Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the people and rescues making a difference in the lives of animals. Today we are joined with Rachel from the Jefferson, SPCA. And I'm glad to have you here. I wanted to have you on the show 'cause I specifically wanted to discuss spay and neuter and the Jefferson SPCA does have some really good programs for that. And also because you have had some concerns about the overall state of animal welfare in

the community. Definitely. I can say when I first started volunteering for Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter 13 years ago now, so February of 2012, I remember thinking, like I became a volunteer. I became addicted. I was going every single day to photograph the adoptable animals. And it became like a passion. Fast forward a couple years, and then I get married and I remember writing in my vows for my husband that I wanted a French bulldog. If a rescue french bulldog came in it'd be so rare, but I wanted it. Now I don't like the breed at all now that I've really gotten to know them, but they come in four or five a week, if not more.

Oh, really? I didn't know it was that many

Yeah. I never thought that would be a problem. I thought that I don't know, it was just the things that I thought would never be a problem are a problem. Golden doodles. People always wanted a goldendoodle. They're in the shelter now, but even rescues don't want 'em. So the things that I thought wouldn't be a problem in 2012 or 2015, that's when I got married. They now are, We're getting worse.

Same thing with Persian cats.

Yes.

Bengals. What is your role at the Jefferson SPCA?

So I'm the program's director. I was originally hired five years ago for the spay and neuter program and the rabies part of it. In Jefferson Parish you pay a rabies license. So when you bring your pet to get vaccinated at the vet, you pay a license fee. That license fee comes to us. It's voted on in the ordinances and it's split half for spay neuter, half goes to the shelter. So that's how we have the spay neuter, program. And people from like other states, Michigan contact me and email me like, how do we do this? So we always share our information 'cause we want other people to do it. And then a couple years ago, maybe two years ago, I took on being the accountant as well. I love doing that because it's actually a task I can start and finish. So mentally it helps me feel like I do some kind of like completion of something because I don't know that spay neuter will ever not be needed. Not that I don't want it to not be needed, but it's just, it's so hard to convince people if it now having like people to support you with laws. It's just, it's so hard. I also handle adoptions. I do it all fundraising, I do everything. I love it. But some days are really hard.

That's how it is in rescue for sure. What is the mission of the Jefferson SPCA?

Our mission, even though it's not up to date is the spay neuter. Definitely. Our mission is actually something that our board president came up with on a whim maybe 15, 20 years ago. And he's I just wanna help pets be in homes. But it's more than that. For me, I think the front runner, and we have to talk about it, is that it needs to be spay neuter. It needs to be reducing the pet population in our or homeless pet population in Jefferson Parish through spay neuter.

Now, can you give us a sense of the scale of animal overpopulation in Jefferson Parish?

I don't know specific numbers we're partners with J Paws in the shelter, but I don't have the specific numbers from them. Like sometimes I ask for the data but I can't think, like back in the day, I know there was probably 12,000 animals entering the shelter each year. Whenever I first started volunteering and the number has come down, I think it's only, 4000-5000 animals that come in the shelter each year. But I think that reason, it's also skewed because of rescue. So that's part of it. So I think, like whenever I first started volunteering, you're thinking like 10 to 12,000 animals that come in the shelter every year. That's so crazy. And now you see four to 5,000 and you're like, okay, then we're improving. But that's not counting you, that's not counting Joan with spay mart. That's not counting Amy of a tail in need. That's not counting us. So we are interfering that they're not going into the shelter because we're stepping in and they're going into rescue first. And so that's why part of me thinks, I can't say officially, I don't know that maybe parish officials think that we don't need the laws that we do. Because the numbers aren't that bad at the shelter anymore. But all the rescues are interfering. So like we are helping the load by having a rescue. So we're helping. The parish talks y ou're not spending as much in the parish money, which I mean it's more expensive. So like we're still spending lots of money on the the five or 6,000 animals that go in every year. But I don't think the parish really realizes how many numbers like that, the true numbers are of the homeless pets that keep going because of rescues, interfering so they don't end up at the shelter.

Yeah. 'cause All the rescues are full.

