u/seattleanimalwelfare

I’m not really sure what I’m looking for by posting this. Maybe I just need to put the whole picture somewhere. I’ve realized recently that I’ve spent a lot of my life feeling fundamentally out of place around other people, and at this point I’m not sure whether that’s because of who I am, what I’ve been through, the choices I’ve made, or some combination of all three.

I’m in my mid-30s, physically fit, vegetarian, and I like hiking and traveling. I strongly prefer cats to dogs, and one of the things that bothers me most about humanity is how horrifically our species treats animals.

I’m gender critical and reject gender ideology. I do not believe males can be women, and I believe sex-protected spaces are vital for the safety and privacy of girls and women. As you can probably imagine, this makes me an absolute pariah where I live in Seattle.

My worldview is extremely evidence-based. I have zero supernatural beliefs. I don’t believe in God, prayer, astrology, tarot, or anything else for which I don’t see sufficient evidence, and I don’t want close personal relationships with people who do. I view that kind of thinking as fundamentally irrational. I’m also not particularly interested in politics and have never voted. I probably never will, because I think the influence of one vote is too insignificant to make the effort worthwhile.

I have pretty strict ideas about monogamy. I’m not comfortable with my partner having female “friends,” following women on social media, or watching porn. Sexual and romantic exclusivity are extremely important to me.

Socially, I’m incredibly isolated. I don’t have friends and haven’t really had friends in years. At some point I more or less stopped trying to find them. I’ve gotten very used to doing things alone, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy being lonely.

I had an extremely unusual and chaotic childhood. I was homeschooled for much of elementary school, experienced homelessness and extreme poverty with my family, suffered years of severe abuse from my parents, and eventually ended up in foster care. My parents were hardcore punk rockers and imposed that lifestyle on me as a child. They pierced my septum when I was six, for example. They pulled me out of school in first grade because they were afraid the school would discover what was happening at home. I could probably write a very thick book about all the bizarre and unacceptable things I experienced before I turned 18.

As a young woman, I was groomed by an older man who originally got me into sex work. I was with him for more than three years before realizing that he was essentially using me for my body and pursuing casual sex behind my back the entire time, while I believed we were in a monogamous relationship. He raped me and was an abhorrent person in both the way he treated me and the way he regarded women generally.

I then spent a couple of years doing sex work in my early 20s. It left me with deep psychological wounds, and it took me more than five years to feel like I had substantially recovered from that period of my life.

Despite all of that, I built a fairly normal adult life. I work, take care of myself, love my animals, travel when I can, and generally function just fine. From the outside I probably seem much more ordinary than my history would suggest.

But I’m lonely. I find it incredibly difficult to meet people I actually feel compatible with, and the older I get, the more I wonder whether I’ve made my standards so narrow that I’ve effectively guaranteed my own isolation. At the same time, I don’t know how to force myself to be close to people when I fundamentally dislike or distrust major parts of how they think.

Sometimes I wonder what I would be like if I’d had a completely ordinary childhood and ordinary early adulthood. Maybe I’d be more trusting. Maybe friendship would come naturally to me. Maybe I wouldn’t have such rigid boundaries around relationships. Maybe I’d still be exactly the same person.

I don’t really know.

I think what I’m getting off my chest is that I’ve survived a lot, built a life anyway, and yet I still feel strangely disconnected from other human beings. I’m proud that I made it this far, but I’m also tired of feeling like I’m standing outside everyone else’s world looking in.

I've been watching the 4k ones on the YouTube app in my Meta Quest Pro, with the large screen and highest quality settings -- it's amazing.

Looking for recommendations. My latest discovery was Kyle Kotajarvi - cinematic, beautiful travel videos. Less info dense, more about the visuals. Also matildeleitek. Any good channels you recommend? I prefer some info, in addition to high quality tour/walking videos/vlogs.

I can't afford to travel much, so I'm watching these videos as the best alternative.

I've been watching the 4k ones on the YouTube app in my Meta Quest Pro, with the large screen and highest quality settings -- it's amazing.

Looking for recommendations. My latest discovery was Kyle Kotajarvi - cinematic, beautiful travel videos. Less info dense, more about the visuals. Also matildeleitek. Any good channels you recommend? I prefer some info, in addition to high quality tour/walking videos/vlogs.

I can't afford to travel much, so I'm watching these videos as the best alternative.

