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If today were April 1st I wouldn't be irritated at all about the original post.
I do not believe one word the OP is posting. I believe this is a big fat hoax, born out of boredom or too much wine or a bet or all of the above. Just to see how we react and stir things up. Life becomes boring early January after the big holiday season.
ONE rat in 10 years????? And where in the world has the OP been living all her life to never have seen a dead animal before??? And what in the world have you been feeding your poor cat for 10 years???? Vegetables?????
IMHO this is either a big stupid hoax the OP thinks is super funny or the OP has some serious emotional problems and for that reason could also become a major threat to her animals, if there are any....other than a dead rat...
Oh please. If there is one thing I do on the Net it's to tell the truth. Why wouldn't I? I'm anonymous and so are you. I'm way too old for games.
Based on the NICE and REASONABLE posts I will keep my cat. However, now I have another concern. My cat is an indoor/outdoor cat. This wasn't an issue when I got the cat, as I didn't have a pool. Now I do. Since my cat is 10 plus years, I am now concerned about what could happen. This would seem to give me one more reason to find another home, as I simply could not bear to find my cat in the pool.
After all these years, it's impossible to keep him in the house. It is impossible to keep him away from the pool. I am worried that due to age or failing eyesight he could fall in. Then again, I am thinking he knows where the pool is far too well to fall in, as I've lived here seven years. Again, can you see what I'm dealing with? I cannot supervise these animals 24/7 and will not even let my dogs in the backyard EVER. They have their own backyard that they cannot get out of. And since they are small dogs, they can't very well jump the fence.
There are many factors going on here.
And, to be honest, I don't even know why I chose your post to respond to. But I can assure you this is no hoax. I have better things to do with my time.
Oh, and I sincerely need help with the pool question. That is a HUGE worry at this point.
Last edited by mistygrl092; 01-04-2011 at 07:17 PM..
Or, perhaps, just maybe, she's decided that she really thinks that this animal would be better off in another home?
When someone, for whatever reason, feels that they can no longer keep an animal, and come to a board like this for advice, it never ceases to amaze me how judgmental people become. Instead of saying something like "wow, that's tough one, here are some resources....", people end up pronouncing judgments like this one here. A "major threat to her animals"???? Who are YOU or anyone else on a message board to say something like that?
IMO, the vast majority of people on this pet forum have positive things to say, and quite excellent resources to suggest to posters. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, these things get lost in the slog of posts villifying the attitude of the original poster. Who in their right mind would even want to continue reading when someone who doesn't know them has determined that they have "serious mental issues"??
But, meh, I know that I'm preaching to the choir (in the case of the majority), and falling on deaf ears (in the case of others), but I will spend my typing energy on this because it's just such a shame that the excellent resources and responses to posts get overshadowed by ones like this.
To the OP: I hope that you do take some of the more positive posts here to heart, and if you determine that you no longer want to be this cat's caregiver, that you look to good organizations in
your area for guidance.
Cats do this. And, as they get older, they tend to have more issues. If this is something that you can't handle, I actually do applaud you for acknowledging it, and hope that your cat will end up in a home with someone who will be more than happy to deal with the things that you cannot deal with.
A long time ago....I had a cat named Bessie (because her coat looked like a cows) and she caught a rat. She hid it. I noticed this strange smell coming from my sons' room. I started looking around, and in the closet under his car seat was a dead rat. Yuk! It was gross.
Mystygrl, I've been reading your posts along in this thread of yours, and honestly, you come across as groping around for one excuse after another to remove your cat from your home. You began by complaining about a huge gross rat left at your door, how disgusting, and how you were going to recruit men who came to look at your dishwasher to get rid of it. It, as others have pointed out to you, was a gift to you, a very high compliment in a cat's world, and most likely in your case, your cat desperately trying to tell you how much he loves you, no matter how many times you have treated him disrespectfully.
