The Pitiful Cries

Still crying
I still can't get over it; I can't stop thinking about it. I've soaked several tissues with my blubbering.

My man came home a little while ago to load up our deck furniture. I was still emotional and he simply cracks a joke about LoverBoy being in heaven. I am in NO MOOD to make any light-hearted talk about LoverBoy's death--a death I could have avoided if I had just grown a backbone, put my foot down, and TOLD my man we were keeping him whether he approved or not.

Of course, my man thinks I should just get over it. "How are you going to react if Tabitha dies--or PollyAnna dies--are you going to fall to pieces?" he asks. I don't care if it's stupid or not; I can't stop crying.

Oh Debra, I'm so sorry. Poor kitty. Poor you. <hugs>

I agree, this is difficult enough without the what ifs. First, mourn the cat. Then figure out the what ifs.

When Spackle died, my ex and I both cried, off an on for a few days. Well, me mostly, but he was a mess too, and did actually cry. Especially when we buried him.

I am embarrassed that I have mourned animals' death more than some relatives. Cough. But there it is. It is a hard time, go ahead and sob.

cat rescue
LoverBoy's sister wandered into our yard crying. They have identical cries. Was she looking for her brother? She's such a runt. I asked my honey why she showed up TODAY, of all days. Where has she been all summer?

My honey and I went into cat rescue mode. We failed LoverBoy, but we do not want to scrape any more cats off the highway if we can help it. We rescued two female kittens tonight. I think they're from the same litter as LoverBoy. We brought them in the house and fed them. They were ravenous. They ate like they hadn't eaten in days.

I gave the runt a bath; my man gave the second one a bath. We groomed them, gave them affection, and put them in our guest room for the night. I'm taking them to the humane society tomorrow along with a nice donation. I'll even offer to volunteer a couple days a week to clean their kennels or answer their phones--I will offer anything if they will please find these girls homes!

We spotted a dark chocolate kitten and hopefully we can rescue her too. If we don't rescue these cats and they somehow survive the winter---we'll have more litters of kittens in the spring to worry about.

I want to move!
The humane society can't take the cats right now. Their cages are full. They have over 100 cats on their waiting list. It will take about 6 weeks before they have any cages available. Then they only hold them five days and before they are put to sleep.

I told the lady at the humane society, I would rather run ads in the paper and try to find homes for them myself. She said good-luck. She told me there was a long list of giveaways in the paper everyday. People aren't getting their cats fixed and our city is overrun with unwanted cats right now.

I guess that's why living in the country is such a heartbreaking thing. I guess I can look forward to even more pregnant cats and babies being dropped off in my country neighborhood. I guess we can look forward to scraping more cats off the highway. I'm so angry! I want to move!

Feral cats do tremendous damage to local wildlife popululations, often killing just for fun. The real solution? Kill the cat(s). Sorry.

kill all the cats
It seems like I've heard the "kill the cats" argument before. No--wait--that was kill all the lawyers.

From what I understand, they are killing the cats. In my community, they're apparently killing hundreds of them every year. The unwanted ones that are lucky enough to escape the euthanesia needle are homeless and starving and--inevitably--road kill. But, the lawyer in me says there has to be a better way of resolving the problem.

Perhaps there is a way to put them all on birth control. I believe this is done with some feral populations, but I don't know if it's cats or some other animal. I believe it's just something in the feed, though I doubt that you'd want to commit to buying that much feed, and your county probably wouldn't either. Hmm, thinking.

I'm thinking too.
I'm thinking too. Instead of focusing on the end problem---too many cats---the focus must be on the front end---the irresponsible pet owners who cause the problem in the first place. We need mandatory accountability, stiffer penalties, and effective enforcement procedures.

Mandatory accountability will be no problem for responsible pet owners--the only ones who will complain are the ones who are irresponsible (and shouldn't be pet owners to begin with) because their irresponsibility might subject them to stiff penalities.

I'm working out proposed legislation in my head . . . .

Debra, I'm all teary-eyed over Loverboy. I can't believe it came to that. Poor darling kitty. And you're right, something ought to be done about the problem. Kudos to you for putting your grief to work.

(((((HUGE HUG)))))

Me too.
I'm still emotional. I cried so much that I made myself sick. I've been HIT with this problem my entire life.

When I was child, a stray cat crawled through an open window in our family car and gave birth to a litter of kittens. We took the new family in our home and cared for them. When the kittens were about 6 weeks old, we came home from school one day and mom said the cats were gone.

My mom told us that our cousin from out of town had stopped by. He knew of a good farm family that would take all of them--so she sent the cats off to their new home. Okay.

Years later when I was a young adult, my mom confessed that my cousin had offered to take the cats out in the country and shoot them--to get rid of the problem and she agreed. I burst into tears. I cried and cried about the fate of those kittens and about my mother's cruelty. She simply admonished me: "I thought you were old enough to hear the truth."

I remember confronting my cousin after I learned the truth. He told me that he didn't have the heart to shoot them after all, and he simply let them go in the country. For crying out loud! My mother and my cousin were responsible for abandoning a mother cat and litter of kittens out in the country to starve or to become road kill.

Believe me, I have LOTS of stories about how this problem has been beating and gnawing at me my entire life. I've rescued cats on several occasions--my two cats (PollyAnna & Tabitha) are rescued cats. I have found homes for kittens and cats. I paid the vet bills for a kitten that was rescued after it was thrown out of a car window (this kitten's siblings were dead on the road); but I never really addressed the problem. I don't know if there's anything I can do about the pitiful cries of abandoned and unwanted cats, but I need to seriously think about it.