Yeah. Joan, and like with Spay Mart, I mean they were doing an average of 700 kittens a year, right? Yeah. I think a tail in need broke 500 last year. I think we did maybe 210. So that's like a thousand. But there's other people like the, whenever they try to do surrender prevention so people don't bring 'em to the shelter. So other rescues breed specific rescues help too. So those are out there. I guess shelter animals count, if you were reporting that, but I wish there was a way that rescues, you tell your numbers, you say out there, you put 'em on public, on social media and your emails and stuff. What you did. But that number is not going into account with the parish to say, Hey, this many homeless animals are still a problem in our parish.

Yeah. That makes sense You also do cat trapping for the TNR. Yes. So how many cats are you seeing being trapped a week?

Not as many as I'd like. When I first started in 2020 my board member she wanted me to learn like our vice president was like, I want you to understand, like trapping, just so you know. And I was like, okay, like I'll go with you. So I learned maybe like a month or two after I started and then. That was right when the pandemic happened, everything got shut down. All these events I had scheduled to talk about spay neuter couldn't happen. 'cause I couldn't go to the events. So I started trapping myself and I trapped with the help my friends Lisa and Sue, I trapped maybe 650 cats in six months. And it's just crazy. So I know like in the program, like every week maybe a hundred cats or so come through, like as I process that on the accounting side are coming, but I wish there was more. Like I can help people get more appointments and we can do the mass appointments and spay Mart does sometimes I'll do the clinics on Saturdays. Like we can find the appointments. It's just not enough people trapping.

Yeah. I find a lot of people they'll ask for help and they're not willing to do anything at all.

Oh, that's my favorite.

Not even watching the trap. 'cause I've had that situation where I'm close by. I'll come get the cat. Just keep an eye on the trap. Just call me when the cat goes in the trap. And they're not even willing to do that.

Yeah. Like I made a Google form. I don't advertise as much as I used to where you could fill out the information, you could put like your address, how many cats if you're the feeder. And then one of the questions was like, if we come out there and set the trap, can you at least watch it? And then it was like, yes or no, I'm not able to, I'm disabled or no, I'm scared. Or something like that. And majority of the time everyone put No

really? crazy.

It blows my mind because like I, when I started, first started learning, like Lisa, my friend, she used to feed a colony of Ron Williams. And it was so funny to watch her feed that colony because whenever new kid shows up, she put trapped down. She'd put the food in it and then she'd tell all the other cats they would go near and she's get away. Don't do it. And then they would listen to her 'cause they were like, her cats, they were used to her, Hey, this is mom. She says, no, get away from it. And the new kid's oh hey, what's this? And goes right in the trap immediately. And it's so much easier for the feeder to trap 'em. And they always think that it's no, they'll never forgive me. And they'll be mad at me and I hurt 'em. And it's not even, it's not that big of a deal. Like I'm telling you, cats are forgiving. Most animals, you have to think about the abuse that they've been through. And like all the animals that we've rescued, the dogs like that we've rescued, I mean like the beagles definitely they've all been abused. They are so loving and forgiving, and I think most animals are. And if you trap 'em after their hormones settled and everything gets better and they're not so anxious, they're gonna come back around, give them like a couple days at the most. And like one feeder, I've had the hardest time. I love her. I've helped her so many times, but I'm like, you go there every single day, you're in better physical shape than I am. You need to be trapping your cats. So now she'll do it. She'll be like one a week, but it makes a huge difference if she gets that one before it's pregnant. You're saving five to 10 lives, maybe hundreds if you count the ones that it would have.

How many pregnant cats were spayed last week?

I don't even know. Pretty much everyone. So whenever I processed the vouchers to do payments, like pretty much every female last week out of, 50 to 75 were either in heat or pregnant. So the one colony I was talking about that's when I was trapping in 2020 and it was a colony. Behind Labarre Road, in that industrial area. And I went to trap for a nice couple and we trapped 15 cats and they were letting 'em live like in this warehouse. They were totally fine with 'em. They were coyotes, so they were okay with the cats being there. They wanted to keep 'em in this fenced in area, but they just grew, the colony grew so fast and they were just like, I can't believe it. And then the wife said, like, whenever you trap 'em, if they're pregnant, please don't tell me. So I was like, okay. So I trapped the 15 cats. We went to that vet, 10 of them are male, five are female, and every single female was pregnant with five.

Yeah that's what I was gonna say. At least four or five. That's the average.

