Dixie: 00:00:00

Welcome back to the show, everybody.

Dixie: 00:00:01

Today, we're gonna be tackling a disturbing trend that has many

Dixie: 00:00:04

rescuers and animal advocates asking a difficult question.

Dixie: 00:00:08

Are adoption processes doing enough to protect the animals

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we work so hard to save?

Dixie: 00:00:13

Joining me is animal advocate and returning guest, Veronica Belletto.

Dixie: 00:00:18

This is an important conversation for rescuers, shelters, adopters, and

Dixie: 00:00:23

anyone who cares about animal welfare.

Dixie: 00:00:25

Let's get started

Dixie: 00:00:27

Hey, Veronica.

Veronica: 00:00:29

Hey.

Dixie: 00:00:30

Thank you for coming on today to talk with me about this weird new

Dixie: 00:00:37

thing that we have to worry about in rescue, Oof … which is people adopting

Dixie: 00:00:42

pets to, try to gain financially

Dixie: 00:00:47

Actually, it's two things.

Dixie: 00:00:48

So one of 'em is there's this new TikTok trend where people are taking animals

Dixie: 00:00:56

and staging them to look like they need to be rescued so they can get the views,

Dixie: 00:01:01

and then there's the case of this guy that was just convicted of adopting from

Dixie: 00:01:09

numerous agencies, numerous rescues, and he would actually torture the cats

Dixie: 00:01:16

to make them look like they needed veterinary help, and then he would

Dixie: 00:01:19

create GoFundMes to raise money for 'em.

Veronica: 00:01:25

And there was absolutely…

Veronica: 00:01:26

Just when you think it can't get any more sick,

Dixie: 00:01:29

yeah.

Veronica: 00:01:29

We get hit with something else.

Dixie: 00:01:31

Yeah, and then I know before the, that story came out, there was another one

Dixie: 00:01:36

a couple of months ago where this guy had adopted two kittens from a rescue- And the

Dixie: 00:01:45

rescue ended up getting one kitten back.

Dixie: 00:01:47

They don't know what happened to the other one, but they know that the

Dixie: 00:01:49

one kitten they got back, the guy basically adopted him to to torture him.

Veronica: 00:01:54

Was that the one where he put him in the microwave and stuff

Veronica: 00:01:57

and he said he had been torturing since he was eight years old?

Veronica: 00:02:00

I- You know?

Veronica: 00:02:01

I don't

Dixie: 00:02:01

know.

Dixie: 00:02:01

That's- I

Veronica: 00:02:02

don't know if that's- Might be a different one.

Dixie: 00:02:03

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:02:04

That-

Veronica: 00:02:04

There's so many it seems

Veronica: 00:02:06

… Dixie: that's horrifying, right?

Veronica: 00:02:07

I know.

Veronica: 00:02:09

Oh, my gosh.

Veronica: 00:02:10

I I just…

Veronica: 00:02:12

I reach- reached out I didn't, enter…

Veronica: 00:02:13

They said it was in part due to catching this recent guy through internet sleuth.

Veronica: 00:02:19

So I looked, I started sleuthing myself, and then I found one of the girls, you

Veronica: 00:02:25

know, that had originally started to see something was wrong, and I think

Veronica: 00:02:30

she had just seen something on Facebook and it didn't sit right with her.

Veronica: 00:02:33

So I reached out to her, asking her for her insight on how this

Veronica: 00:02:38

could be prevented in the future.

Veronica: 00:02:41

She hasn't answered me yet, but I'm ex- I'm excited to hear what, she

Veronica: 00:02:44

answers and see what she has to say.

Veronica: 00:02:46

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:02:47

Because I don't know where, who's…

Veronica: 00:02:48

who's, somebody's failing these animals, and I hate, honestly, to…

Veronica: 00:02:52

I don't wanna blame a rescue because they do the best they can,

Veronica: 00:02:56

but do they all do the best they can, is now what I'm wondering.

Dixie: 00:03:00

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:03:00

I- You know what

Veronica: 00:03:00

I'm saying?

Dixie: 00:03:01

Absolutely.

Dixie: 00:03:02

Absolutely.

Dixie: 00:03:02

'Cause that's the same thing that I'm thinking.

Dixie: 00:03:05

I'm not thinking that these rescues are failing the animals, but it's

Dixie: 00:03:10

just like, how does that happen?

Dixie: 00:03:13

When you have an application and you go look up people and

Dixie: 00:03:16

everything, , how does that happen?