I agree, with a little leeway to pet owners. I lied to the humane society when I got Pacco, saying I was only allergic to cats. I was allergic to our irish setter. But I'd lived with him for ten years, and thought I passed the test, myself, by doing that, but that the forms readers wouldn't hear that.

I am not allergic to the Pacc at first hand. Cleaning the house and dredging up corgi hair can send me into asthma.
Thus I avoid constant cleaning, and try to keep him nice and combed out, which I can do sans travail.

I have serious cleaning days, mask, benedryl, and ignore wafts unless of a certain measure, let them lie still, then vacuum. If I could afford household help, that would be an answer, given that I had filters going. But, I had a big one and it was just this big white undecorative object which didn't suck up the hair mass. And the hair mass doesn't bother me until I go so far as to clean.

but ne'er mind my household woes, my life is way richer for the Pacc, and dare I say he is at least fairly engaged.

If I said I was allergic to dogs, it would have been no go. It's been about four years now... and we mean a lot to each other.

osso
Osso: Your Pacco is a lucky dog! They're not just pets, are they! They're family.

On a lighter note, it looks like my honey and I are adopting the two girls we rescued the other night. My honey and I were trying to figure out names for them this evening. I've been calling them "the sisters."

I suggested "Sassy Sister" and "Sissy Sister." My honey suggested "Classy" and "Trashy." I think he's having fun with me. Later he suggested "Blackie" and "Whitie" because one of them has dark (blackish) tabby marks on her face and the other one has a white mark on her face.

Any other suggestions?

Well, geez, we need pictures. All names so far are fine.

Pacco snarfles a sleepy woof.

But wait, Debra, that was my point, someone like me might be slashed off, if I answered forms honestly, re allergies.

I think, given the at large problem, that people like me ought to be given a chance (had I answered honestly, that I was somewhat allergic and planned to deal with it.. I can only assume a somewhat sniffy No.)

And re me, the dogface is with me 24/7 or almost. He's a happy kiddo, mostly.

Ah, poor, poor Loverboy, Debra! He didn't deserve that, poor little possum!

miserable
I'm so miserable. Loverboy was special. It wasn't just his stunning good looks--it was his Don Juan personality. I keep remembering all the special things about him--all the reasons why I loved him so much.

Some neighbors a few doors down from us were in my man's store yesterday. He told them that we had rescued a couple of older kittens, but there was no room at the Humane Society. The neighbor lady mentioned that she might like to take one--but she wasn't sure how her older cat would react. Then the neighbor man mentioned that there was a beautiful one roaming the neighborhood. He described LoverBoy.

My man told them that was "LoverBoy" and he had just been killed on the highway. They were upset too. So, I guess we're not the only ones in the neighborhood who were impressed by LoverBoy.

My man was a little nervous about keeping the other kittens that we rescued. He said that maybe the neighbor to the North might be upset--because we figure this litter of kittens must belong to him. But I told my man that I would love him to come forward and claim ownership of these cats. Then I would have grounds to swear out a complaint and he can be held criminally responsible for neglecting these animals, starving them, leaving them without shelter, allowing them to roam the neighborhood begging for food and love, and allowing them to become road kill. From now on, he can scrape his own dead cats off the highway.

I'm keeping the kitten sisters (and my man feels so guilty about Loverboy's death, he isn't complaining). It was MY little sister's birthday yesterday, so (in honor of my sister's birthday and sisterhood in general), I decided to name the kittens after MY SISTERS.

Sister cats! Excellent!

One thing I've done - when we've had the cash to do so - is we donate to the Humane Society. And we put a stipulation on our gift. We require that it be used towards spaying and neutering. Not toys. Not food. Not blankets. Not leashes. Not collars. Spaying and neutering.

Every dog RP and I have ever had has been spayed or neutered. The three boys were neutered when we got them and Shadow was spayed when we first got her (we footed the bill for that, $90). That having been said, spaying and neutering should be a lot cheaper. Millions of dogs and cats are killed every year. All of those people who think they're giving their animal some kind of wonderful experience by becoming parents (I'm not talking about purebreds being bred for shows and the like, I'm talking about owners who just let the dog or cat in heat roam the neighborhood, lookin' for love). It's got to stop somewhere. I'd much, much rather see a huge spaying and neutering drive than a huge killing.

I wonder if it would be possible to push this somehow, e. g. requiring that all shelters (kill or no-kill, I don't think it should matter) spend X% of their budgets on spaying and neutering, and counseling their adoption counselors to push the spayed and neutered beasts, and to encourage potential adopters to spay and neuter, even offering to do it on premises before the animal is taken home. I would much, much rather stop this problem before it starts.

We got Rosie and Buster when they were 8 weeks old from a veterinarian. She goes to the animal shelter regularly and rescues "adoptable" kittens. (Good thing she's doing it and not me, or I'd take every one of them.) She spays & neuters them at 5-6 weeks old before she begins to allow people to look them over for adoption. I confess, I never realized it could be done to kittens so young. She must have to use a magnifying glass! But she insists that kittens heal much faster. She only charges $50 for each kitten which includes the spaying/neutering so it is VERY reasonable, and her clinic has become known as a prime spot to look for kittens. She's doing her part to solve the problem, and I'm proud of her for it.

Debra -- what are your sisters' names?

Just a heads up folks, if you ever get asked for a donation by the Humane Socieity of the United States (HSUS), please know that they are not your local Humane Socieity. The are an anti-hunting, animal rights PAC based in Washington D.C., that has never taken in a stray. They're much more likely to break into the local animal shelter to free the "captives".