And whenever I released them back, the husband said, don't tell her, but tell me. And I said, yeah, you would've had 25 more cats. Yep. So eventually he did tell her, and like she came in and she cried. She was devastated, but she understood because we are so broke. Doing all the things to feed 'em. You can't touch 'em all, so then you can't put flea prevention on 'em. So then you need to put flea treatment in your yard, but you gotta do something that's safe or keep 'em out the yard for, a couple hours while the flea prevention dries. Or if you're spraying something for your yard, it just becomes out of hand.

Yeah, definitely.

And they're capable. That's the thing that bothers me. And the excuses of people not wanting to trap is oh, I'm in my sixties, or I'm in my fifties. I'm like, do you know the majority of my volunteer trappers are in their seventies? And Karen Lemoine she's a beast and she traps with a drop trap every single time. Like I use a drop trap for injured cats. I rarely bring it out to like trap, just regular cats. She'll pull it out and just go drop it out at someone's house, set it up, feed 'em under there for a week, and then get all six of 'em in one second, and then just pull the drop trap. And then she's oh yeah, just transfer me to individual cages. I can't imagine the circus of five or six cats under a big drop trap, like flying around, flopping everywhere. And like Karen in her seventies, got her own health issues working like two and three jobs. Also a pet sitter out here doing the Lord's work, so the excuses drive me crazy because you've lived there, like you said, even if you just set the trap and if I can just put it on your porch, you could watch a video on YouTube easily. I could swing back by and pick it up whenever you trap it. I don't mind transporting. That's not the problem, but I can't sit there and watch it. And you live there. You go there every day. If it's a place somewhere else. It just doesn't make any sense to me why people don't trap.

Yeah. And even with dealing with the trap, it's so easy to just, it's. It's a no brainer. You just learn one time how to set the trap and then that's it.

I've done it where I've trapped on the sidewalk. I'll have a trap in my back of my car and I'm like, oh, there's a cat. Oh, it looks pregnant. And then I'm like let me put this together real quick, and I'll pull over and put it out on the sidewalk 'cause it's a fair game. Trap me a cat and then roll away in 10 minutes and hey, it's just, so easy. The hardest part to me is cleaning the trap after and sanitizing it. That is the hardest part to me. Trapping a cat, bringing it to the vet, cover all that stuff, everything. Piece of cake. Cleaning the trap afterwards, sanitizing it, getting all the tape and the newspaper off. That's the hardest part of trapping.

What are some of the misconceptions that people might have about the behavioral changes with spaying and neutering animals?

A lot of people like, they use the excuse, they'll get fat and lazy, you can't use that excuse. You're still overfeeding them. So yes, like the hormone and, levels of change and stuff like that, and, they will gain weight, but you can adjust the food and overall that saves you money. Less food, in the long run. I'm trying to think of some of the excuses that people have told us. Some people just say they don't believe in it for religious reasons, but there's just, there's too many winning things to not do it, like the behavior changes. It just doesn't make any sense to me

I know that you do have some of these rabies shot drives, I guess that's what you call 'em, where you will offer spay and neuter to people.

Yeah.

What is some of the feedback that you hear about that, of why they don't wanna get it done?

A lot of them are the typical men that are just like, I'm not doing that to my dog. I can't do it. No. I would never. But then there's even this one husband was like, I want to do it and my wife will not. That is her baby. She loves that dog more than me. And then she'll say I want grand puppies. I'm like, it's not the same. It's so infuriating because if they're coming to a rabies drive, for the most part, they need that low cost. They can't afford it. So it's already like a financial strain and that's why they're going to the rabies drive for some of 'em. Or they're like me and they have 15 dogs and you gotta save where you can. But they already need things to be low cost and it's like already frustrating that it's like a lot of the things that you see skin conditions one of my dachshunds, I got Chloe, she was like bald. We were doing all the shampoos, the antibiotics, everything. Spayed, skin is beautiful, like gorgeous, no more hair issues. It was all hormonal, dermatitis, like issues. So some of the people that come with these animals, they're like, oh, he's got all these skin issues and oh, this has happened. If you fixed them, the skin issues would probably resolve some, So like a lot of the things that they can't afford or or she's in heat and this is infected, or just the different things that come up with. And if you spayed them in the long run, they'd be overall healthy and it'd be less money for you, Be less veterinary expenses.

