Posted on 09/06/2005 2:42:24 PM PDT by maxwellp
Watching the news on Hurrican Katrina, I've seen a few people who refused to leave their dogs because they could not bring them along to a people shelter. I thought about it and asked my husband if he would leave our two cats to fend for themselves. My husband thought about it and said "If we had young children, we would have to go and leave the cats. Well we don't have young children so I would not abandon the cats." I agreed with him. Pets are like members of your family. I simply couldn't walk out the door and leave them. Any comments from other Freepers?
Sorry, but Radar's wrong. If animals were people, I wouldn't love them like I do. IMHO, their best redeeming feature is that they're NOT people!
Jeez, Girl...there's nothing like getting wrapped around the axle over nothing, is there? I think you need a reality check. This thread is about ANIMALS. And believe it or not, that includes you and me, whether you like it or not. Since we can THINK, we are responsible for the "dumber" animals.
And don't go throwing religion into the mix to try and "make a point"...it was here before you were.
LOL at the look your canine has with his eyes in the first pic.
It looks like he is saying Yeah whatever....idiot.
Very good point teeny.
Who?
Cat UTI's are pretty common. I know several people who had no clue about them, and just got rid of their pets thinking it was a behavior problem. Really makes me mad.
Animals aren't stupid. They are not gonna keep doing things on purpose that they know they are going to get in trouble for.
If your kid all of a sudden started peeing his pants all the time, wouldn't you think something might be wrong?
Same thing, IMNSHO.
Man, that is so true.
My kitties are my purring valium. Nothing makes me as calm as my little furry pieces of heaven.
I saw the doggie in the tree too.
I love HairoftheDoggie pings as the threads are a great source of sharing doggie joys, however I can't bring myself to visit the bad news doggie pings it chokes me up and I am not the weepy type at all.
I hate heart ache.
OK...this is where I get ugly...my philosophy has always been: If you treat a child like a puppy (feel free to insert any animal you love) and (any animal you love) like a child, you can't go wrong in either case.
When we have our children, we love and cherish them. We are responsible for them until they reach "the age of reason" (which varies with the individual who is is teaching them). However: Once they are able to make decisions, children are responsible for themselves, (at least after they have left "the nest".)
I am not responsible for the decisions my child made when s/he left home at the age of 18. I AM responsible, however, for any animals who are living within the boundaries of my house from the time I agree to accept responsibility for them until they die, or until such time as I am no longer able to care for them, due to age, infirmity or circumstance.
If you think there is something worong with people, then I really feel sorry for you. Especially since you have chosen FR as a forum. We are all different, but we are ALL people.
So many people throw animals away if they are not immediately perfect.
Thanks. You've made some great posts here. Apparently, as this young mother said, she searched every available option to try to get these neutered, healthy cats adopted by someone else, and no one would take them. The pound became her only option.
She got a lot of criticism for her final decision, but I thought she did the only thing she could do--the baby HAS to come first, and several cats that refuse to adjust must suffer their fate.
I've only taken one animal to a pound, as I said above, and that was a dog I had adopted from the pound, and had to return as he growled at me over food, twice.
On the other hand, I've adopted many animals both from people and the pound over the years--I had to give one cat away, and I did return one dog.
Now I'm done with pound animals, I've rescued enough of them, and just have my two dogs, the minipin Bebe and the mastiff Tinker, both bought from reputable breeders, both neutered, and both spoiled rotten.
And I've owned a LOT of animals over my 57 years, and never abused or abandoned one. But apparently, my opinion in support of this young mother has made me the object of scorn, to some.
Nevertheless, I stick with it. The new mother and her child are at the top of the heap; their needs get met first! Again, cats that cannot adjust must have another home. If the only place that will take them is the pound, then the pound it is.
Sheesh!
Bump to that!
We socialize in the community but the only humans that hang out at our house is the gal who is our respite care provider whom my son has known most his life as she was a school chum and now has as an adult come to work as a medical careprovider to give me a break twice a week.
Other than that vendors and fellow dog owners with doggies are the only human traffic in our castle.
Sweety pie, you are the one who brought up religion first. Check out your posts. Then you posted to me that if I couldn't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Looks like you might need some of your own advice. ;-D
I know this wasn't to me...BUT!
Cats DO have a LOT of UTIs. Especially male cats, neutered or not. Most of the behavior problems that prompt people to "get rid" of cats could be changed by a trip to the vet.
I have seen animals who have had "behavior problems" but I have always been able to correct that behavior, just by paying attention to the animal and what it does, and what it needs.
Thanks for the "heads up."
;o]
'Face
Sweety pie, you are the one who brought up religion first. Check out your posts. Then you posted to me that if I couldn't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Looks like you might need some of your own advice. ;-D
Don't EVEN go there with me.
When my oldest child was a baby, I adopted a kitty who was born on a horse farm. She was a great calico, and very sweet.
But when my baby got old enough to be mobile, Daisy DID NOT like it. Most kitties will just stay away from things they don't like. This kitty would attack first. So I took her to the vet. Nothing medically wrong. Brought her back home. She kept scratching my baby, so I had front feet her declawed (which I know is a discussion all by itself, but I'll try to stay on topic!), trying to be able to keep her.
She immediately nailed my baby in the face with her back feet. Those back claws are lethal, and another half inch and kitty would have gotten my baby's eye.
My point to all this blathering is that I did everything I could to make the situation work out. I loved that kitty. As a matter of fact, the first home that took her decided they didn't like her, so I took her back and found her another home, where she is fat and happy to this day.
But she was my responsibility, and it was my responsibility to make sure she was taken care of, whether by me or someone else.
But then again, I feel responsible for every animal I see, much to my husband's dismay! I'd stop to save a hamster on the side of the road if I saw one.
Even saved a gaggle of baby geese one time.
(I know I shouldn't do this, I KNOW it's just going to get worse and worse, I'm howling laughing right now, and I can't help myself! ;-D)
Don't go where with you? Or else what?
I have also had female cats with them. The difference is that they can kill a male kitty in pretty short order.
I try to be as nosey as I can when I hear of someone having animal trouble, because many people simply do not know about animal behavior. They do more research when they buy a microwave than they do when they adopt a living creature.
I can't resist a doggie ping, good or bad. Not that I always post, but I learn which FReepers I'd like to hang with, as well as a few that, well, I wouldn't. :o)
Past my bedtime. G'night.
I know what you mean. Some of the animals we adopted over the years were simply old, and had been abandoned at the pound...some of them were the best dogs we ever had, and nearly all of them lived for several years and gave us much love and joy...
I, too, think every animal is my responsibility. There's no pound in my rural county, so I once got 4 starved horses. I can't count the number of dogs that are just "dropped off" by our little farm, in the hope that they'll find a home.
I have a yard dog now, and have for the past 8 years, that keeps most of the dropoffs moving on. We used to keep them, but most of them knew nothing about country life, went after the chickens or goats, or got into the neighbor's cattle.
I just don't like most animal shelters or the people that run them, and with the exception of the one dog that I returned, I've never taken an animal to a pound, only away from a pound.
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