I wanted to smack this person!!! (A cat rant)!

My city's newspaper has a forum for their want ads, used furniture, etc.,
and pet advice. It's really fun, and VERY informative. It's how I found
the breeder I decided to go with when I started educating myself about the
Chihuahua breed. People who are new have logged in looking for a new vet in
a certain area, where can my d*gs swim, where can I find an African
some-type-of-fish-I've-never-heard-of, is PetLand a good place to buy
puppies, etc. Well, I didn't know that PetLand is the NUMBER ONE pet store
that buys from puppy mills, nor did I know that the good Amish folks are
VERY into puppy mills... all very sickening.

But today is what I wanna share with y'all. A person posted that she found
a pregnant momma cat. Momma cat had several babies, but only two made it.
They're ready for adoption if anyone wants one, or both of them. One person
responded that she may be interested because the other kitten they *HAD*
(what happened to this kitten) "used her claws to play with my daughter, and
my daughter didn't like it". Then she said that she's looking for a more
lovable, docile kitten!! I wanted to smack her!!!

I replied and said GET A STUFFED KITTEN. And, that this type of thing is
the equivalent in saying "I don't like this human baby because s/he is
putting everything in it's mouth"!! THAT'S WHAT THEY DO!!! But you don't
get rid of them for it. sigh... They teach us so many dumb things in
school. Why not have pet education before sex education?????????????????

--

·.·´¨ ¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
Laurie
((¸¸.·´ ..·´
-:¦:- ((¸¸ ·.·

*~*LiveLoveLaugh*~* Aloha!!!!!

"There is no remedy for love but to love more"...
~~Henry David Thoreau

~*LiveLoveLaugh*~ wrote:
(snipped)

They teach us so many dumb things in
school. Why not have pet education before sex education?????????????????
=A8)) -:=A6:-
=B8.=B7=B4 .=B7=B4=A8=A8))
Laurie
((=B8=B8.=B7=B4 ..=B7=B4
-:=A6:- ((=B8=B8 =B7.=B7


We're doing it! We've seen so many un-educated, horrible pet owners. We
decided the time to reach these people is when they're in elementary
school. We've started a classroom "pet education" class. It's fun. We
take a puppy usually, and hand out materials, talk about basic
responsible pet ownership stuff. You wouldn't believe the stuff those
kids tell. "We used to have a dog but my daddy took it away...."
Lower grades are a little too young to start with the spay/neuter
stuff, but as soon as there are enough volunteers, I'd really like to
start doing presentations at the junior high level about spay/neuter.

Sherry

~*LiveLoveLaugh*~ wrote:
My city's newspaper has a forum for their want ads, used furniture, etc.,
and pet advice. It's really fun, and VERY informative. It's how I found
the breeder I decided to go with when I started educating myself about the
Chihuahua breed. People who are new have logged in looking for a new vet in
a certain area, where can my d*gs swim, where can I find an African
some-type-of-fish-I've-never-heard-of, is PetLand a good place to buy
puppies, etc. Well, I didn't know that PetLand is the NUMBER ONE pet store
that buys from puppy mills, nor did I know that the good Amish folks are
VERY into puppy mills... all very sickening.

What??!!! The Amish are into puppy mills?? That's a new one on me.
Totally inconceivable. I'd have never guessed.

But today is what I wanna share with y'all. A person posted that she found
a pregnant momma cat. Momma cat had several babies, but only two made it.
They're ready for adoption if anyone wants one, or both of them. One person
responded that she may be interested because the other kitten they *HAD*
(what happened to this kitten) "used her claws to play with my daughter, and
my daughter didn't like it". Then she said that she's looking for a more
lovable, docile kitten!! I wanted to smack her!!!

I've turned down two prospective owners for BabyCat so far because of
young children. I am always suspect of anyone with a child under 3
wanting a kitten "For my little girl." There are exceptions, of course.
Some 3-year-olds are gentle, but it would have to be an extreme
exception where the parents proved to me they were already devoted
cat-people and not just trying to buy a real-live toy. So far, they
haven't proven that to me.
My best possibility fell through. It was the perfect home, if I may
generalize; it was a gay couple, who in my experience make excellent
pet owners; and they were both nurses, who also in my experience are
awesome pet owners. Their 14-year-old cat had just died a few months
ago. But one guy's Mom suddenly became very ill, and he had to take in
her dog, who hates cats. Sigh. I really had my hopes up they would take
her.

Sherry

I agree--children under 3 shouldn't be a pet's primary playmate.

I was lucky to have a good farmer for a dad who taught me how to
approach animals and that animals don't think the way humans do.