Veronica: 00:03:19

I gotta believe they don't do, they don't look anybody up.

Veronica: 00:03:21

They're just so happy to get the animals, adopted maybe that…

Veronica: 00:03:25

'Cause all that you had to do was a search, I think, on that person and it

Veronica: 00:03:29

would've come up, I think at that point, as the transsexual fundraiser, which

Veronica: 00:03:34

is even adds another layer of bizarre.

Dixie: 00:03:37

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:03:38

It's crazy 'cause, I know for me I'm not really a fan of the same-day adoptions.

Dixie: 00:03:45

I'll go do adoption events, so if somebody wants to submit an application, then

Dixie: 00:03:50

they can come to my adoption event after they're already approved and pick out

Dixie: 00:03:54

which cat or kitten they're interested in.

Dixie: 00:03:56

But I kinda got away from the whole same-day adoptions.

Dixie: 00:04:02

Originally that's what I wanted to do, but then it's like all these stories and

Dixie: 00:04:06

stuff keep coming out, and I like to think of myself as a good judge of character.

Dixie: 00:04:10

, When I'm talking to people, I try to ask questions to kinda trip 'em

Dixie: 00:04:15

up, so it's like- Oh, okay … like, when I ask 'em, "Hey, what are,

Dixie: 00:04:19

where are you keeping this cat?

Dixie: 00:04:20

Inside?

Dixie: 00:04:21

Inside/outside?"

Dixie: 00:04:23

And those kinda things.

Dixie: 00:04:24

And as you talk to people more, sometimes you'll get 'em to kinda trip up a

Dixie: 00:04:27

little bit and you'll find out, oh, they really want an inside/outside cat.

Dixie: 00:04:31

And I'm not talking necessarily ab- about people who might have an,

Dixie: 00:04:35

already have an inside/outside cat.

Dixie: 00:04:37

Because there are situations for that.

Dixie: 00:04:39

I'm a fan of indoor only, but I have an inside/outside cat because he was

Dixie: 00:04:44

a feral cat that just kinda showed up.

Dixie: 00:04:46

But I wanna ensure that the cats that we're adopting out that have been

Dixie: 00:04:51

basically most of 'em bottle raised, that they're not suited for outside.

Dixie: 00:04:56

They need to be inside only.

Dixie: 00:04:58

So I wanna make sure that they're going to that type of home.

Dixie: 00:05:01

I don't want people that are gonna be declining, so that's another

Dixie: 00:05:04

thing where I'll try to ask people.

Dixie: 00:05:06

And I got to the point where I do require a veterinary reference.

Dixie: 00:05:11

Either you're gonna tell me what vet you go to, and either I'm gonna call

Dixie: 00:05:16

and talk to that vet, or you gotta produce some kinda paperwork from that

Dixie: 00:05:20

vet to show me that you actually take an animal to that vet to get treated.

Dixie: 00:05:25

I know that you're gonna take care of , the kitten that you get from us.

Veronica: 00:05:30

I have to say I just went through my own

Veronica: 00:05:31

adoption thing with a shelter.

Veronica: 00:05:34

I'll j- I can say 'em.

Veronica: 00:05:35

In New Orleans, I went through it with Arno.

Veronica: 00:05:38

I volunteer there.

Veronica: 00:05:39

And I had a lot of exper- experience with English bulldogs, and my last one

Veronica: 00:05:44

passed away from old age about five years ago when I was volunteering.

Veronica: 00:05:47

And this-- I knew that it would-- the time would be right for me to get

Veronica: 00:05:50

another dog when it presented itself.

Veronica: 00:05:52

And there was an English bulldog there, and he was perfect, and he had been

Veronica: 00:05:56

dumped at a rural shelter by a breeder who couldn't sell him 'cause he had cherry

Veronica: 00:06:01

eyes, which is like a $6,000 surgery.

Veronica: 00:06:04

And he's like a $5,000 dog, so no one's gonna buy him.

Veronica: 00:06:08

And he-- And then Arno pulled him from that shelter, and he

Veronica: 00:06:11

happened to be there the night I volunteered, and I adopted him.

Veronica: 00:06:13

But let me…

Veronica: 00:06:15

Dixie, can I tell you, I'm still honestly uncomfortable about that adoption process.

Veronica: 00:06:21

But when I tell you it was…

Veronica: 00:06:23

Because I've almost backed out several times.

Veronica: 00:06:26

But now I see I see why they do it, i'm a volunteer.