Yeah, definitely. I hear a lot of people too, like you said with the grand puppies, that people wanna experience the birth of either kittens or puppies. They can foster. Yeah. There's no, no reason to have 'em when there's all these rescue groups that need fosters.

I mean it's super frustrating. I overheard a thing yesterday and just being where I am, like where our office we're located inside Jefferson Feed. There was a person in there yesterday wanting to check the status of his dog. It was already artificially inseminated with a breed of another dog. So they're making a mutt.

Okay, that's a good one.

And it was 70 days, 'cause gestation periods is about 60, 62, and they were at 70 days and nothing had happened. They didn't want to do X-rays because they didn't want the radiation to hurt the puppies, but. What's so frustrating is one of the breeds that was in that dog, there's probably seven of 'em, that one of our board members, one of our board members helps us with the rescue dogs, is trying to move up north to Kaleidoscope canines, Siberian Huskies. They become like the new pit bull in the shelter. And I'm just like, you're breeding more mutts of this breed that we already have. The Huskies, there's so many of 'em in the shelter that are on at risk of being euthanized and you're creating five and six more because it's cute and we wanna have puppies and we wanna have babies. And I'm like, what about the ones that you wanna go hold the veins of the ones at the shelter that are probably end up being euthanized? If you really want grand puppies just rescue some. It's the same thing,

yep, exactly.

It's like you pick all your friends to be like your family. Having all those puppies and dogs, the ones that are already homeless, already born, already needing love, those can be your grand puppies.

Exactly. You said something about all the Huskies getting surrendered. So I know people do surrender for some strange reasons. Sometimes

it's not even that they're surrendering 'em, I guess they would. The thing that we're facing right now in Jefferson Parish. We only have the West Bank shelter. They are in the process of building the East Bank. They have the plans working. I have seen them on the desk. So I know it's coming, but a lot of people, they won't drive to the West Bank and they're just letting 'em go stray. And then it falls on us. So like you and I are driving by and oh, there's a dog and we want to go pick it up or save it or scan it for microchip. Of course it's intact has no microchip, no one's looking for it.

Exactly. Now what are some of the common situations where the Jefferson SPCA would step into actually rescue an animal?

I try not to, if that makes sense.

Okay.

I rather. Keep an animal in a home if the person wants it. And I could offer them care. If they can't financially afford it. Like my ultimate goal is like if we have the money, the donations to afford it, I'd rather keep it in the home. And then let me offer to help you fix it. I can offer, if it has a skin condition certain shampoos and there are things that we can do to save money to help you keep that pet. I usually try not to get involved. Sometimes like we have where somebody's emailed and they're desperate and they can't get an appointment at the shelter to surrender. 'cause the appointments owner surrenders are now scheduled for Jefferson Parish animal shelter. And so they're scheduled three and four months out and some people can't wait and they're desperate. And so we'll say Hey, can you send us a full bio, full pictures, vet records? Like you have to send us everything to prove that like you legitimately cannot keep the animal and you really need our help. Not just, oh, I'm moving. Oh, I can't get anymore. You shouldn't have got it in the first place, and we always wanna take any of our animals that we've adopted out, we'll always wanna take 'em back.

Yeah. 'cause I do see that seems to be a new trend now, where people have the means to take care of an animal, but it's like they just wanna get out of the responsibility of taking care of an animal. So they think that's what rescues are for.

Yeah. Oh, I wanna donate my animal to you. That happens all the time. Every week they wanna donate their rabbits to us. It's Easter, I'm gonna donate my rabbits to you. Absolutely not. You're not doing me any favors, you're not donating anything to me. Like never ever. When you're bringing an animal to any animal rescue, shelter organization, you're not helping them by any means. I don't think there's any organization period across the entire country that if you ever gave them an animal that you thought you were donating, you were helping them. You're not helping anyone. I go to bed every night. Dreaming. Of a shortage of animals. I just think that would be the coolest thing ever.

So how do you address that when somebody wants to donate their rabbit, cat or dog to you?

