Fox News has a little blurb about the Upper Midwest and shelters being over-run with abandoned animals.  I, personally, don’t quite understand how someone could leave a pet to make it on their own, or not.

It is a very true phenomenon though, I used to run across it with some regularity when I was looking at property scheduled for auction.  Auction buyers usually don’t have the convenience of inspections and house showings to be able to determine property condition, so it’s kind of necessary to see whatever you can see when contemplating an auction purchase.  That means going into the backyard if at all possible.

One of the worst feelings you can ever get is being well into a backyard, far away from any gate and stumbling upon a large well-used dog chew thing.  The first thing that pops into your head is that Cujo is just now waking up somewhere in the overgrown shrubbery and you’re about to become a bit player in a bad horror film.  Talk all you want about logic, but I believe in the 10-yard gate dash.

I never did actually come across a dog because I believe neighbors often pick up the slack, but cats were pretty common and although most cats live just a small step from being feral enough to survive, it still sucks that people leave them.