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Oh I know all you dog lovers out there are yelling, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Doesn't matter cause I am right.
People need to wake up and see the value of these beautiful animals.
They need to become responsible companions to cats.
The first thing is they need to see a cat as a sentient being. A cat can and DOES feel pain. A cat can and DOES feel fear.
Cats can be sad and depressed, they can love.
Cat's care for each other and their humans.
A cat that is treated like a member of the family will behave like a member of the family, just like a dog does.
Cats do not need to be walked every day; they can get all their exercise in a smaller space
They do however need medical care, they need vaccines, and they should be spayed or neutered until the over-population is under control, until there are only as many cats as can be cherished and treated with the love they so much deserve. They need to be treated against fleas, mites and worms. They need to be fed decent food.
Cats are not disposable beings; you can't and should not just throw them away, letting them figure out how to fend out in the big world.
Cats will give you their world if you give them yours.
Some say cats even have healing abilities, their purrs sends off an sonic healing pulse.
As some of you know, I foster cats for the Cat Rescue Network. I try to do my part in reducing the unloved and unwanted suffering cat population in a way that does not kill them. Sometimes my home is filled to overflowing with cats. (Have had up to 12 cats at a time 8 fosters, 4 of our own). Stray cats brought into our home very rarely try to escape or go outside. If they do go outside they plead to be let back in in a very short time. They remember the harshness of the streets and don't want to go back to it.
There is a better way of controlling the cat overpopulation than euthanize them.
When I come home from a long hard day at work, I have a few fur babies at the door, waiting for my return. I say hello and a few say hello right back.
If I do something that one of them disagrees with they let me know, vocally. They tell me when they are hungry and I am late feeding them. When I am relaxing one or two of them will come lie on my lap or next to it and keep me company. When I say "bedtime" a few of them run upstairs and wait for me on my bed. Precious will sit on my bedside table and watch over me when I sleep. There is nothing like seeing that look on the face of a rescued cat once they know they are not going back out on the street, once they know they have a safe haven. Yes some of them actually smile, looking at you with so much love...
My cat Trix will often come to me and sit on his hind paws, his front paws on the side of my legs, waiting, asking for some cuddling.
Valentine still lives with us, she is technically a foster, from Hungry And Homeless Rescue. She is still feral, but no longer wants to live on the streets. She will not let us approach her and cuddle with her, nor will she even think of attacking us. She plays with the other cats. Loves the laser pointer and cat nip. Come running to the kitchen when she hears a can being opened and talks to us with her eyes.
Maybe in some future world there would be less unwanted and unloved animals.
I have no much more to say but I'll leave it at that for now.
Thanks for reading.
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Nice article! I have a housefull of cats myself. (mostly black, as well as a couple blue eyed persian wanna-be darlings) I have so many mostly because of my husband and I's negligence- and at the time- lack of knowledge in regards to how young an unfixed female can have her own kittens. My males were always fixed so they would not spray. But we had never had a female cat before. It was difficult to find homes for short haired black cats. So the responsible thing to do was to make room for them in our life and home. We always think, 'Gee, it would be nice to have less cats by finding homes for one, or two... or three or four.' But they have become such a part of our lives, each with their own personality, it really would be like giving up one of your children.
The thing I mostly want to take the opportunity to say, is for other readers of this article: If you can't be bothered to spay in order to reduce the cat population, do it for your 'pet'. There is a disease that female cats can get from excessive heat cycles. This happens when there are other unfixed females that they are competeing with. They say it is 'rare' and it is unknown if it is hereditary, but i've seen evidence that it isn't all that rare, and most likely is hereditary. So even if your sweet little girl kitty is the only girl kitty in your home, this disease could still take her life. Remove the part that this disease affects, by having her fixed as soon as possible and it can safe her life.