Veronica: 00:06:30

I've been a volunteer with them for, over 10 years, so you know, I would

Veronica: 00:06:34

think that mattered, but it didn't.

Veronica: 00:06:36

They wanted they wanted all the vet references, not just the past year or two.

Veronica: 00:06:41

They wanted every vet reference that I could give them.

Veronica: 00:06:43

I gave them 20 years of 15 years from my dog vet, and then my cat is only

Veronica: 00:06:49

five, and I had two years for her, and then they said we want the rest

Veronica: 00:06:52

of-- where's the rest of the records?"

Dixie: 00:06:55

Wow.

Veronica: 00:06:55

And I was like, I said, "Oh, okay."

Veronica: 00:06:58

I don't know what, but I don't know if they just thought maybe

Veronica: 00:07:01

I was, he's an expensive dog.

Veronica: 00:07:03

You know what I mean?

Veronica: 00:07:03

Maybe I was just wanted him for a trend or something.

Veronica: 00:07:06

But I, now I see.

Veronica: 00:07:09

They're so stringent in the initial…

Veronica: 00:07:11

And my dad went through it with a different rescue in New Orleans,

Veronica: 00:07:14

and he backed out actually.

Veronica: 00:07:16

He said, I can't do this anymore.

Veronica: 00:07:17

Now they want me to film my, they wanna talk to me…"

Veronica: 00:07:20

My dad's old school.

Veronica: 00:07:21

He's like, "Now they want me to walk around my house for the

Veronica: 00:07:23

second time, with a video on."

Veronica: 00:07:26

He's like, "I can't anymore."

Veronica: 00:07:28

And so he gave up.

Veronica: 00:07:30

But I get it now because they can rest easy once their animals leave, right?

Veronica: 00:07:37

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:07:37

Because they've done so much work to assure, ensure the home.

Dixie: 00:07:42

That's what I was gonna say.

Dixie: 00:07:44

, When I'm talking to the people who are interested in getting a cat or kitten

Dixie: 00:07:48

from me like I said the vet reference thing, that is something that I'm big on.

Dixie: 00:07:54

If you don't have a vet reference, the thing that I'm making you do

Dixie: 00:07:57

is I'm making you do your homework.

Dixie: 00:07:58

You've gotta go contact a vet, and you've gotta come back and give

Dixie: 00:08:02

me a quote that vet has given you.

Dixie: 00:08:05

Oh, that's good … because I wanna make sure that I'm not adopting out to somebody

Dixie: 00:08:10

who is, first off, just an impulse buy.

Dixie: 00:08:13

I'm gonna call it an impulse buy because that's what it is.

Dixie: 00:08:16

You see a cat, a kitten, they're cute.

Dixie: 00:08:17

Oh, I gotta get one- … right now.

Dixie: 00:08:19

So I don't want that.

Dixie: 00:08:20

But then the other thing that I don't want is I don't want somebody adopting

Dixie: 00:08:23

them and then returning them, a couple months, a couple years later.

Dixie: 00:08:27

Now, of course I will take them back, but the thing is we wanna make sure

Dixie: 00:08:33

that they're going into homes that don't wanna give them back to us unless

Dixie: 00:08:38

it's, some extenuating circumstances.

Dixie: 00:08:40

And you do have those, so I'm understanding of those things.

Dixie: 00:08:44

Like maybe you get one and it's y- not doing well with the other

Dixie: 00:08:48

pets that you have in your home.

Dixie: 00:08:49

Your other pets aren't doing well with that one.

Dixie: 00:08:52

So those kind of things I understand, but I want an adoption to be long-term,

Dixie: 00:08:57

and I do think a lot of people are just jumping onto this, this trend,

Dixie: 00:09:03

and so you've gotta protect them.

Dixie: 00:09:04

And if they don't like the way a rescue handles things, you can pretty

Dixie: 00:09:08

much go find an animal anywhere.

Veronica: 00:09:11

And I don't know what these rescues did.

Veronica: 00:09:13

I looked at their pages and they seem very sorry that it happened, but one of

Veronica: 00:09:16

the rescues that he adopted from, this animal torturer, they said we, some

Veronica: 00:09:21

of us had felt very uncomfortable with him, but we adopted out to him anyway."

Veronica: 00:09:26

And I'm like, "It's time.

Veronica: 00:09:28

It's past time that everybody needs to start trusting their gut."

