Rant: How Some People View Cats

I'm pretty incensed at the moment.

The very good friend that we adopted Casper from was chit chatting with Tom on Facebook about whatever.  My friend, asked how Casper was doing after my recently announcing that Casper was diagnosed with diabetes.

Tom told him we learning/coping but, that Casper was responding well to the insulin routine.  Then, my friend actually says "Maybe it's time to umm, put him "to sleep"?

***?  I mean, seriously, what is he thinking? Why would anyone do that?

Now, I'm realizing he views cats as being somewhat disposable.  I know there are plenty of people who feel the same way.  A few months back, he actually mentioned that he was contemplating finding a home for his new cat - the one he got a couple of years AFTER he gave us Casper!  I read him the riot act at that time, telling him that he couldn't keep getting pets to satisfy whatever hole was in himself and then think it's fine to discard them when they don't fit in his life any longer.

This new comment really makes me question my friendship with him.  It isn't like diabetes is a death sentence; it's entirely manageable. And yes, it will throw a kink in our lifestyle to some degree but we adore Casper and wouldn't think of caring for him regardless of the illness.

Anyway - the TCS community is the only place I can vent about this.  Thanks for reading/listening!

Laurie

Hi Laurie, I can understand how you felt with such remarks. There are only two types of people I. The world in regards to animals. Either they are true animal lovers or the take animals as an accessory. Unless you can name more people other than the two I mentioned.
The reason why I said this, these or some of them think that other than the human being, animals are a lower form of life and therefore why make such fuss over them. To them, it's just a cat or just a dog. But have it ever occurred to them that cats and dogs have feelings too?
To discard a flower or plant is different from discarding a living thing that can understand commands and respond to you and best of all to keep you company.
That's why their answer is always, it's just a cat or just a dog, hence you see the reason for abandoned pets.
I too, can't stand people who view animals, especially their own to think like this. As the saying goes, Dad's are for life. To me animals are too.
Just helping you rant, lol. No, seriously, I ranting too if you don't mind.

TabbyTom said:

Hi Laurie, I can understand how you felt with such remarks. There are only two types of people I. The world in regards to animals. Either they are true animal lovers or the take animals as an accessory. Unless you can name more people other than the two I mentioned.
The reason why I said this, these or some of them think that other than the human being, animals are a lower form of life and therefore why make such fuss over them. To them, it's just a cat or just a dog. But have it ever occurred to them that cats and dogs have feelings too?
To discard a flower or plant is different from discarding a living thing that can understand commands and respond to you and best of all to keep you company.
That's why their answer is always, it's just a cat or just a dog, hence you see the reason for abandoned pets.
I too, can't stand people who view animals, especially their own to think like this. As the saying goes, Dad's are for life. To me animals are too.
Just helping you rant, lol. No, seriously, I ranting too if you don't mind.

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I don't mind at all 

What's sad is I thought my friend was the first kind of person.  I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and hoping he just didn't write the sentence in a way which expressed his true feelings.  My fiance, very gently explained otherwise to his credit.  

BTW, I think there is a 3rd kind which are the ones here at TCS, who tend to take their pets of all kinds much more seriously than other animal lovers.  I do think this community is in itself, a special more kind hearted (usually!)  "breed" of human.

My friend's cat recently died and I think her and her husband are happy about it. They never liked the cat. We're avoiding them for a bit as we don't want to hear them celebrating about the cat's death.

AbbysMom said:

My friend's cat recently died and I think her and her husband are happy about it. They never liked the cat.

We're avoiding them for a bit as we don't want to hear them celebrating about the cat's death.

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Ugh so dislike 

AbbysMom said:

My friend's cat recently died and I think her and her husband are happy about it. They never liked the cat. We're avoiding them for a bit as we don't want to hear them celebrating about the cat's death.

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What??!! I would not speak to them and just find other friends. Who needs this? !

AbbysMom said:

My friend's cat recently died and I think her and her husband are happy about it. They never liked the cat.

We're avoiding them for a bit as we don't want to hear them celebrating about the cat's death.

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I wouldn't want to celebrate with them either. Friends like that you don't need.

I work as a regional manager for a property management company.  One of the managers in my portfolio was out for a week and because her assistant manager and maintenance supervisor were both new, I covered her property for her. 

One day a resident came in claiming he was going to poison the feral cats on the property.  I stood up to my full height of 6'3", all 204 pounds of me, and told him that if he did that I would personally see to it that he was arrested for felony animal cruelty. And then I told him that since I got in bed with a judge every night I'd make sure he was convicted.   I really shouldn't have said that last bit but I was so irritated.

I just don't understand the hatred.

I agree. I don't see how anyone could hate animals. I also don't get why some people view them as lesser life forms. Just because they can't verbally express their intellect to us does not mean it doesn't exist.

Some of you guys on this forum may know that I have just as much passion for fish as I do for my cats. And I can't even tell you how many times people have replied to me on the fish forum that I'm on saying things like "Its just a fish." (Mostly happens when I tell people that it's not ok to keep ANY fish in a bowl. I could seriously rant on and on about how awful fish bowls are. They are literal death traps for fish). I Always just want to yell at them and say: "Just because you can't hold a fish or pet it doesn't mean it isn't a living thing that you CHOSE to have/take care of. You and only you have the ability to make your pet's life better or worse. And keeping a fish in a bowl is the absolute worst thing you can do for them."

I also remember how I posted on the fish forum because I was sad about the passing of one of my angelfish in particular. I had him since he was the size of a dime (and he was about 5 inches long when he died). He had no pectoral fins (the long thin fins that hang down from an Angelfish's body) when I bought him, I suspect he had them once and might have been bullied/beaten up by the other fish in the tank at the store. So he never had pectoral fins and wasn't the greatest/most coordinated swimmer (he often ran into one of my tank decorations at the time). But when I broke down the 60 gallon that he was in and put up my 125 and put all my fish in it- for some reason he decided to go kamikaze and lept out of the tank in the middle of the night. I found him on the floor the next morning and was heartbroken [emoji]128557[/emoji]

So I posted about such an event and wouldn't you know it, the first reply I got back was "Get over it. It's just a fish."


And I'm going to stop here before I write an entire book on good husbandry when it comes to fish tanks and how some people are just jerks to animals.

Please enjoy this picture of my 125 gal tank:

What an amazing, beautiful tank!

All of your pets are fantastically lucky.

LavishSqualor said:

I work as a regional manager for a property management company.  One of the managers in my portfolio was out for a week and because her assistant manager and maintenance supervisor were both new, I covered her property for her. 

One day a resident came in claiming he was going to poison the feral cats on the property.  I stood up to my full height of 6'3", all 204 pounds of me, and told him that if he did that I would personally see to it that he was arrested for felony animal cruelty. And then I told him that since I got in bed with a judge every night I'd make sure he was convicted.   I really shouldn't have said that last bit but I was so irritated.

I just don't understand the hatred.

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I see that "It's just a cat, dog, rabbit, etc.," attitude all too often at the animal shelter and it stresses me out. Some people think nothing of getting rid of their pets because they're "inconvenient" or ill. I've seen it a few times in friends (or relatives on the other side of the family), and the friendship definitely cooled or ceased afterwards.

All of the properties in my portfolio participate in TNR; I actually make it a requirement, so it isn't as if the property was over run with ferals.  It's a colony of only maybe ten to fifteen cats and they are all, with the exception of, I think one or two, de-sexed.

Some people just have black souls.