There is an animal welfare issue in Seattle that doesn't get enough attention: animals living with people who are actively addicted to severely impairing drugs.

King County's 2024 survey of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness found that 47% self-reported having a substance use disorder, rising to 63% among people experiencing chronic homelessness. The initial 2026 count found 41% among unsheltered people. These are self-reported figures, not drug tests, and they do not tell us how many people are actively using fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine or other dangerous drugs.

This is not about homelessness by itself. The issue is active addiction that causes severe intoxication, unconsciousness, psychosis, major impairment, or creates an unsafe environment for an animal.

Animals have been poisoned by methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and other opioids. Exposure can cause seizures, extreme agitation, respiratory depression, coma and death. Pets can encounter loose drugs, contaminated materials or paraphernalia, and they have no way to understand what is toxic.

But poisoning is only one risk. Someone who is repeatedly severely intoxicated or unconscious may be unable to reliably provide food, clean water, veterinary care, protection from traffic, safe temperatures or a safe environment.

There are also serious environmental risks. Tent and RV fires have been a recurring problem at Seattle encampments. Seattle recorded more than 1,300 tent and RV encampment fires in 2023 alone. An animal inside or tethered near a tent or vehicle may have no way to escape a rapidly spreading fire, especially if the person responsible for it is unconscious, severely impaired or absent. (I've seen a heartbreaking recent video account of a homeless person whose kitten died in a tent fire, and I wonder how often it happens.)

This is why people need to be actively aware of the animals they see in these situations. Don't look away -- take a long look at the animal. Look at its condition. Look at the environment around it.

Does the animal appear severely underweight? Does it have untreated wounds, infections or obvious illness? Is there clean water available? Is it struggling in extreme heat or cold? Is it wandering near traffic while its caretaker is unconscious? Are drugs, powders, pills, foil or other paraphernalia within reach? Is the animal trembling, collapsing, seizing, extremely sedated or having trouble breathing? Is it trapped or tethered in an obviously dangerous environment?

Animal neglect can be easy to miss when everyone is focused on the human crisis. We should be paying attention to both.

That does not mean harassing someone because they are homeless or assuming abuse based on appearance. It means being observant enough to recognize actual warning signs and taking them seriously when you see them.

I don't believe someone in active addiction to severely impairing drugs should have sole responsibility for an animal until they are stable enough to provide safe, consistent care.

Washington law already allows intervention when animals are suffering, neglected or in imminent danger, but I think it should go further. Knowingly or recklessly exposing an animal to illicit drugs should be explicitly covered by animal cruelty law, with serious penalties when poisoning causes major injury or death. There should also be a clear way to place an animal in temporary protective care when active addiction is creating a substantial, documented danger, rather than waiting until the animal is dead or critically injured.

Temporary foster and boarding programs should also be expanded so someone entering detox or treatment has somewhere safe for their animal to go.

Most importantly, if you regularly walk, drive, work or live around areas where people are camping or openly using drugs, pay attention to the animals you see. Remember them. Notice changes in their condition. Notice whether they consistently have food, water and shelter. Notice if an animal suddenly appears sick, injured, dangerously thin or unable to escape a hazardous situation.

If something genuinely looks wrong, don't assume somebody else will notice.

Report suspected animal abuse, serious neglect or immediate danger to Seattle Animal Shelter/Animal Control at 206-386-7387, or 911 if the animal appears to be in imminent danger. Report what you actually observed and, when it can be done safely and legally, document the situation.

Addiction deserves treatment. Animals deserve protection. Those two principles do not conflict.

And animals should not become invisible simply because the human situation around them is complicated.

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The Threshold for Immediate Seizure

Under Washington state law (RCW 16.52.085), animal control and law enforcement officers have the authority to seize a pet without a prior warrant under specific circumstances:

Imminent Danger: If an officer finds an animal in "imminent danger" or suffering from serious neglect, they can step in immediately.

Incapacitation of the Owner: If a person is completely unresponsive or severely incapacitated by a fentanyl overdose, they cannot provide the legal minimum standard of care (food, water, shelter, and protection from harm).

Drug Exposure Risk: Because fentanyl and street mixtures like "tranq" (xylazine) are highly toxic to animals, a pet that has ingested or is at risk of ingesting open drugs can be removed immediately for emergency veterinary care.