Don't like the claws? Clip 'em, stupid. There are way too many people
who complain about their cats' claws and are unwilling to do the task
of clipping them, which (once youv'e trained the cat to accept it) is
really pretty simple.

--Fil

wrote i
We're doing it! We've seen so many un-educated, horrible pet owners. We
decided the time to reach these people is when they're in elementary
school. We've started a classroom "pet education" class. It's fun. We
take a puppy usually, and hand out materials, talk about basic
responsible pet ownership stuff. You wouldn't believe the stuff those
kids tell. "We used to have a dog but my daddy took it away...."
Lower grades are a little too young to start with the spay/neuter
stuff, but as soon as there are enough volunteers, I'd really like to
start doing presentations at the junior high level about spay/neuter.

Sherry

---------------------------------

That is a wonderful idea Sherry!! Maybe the kids can educate their parents.
My nephew shocked me a while back by telling me that his mom (my ex-SIL)
took their cat and dumped him on the side of the road because she was mad at
him! I really had to control myself. I told him that was dangerous and not
nice, and if she ever gets mad at an animal again to call me.

-Kelly

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 07:06:06 -0400, "KellyH" kelly at farringtons dot
net wrote:

That is a wonderful idea Sherry!! Maybe the kids can educate their parents.
My nephew shocked me a while back by telling me that his mom (my ex-SIL)
took their cat and dumped him on the side of the road because she was mad at
him! I really had to control myself. I told him that was dangerous and not
nice, and if she ever gets mad at an animal again to call me.

Purrs that their ex-family cat found a better home - even though the
odds may be against it. Wish people would realize that turning an
unwated animal in at a shelter, even a kill-shelter, is kinder than
just dumping them to die of disease, starve, or become prey for other
animals.

This message reminds me of another chapter in the story of Mittens,
the RB cat I posted about the other day. As I posted then, Mittens was
an intact tom who was forever in fights. (Yes, the first thing I'd do
today would be to get him to TED for a checkup and neutering, but we
didn't know any better back in the 60's.)

Anyway, Mitten disappeared for awhile, and we were all sure he'd been
hurt and gone to the Bridge. Unbeknowst to us at the time Dad (a
self-proclaimed cat hater who claimed to hate ALL our pets) was
checking with the animal shelter every day on his way home from work.
He found Mittens there and brought him home. Years later, a neighbor a
couple doors door from my parents home admitted that he had gotten
tired of listening to Mittens and the other toms howl and fight, and
had rounded up all the cats he could catch and taken them out and
dumped them in a vineyard. Lucky for us, someone later caught Mittens
and turned him into the shelter, and Dad found him and brought him
home.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Spot
with loving memories of Rocky (RB)

[remove Junk for email]
Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html
Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html

"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
snip
This message reminds me of another chapter in the story of Mittens,
the RB cat I posted about the other day. As I posted then, Mittens was
an intact tom who was forever in fights. (Yes, the first thing I'd do
today would be to get him to TED for a checkup and neutering, but we
didn't know any better back in the 60's.)

Anyway, Mitten disappeared for awhile, and we were all sure he'd been
hurt and gone to the Bridge. Unbeknowst to us at the time Dad (a
self-proclaimed cat hater who claimed to hate ALL our pets) was
checking with the animal shelter every day on his way home from work.
He found Mittens there and brought him home. Years later, a neighbor a
couple doors door from my parents home admitted that he had gotten
tired of listening to Mittens and the other toms howl and fight, and
had rounded up all the cats he could catch and taken them out and
dumped them in a vineyard. Lucky for us, someone later caught Mittens
and turned him into the shelter, and Dad found him and brought him
home.

My father would never let us have any four-legged pets. Budgies could be
accepted, but he didn't want to have anything to do with them. And of
course, all cats and dogs and other animals that came in contact with my
father (e.g. my uncle's Collie dog) just loved him, and did their best to
make him their friend. And he, almost in panic, tried to avoid them. We
never understood why he was like that.

Now my father is an old man, 84 yrs. old, and some years ago, he told me why
he didn't want any four-leggers in the house: When he was a kid, the family
got themselves a cat. A faboulous rat catcher, and the whole family loved it
deeply. But after some years, the cat was out playing, and was run over by a
car. All of my father's family just went around crying for two weeks over
the loss of their cat friend. After that he decided never to have a dog or
cat, he knew that he would get too involved in them to bear the loss when
they eventually died... Poor old soft-hearted man...

Of course I can understand him, I've got two cats, one is four, the other
one three years old, and I have already started thinking about how life will
be when they go to RB...

Thanks, Steve