Veronica: 00:09:31

Why- if you feel uncomfortable, several people they said felt uncomfortable-

Dixie: 00:09:36

Yeah

Veronica: 00:09:36

at their rescue with adopting to him, and they did it anyway.

Dixie: 00:09:39

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:09:39

I think a lot of people are worried about hurting people's feelings.

Dixie: 00:09:45

Yes.

Dixie: 00:09:45

And for me, it's, that's not what it's about for me.

Dixie: 00:09:49

, For me, it's about the animals, okay?

Dixie: 00:09:51

I don't care if I hurt your feelings.

Dixie: 00:09:52

Like I said, if you don't get an animal from me, you can go somewhere

Dixie: 00:09:55

else and try to get an animal.

Dixie: 00:09:57

But I had that situation just c- happen to me actually two weeks ago.

Dixie: 00:10:02

The guy walked up, and I just did not like the way that the situation unfolded,

Dixie: 00:10:07

When he came up to the table And it was just the way he was looking

Dixie: 00:10:13

at them, and , I don't know.

Dixie: 00:10:14

It just gave me an off feeling.

Dixie: 00:10:15

And then he's like, "Oh, are these for adoption?"

Dixie: 00:10:17

And I'm like, "Yes."

Dixie: 00:10:18

And he just points to one and he's like, "I want that one."

Dixie: 00:10:21

And I'm like, "You didn't even hold it."

Dixie: 00:10:23

No.

Dixie: 00:10:23

You didn't hold it.

Dixie: 00:10:24

Oh, he didn't touch them at all?

Dixie: 00:10:25

No.

Dixie: 00:10:25

No, he just pointed to the smallest one and said, "I want that one."

Dixie: 00:10:29

Oh.

Dixie: 00:10:29

You didn't ask anything about him.

Dixie: 00:10:31

You didn't say, 'Hey, is it a boy?

Dixie: 00:10:33

Is it a girl?

Dixie: 00:10:33

How old is it?'"

Dixie: 00:10:34

You didn't ask anything.

Dixie: 00:10:35

Oh, wow.

Dixie: 00:10:36

You didn't say, "Oh, it, look how cute that kitten is."

Dixie: 00:10:39

Nothing.

Dixie: 00:10:39

The only interaction was, "Are these available for adoption?"

Dixie: 00:10:43

"Yes, they are."

Dixie: 00:10:44

"Okay, I want that one."

Dixie: 00:10:46

And that was it.

Veronica: 00:10:47

Just like it was a, like a Coca-Cola or something.

Veronica: 00:10:50

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:10:50

Oh, that's scary,

Veronica: 00:10:51

And you remember that we had that guy on Facebook for a long time

Veronica: 00:10:55

that was trying to get kittens.

Veronica: 00:10:56

Do you remember that guy?

Veronica: 00:10:58

Yes.

Veronica: 00:10:58

And we went back and forth trying to block him.

Veronica: 00:11:00

And all of that, how he badly he wanted a kitten, and I messaged him saying

Veronica: 00:11:05

"Hey, look, if you really want a kitten, I'm more than happy to meet you at

Veronica: 00:11:08

one of the rescues, you know- Yeah

Veronica: 00:11:10

and help make it happen."

Veronica: 00:11:12

And sure enough, after that, like never again did I even see or hear from him

Veronica: 00:11:18

under that name that he was using.

Veronica: 00:11:20

That was a very…

Veronica: 00:11:21

I feel like we were right on about that guy.

Dixie: 00:11:24

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:11:24

See, I'm gonna tell you another situation that just happened to me.

Dixie: 00:11:28

It was , a young guy and a young girl, and she was looking for a kitten.

Dixie: 00:11:35

So she asks me about the kitten and everything.

Dixie: 00:11:37

And so I was talking to her, and I was telling her what our

Dixie: 00:11:41

requirements were, for the program.

Dixie: 00:11:43

They happen to have another dog that lived in the house with them, okay?

Dixie: 00:11:47

So I'm gonna ask the questions.

Dixie: 00:11:48

"Okay is the dog, cat-friendly?"

Dixie: 00:11:52

And the response was is it was some kind of trained service dog.

Dixie: 00:11:57

Like a sight service dog.

Dixie: 00:11:59

So I was like, "Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, okay?

Dixie: 00:12:01

The dog might get along really well with a cat.

Dixie: 00:12:04

It hasn't been around one, but hey, I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt."

Dixie: 00:12:07

So I'm like, "Okay I'll just need to have your vet reference for that dog."

Dixie: 00:12:13

"Oh it's not our dog."