I’ve been looking into recent animal cruelty cases in Washington, and the more I read, the more insane the sentencing starts to look.

Take Devon Detweiler (Burien). He pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree animal cruelty for killing Moose, Lucky and an unnamed tabby. He admitted killing four kittens and described throwing kittens into walls, and that he was working up to killing a person. He was sentenced to 12 months on each of the three counts.

That sounds like three years -- it wasn’t.

The sentences were ordered to run concurrently, meaning all three 12-month sentences ran at the same time. He was released April 17, 2026, after roughly 7.5 months in custody.

That isn’t some odd technicality unique to his case. Under Washington’s felony sentencing law, multiple current felony sentences generally run concurrently unless one of the specific exceptions in RCW 9.94A.589 applies. First-degree animal cruelty isn’t one of the offenses automatically requiring consecutive sentences.

So, practically speaking, you can torture and kill multiple animals and the additional felony sentences can overlap instead of actually adding much time.

What makes this even stranger is that Washington already does the opposite for lesser animal cruelty crimes. RCW 16.52.200 specifically says that when someone has multiple misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor animal cruelty convictions, those sentences shall be consecutive. There is no equivalent rule requiring consecutive sentences for multiple first-degree animal cruelty felonies.

Then there’s Dejean Bowens, the Ballard kennel employee who brutally kicked and punched Mitch, a black Lab, until he died. Bowens pleaded guilty to first-degree animal cruelty earlier this year.

Because he had no prior convictions, Washington’s sentencing grid gave him a range of just one to three months. Prosecutors asked for the maximum. The judge gave him three months, with credit applicable for electronic home detention. The King County Prosecutor’s Office was pretty explicit that neither prosecutors nor the judge could simply decide to give him substantially more time because the sentencing range was set by state law.

Three months for beating a dog to death.

And this isn’t new. In 2023, Elmer Givens Jr. pleaded guilty to nine counts of first-degree animal cruelty and one count of second-degree cruelty after authorities seized 107 dogs from his Pierce County property during a years-long investigation involving allegations of dog fighting and abuse. His sentence: 10 months in jail.

Then there is Antoine Runner/Antoine Tyrant, whose case involved cats from Seattle’s Georgetown area. He was ultimately sentenced in October 2025 to the maximum 364 days on the misdemeanor animal-cruelty charge. But he had already spent 172 days in custody by sentencing, which counted toward that sentence. He was later released after roughly eight months total in custody, not a full year after sentencing.

Washington has made some improvements. In 2024, HB 1961 finally placed all forms of first-degree animal cruelty at Seriousness Level III on the felony sentencing grid instead of leaving much of the crime unranked. That was a real improvement.

But these recent cases show that it did not go nearly far enough.

What needs to change:

- Multiple animals should mean multiple punishments. If someone intentionally tortures or kills three animals in three separate acts, the Legislature should create an exception to RCW 9.94A.589 requiring those first-degree animal cruelty sentences to run consecutively, or at least requiring substantial consecutive portions. Killing three animals should not result in essentially the same confinement as killing one.

- First-degree animal cruelty needs a higher seriousness level. It is currently only Level III. That is why a first-time offender like Bowens could have a standard range of only one to three months after beating a dog to death. The Legislature can amend RCW 9.94A.515 and move intentional first-degree cruelty higher on the sentencing grid.

The law should also distinguish especially aggravated cruelty: prolonged torture, repeated acts, killing multiple animals, deliberately obtaining animals for the purpose of abusing them, filming the torture, or other conduct demonstrating extreme cruelty should allow or require a sentence above the ordinary range.

- Each animal needs to count clearly and independently. The law should make explicit that each individual animal intentionally tortured or killed constitutes a separate unit of prosecution. The Legislature itself heard testimony in 2024 about cases involving huge numbers of abused animals being punished similarly to cases involving one animal.

- Washington should create an animal abuser registry. Washington already imposes a lifetime ban on owning, caring for, possessing or residing with animals after a first-degree animal cruelty conviction. That is good. But how is a random rescue, shelter or person giving away a kitten on Craigslist supposed to know someone has that prohibition?

A searchable animal abuse offender registry could give shelters, rescues, breeders and people rehoming animals a practical way to screen people with serious cruelty convictions. Washington lawmakers actually proposed a statewide animal abuse registry in SB 5804 back in 2017, including identifying information and cruelty convictions, but the bill never made it out of the legislative process.

