Quote From: wickiepooI think, in a perfect world, there is no such thing as too many cats...or dogs...or other animals that are cute and fuzzy. I remember a time when I came home from college we had 4 cats, 6 dogs, a persian guinea pig, a welsh pony staked out in our front yard, two ducks, a number of acquarium tanks from school (my dad was the science teacher), a cormrant took up residence by the pool and a blue parakeet flew in from nowhere...and we lived about 200 yards from the town bowling alley. On the other hand, the pony found a home on a horse farm down the road, one of the ducks went to live at Homossassa Springs, the parakeet died, the cormrant decided it didn't like chlorinated water and cooked fish so it left, and the acquariums went back to school once the holidays were over.
I love animals with a passion and I understand that lady deeply. I have two cats at present, having just found homes for three strays this summer. I tend to take in every stray that shows up and find a home for it. Mom used to say we ran a halfway house for strays. I understand the need to take care of them and the heart break at the very idea of letting them fend for themselves in cold or bad weather, go hungry or unloved and it breaks my heart to see this lady do this. While I do, as stated, understand how she feels, she needs to see that unless she can afford to hire people to help with feeding, watering, grooming, vaccinating, spaying, neutering, etc., she is doing these babies a grave injustice. Contrary to popular belief, cats are not as independent as you might think. They need love and attention and they need brushing on a regular basis, especially the long-haired ones, because of the fur balls. She needs to either move the cats to another, legal area and hire people to properly take care of them, or find homes for most of them, though I wouldn't limit her to four if she can handle them decently.
On the other hand, if her neighbors are calling Animal Control behind her back or feeding them antifreeze to poison them, then her neighbors ought to be made to drink the stuff and see how it makes them feel. I may agree that she has too many cats and too little assistance to take care of them, but I do not hold with any kind of animal cruelty at all. You think it's okay to poison animals just because you don't like them? You drink the poison. Do you beat your pets? Let somebody beat you and see how you like it. See how you would like being tossed out a car window or left out in 30 degree weather in the rain.
So while I agree that the lady needs to get some help with her cats, I also strongly say that her neighbors better leave them alone and not hurt them. For one thing, this lady obviously feels that nobody can take better care of them than she can or love them more. I understand that feeling because I feel the same way and lose sleep over any I see that I think need loving.;
If you love animals as you profess so much then you should learn that pets are NOT PEOPLE, they are not YOUR BABIES!!! You are not making them happy or doing the right thing by them when you treat them as little humans. If you insist on thinking all animals can be your pets and that your pets are people I might recommend not ordering a steak anywhere lol!
