Puppy, kitten mills
Published on: Monday, November 30, 2020
By: Shirley Khong
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As mentioned in the last article, a puppy/kitty mill is a commercial dog-cat breeding facility that focuses on increasing profit with little overhead costs or regard for the animals’ welfare.
The health and welfare of the animals is not a priority as they are there to produce only, just like a factory line, producing non-stop.
Female dogs/cats are bred at every opportunity with little to no recovery time between litters. When, after a few years, they are physically depleted to the point that they no longer can reproduce, breeding females are often abandoned or killed.
This is not yet the general case in Sabah, but unless we do a better job of enforcing licensing and monitoring breeders we will be heading in that direction.
Every year in America alone, it’s estimated that 2.11 million puppies/kittens are sold that originated from these mills, while 3 million are killed in shelters because they are too full and there are not enough adoptive homes.
We need to act as a publicist for your local animal rescue shelter and encourage our community to adopt shelter pets. We need to educate ourselves and others, so when someone you know says they are interested in getting a cat or dog as a pet, we can point them in the right direction!
And rather than just choosing an animal based on looks or breed, we need to make a deeper investment by spending some time with these adoptive animals to see if they are a good match for our personality, lifestyle and needs.
In puppy/kitten mills, dogs and cats can spend most of their lives in cramped cages, with no room to play or exercise. This is sadly also the case with many owned dogs and cats.
Dogs are sociable pack animals and, just like humans, thrive on bonds and family connections not only with their offspring but you, their extended family!
Often times, the water and food provided for the puppies and kittens born in these mills is sadly lacking and inadequate and these pups and kittens can even be malnourished, lacking good nourishing food with the right nutrition.
Puppies and kittens in mills are often found with bleeding or swollen paws, feet falling through the wire cages, severe tooth decay, ear infections, dehydration, and lesions in their eyes, which often lead to blindness. Babies with these defects are often abandoned by the breeder as they are of no use to them. These issues are common amongst mill bred dogs and cats, as it is caused by inbreeding.
What more the mamas? They are just kept in the small filthy unkempt cages, day in day out, with no life at all except to breed! They receive no love, no encouraging words, no pats, nothing!
These purebred dogs/cats have no social life or interaction with the outside world. Their world is just that dirty filthy cage, bearing litter after litter, just to please people who want to own a pedigree!! How would you like a life like that, filled with despair and sadness, and no hope of ever finding love and freedom?
Breeders also do not bother who their pups or kittens are sold to, whether these buyers know anything about the maintenance of a dog or cat etc.
These pets are kept as a trophy, a status symbol, so they can tell their friends they own a Rottweiler or German Shepherd or a Maine Coon or Persian cat, but have no idea how to interact or best care for them.
These poor pets are often kept like prisoners, caged up and fed once a day, or for whatever reason. Some owners even have the hope of breeding them again for profit! How disgusting are humans?
Most of these mills have no veterinary care, climate control, or protection for the animals from hot, cold, rainy or stormy weather and this again is how caged animals live their sad and pathetic lives, cowering from the extreme heat and rain and thunder and lightning and/or fighting for space or food! This is animal abuse!
There are so many of these illegal mills and some of them even have the voice box of the dog/cat removed, so it cannot make too much noise and attract unwanted attention. Some pet shops may also breed or they may work hand in hand with breeders with one aim in mind – profit! These cruel mill breeders often do not have a licence to breed but do you think they care?
They have customers willing to pay exorbitant sums for the babies born and these customers never realise nor care, how the mama dog/cat has to suffer to bear these pups and kittens!
The only way to discourage breeders is to stop buying from them. As we have mentioned before, there are plenty of cats and dogs at the shelters awaiting good loving homes, just waiting to be adopted.
Even purebreds have been rescued by shelters because the poor mama dog or cat was discarded heartlessly, thrown away, once her full potential was used up!
Help give the shelter animals a good loving and secure home, instead of helping breeders profit. Stop encouraging breeding! Stop buying.
Adopt from shelters! Do not buy from breeders!
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