Then there is the wine issue, and when drinking, all kinds of separate unrelated tangents get thrown in the pot, that at one time was a single concern, but now has emerged into a multi-level concern.
As stated in my original post, why not just be honest with yourself and admit you really don't have a heart for animals, nor by any means do you understand them or what their basic needs are? You are so focused on what YOU want, on what YOU need, you continually overlook what your animals need. There is nothing wrong in not being an animal person, but there is something wrong when a person who admits she is not an animal person, has animals.
Even the title of this thread, for heavens sake, is negative, and you come right out and admit you are not a cat person. Why after 10 years of having a cat did you finally arrive at that conclusion? My goodness! People who are not a cat person should not have a cat, and the way you treat your dogs, sorry there again, but you are not a dog person either, and should not have dogs either.
Actions speak a whole lot louder then words, and your words, frankly, just don't add up. I don't know if it is the wine speaking or the literal confusion you seem to live in. You would be a much happier person if you stepped up to the plate, and swung a home run that says who you are and what is true in your life. Do you think you can do that, instead of coming up with excuse after excuse to get rid of your cat?
I honestly couldn't sleep just thinking about this post. I feel badly for all concerned here. You are not living true to yourself, therefore being self-abusive, and you are not being fair at all to the animals you opted to care for, for the entirety of their lives. Now that it is getting a bit more complicated because of them getting older, now you want to bail out. Have I understood this so far?
Then there is the wine issue, and when drinking, all kinds of separate unrelated tangents get thrown in the pot, that at one time was a single concern, but now has emerged into a multi-level concern.
Seriously?? You're preaching now about the wine drinking?
This has become a FARCE.
What exactly does wine have to do with taking care of a cat???
Years ago I moved to the house where I now am located. The same day, the most beautiful cat showed up. For many reasons I suspect he had belonged to the couple who sold the house. A couple of weeks later the kitty brought a half dead robin into the pantry. I had to kill that robin with a shovel, crying all the while but I knew there was no choice. He became an exclusively indoor cat at that point!
That cat turned out to be more than wonderful, I thank the person who abandoned him every day for the gift of that cat.
Do you have access to a no kill shelter? I too thought that older cats had no alternatives but once, at a Petsmart there was an older cat, I really would have taken that cat home, the pull was so intense. The volunteer said, "no, someone is coming for him, someone who said that is the kind of kitty he was looking for, a big, old, floppy cat".
I have heard a different explanation for why cats bring home a trophy kill. It is because they think we, their people, don't know how to eat properly and so they will bring home an example. "This is how to hunt and consume."
I wish you peace. As "Dear Abby" once said to a writer contemplating separation "you need to think are you better off with or without him". I would urge you to think the same about your cat, is he better off? It was not his choice to be with you, you have a higher calling here.
I think that when a cat brings something home, he is showing you what a great hunter he thinks he is and is generously sharing his trophy. It's always seemed that way to me. But who really knows?
Some people did not read my whole thread and no one has addressed my pool question, which is the only reason I checked back into this thread and its replies.
I am sort of tired of the insults and personal attacks, btw, but have been too big (read big girl panties) to report any of these personal attacks. I will ask you to only address solutions rather that continued attacks re: who I am at this point and going forward. None of you know me.
If anyone has input regarding the pool situation, would love to hear it. As I said, that is a huge concern to me. And others didn't read my post wherein I said I WILL keep my cat as there were some KIND and VALID points made in this thread that I took to heart (and thanks to the posters who didn't just jump on the bandwagon to bash Misty). I will not lose a pet to a drowning. I did look on the Net and this can happen and even with cats. A dog can be kept in a separate area with no access to the pool, but cats are not controllable as are dogs. And I will only check back into this thread to see if anyone has input regarding the pool situation or has faced a similar concern and what you did abiout it. And, at this point, those are the only posts I'll respond to. I really appreciate the posts that were REASONABLE.
Keep the cat inside. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
Unless there's still something more you're not telling us, and you have an indoor pool?
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