Dixie: 00:12:15

I'm like, "Okay whose dog is it?"

Dixie: 00:12:18

"Oh it's my cousin's dog, but he lives with us."

Dixie: 00:12:21

And I'm like, "Okay if the dog lives with you, I need the information on that dog.

Dixie: 00:12:26

You already told me you have a dog living with you.

Dixie: 00:12:29

So I just wanna know , is the dog current on his shots?

Dixie: 00:12:33

Who's the dog's vet?"

Dixie: 00:12:34

It's not, like I said, not an intrusive process.

Dixie: 00:12:37

I don't need to call the vet, but you can go ahead and just produce

Dixie: 00:12:41

the records for me to look at.

Dixie: 00:12:44

And so apparently it was one of these things, okay, they're

Dixie: 00:12:48

gonna get that information.

Dixie: 00:12:50

So I'm like, "All right you can go ahead and submit an application if you want.

Dixie: 00:12:53

What is your name?"

Dixie: 00:12:54

So she tells me the name, and it was a name that kinda stood out.

Dixie: 00:13:01

I recognized it.

Dixie: 00:13:03

So I never denied them because I never actually got an application.

Dixie: 00:13:08

But do you know after this happened to me, they were all over

Dixie: 00:13:11

Facebook looking for free kittens

Veronica: 00:13:15

Oh, no.

Dixie: 00:13:16

So they were on Facebook looking everywhere, , but I am horrible because

Dixie: 00:13:20

every time I saw her commenting, I would private message these people,

Dixie: 00:13:25

and I'd be like, "Look, I'm a rescue.

Dixie: 00:13:26

I can take those kittens from you."

Dixie: 00:13:28

, But it's just very bizarre.

Dixie: 00:13:30

It's just very strange that- Wow … I had that interaction.

Dixie: 00:13:34

And I did call another rescue to tell them, "Hey, this is this person's name.

Dixie: 00:13:38

It's just the story was off."

Dixie: 00:13:40

And it's not to say that they're gonna…

Dixie: 00:13:43

Yeah, you don't know what they're gonna do.

Dixie: 00:13:44

It could be the situation- You don't … where they're gonna try

Dixie: 00:13:46

to do this, this stuff to get these views on TikTok, it's crazy 'cause you

Dixie: 00:13:52

just don't know what the intentions are, but it's also just very weird.

Veronica: 00:13:57

And I feel like if it's even a little weird, I think that all

Veronica: 00:14:01

rescues should start, no matter how they operate, if it's a gut feeling

Veronica: 00:14:06

or it's, just absolutely anything.

Veronica: 00:14:09

I feel like people sh- we need to stop giving people the benefit of the

Veronica: 00:14:12

doubt when it comes to living beings.

Veronica: 00:14:16

Because in this day and age, I think that my judgment is excellent.

Veronica: 00:14:20

I'm ve- I'm highly street smart.

Veronica: 00:14:22

But I've even decided and started to train myself that I'm not even gonna tru-

Veronica: 00:14:27

you know, I'm gonna trust my judgment when it says somebody's off, but other

Veronica: 00:14:31

than that I don't even know these days.

Veronica: 00:14:33

People are such…

Veronica: 00:14:35

they wear such masks.

Veronica: 00:14:37

It's really, you have to really dig deep sometimes to get, the stories

Veronica: 00:14:41

from people, and I just feel like I don't know what those shelters

Veronica: 00:14:45

that gave those kittens out.

Veronica: 00:14:47

And then the guy that tortured the other two kittens, put 'em in

Veronica: 00:14:49

the microwave, that was recent.

Veronica: 00:14:52

He adopted his kittens one after another, and he adopted kittens before that.

Veronica: 00:14:57

And I kinda feel like this is a weird…

Veronica: 00:15:00

The guy to me, granted it's a mugshot, looked like a strength.

Veronica: 00:15:03

Number one, I feel like it doesn't matter.

Veronica: 00:15:05

If he's a single man, you need to ask more questions.

Veronica: 00:15:08

That's my opinion.

Veronica: 00:15:09

I know you ca- it's discriminatory.

Veronica: 00:15:11

I don't care.

Veronica: 00:15:13

But some single college-age student, that's coming in

Veronica: 00:15:16

and wants multiple kittens.

Veronica: 00:15:18

Ask more questions to that guy 'cause that's kinda weird.

Dixie: 00:15:22

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:15:22

That's the profile of a torturer.

Veronica: 00:15:24

You know what I mean?

