|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:33 pm
I'm still looking for a good title. mad
----
I've met a lot of people who don't like cats. And I often hear the same reasons all over again when I ask them why they don't like cats. A smelly litter box, they aren't loyal, you cannot teach them tricks and of course the most famous one: They ruin the furniture. Then you have cat-haters, people who just don't like cats, and the people who are allergic to cats. I will never try to convince a cat hater that cats really aren't that evil, that they don't pee on their beds on purpose and that they can be just as loyal as dogs. But somehow they keep surprising me...
Predators
If you own a cat, and you are planning to make it an outdoor-cat. Be prepared for angry neighbors as your cat will most likely will do its business in your neighbors beautiful garden. And I'm sure you know that nothing is worse than finding a cats business between your flowers while working on your garden. This might be the number one reason why your neighbor is creating evil plans to make your cat disappear.
Your cat is a predator. They might hunt for birds or other little rodents. In countries where such animals are increasing in number this could be a problem. Mostly, in those countries you have to keep your cat indoors.
My Reason
I keep my cats indoor for a few reasons. I live in an apartment complex street -- no I'm not that lazy that I refuse to walk down 4 stairs to let my cat inside. Which means there are twice or three times as much people as in a street with normal houses. Seventy percent of all my neighbors have cats. This results in a street full of cats. And what happens when you put a lot of cats together who all want to protect their own territory? They fight. On a daily base I hear cats fighting in my street. I know my cats won't have trouble defending themselves, but I don't want to put them in that environment.
Me and my neighbors have to bring our trash bags outside to one waste container that we have to share with the entire street. Sadly, the waste container isn't big enough for so many people. But when the container is so full, that another trash bag won't fit. They put their trash bags to the side of the container. In no time the entire street will be covered in trash because the cats scratch these bags open. Cans, paper, food, glass and more will be all over the street. It's nasty and not very healthy for cats. What if they get glass in their paws? What if they eat something from the food that happens to be dangerous? No, I don't want that to happen to my cats. It's dirty, I don't want my cats walking around in trash.
My Experience
If you love cats, there is a big chance you will come across someone who does not like cats or is allergic to cats. I don't have problem with both of them. I respect their choice, and respect that they are allergic to cats. If someone is willing to visit my place and who is allergic to cats, or scared for them, I will make sure the place is all clean, tidy and cat-hairless and lock my cats away in a room. If people don't like cats? You don't have to visit my place. To each their own, right?
But when things get physical, that is when I get mad. Yet, I never really know what to do when I meet a cat hater who hates cats so much they want to hurt them, drown them, kill them. It's complicated, it confuses me, I just don't understand it. Sadly, I've seen my fair share of animal abuse, like drowned cats, cats that got their ears or tails put on fire by kids.
But the worst I have seen was when I still lived with my parents. We lived in a small town and in the street that we lived in, the houses on the other side of the street had their garden on the waterside. It started with one missing cat from our neighbor. She had been calling his names for three nights already, she had hung up flyer's already and searched the town. But there was no sign of him. Until he was fished out of the water by some kids that were fishing in the water that was on the other side of our street. Everyone thought it was an accident. That the cat had fallen in, because once a cat falls in, the cat was unable to get out because the shore was too high. They eventually drowned.
Many cats followed, like my mothers cat Rosie. Luckily survived, she was pulled out of the water just in time. This was the moment when my mother and I went through the entire town with flyers and told people to keep their cat inside because there was a cat-hater throwing cats in the water. Months passed by, the police couldn't do much, and my mother still didn't thought that keeping Rosie inside would be a good idea. Thank god she wasn't thrown in a second time.
When one of my parents' neighbor moved away, that was when all the cat-killing stopped. We all think that it was him, but his neighbor is also a man that acts really aggressive towards cats that enter his garden. But I don't know how many cats are on the bottom of that water, or how many cats that have been fished out of the water. The image of a drowned cat, is not something you easily forget.
If I would move to a new house, where the neighborhood seems good enough to put cats outside. I still would have trouble with it, maybe because I don't trust humanity enough with my cats.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:09 pm
I can say that cats are very difficult to teach, but they can learn if you are patient enough and know what they like. I have taught three different cats to sit on command and I did it at every meal time. It took a while, but they figured it out and sit when they are told. Cats are difficult, not impossible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 1:28 pm
Erisiana I can say that cats are very difficult to teach, but they can learn if you are patient enough and know what they like. I have taught three different cats to sit on command and I did it at every meal time. It took a while, but they figured it out and sit when they are told. Cats are difficult, not impossible. Patient is the key. 3nodding
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
