts them down without any true effort but it is a business first for them. Doesn't change the facts that a loving animal never really had a chance due to $$.

yeah - it's pretty sad. I hope they give him a new cat to care for.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/28/arizona-humane-socie...