Dixie: 00:15:25

For … all the cats and the kittens that I adopted out I

Dixie: 00:15:28

could text the people right now and ask them, "Hey, send me a photo."

Dixie: 00:15:32

And actually, I don't even have to ask 'em 'cause I get cat photos all day long.

Dixie: 00:15:36

I love that.

Dixie: 00:15:37

I know that they're going to- Love that … to good homes, so maybe I'm

Dixie: 00:15:40

not adopting out as many as I could be.

Dixie: 00:15:43

But at the same time- … I wanna make sure that I have

Dixie: 00:15:46

them going to quality homes.

Dixie: 00:15:48

And another big thing for me is, of course, I don't want them going to some

Dixie: 00:15:51

weirdo that's gonna hurt them, but I also want them to be treated as family.

Dixie: 00:15:56

I don't want them to be treated as pets.

Dixie: 00:15:59

I'm getting up in the middle of the night every couple of hours taking

Dixie: 00:16:03

care of kittens, and it's like- I

Veronica: 00:16:06

know, bottle-feeding them.

Veronica: 00:16:07

It's like they're babies- Yeah … and

Dixie: 00:16:08

they're growing

Veronica: 00:16:09

up as that.

Dixie: 00:16:10

So why- … why would I just give that to anybody?

Veronica: 00:16:16

Now, Dixie, do you think that this is one of the things maybe

Veronica: 00:16:19

you could you'll know more about this than me, but I'm just wondering, when,

Veronica: 00:16:23

let's say a rescue adopts out, , a rescue with not, vigorous screening.

Veronica: 00:16:28

I just wondered, wouldn't it be pretty easy for them to have an

Veronica: 00:16:32

automated checkup on the animals?

Veronica: 00:16:34

I get checkup, check-ins from my buyer's dress at a boutique down the street.

Veronica: 00:16:39

They check in with me constantly, these automated text messages.

Veronica: 00:16:43

And I was just wondering would that be a simple thing for r- some rescues to do?

Veronica: 00:16:47

To have a, a one-year check-in or a six-month check-in with photos?

Veronica: 00:16:52

Is that … I just have never heard of a rescue doing that,

Veronica: 00:16:55

and I'm wondering why not,

Dixie: 00:16:58

I've never heard of them doing that.

Dixie: 00:16:59

Now, I did interview a horse rescue, and that's actually what she does.

Dixie: 00:17:03

She requires people to send in a photo once a year And yeah.

Dixie: 00:17:09

Yeah, so it's…

Dixie: 00:17:10

And she said it's in her contract and everything too, but for me, I'll

Dixie: 00:17:13

follow up with them you know- when

Veronica: 00:17:15

you do the screening,

Veronica: 00:17:16

you do rigorous screening.

Veronica: 00:17:18

I feel like it's the ones that are more lax, like the shelter for instance.

Veronica: 00:17:23

I feel like an automated, text message, just encouraging them to

Veronica: 00:17:27

check in with photos would be an easy enough thing for them to do, but I

Veronica: 00:17:32

guess that's another conversation.

Dixie: 00:17:34

I know some of the other rescues before they technically finalize an

Dixie: 00:17:38

adoption, and I'm the same way before I finalize an adoption, I'll be

Dixie: 00:17:42

like, "Hey, is everything going good?

Dixie: 00:17:43

Can you send me a photo?"

Dixie: 00:17:45

So I'll call and I'll talk to the people just to make sure.

Dixie: 00:17:48

Most of the time, like I said, I don't have to because I'll tell them when

Dixie: 00:17:51

they're adopting, "Hey, I like photos."

Dixie: 00:17:53

And so I get bombarded with cat photos all day long.

Dixie: 00:17:56

Is that right?

Dixie: 00:17:56

But I, hey, I'm not complaining.

Dixie: 00:17:58

I love getting them 'cause I love seeing how good they're doing.

Veronica: 00:18:01

What can they do, you think?

Veronica: 00:18:02

I'm just curious about what do you think could've been done for the rescues,

Veronica: 00:18:07

you know, that let those kittens go?

Veronica: 00:18:08

There has to be a registry at some point where everybody, or a Facebook page or

Veronica: 00:18:12

something where people can communicate, that's easier than just making a

Veronica: 00:18:16

post and reading all the comments.

Veronica: 00:18:18

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:18:19

Some kind of system where…

Veronica: 00:18:20

but what do you think the rescues?

Veronica: 00:18:22

I'm curious what you think.