Unfortunately, if we don't have the space sometimes, I can post it on our pet finder to help you, do a courtesy posting. I know I offer the re-homing groups to them. I try to, ask 'em why they're surrendering it. Sometimes we'll take the Guinea pigs and the rabbits if we have the space, just because we know they're so delicate and we don't want 'em get in the wrong hands. We're scared that people would feed small animals to like, snakes or dogs or anything like that. So sometimes small animals we will take, because we do have the room. Dogs, it's occasionally cats. It's just, it's on a case by case basis. If we have the means, like we had no senior cats and so somebody wanted to surrender their senior cats. So like we took it because. We had so many seniors wanting cats and I was like, I'm not gonna adopt a kitten to a senior. I can't do it. So I had no seniors. So it's just on a case by case basis. If we can help, if we have the means, if I think that I can find that animal home, then I'll do it. Spay neuter is supposed to be where I'm supposed to stay. Even though like I want to rescue because the same thing about the whole completion. Like I can get an animal into rescue, I can get it healthy and I can find it a home. It's like a sense of satisfaction that I completed a task. And spay neuter. I can't like always 'cause of the people that have to fight with a grand puppies and all the other excuses.

Can you do a quick overview of all of the spay neuter programs that the Jefferson SPCA offers?

Yes. So we have the Fix a Fee line program and the vets that are on that program, they. Some do owned cats and feral cats. Some of the vets on our program only do feral cats which we're grateful for all of our vets. We know that some of 'em our vets are corporations and so they can only have a certain amount and some vets can't take the hit on the commission. So I totally get it. Most of our vets are locally owned, but sometimes some of the corporate ones will take the hit if they'll do it for Ferals and it'll be the vet that truly cares and says, Hey I won't take the commission because I wanna help the community. So that's pretty awesome. So it's fix a feline and that's for owned cats and feral cats. And then the Fix a canine program. I'm trying to expand and get more vets on the program because they're booked out like at least two to three months. And I know that's, hard. We just added another small vet to our program and I told her, the way I got her to be agree to be in the program, it's like she was scared to do large dogs. And I said, you can agree to be on the program and just do dogs under 40 pounds. I don't want to make a vet do something they don't wanna do or don't feel comfortable doing. So that's the fix A canine program. We have it it's like by weight category, but if the vet's not comfortable with it, like big dogs put next to their listing on the website. Dogs under 40 pounds only. So that's fix a canine oh the fix a feline, it's a copay of $15. If it's an owned cat, you get no vaccinations. That's a cat brought in, a carrier, a feral cat. There's no copay. Must be in a trap. Must be covered. It's in the ordinance. You gotta cover your cat's people and that is free. And we vaccin 'em with FVRCP and rabies Owned cats get no vaccines feral Cats get both. Fix a canine, the copay is $60. But right now I'm covering their copay for pit bulls. German Shepherds and Siberian Huskies, because those two are now becoming so common in the shelter. They're becoming like the pit bulls of the shelter. And then we also have another program, which there are not many vets that are on that program. We don't it's not one that we advertise, I guess it's called the Fixed Me, and that is a vet that wants to participate in some form of the program, but they can't give like the discount as much as like the other vets can. So it's where we both agree on a same amount discount. So if they will discount, $50, then we'll give them $50. So then the pet owner only gets a hundred dollars off, essentially. So it's like a discount. Chateau Veterinary Hospital is on that program and Metiaire Small Animal Hospital is on that program. So that's a way that they can offer their clients a discount for spay neuter, but not have to take the hit if they can't afford it. I don't blame 'em. 'cause like when you have to be really good at spay neuter and it's surgery. I know that some people are scared of it. Like Dr. Ridel with furry friends, she's probably of the 130,000 cats we fixed in the program, probably like 15 or 20,000 of them. Dr. Ridel is done by herself.

Wow.

She's a beast.

Yeah. That's crazy. Just to think of that number.

Yeah. And the program's only been around since June of 2011

and just How many cats would that have been? Yeah. If they weren't spayed or neutered. Just thinking about it, that's just like crazy.

I'm trying to think, I'm trying to think of the numbers on the board. 'cause I just updated them the other day. We're at close to 125,000 maybe total since the program started. But like 30,000 of that is. Dogs and 70, 80,000 or whatever cats, but like 15,000 of 'em. I wouldn't doubt it if it was Dr. Ridel.

Wow.

