Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Eh. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, because I don't usually know their circumstances. It's simply a human reaction to get angry, but anger doesn't solve the problem. We all snap at times, though.
MK I can understand why you snapped, as cat people we first and foremost will. It's something we wouldn't post up on Craigslist at all if we had to re-home an animal for whatever reason. But since we don't know what's going on with the original family of the cat- maybe in their mind they are being responsible pet owners and trying to find a good home.
But that whole posting just rubbed me the wrong way. It's also more a reflection of society, Get bored with it, got new stuff, okay lets get rid of it. But at this point, I just hope the cat finds a good loving home!
And, I'll jump in too and say that if you're fine with dealing with it, or taking meds for it, that's terrific. The thing that I have an issue with are people who think that people SHOULD take meds to deal with allergies so they can keep cats (or any other animals). I have severe seasonal allergies, and so far, I'm not affected by animals. But, I tell you what...if I had the same symptoms to animals that I have to pine pollen and grass pollen, I'd have to give my pets up. That's GREAT that you have 6 cats. That's your choice. But, who are YOU to judge someone who wouldn't want to deal with allergies to animals?
It's really quite simple. If you're allergic to animals and you don't want to take meds, then don't adopt an animal! If you already have animals and develop an allergy then the RESPONSIBLE thing to do is take the meds and don't adopt any more animals. When you adopt an animal it is a commitment for the life time of that animal. Own up to it. And since you feel so strongly about it I would suggest you refrain from adopting any more pets just in case you develop an allergy.
There is an animal shelter 4 miles from me that has 550 cats! 300 will be euthanized this week due to the over crowding. These cats all belonged to people out there who decided their cats were disposable due to allergies, children in the house, etc. The only cats that should be in shelters are those whose owners died. I won't apologize for the way I feel. A pet is no more disposable than a child or any other human.
It is important to be fair of course--one has to walk in the other's moccasins the saying goes---but it is the owner's words in this posting that creates a less tolerant reaction IMHO--the child isn't allergic, the cat isn't aggressive, the finances aren't the issue, moving into a no-pets apartment isn't mentioned-it is that the child mishandles the cat. That is the reason given.
If we shame people who give away their pets for any reason, then people will keep pets in bad situations. Or people will be so afraid to deal with rescues that they will just dump the animals.
It's easy to say "don't adopt more pets," but some people really can't help it, especially when the only place for those pets to go would be the pound.
I try not to judge people who have good reasons to give away pets. Allergies seems like a good enough reason to me. Of course, I appreciate the fact that you kept your animals anyway. However, a lot of people, especially older people, are already on a lot of medications and they can't add allergy medications to it, or the medications cause side effects or reactions.
I think there are legitimate reasons that people simply can't take care of their pets anymore. As far as the Craigslist poster's situation, I don't know. I'm not a parent so I have not been in that situation.
I'm just afraid that if we judge people too harshly, they will become resentful or even afraid of rescues, and the animals will suffer.
If someone has a legitimate reason that they cannot care for their animal, I will feel sad about it. I will hope the animal finds a good home. I won't judge them, though. They probably have their reasons.
Having a pet should be a lifelong commitment, but circumstances do change. People shouldn't feel shamed into keeping a pet in a situation that is not good for the pet or for them. Craiglist probably isn't the best place to list a cat, but in a lot of situations, it's very hard to get rid of kittens. It's nearly impossible here.
People who give up their pets, unless they (people) have serious medical reasons which make it impossible to keep them, get no understanding or kind words from me.
I will never applaud, or support, someone who willingly abandons or gives up a pet, no matter what.
Really? I agree with the OP on this one, but sometimes there ARE difficult situations that require more than that exception. For example, right now, I have two dogs. Both of whom I got as puppies. One is seven, one is three. The dog that I got before the one that is three I thought would be a great match with my (now) seven year old female. He was a golden retriever mixed with a herding dog. Wrong. I took them both on runs with me everyday before work to tire not just her, but particularly him everyday, because he seemed to have so much wild energy. After work, I would let them both out and we would go for another half hour walk. I took them both to the Huntington Dog Beach in Huntington Beach, CA on weekends because I wanted him to have things he didn't have at the rescue, and I wanted to tire him out(so he would be easier to train and work with). He showed some aggression towards boyfriend, (tried to bite on more than one occasion) but boyfriend liked him, was willing to work with him and I was shocked, but it gave me more motivation to try to work with a trainer. He began to snap at people and some other animals on a regular basis, and I grew ever more concerned about him as a liability. He had had accidents inside, but I chalked this up to him adjusting, and used the crate when I wasn't home, and praised him whenever he went outside--until he began having regular accidents in his crate--I would come home from work to clean runny s*it off of the dog and the inside of the crate--everyday. I called the rescue for advice. I went to a few trainers. Nothing, no progress. His aggression grew to the point that I was afraid of him. In the end, just after Christmas I surrendered him. I felt horrible, but he just wasn't working out for us and my frustration with him was making me not want to do anything with him anymore, which is no life for a dog to lead. BTW, I dragged this out for a little over a year, trying to make it work, going to behaviorist after behaviorist and trainers. The day he was surrendered was the day he nearly knocked me down got on top of me, snarling(I had asked him to sit--and not forcefully).