Veronica: 00:18:23

What should they have done maybe?

Dixie: 00:18:25

I don't, I honestly don't know.

Dixie: 00:18:27

'Cause I don't know what their screening process was, … like I said, for me, the

Dixie: 00:18:32

vet reference thing is a big one for me.

Dixie: 00:18:34

And even for people who don't have pets I at least want some kind of reassurance.

Dixie: 00:18:42

So like I said, I'll make them call and get a vet reference and tell

Dixie: 00:18:45

me, "What vet are you gonna go to?

Dixie: 00:18:47

What did this vet say when you called them?"

Dixie: 00:18:49

And I'll even ask for a professional reference after that.

Dixie: 00:18:53

You know- Oh, that's a great one … 'cause I just wanna make sure.

Dixie: 00:18:56

Now I will say, it seems like a lot of the people who have not had pets-

Dixie: 00:19:05

They don't wanna go through all that.

Dixie: 00:19:07

So typically all the animals that I'm adopting out either come from people

Dixie: 00:19:13

that have had they grew up with pets.

Dixie: 00:19:16

And I'm pretty easy with that because, I understand you grew up with pets.

Dixie: 00:19:20

This might be your first pet, but you're familiar with having them.

Dixie: 00:19:24

So if you wanna show me or tell me what your parents did, what their pets

Dixie: 00:19:29

were, what vet did they go to, I'm okay with that too - if that's fine

Dixie: 00:19:33

with your, parents, in fact, I did have a a, a young gentleman that I

Dixie: 00:19:36

adopted too, and he adopted one cat.

Dixie: 00:19:41

I got photos from him.

Dixie: 00:19:43

This is his best friend.

Dixie: 00:19:45

But this was also- Oh, that's sweet.

Dixie: 00:19:47

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:19:47

This was also his first cat, but his family was also involved in the process,

Dixie: 00:19:53

and his family was really big into pets.

Dixie: 00:19:55

So they were there for him you know, to help him get the cat.

Dixie: 00:19:59

And the cat's doing really So that's one thing

Veronica: 00:20:02

Yeah, 'cause if you grow up with pets, you're going to

Veronica: 00:20:05

know them and be more empathetic.

Veronica: 00:20:07

And now I'm thinking, Dixie, that I think that I'm right when I say

Veronica: 00:20:11

to people on Facebook, like I feel like the people for the most part,

Veronica: 00:20:15

I can't of course say everybody, but I'm gonna go with 90% at least.

Veronica: 00:20:19

90% of people are, that go to Facebook are the kind of people that aren't

Veronica: 00:20:24

the best of homes, don't end up being the best of homes, 'cause those are

Veronica: 00:20:27

people that don't wanna go through the application or go to a physical building

Veronica: 00:20:31

and, like the lazy people essentially.

Veronica: 00:20:34

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:20:35

That I feel like, would you say I'm right in 90% of them?

Veronica: 00:20:38

You think 90%?

Veronica: 00:20:39

Or l- or less than that?

Dixie: 00:20:41

I'm gonna go with less than that, and the reason that I'm gonna

Dixie: 00:20:44

say that is because I have gotten some really good homes from Facebook.

Dixie: 00:20:51

Okay … so I'll go post in the rehoming group, and I have

Dixie: 00:20:55

gotten some really good homes.

Dixie: 00:20:57

But I'm also very transparent about the process, I'm not gonna be the first

Dixie: 00:21:03

person who says interested is gonna be the first person who gets the kitten.

Dixie: 00:21:07

It's gonna be the first person who is the best person for the kitten.

Dixie: 00:21:11

So I don't care how many people say, "Oh, I want it."

Dixie: 00:21:14

Everybody's gonna get an application.

Dixie: 00:21:15

That's exactly what they say too.

Dixie: 00:21:16

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:21:17

Everybody's gonna get the application.

Dixie: 00:21:19

And they fill out the application.

Dixie: 00:21:22

It's everybody has to go through the same screening.

Dixie: 00:21:25

Now, the one advantage about Facebook though is when they do comment and

Dixie: 00:21:29

they do send you stuff, you can actually go check 'em out on Facebook.

Dixie: 00:21:32

So you know- … makes, it makes it a little bit easier 'cause you can

Dixie: 00:21:35

already go in and see everything.

Dixie: 00:21:38

But I have gotten some really good homes.

