MIAMI-DADE ANIMAL SERVICES IS A DISASTER

THEY MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ADOPT A CAT

By now I have invested two hours at Miami-Dade Animal Services and cannot wait behind 10 fresh people deep in the line for service – even though the left hand/right hand total failure between front desk and cat cages keys lady caused me to need to pick again.

Miami-Dade Animal Services has robbed me of half a working day and despite my valiant efforts, incompetence has prevented me from petting/bonding with a single cat.

Callousness and unequaled incompetence has left me with zero desire to ever visit again.

I have taken in dozens of street cats.

I fund cat rescue on three continents.

I am the perfect candidate to address the crisis that Miami-Dade has with animals in need of homes.

But I will not be able to keep cats from being lonely or euthanized.

Not until Miami-Dade County leadership fixes its nightmarish Animal Services process.

I leave -- after being blocked by incompetence -- the Miami-Dade Animal Services house of horrors crushed, spirit broken. 

None of the more than half dozen cats that I tried to will leave to a good home -- because this facility is run by uncaring workers.

 

 

MIAMI-DADE ANIMAL SERVICES IS A DISASTER

 THEY MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ADOPT A CAT

I’m still at Miami-Dade Animal Services and praying to get past the incompetence to rescue a cat.

I select yet another cat to try to adopt.

It pays to take lots of photos of the cat’s code number, as incompetence will deny your first several choices.

10 minutes to see the cat cage woman.

The same woman who told me I had no choice in the matter of bonding with the cat she (and she alone) deemed unadoptable.

This time, my fourth or fifth choice of a fur baby is smiling and mewing at me.

My heart melts.

Then the cage area woman says he has a return to owner order and I’m out of luck.

If Miami-Dade Animal Services staff could take two minutes to update info on the cages, would-be adopters wouldn’t get their heart broken time and time again.

MIAMI-DADE ANIMAL SERVICES IS A DISASTER

THEY MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ADOPT A CAT

Now 90 minutes into my visit to Miami-Dade Animal Services, I am led back and a woman tells me the cat I picked is sleeping and mean.

I say I’ll decide.

She refuses to let me see the cat.

I go back, but even though it is 100% Animal Services’ fault, I go to the back of the end of the line again.

20 minutes to wait for the cat with the infection.

Now I’m told it also has FIV and I cannot have.

 

MIAMI-DADE ANIMAL SERVICES IS A DISASTER

THEY MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ADOPT A CAT

An hour after arriving at Miami-Dade Animal Services, I finally get to the adoption counter.

I find out my first choice is FIV positive and they will not adopt that cat out to a home that has another cat. I have a cat.

It would take two minutes to print out this info and put it on the cage – so I wouldn’t get enamored with a cat I cannot have.

There will be many heartbreaks that could be avoided by taking all of two minutes to update information on cats in the cat adoption zone.

I am told my second choice has a respiratory infection and I cannot touch another cat after him, so I should pick another cat to see first.

I share my third pick.

They tell me that cat is available.

MIAMI-DADE ANIMAL SERVICES IS A DISASTER

THEY MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ADOPT A CAT

I enter Miami-Dade Animal Services and look at some cats through the glass.

I fall for a few.

I take pictures of the data card next to them.

I got to the desk labeled adoptions.

I get some annoyed looks, then hear a number called.

I realize I was standing in a line that went by number called.

But unlike a grocery store deli, there no little machine from which to grab a number.

You have to talk to a lady. She wanders off frequently, so I had no way of knowing that I could not take my place in line without her interviewing me and printing a ticket.

 

MIAMI-DADE ANIMAL SERVICES IS A DISASTER

THEY MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ADOPT A CAT

Miami-Dade Animal Services is an unmitigated disaster.

It’s a pretty building and modern facility.

Any semblance of competency and care is an illusion.

I went to adopt a cat.

There is about one half as much needed parking, because it’s in the middle of nowhere, miles from fixed rail transit.

Google Maps shows it would take 2 hours of multiple bus transfers to get there from my Little Havana home less than 10 miles away.

I wait 20 minutes for a parking space.

THE HOLIDAYS ARE ABOUT FAMILY

CATS ARE OUR FAMILY

HoneyBear

Little Havana has a lot of good things going for it, but one of the down sides is that it has to be one of Miami’s most-favored place by cruel people dumping unwanted pets.

We turned bad behavior into great opportunity.

Now, for nearly a decade, we have gotten dozens of cats into Miami-Dade County’s Trap/Neuter/Release program that helps cut down on the population of feral cats.

We have adopted HoneyBear, our Siamese mature cat that lives inside 24/7, divides her days between our work from home stations and spends a good bit of the night in my bed.

We have built outdoor houses, plus feeding and watering stations, for dozens of cats.

We currently have four main cats that spend most of their time on our small urban lot.

Moe is a shy Tuxie. Ginger is a ginger cat that is everyone's mom and caregiver.

CoCo Kitty is HoneyBear's Tortie daughter, too feral to want to be picked up or brought in to live with mom.

Baby is our newest love.

Sadly, his love and trust that allowed us to take him to the vet -- produced a blood test result that indicates he has feline leukemia.

He’s very healthy, a still growing not quite one-year-old boy, but we need to monitor things.

Baby spends a good chunk of the day with us inside while we continue to work from home.

He has just enough wild in him that he cries to go out at night.

We focus on the love we share with Baby and the good shelter and care we give to all the cats that pass through our lives.

Baby

For the full story, visit:

https://stevewright-1964.medium.com/the-holidays-are-about-families-86260835b245

MEET BABY

OUR ANGELIC FERAL GINGER CAT

He got his name because he cries like a baby for attention.

He lives for hugs during his visits from the streets of Little Havana. 

He gets nervous after 10 minutes inside.

But we are trying to make him an inside cat

 #cats

 #AdoptDontShop

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

WE DON'T REALLY GIVE GIFTS ANYMORE -- WE DONATE TO PET CHARITIES

Okay, we give some small gifts to friends, family and colleagues.

But 90% of our gift giving is to animal welfare.

We make a donation each Christmas to Siamese Cat Rescue, on behalf of family members.

We make a monthly donation to the ASPCA in honor of family member’s birthdays.

This year, our anniversary gift to each other was a combination of contributions to cat cafes in Miami Beach and Paris.

Our birthday gift to each other was sponsoring a Siamese rescue cat at the Largo di Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary.

Our Valentine's Day, celebrating an accomplishment/milestone and other annual gifts are spent on food, shelter and medicine for dozens of Little Havana outdoor cats that congregate on our small urban lot just south of Calle Ocho.

We encourage our friends to make donations to animal welfare non-profits, rather than buying gifts for us.

Please. Instead of one more gadget, one more electronic toy, or another outfit to take up space in the closet – think of donating your time and money to protecting stray cats and other animals.