LETTER: Please seek help if you can’t afford pets anymore

She had a collar on, no rabies tag, but she did have a heart-shaped metal tag and engraved on it was the name Foxy and a telephone number. We called the number and it had been disconnected. My husband traced the telephone number to an address and name and when he got off work he went to the address, which turned out to be a few houses up the road. The lot was empty. I don’t know for sure, but it looks like her family moved and somehow she got separated.

We’ve decided if we can’t find the owner we’ll keep her, but she’s in bad shape. I’ve never seem such matted hair and she’s stove up, can’t check her body until we do something about the hair. This is the second night she’s been with us and will let us touch her, but she’ll only allow us to cut a little hair at a time.

She’s getting used to our other critters, cats and dogs, which all stay in our home except to go potty. She’s eating like she’s starved and she’s drinking water.

Monday I’ll try to get an appointment with my vet and will take her to the animal shelter for grooming. The person who grooms has her own grooming business and when she volunteers for the shelter all the money she makes goes to the shelter as a donation.

The shelter gave me permission to use their phone number and I want to ask folks who’ve lost their jobs and/or homes to please call the number and just tell them, for whatever reason, you can’t take care of your pet/pets any longer. Bring the critters to them and they’ll try to find a home for your pet. It’s heart wrenching to see a family who has to give up their pets because of the economy, but we do understand. It could happen to anyone. You can also ask about foster homes that can keep your pet until you get back on your feet. There are many folks like me who will adopt critters so we don’t put such a big burden on Animal Control and the Shelter.

When a pet is separated from their family, most stay right where they are left until they starve to death or become feral and then a threat to the community.

Right now, I have a secure home and can manage to take care of one more critter. I still have strays from before the shelter and animal control days. I was hoping to avoid this, but we never know what God is going to hand us and all the critters we’ve adopted have been a blessing.

So please if you are going through rough times and cannot take care of your pets anymore, call this number 706-795-2868 at the Animal Shelter and tell them your plight and they’ll help you.

Sincerely,

Susan Kingsolver

Hull