We need to perfect the system in prevention of animal euthanasia on adoptable pets, out of time in shelters. I hear the blaming of the puppy mills as one cause in this, and I hear blaming animal stores. Anytime I see a dog or cat in a shelter, it doesn't seem to have an ID tag. We know it is a law in everty state, pets have to be registered, be vacinated for rabies, etc. But, oh well, dogs and cats ending up in shelters as strays without ID. What if every pet store, every puppy mill, every and any place providing adoptible pets enforce the identification permanantly with micro-chip. Just don't let one animal leave anyplace without the micro-chip ID. If our animals are really this precious, we can not afford to have excuses, "I'll get a tag later", "I'll get my dog a collar and ID later", "I'll micro-chip my cat later". Make it a law non-profit organizations. Speak out to congress and go to Capital Hill. With so many animals just being put down and euthanized because they ended up as a stray, and ran out of time for a new home, we can only blame the prior owners of these pets. Owners who made excuses, were selfish only to think of their priorities and not any for their pet, or just didn't care enough.
Micro-chipping is a great prevention, but dog-gone-it, enforce it!

What about blaming irresponsible breeders? They start this whole thing. They are the ones that breed out of greed. The people who will breed simply for a different color, size, shape, temperment...etc. Cross breeding, what about those crazies? I am a horse fanatic. I am sickend by the endless breedind and the end of the line is death. Unfortunately, there is a huge difference in types of death. Nevertheless, it is all DEATH. Unexeptable. God put us here to protect his animals. To rule over his kingdom, but not with violent death, death that is not needed.

That is not a bad idea. We had our cat micro-chipped at the same time he was neutered. He was already under anesthesia so that the larger size needle didn't hurt him. Since all shelters require animals be spayed or neutered prior to adoption, inserting a micro-chip at the same time would be easy. New adopted parents would then be required to register their pet with the micro-chip company. Any "stray" animals could then be traced back to the person responsible. Pet ownership is a responsibility and a commitment. Getting pet stores and breeders to comply might be more difficult. I think in this case some type of legislation would be needed. It might be hard to enforce, but I think the idea could work. It might at least cut down on the numbers of homeless pets. It would also help in abuse situations. I watch Animals Cops all the time. When an animals has been abandoned, often times the animal control officer can't track down the owners to arrest them. With registration, at least they would have a name to go with. I got my cat micro-chipped because I had heard that research Labs can not accept micro-chipped animals to experiment on. Ben is an indoor cat but he is very fast and I worry that he might escape one day. I would never want him in a lab being tortured. Also collars and tags can be removed or fall off. Micro-chips can't. Thanks for your post!

I'm not saying this in a mean way, but you all must be city folks if you think its a law to register your pets everywhere. Or that everyone is required to immunize their pets. ANYONE who does not have their pets spayed or neutered contributes to the problem. People who do not train their dogs properly contribute to the problem. People who make money by holding animal fights contribute to the problem. For the most part, puppy mills and pet stores sell purebred or supposedly purebred animals. Take a good look at those animals in the shelters. All too many of them are backyard crossbreeds. They came into existence because someone was too cheap to have their animal fixed. Because they thought their children would like to play with puppies or kittens. Guess that falls in the "here's a free toy, go play with it and leave me alone" column. People can always come up with a good excuse as to why they should not take responsibility for their actions or lack of actions. You won't be able to legislate that away. If you could, this would be China, not the USA. Please don't think that I don't blame puppy mills for what they do. I think puppy mills and kitty mills as well should be obliterated.

this is an issue that always bothers me. OK, yes, it's definitely more comfortable for us humans to spay/neuter the animals... but are we supposed to be cultivating these guys, keeping them as pets and then you know, destroying their natural tendencies in the first place? if we're keeping them as pets don't we owe it to them to let them live natural lives?

Fishfool @ The Reef Tank