I’m not arguing that every neglect case should result in years in prison. There is obviously a difference between negligence, hoarding situations, failure to obtain veterinary care and somebody deliberately torturing an animal to death.

But when somebody intentionally tortures and kills animals, particularly repeatedly, our sentencing laws should reflect the seriousness of what they actually did.

Three months for beating a dog to death and 7.5 months for killing three kittens to death is not an adequate response.

This isn’t primarily a problem that individual judges can fix. The Washington Legislature needs to change the sentencing laws.

If you have social issues, do you also wonder whether it's due to having been homeschooled or being on the spectrum? Or a mix of both?

I was a friendly, outgoing little kid but as an adult I've been socially awkward and hermit-like.

I was homeschooled until 6th grade -- critical years for social development.

I’ve struggled with shopping addiction for years, and “save money” or “you already have enough stuff” never really changed my behavior.

What finally started changing my mindset was realizing what that money could do instead.

Animal shelters and rescues are often extremely underfunded and constantly trying to cover food, vet bills, medications, foster supplies, and emergency care. Meanwhile, I could easily spend $50 or $100 on something I didn’t need and barely care about a month later.

Now I’m trying to redirect some of that money toward animals instead. It’s also made me want to embrace minimalism more. I already have enough stuff. I’d rather have more space in my home and know that some of my money actually helped save a life.

When I want to impulse-buy something now, I ask myself: Do I want another thing, or do I want this money to actually matter?

That question has helped me more than guilt ever did. Priorities. Saving lives/alleviating suffering > stuff.

I’ve struggled with shopping addiction for years, and “save money” or “you already have enough stuff” never really changed my behavior.

What finally started changing my mindset was realizing what that money could do instead. Animal shelters and rescues are often extremely underfunded and constantly trying to cover food, vet bills, medications, foster supplies, and emergency care. Meanwhile, I could easily spend $50 or $100 on something I didn’t need and barely care about a month later.

Now I’m trying to redirect some of that money toward animals instead. It’s also made me want to embrace minimalism more. I already have enough stuff. I’d rather have more space in my home and know that some of my money actually helped save a life.

When I want to impulse-buy something now, I ask myself: Do I want another thing, or do I want this money to actually matter?

That question has helped me more than guilt ever did. Priorities. Saving lives/alleviating suffering > stuff.

I’ve struggled with shopping addiction for years, and “save money” or “you already have enough stuff” never really changed my behavior.

What finally started changing my mindset was realizing what that money could do instead.

Animal shelters and rescues are often extremely underfunded and constantly trying to cover food, vet bills, medications, foster supplies, and emergency care. Meanwhile, I could easily spend $50 or $100 on something I didn’t need and barely care about a month later.

Now I’m trying to redirect some of that money toward animals instead. It’s also made me want to embrace minimalism more. I already have enough stuff. I’d rather have more space in my home and know that some of my money actually helped save a life.

When I want to impulse-buy something now, I ask myself: Do I want another thing, or do I want this money to actually matter?

That question has helped me more than guilt ever did. Priorities. Saving lives/alleviating suffering > stuff.

I love handbags, and I’m definitely not here to judge anyone for buying them. I used to have a pretty serious shopping problem myself, and I currently own at least 30 purses. (Probably more, ha...)

Lately, though, I’ve been trying to embrace minimalism and really think about what another bag is going to add to my life. At a certain point, I realized I already have more bags than I can realistically use, while there are animal rescues and shelters struggling to pay for food, medication, surgeries, and emergency vet care.

So instead of automatically buying something every time I see a bag I love, I’ve started setting aside some of that money to donate.

And actually, it feels better.

I still love handbags. I’m not swearing off shopping forever. But there’s something really satisfying about looking around my home and having less stuff competing for space, while knowing that some of the money I would have spent on purse number 31 or 32 can actually help keep an animal alive, get one out of a shelter, or help a rescue afford to say yes to one more case.

If you’re in a position to spend a few hundred dollars on a handbag, even occasionally putting $20, $50, or $100 of your shopping budget toward a local rescue can matter. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can still buy beautiful things. Maybe just sometimes ask yourself: Would I rather have one more bag right now, or use some of this money to do something I’ll probably feel good about for much longer?