And then South Shore's a big powerhouse, but they they have five vets. And whenever I look at the whole month total, half of it would be like South Shore. 'cause they did that many, Yeah. So they have to be, you have to be good at surgery and get it. So dr. Wisdom's fast obviously, because she was at the shelter for so many years.

Yeah. And I know when they do a neuter too, they can just do that in like a few minutes.

Yeah. A cat neuter is about seven to eight minutes If you're good at it. I want more vets to be in the program, but I want to do what they're comfortable with. But then I applaud the vets that like, I know that work for corporate and they have these, quotas they have to meet and they're willing to take the hit. Whenever I signed up, vetco total care on veterans. And they said this is the lowest they could go. And I was like, I can't pay more than this. This is what the contract is. It's the number we have set. I can't change it. And she went back to her vets and they were like, let's do it. So I just thought it was just so empowering to be like, Hey, we just wanna help people spay and neuter their pets, because some really understand how important it is. So I was like, they're not gonna be on it. And then she called me and she's no, they don't care. They'll take the hit. And I was like, what? That's amazing. Yeah, it just made me really happy. You really care, I get it. Like I a lot of people argue about how much vet care is and how they don't agree with it and how expensive it is. But at the same time, like I can speak from personal experience. My friend just finished vet school not that long ago, and I wanna say her student loan debt is, like 25 or 27,000 in tuition. Four years of that. So it's like a little over a hundred thousand.

Yeah.

And then my husband just finished medical school and he paid it was like 32,000 or so per year. So it's like 120,000. So it's only like a 10 or $15,000 difference between vet school and med school. Vets will never make what medicals like doctors do, and they have the same amount of debt. So just think about it. I know that the suicide rate is very high. In doctors too. It's very high in vets, but they still have the same amount of debt, they'll never make the same amount of money. They'll be struggling to pay that student loan debt off to be your doctor.

Yeah. I remember when I was a teenager, the vet that we used to go to, he actually told us, 'cause I was interested in going to vet school and he told me, look, if you wanna go to vet school, just don't go in it for the money. Cause there's no money in it.

Yep. That, and that's what everybody says. Shelter medicine, they are paying pretty high for shelter veterinary medicine. But then you don't get to use all of your skills. So that's like the downside of it. But it's just some people wanna do it, but then if you lose your skills my husband said he'd never wanna be a vet. Think about all the different anatomies you have to learn. You're not just like when you're a doctor, human doctor, you're just learning the human body. Yeah. But when you're a vet, you're having to learn so many different bodies and all I just can't imagine. So it's gotta be so much harder. But people get so mad at vets and they're like, you don't wanna help, or you don't want to do that. It's not that they don't wanna help. Like their livelihood depends on it too. Like they have to get paid.

Absolutely.

They go through so much sadness, just like all of us in rescue and like they need to get paid. They need, to have that quality of life as well. So I protect my vets. I don't like when people are mean to them. I'm like a mama bear to my vets. I hate that whenever somebody trapping or a cat or something will come and they'll post something on one of our community group pages and say something very awful and mama Bear Rachel will come out. Don't talk about our vets

It is a very stressful thing. And I can only imagine, 'cause they're having to, euthanize animals that are coming in that are sick. Need it. But that's still gotta take a toll on you.

Yeah. I don't wanna say that it does get easier because I know some people it's a hard time. I do love to fospice. That's my favorite thing. I love old dogs. Give me old dachshunds, geriatric problems all day, every day. I love having 15 dogs. Is it exhausting? Yes. But I love it. But whenever they pass away, like I don't usually cry anymore. And I feel like my husband had to build me a shelf and I have more passed away deceased pets than I do alive now. The only one I really lost it and cried so hard, but most recently was I had to do one for behavioral reasons and he was barely like, two And that one, like Dr. Wisdom was like, are you okay? You never cry. It just sucked. 'cause he was so young. Like he would bite me in his sleep and drew blood and then like you could put him in a crate and then he would scream bloody murder all night. Then he attacked one of my dogs in the middle of the night. 'cause I have a doggy door. 'cause old dogs, no offense, you gotta go when you gotta go. So I have a doggy door and he attacked one of my dogs overnight. So that wasn't good. And then he tried to bite my husband in the face and that was it because he bite my husband in the face. He can't read x-rays and he can't have a job.

