wrote in message
oups.com...
"That would be because, working in a shelter, you don't get to see much
of
those who get a kitten and keep it for the next 15 years ..."

I don't work in a shelter. Just volunteer on Saturday afternoons to do
some adoption counseling for cats.


Same diff.

"I'm beginning to get more than mildly leary of the shelter folk who
assume
every cat owner must be like the irresponsible ones they see the
results of. There are far too many of them on usenet. "

Some are, some aren't. I see some pretty scary people on a regular
basis. Not bad people, but ignorant and careless about how to take care
of a pet. My neighbor used to leave her little puppy chained up to a
soaking wet plastic doghouse in the pouring rain (until I harassed her
about it). Not a bad person, but doing a bad thing.

And no doubt would have responded well to a caring "Do you realise" instead
of harassment. Education is much more effective than badgering.

It happens all the
time. And as I said, the "I want a little kitten, not a cat" people
have a particularly high ratio.


Well, you know what, when I get new cats, I get kittens. I love the kitten
stage and I wouldn't miss it for the world. Last two I got are still here,
10.5 years later. Ones before that, sadly I had to find homes for when I
left Britain. But, you know what, I *found* a home for them, together. With
a family who adored them. People working, or volunteering as you do, see the
bad stories. Those of us who aren't like that simply don't get noticed. For
the same reason that good news doesn't sell papers.

I am, however, really sick of the lecturing "If you saw what I saw" bunch
around here, who seem to think that anyone who has slightly different views
about cats than they do must be evil, or close to it. Having said that, such
posters are progressively filling up my killfile, so their words are, in my
case, falling on deaf ears. Really advancing their cause, aren't they?