Dixie: 00:21:42

And I've actually even gotten some really good homes by lowering my adoption fee

Dixie: 00:21:48

I know there's a bunch of groups out there that wanna charge a high fee, and-

Veronica: 00:21:53

Right

Dixie: 00:21:54

the high fee, I can understand if you're charging a high fee because you

Dixie: 00:21:57

have so much money going into the cat, but a lot of them wanna charge the high

Dixie: 00:22:02

fee to weed out the bad people per se.

Dixie: 00:22:07

I have found that lowering my adoption fees, I'm actually getting a higher

Dixie: 00:22:11

quality adopter because I'm getting people who when they come to adopt,

Dixie: 00:22:17

they either take that money that they didn't spend and they go take the cat to

Dixie: 00:22:22

the vet right w- right away to go get a checkup, or they're spending the money

Dixie: 00:22:26

on the cat to buy stuff for the cat.

Veronica: 00:22:30

And do you adopt out neutered and spayed or do they have to do that?

Dixie: 00:22:33

No.

Dixie: 00:22:33

No, I'm 100%, I do not adopt out unless they're spayed or neutered.

Dixie: 00:22:39

And so like- Okay … even if you do e- even if you foster for me and you wanna

Dixie: 00:22:43

adopt, that kitten is mine until the kitten is spayed or neutered, and at

Dixie: 00:22:48

that point then you can do the adoption contract and you can adopt the kitten.

Veronica: 00:22:54

Oh, that's great.

Veronica: 00:22:55

That's great.

Veronica: 00:22:56

I just feel like this is a trend that has b- it's becoming … i've

Veronica: 00:23:00

just even watched it.

Veronica: 00:23:01

In the past couple months, I've just seen multiple, one after another, of And these

Veronica: 00:23:06

are the people that are getting caught.

Veronica: 00:23:08

This is…

Veronica: 00:23:08

So if you see this many people are getting caught, imagine how many

Veronica: 00:23:11

people are actually adopting animals to torture them and not getting caught.

Dixie: 00:23:16

Yeah, I know.

Dixie: 00:23:17

It's scary.

Dixie: 00:23:18

You do get to the point of like what do you do to make things better?

Dixie: 00:23:22

That's why, I'm hoping not doing the same-day adoption helps

Dixie: 00:23:26

with that, but it is very scary.

Dixie: 00:23:28

And, the people get more sophisticated with trying to get the animals too.

Veronica: 00:23:34

I think you have a great policy.

Veronica: 00:23:35

I think it's, I don't feel like it's excessive at all, but I feel like it's

Veronica: 00:23:40

very, it's targeted, your adoption policy that you just explained to me.

Veronica: 00:23:44

It's very targeted and so it, it goes to show…

Veronica: 00:23:48

I wish you would give a training.

Veronica: 00:23:50

Other rescues, they don't wanna be too in-depth 'cause they're

Veronica: 00:23:52

scared then people won't adopt.

Veronica: 00:23:54

But yours, I don't feel is complicated, your process, but it's just very targeted.

Veronica: 00:23:59

You know what I mean?

Veronica: 00:24:00

And it's inter- and it's relevant.

Veronica: 00:24:02

You know what I mean?

Veronica: 00:24:03

It's not a hard process, but it's one that can be done easily if you're a

Veronica: 00:24:08

person that should be adopting, if they won't have trouble with that process.

Veronica: 00:24:12

I feel like that's a, the k- the process that you're using is, would

Veronica: 00:24:16

be good, for everyone to take on.

Veronica: 00:24:20

'Cause I think people think it's gotta be all or nothing.

Veronica: 00:24:22

Either we just willy-nilly throw 'em out on a wing and a prayer like the LA SPCA

Veronica: 00:24:27

does or it's gonna be like the other direction, like when I adopted like 1,000

Veronica: 00:24:33

pages in in 20 years of vet records.

Veronica: 00:24:35

But there is a really happy medium that, works, like you're doing.

Dixie: 00:24:41

Thanks again to Veronica for joining me today.

Dixie: 00:24:45

Veronica and I had a very lengthy conversation about this, so I decided

Dixie: 00:24:50

to split this up into two episodes.

Dixie: 00:24:52

So I hope you will listen next week for the conclusion of our conversation.

Dixie: 00:24:59

And just remember, animals depend on us to be their advocates.

Dixie: 00:25:03

Whether you're a rescue, foster, adopter, donor, or simply someone who

Dixie: 00:25:08

cares, your vigilance matters, and together we can create safer outcomes

Dixie: 00:25:13

for the animals that depend on us