I'm in Wyoming. I've never visited Mexico. I have occasionally thought about retiring to South America - I'd love to run an internet cafe or something. One would offer English classes, cultural experiences and such as well as an import shop - or something... I doubt I could get my husband to leave the US though. lol
I'm not heavily on the spay/neuter wagon, because I've seen what happens when they become over-zealous - it strangely encourages puppy farms because the more responsible pet owners don't have any kittens/puppies and there is still always a need for them, somewhere.
When I was in England, I did let our cats have kittens and never had trouble rehoming them - mainly because the local charities acted as if each one had a champion pedigree and would not rehome to anyone with an imperfect home (and they did home-visit checks!) such as families with children (they didn't bother to ask if the children had experience with cats) or anyone in rental housing... the list went on, and people traveled 1.5 hours to see us!
There is a problem, to be sure - and I recognize that. I'm just not sure what the real solution is... Perhaps targeting the strays would be the first step... and you and I definitely think alike on that front!
Wyoming is beautiful. My husband and I have some great memories of travelling across the States twice!(we're from Canada). We came to Mexico because he, @briancourteau, has cancer and the "writing's on the wall" so to speak, so we decided to sell everything and came here with two backpacks, a suitcase and our cat haha I has been amazing.
...except for the dog and cat problem. I hear what you're saying about the one fell swoop to spay and neuter. I don't think that's the answer either, but starting with the strays might be a good idea. I've seen way too many female dogs who are in such a bad state after having so many litters. It kills me.
I really like what they do in England though! Because of course, there has to be puppies and kittens somewhere ;)
I'm considering the shelter idea when I'm on my own; I think I may appreciate having all the animals around!
I like you ;) and I'm so glad to have stumbled upon your post. Here's to new relationships on steemit ;)
Yes, animals are good to keep you company.
One thing I did like in England was that the places where you could advertise kittens and puppies insisted that they were at least 9 weeks old! That has the additional benefit of keeping the bitch or the queen from being bred again too quickly. It upsets me when I see people here selling 4 or 5-week old kittens or puppies - just because they're eating food doesn't mean they're ready to go! I had a cat who always suckled the blanket for being taken away from her mother too soon - she was the runt of the litter though - and improved after having kittens, but you really shouldn't be able to see the blue eyes of kittens when you're buying - those are too young!
Always good to find online friendships. :)
What part of Canada? I joined the Mormon Church when I was in NE Washington - and our church was actually held in Grand Forks, BC, one of the few international units in the world for the LDS. Most members don't even know they go as small as what we had! Great place though - had I had permission to stay in Canada, I probably would have. (But then, I wouldn't have met my husband.)
Chat later, I must get off.
That's a great rule; 9 weeks old is as young as they should be. Your poor little runt, suckling the blanket :( missing his momma. And yes, it's a good general rule of thumb that their eyes shouldn't be blue.
We are from Ontario but lived most of our life in the Vancouver area. I didn't know about the church in Grand Forks, although not being Mormon, and having no reason to go to Grand Forks, it's not much of a surprise that I did't know ;) BC is a beautiful province though; I can see why you wanted to stay...but then, there's the husband thing :)
I visited Vancouver for Expo 86 - ran into my (married) math teachers there, strangely! Amazing place! Even by Pacific Northwest standards. The first time we were up there, we camped to the northwest of Vancouver, near a very tall, but narrow waterfall - and to the sound of a train's steam whistle several times a day! Past several road barriers obviously put down during adverse weather.
Yeah, actually I believe that little (church) unit is quite a new group anyway, so it's unlikely it was there when you were around anyway. But Grand Forks must seem a very, very long ways from Vancouver. I lived several years in the other Vancouver that Washington is sandwiched between.
Expo! That's when we arrived there as well:) And running into you math teachers is strange:) And I think I know exactly where that campground is...Bridal Falls :) We used to camp there and I'd take my dog up to the waterfall; it really is beautiful!
So awesome! I was hoping you might know where it was. :-)
Looking at it now - nope, that's not the waterfall. This one wasn't so spectacular, but rather narrow and very tall - taller than anything I think I've seen. The campground was across the highway from it though. But still, fun to look. I learned this week of the huge abundance of parks in BC, at all levels - just everywhere! (Someone was doing a photogame on places, and the best I could do was to guess it was taken in coastal BC - it definitely looks PNWish... the clues he gave us were - Canadian park... that's it!)
haha Canadian park doesn't narrow it down much at all ;) The abundance of Provincial Parks and Campgrounds is one of the things I loved about living there!