If we shame people who give away their pets for any reason, then people will keep pets in bad situations. Or people will be so afraid to deal with rescues that they will just dump the animals.
It's easy to say "don't adopt more pets," but some people really can't help it, especially when the only place for those pets to go would be the pound.
I try not to judge people who have good reasons to give away pets. Allergies seems like a good enough reason to me. Of course, I appreciate the fact that you kept your animals anyway. However, a lot of people, especially older people, are already on a lot of medications and they can't add allergy medications to it, or the medications cause side effects or reactions.
I think there are legitimate reasons that people simply can't take care of their pets anymore. As far as the Craigslist poster's situation, I don't know. I'm not a parent so I have not been in that situation.
I'm just afraid that if we judge people too harshly, they will become resentful or even afraid of rescues, and the animals will suffer.
If someone has a legitimate reason that they cannot care for their animal, I will feel sad about it. I will hope the animal finds a good home. I won't judge them, though. They probably have their reasons.
Having a pet should be a lifelong commitment, but circumstances do change. People shouldn't feel shamed into keeping a pet in a situation that is not good for the pet or for them. Craiglist probably isn't the best place to list a cat, but in a lot of situations, it's very hard to get rid of kittens. It's nearly impossible here.
Bingo. About 8 years ago I had to find my dogs a new home. It was a heart-wrenching decision and I still miss them to this day. But before my life got turned upside-down necessitating that I find them a different home, I myself had rescued several dogs, both taking them in myself (including one of the two I had to place in another home) and finding suitable homes other than mine. And when I did, I was never a screeching, judgmental a-hole about it.
So when the tables turned and it was my turn to find a new home for my dogs, I'm glad I was able to place them with compassionate new family without them or anyone else being screeching, judgmental a-holes about it. If people can expect hostile, self-righteous screeds from complete strangers when they at least try to be responsible enough to place pets in new homes, you can be sure that many will just dump them on shelters or choose outright abandonment instead.
So the message to the zealots is this: if you want to see an overall diminution of animal welfare, keep shouting your condemnationational sermons at these people and/or encouraging others to do so with congratulatory pats on the back. If you want to improve animal welfare, be glad those who find themselves in an unworkable situation are at lest trying to find them another home instead of just dumping them.
Sorry, but turning over a cat to who-knows-who rather than instilling discipline in a child is cause for "self-righteous screeds" in my book. It's easy to see how that kid's going to turn out. "Kitty scratches her because she's too rough? Time to dump Kitty" can be translated into "She picked all the flowers off that plant, so let's quit buying plants," "I swept up another broken glass today, time to put them on a higher shelf or switch to paper cups," etc. Their little darling can do no wrong and be taught no right. What a joy she and her parents are going to be in the eyes of schoolteachers in a few years.
But I, too, don't see what was gained by actually posting a response to the ad instead of just venting here. It's not like those people are going to rethink their selfish and heartless decision from some stranger's going off on them.
My cantankerous, motormouthed purr machine Weasie has been in my existence since 1992 because someone saw fit to put a litter of weaned kittens into a ventilated box. Said box was then left in an apartment-house lobby one afternoon while no one was watching. That definitely wasn't the kindest thing to do. But it was definitely "up the ethical food chain" from killing the kittens or leaving the box by a roadside. My thought about whoever did that is that they probably thought they were doing the lil' ones a favor by going that route instead of taking them to a shelter where they could well have been PTS. This way chances were good that they'd be found by somebody who'd be able to care for or re-home them, and that's exactly what happened.
As for the lazy parents who gave rise to this thread, their smoothing life's path for their undisciplined child will come back to haunt them in a major way. It'll start within ten years from now with "F.U., you can't tell me what to do" and go from there. There's no need for firing off rants that'll be brushed off when karma will take care of them.
The OP's response might not have been the most productive thing in the world, but she sees this kind of stuff (people dumping animals because of kids) all the time and it's got to be frustrating. I know there are plenty of people who have to give their pets away for legitimate reasons, but based on the CL post, the person did make it sound like they would rather give the kitten away than correct the situation.
MK I have kids and I have cats. I had cats before I had kids, then I had cats after I had kids. Now my kids are with their dad and I am back to having cats, lol.
As much as I love my furbabies, my human children do come first. If for any reason my children were not able to deal with a pet, I wouldn't like it, but I would have to find the kitties another home.
I think the pet owner was doing a good thing for her pet. I am sure she loved her kitty but by all means cannot get rid of her child. A child that young really does not know how rough is too rough. The cat is only defending itself, so it was not her fault either.
A parent has a responsibility first and foremost to her child. I would give the world to have my kids back with me, but alas, they are not... and then there were kitties.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