Yeah. My aunt actually adopted a dog. And it was like that the dog ended up having a tumor. And it was the tumor that was causing her aggression. And there was nothing that could be done.

Yeah, that makes sense. I've had to do one of those too. But he had nothing. We checked all those things and thankfully my vet agreed with it and so I was like, that's it. I can't, like I tried, like he went to two different homes. He bit a coworker. It sounded like I didn't try and I couldn't pass it off on someone else So like that one sucked and I did cry a lot. He like, he was so smart and trained, like maybe he could have been like someone's drug dog or something like a police officer. 'cause he loved to work, but it was just difficult. But, it was strange. And he was a small dog dachsund mix. Somebody, something made on the West Bank, he came from the L-A-S-P-C-A actually. That's the thing that bothers me the most is like the different designer dogs they're trying to make and then they're becoming like all the behavioral problems.

Oh yeah. Definitely. Same thing like with the poor Persian cats. With the eye issues and the nasal issues that they have. And same thing with some of the little like what is it? The Boston Terriers,

if you're getting down too far in the line and breeding things that you shouldn't be, or, they don't care or what's the skin thing that you get demodex whatever? Uhhuh. So if they have it, they're like, don't ever breed that dog again. And people still do it. It doesn't make sense. Like the facts don't matter. Like they don't care. I don't want dis breeders or say that I don't like them. 'cause I do know a very responsible breeder. That breeds dachshunds. Like she's obsessed with them, but they're all in her house. This is her master bedroom and right next to her master bedroom is the puppy room. And they really are like her babies. But you can't adopt from her unless you have like another one. 'cause she doesn't want single dog syndrome. You're not allowed to breed they have to be spayed, neutered within so many months. She has very strict rules. She doesn't want you to get one start your own train of breeding. She's no. Don't do something if you're not gonna do the research behind it. But she's also still in rescue, so she still takes old geriatric dachshunds, just like I do so I don't love it. But I wish more breeders were like her, like she will always make sure hers are okay. She will always take them back. Like, why can't we have stricter laws that say if you're breeding, you have to microchip it. If it ends up at the shelter, it's yours. It comes back to you like, I love that we have the Breeders' Permit Law in Jefferson Parish. Only one permit's ever been sold.

Really?

One.

I did not know that. Wow.

One,

wow.

That is it. So if you know anyone in Jefferson Parish that is breeding animals, I can tell you 99.9% chance they are not doing it legally.

Wow. That blows my mind. Yeah, I did not know that.

Yeah. So that's, like you're allowed, I think one accidental litter, but if you just don't know about what happens, which is crazy to think I don't know, four month old cats at four months can get pregnant. Mothers and sons will mate. That's all the questions that people are like, that can't happen. They're mother and son, or they're so young. No. That, just doesn't matter. But in Jefferson Parish, I just, I wish there could be stricter. Because it shouldn't fall on us to only clean it up. It's, it's our parish money that's taking care of the shelter, but why do we have to clean up everyone else's mess?

And I think that is what I'm hearing consistently across the board with everybody that I've talked to that's involved in rescue. They say the same thing. There needs to be some kind of laws that help with the overpopulation problem.

Yeah. Even if they have the laws, like they need help enforcing 'em, like I know we have like humane officers, but if we had a whole JPSO, like humane division, I would throw a party. I don't know, I'd probably be like Betty White, just happy endlessly, I just seen all the suffering and like seeing this stuff. Jeff Dorson sees it all over the whole state. He posts those pictures of different things and like those rural parishes like crushes me to think that like anyone would ever think that the conditions that they have that animal in are acceptable. But even people that are in our own backyard are doing it. Like I know one of the dogs I have, whenever it came into the shelter in 2021 he was horrible shape. He's like a cocker spaniel mix. Never want to get one of those again. The ears are the worst things in the world. But he came from a over hoarding breeding case of 67 dogs and it was in Kenner.

Really?

Kenner. 67 dogs in one house.

All right, Animal Posse. That's it for this segment, but the chat with Rachel keeps going, so stay tuned for part two in our next episode. And that's all the time we have for today's episode. If you are in animal rescue, or if you know someone that has a story that should be told, please contact us. We would love to have you or them on the show Thanks for listening, and please join us next week as we continue to explore the world of animal rescue.