A Warning Announcement About Campus Dogs and Cats

Dear OzU Members,

You may find below the announcement of the Wild Life Preservation Club prepared and they cordially request you to read and follow the instructions in the announcement carefully.

Thank you for your cooperation in advance.

"Dear Members of Özyeğin University and Students,

As you may have already observed, some of our dogs roam free on campus due to unavailability of any space in our shelter, and the fact that they protect campus and prevent other free-ranging (“stray”) dogs from entering in. Also, our on-campus cats take shelter in the areas designated for them in the dormitory area.

Dogs and cats learn fast. That means, if treated or trained wrongly, they may learn a wrong behavior equally fast.

As individuals who spare a great deal of time and effort to train our on-campus animal friends, we kindly ask for your cooperation in the following areas to help us prevent any wrong training or treatment:

1.Feeding Mistakes

Dogs and cats are gluttons by nature. The prey drive which helps dogs and cats survive in wildlife also drive their behavior in our lives. Dogs and cats usually stick around the places where humans eat.

As animal lovers, we believe that our biggest mistake is to feed cats and dogs instinctively the moment they approach our tables. Most cats and dogs tend to take the food you give although they are not hungry.  This behavior teaches them not only which body language they should use to approach tables but also that area is a feeding center. The hungrier they are, the persistent they will be. In fact, they will meow or bark to ask for food. They may even snatch the food when you least expect it.  In fact, if they are actually hungry, they may display aggressive behavior. 

We kindly ask all animal lovers to feed our on-campus animal friends in the designated areas, and not at the cafes or any other areas. 

2.Dogs/Cats with a Collar vs without a Collar

All of our on-campus dogs regularly undergo veterinary examination and care. When a new dog joins our on-campus animal friends, necessary actions are taken quickly to have the dog vaccinated. Dogs that go through veterinary examination are vaccinated, and those that are deemed to be healthy are collared. Please exercise due caution when approaching a dog without collar to prevent any unwanted incidents. Due to the location of our campus, there is a high circulation in our cat population. Although we take every necessary action to make sure each on-campus cat undergoes a veterinary examination, we are unable to put collars on cats as they dislike collars. Therefore, we are unable to show whether or not they went through veterinary examination.

We endeavor to have each new cat or dog checked by a veterinarian to protect the health and well-being of both sides. However, we should always keep in mind  that the ultimate responsibility lies with us for maintaining a healthy relationship with and a healthy environment for our on-campus animal friends.

We must be aware of the fact that dogs are pack animals and they are happy when they are assigned a role within a hierarchical structure. Therefore, we should give them treats (food or affection) when we want something from them, and we should continue to share our campus with them in the best way possible.

However, cats are unlike dogs and cannot be trained. They are free spirits with unique characters. And that puts more responsibility on us. We should always keep the kitchen doors closed in the dormitory area, and we should never leave our food trays on tables outside the buildings. 

We give food to all cats and dogs on campus and have them regularly undergo veterinary examination. We should always keep in mind that feeding any other food to cats and dogs which are otherwise accustomed to dry or canned food may affect their health and well-being badly.

In conclusion, your cooperation will be greatly appreciated in abstaining from misfeeding or any wrong display of affection before consulting or cooperating with us. This is for the best interest and wellbeing of our on-campus animal friends.

Please contact us @ozukampusdostlari if you wish to join us.

Thank you for your support and understanding."

Wild Life Preservation Club