Cats, Cruelty, and Compassion

Cruelty to Cat Owners

A little over a week ago, no, it will be two weeks tomorrow, I saw an image on my facebook newsfeed of a woman holding an orange cat. Looking closer at the photo there were lit candles, four of them carefully placed at each corner of what might have been a slice of cake or bread, it didn’t matter really what was on the plate, well not to me.  What caught my eye was the beautiful color of the cloth and the table it was covering. This was a celebration table.

The caption on the photo read,  My baby’s first birthday. One year old today.

Clearly this cat is loved and the woman posting the photo wanted to celebrate her cat’s birthday with likeminded people in the facebook group for people that love cats.  As I got ready to post my own Happy Birthday comment, I started to read the comments in the thread.

The first one read said something like,” Is that bread you are planning to feed to your cat? What are you stupid?”

Then I saw another, “What kind of **&!!@ person are you to hold your cat so close to lit candles? Your cat could go up in flames you **^@!#.

As my jaw dropped and my heart sank, I read on and sadly, the majority of people that commented had boarded the troll train. As I scrolled through the over 100 comments, I only saw a couple of Happy Birthday to your baby comments.

I felt the tear roll down my right cheek.  And then I cried like a baby for a woman celebrating her cat’s birthday that was met with a viscous onslaught of nasty cold-hearted nonsense instead of the camaraderie she was seeking.

Getting a drink of water I looked out into our sunroom and checked in on Annie, Eddie and Mercy, happy as could be soaking up the sun and watching birds and I thought about when Gracey first came to live with me.

Gracey was the first cat that shared my home and I know I did a lot of things I wouldn’t do today with our three cats.  I used to let Gracey sleep in the windowsill against the screen!  Why she could have fallen out of the window.  I had houseplants  I didn’t know weren’t good for cats and I had blinds with cords.  Sometimes I burned candles in the house.  I went to work in the office and left her in the house….alone…for a few hours.

And guess what….she survived.

When I was a child, I drank out of the garden hose, rode in the back of a pick-up truck, rode my bike without a helmet, played outside all day and I too survived.

Oh, and in case you are wondering about the cat in the photo celebrating his first birthday?  He didn’t go up in flames either.  There are many photos of him with his family that would make you smile.

What Has Happened to Compassion?

Lately it seems to me there are people sitting waiting like jack in the boxes to pop out and post negative comments. And once the first one sticks, it is a full on competition to see who can be the nastiest.  I don’t get it.  I hope I never do.  What has happened to basic manners?   Where is the compassion?

Waiting for Perfect is Killing Pets

There are more pets that need homes than there are homes in this country yet, it is becoming harder and harder for anyone to adopt a pet.  A friend of mine recently tried to adopt a dog from a rescue organization. She is a great dog parent.  Heartbroken when one of her dogs passed away after a long life, she began looking to add a dog to her family but wore out from all the roadblocks thrown  her way.  She chronicled the month long saga and with each update, I shook my head in disbelief.  

Her final update on the dog adoption process went something like this:

Well, I think they’ve put up enough barriers to put me off trying to adopt a dog, at least from them. Quite frankly, it is this over monitoring, this making everything hyper precious and micro managing everything that is particularly annoying about this oversensitive world we live in. Where there has got to be a guarantee that everything is going to be perfect. 

I mean, let’s get real. Millions of desperate dogs are out there, waiting. And here I am, eager to give a little creature a good home, but no. I’m not good enough! Because I “work too many hours.” It is exactly this that will keep breeders in business.

I think she is right.  This pretentious, know-it-all, you aren’t good enough attitude towards other pet owners needs to be snuffed out. I am sick to death of hearing the judgmental tone when somebody mentions the type of cat food they feed their cats. Many pet owners feed their cats what they can provide.  And you know what…. that is good enough!  Because millions of cats need a home and someone to provide for them and the truly lucky cats will be loved.  And isn’t this better than waiting forever at a shelter or rescue until their Perfect Parent comes along? Or being euthanized because the potential adopter might work too many hours?

Let’s Add To the Kindness and Compassion Needed Online

The woman posted a reply on the thread clarifying that the slice of cake was not for the cat but for her and her husband and if you looked closely at the photo you could see a dollop of cat food beside the slice of cake.  She said the lit candles were a custom in her country and that she made sure to keep her baby away from the flames.

I wanted to reach out and hug this woman that I’ve never met. As I typed, Happy 1st Birthday to your baby and hit the return key to post the comment, I thought.  We need to speak out more often. We can’t banish all the negativity but we can sure add to the kindness and camaraderie that are desperately needed.