For me, owning fewer things and giving more has started to feel a lot more luxurious than constantly accumulating. Knowing that I'm making a positive difference in the world, helping to save lives, feels better than owning a nice purse.

And I never thought I’d be the person saying that with 30+ purses in my closet. 😂

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." -Aesop

If anyone is not already aware, Devore Animal Shelter in San Bernardino has a long history of euthanizing cats and dogs at very high rates. Kitty Devore Rescue (they have a FB page) helps save them from euthanasia by finding fosters willing to take them instead. If you can possibly adopt/foster, please do so 🙏 The shelter puts out lists of the dogs and cats slated for euthanasia. Most are needlessly killed just due to overcrowding; it's incredibly sad. People willing to help are desperately needed. You can save a life!

I'm on a crusade to spread awareness about this fact anywhere many people may be using it. My cat likely died from poisoning, because I only found out after it was too late. Minoxidil/Rogaine products do not list this information on the label even though even a fraction of a milligram of residue can be fatal to cats. Also toxic to dogs (but it's most deadly for cats). If you take this and have a cat, consider switching to oral minoxidil. Please pass on this info to anyone you know who has cats and might be taking this product.

I'm on a crusade to spread awareness about this fact anywhere many people may be using it. My cat likely died from poisoning, because I only found out after it was too late. Minoxidil/Rogaine products do not list this information on the label even though even a fraction of a milligram of residue can be fatal to cats. Also toxic to dogs (but it's most deadly for cats). If you take this and have a cat, consider switching to oral minoxidil. Please pass on this info to anyone you know who has cats and might be taking this product.

I was feeling rather low and recently decided to start devoting some of my free time ever day to helping animals, and I feel happier -- it has given me a purpose. It's fulfilling to know I'm making a positive difference to help alleviate suffering of innocent creatures. As I've gotten more involved, my motivation to continue and get more serious about this work has only increased as I've learned how dire the situation for animals is.

You can absolutely make a difference in animals' lives. You can do it for free, just by helping to share IG posts for different shelters/rescues -- they often post about animals that urgently need fosters, etc. You can start fostering cats -- fosters are always urgently needed. Or you can spread awareness about issues people need to know about (for me, that's been alerting others to the fact that topical Minoxidil/Rogaine is extremely poisonous to cats. Thanks to my posts, hundreds of thousands of people have been made aware, potentially saving cats' lives as this is a very commonly used product).

This helped me, maybe it can help you too, and the animals would sure appreciate it ♥️ With a little effort, you can save lives!

Not enough people care about animals -- or even if they care, not enough are taking action. They need as much help as possible. It's extremely rewarding, such a wonderful feeling to know that you saved a life, or transformed the life of a suffering cat/dog that no one cared about.

Is this something most here has thought of/tried already? Hope the idea is helpful.

I decided to start devoting some of my free time ever day to helping animals, and I feel happier -- it has given me a purpose. It's fulfilling to know I'm making a positive difference to help alleviate suffering of innocent creatures. The situation for animals is dire.

You can absolutely make a difference in animals' lives. You can do it for free, just by helping to share IG posts for different shelters/rescues -- they often post about animals that urgently need fosters, etc. You can start fostering cats -- fosters are always urgently needed. Or you can spread awareness about issues people need to know about (for me, that's been alerting others to the fact that topical Minoxidil/Rogaine is extremely poisonous to cats. Thanks to my posts, hundreds of thousands of people have been made aware, potentially saving cats' lives as this is a very commonly used product).

This helped me, maybe it can help you too, and the animals would sure appreciate it ♥️ With a little effort, you can save lives!

Not enough people care about animals -- or even if they care, not enough are taking action. They need as much help as possible. It's extremely rewarding, such a wonderful feeling to know that you saved a life, or transformed the life of a suffering cat/dog that no one cared about.

Is this something most here has thought of/tried already? Hope the idea is helpful.

See post text (post is by Ziggy's Cat Lounge in Bremerton) -- this cat needs life saving surgery within the next two weeks, and they are asking if any local rescues are able to help him, or if vets in the area would be willing to help him at a discounted rate.

Microscopic amounts, even fractions of a milligram, can be fatal for cats. It's extremely toxic. Just one or two licks can kill them. There are no warning labels about it on these products. Switching to oral minoxidil if possible is advised.