Pica

Hello
First may I apologise if this thread offends anyone but I've noticed that British expats tend to have unwanted puppies/kittens dumped on their premises and the prospect of this is bugging me-I do have a conscience!
I kind of like dogs & cats but generally those that belong to other people.
If I get any dogs/cats/ left on my doorstep what is the most humane/quickest/easiest way of dealing with this unsocial problem? Where do I take them please?

angeli

Likelihood of this happening is very small. Yes, there are alot of unwanted dogs / cats and their fate if caught or handed in is in the lap of the Gods......like to think many find good homes but just dont know. If it did happen though there is always the vet who can advise.

Pica

Thank you

Lorna at Vicenza

If you get a dog or cat continuously turning up at your door - it's probably because you felt sorry for the stray/mongrel beauty and fed it a few scraps at least once. They are not stupid and strays turn up where they get get fed.

Don't feed it or feel sorry for it and it will no doubt find a new place.

If it doesn't just do a google search with the name of your town or main town hall and add the word "canile" ... (dog's home) and that should bring up a whole list of places.

I have never heard of dogs or cats being dumped on our doorsteps just because we're British - even though most Italians know we are (as a nation) more pet lovers than them.

Pica

thanks all advice taken on board-

duffer

You're not a British Korean expat living in Vicenza are you?

Pica

mostly vegetarian- but easily persuaded

Gio

In the Abruzzo area where I lived there were packs of dogs that had been dumped (I suspect)and had become wild. They obviously felt safer in a group or pack and you would see then whilst driving on the back roads, always looking like they were a group on a mission. I heard rumours that some Brits were suggesting they may become a problem in the future and could start attacking people. I know I walked about on my own in the morning to and from on the back roads to my village and passed by many of these dogs and they never bothered me. The most worrying were the dogs that would scamper out of drive ways, those "ankle biter types". It's a moot point, but it's quite likely that people are more likely of a mauling from a domesticated animal than a ferral one who is shy of humans.
Whilst visiting our local Italian physiotherapist, (nice chap) he said that he and another person took it in turns, he on the morning driving in to work and, her in the evening driving home from work to bring scraps to feed the pack. We saw them a lot and they just seemed like a usual bunch of scruffy and laid-back dogs. They had a small clearing by the road where they hung out. There were dishes put out and filled by our Physio and other strangers. I have seen some sad sights in Italy of the way Italians treat there animals, especially their guard dogs. But, all Italians are not the same.
Be prepared for the constant barking that goes on in the hills where you live at night time....You do get used to it eventually.
We do know one Brit who bought a house directly opposite an Italian that was kenneling an entire pack of his and his hunting pals dogs. The noise at night was absolutely incredible and, it went on all night. When my OH mentioned this to the guys at our local bar saying that the guy never slept because of the noise, they all thought it was hilarious. He isn't well liked.

Gio

sorry.....

Gio

One of my Brit friends is now the proud owner of a chicken. She found it tied up in a plastic bag and dumped in one of the roadside bins!!! It was half dead from lack of air and water. It now lives with her dogs, thinks it's a dog, and produces one egg a day for her morning breakfast.

duffer

if you pull the wings off do they grow back? 'cos I'd prefer a daily dose of barbecue chicken wings

Pica

LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are so funny Duffer

Pica

....but seriously i love those dainty little Italian greyhounds that tippy toe everywhere like silent grey ghosts. So if anyone wishes to dump one of those (with a good pedigree and a girl cos i don't like boys dogs bits) with me I shall be quite charmed.