Cat Abandonments – The Disposable World We Now Live In

Trillian was inside a zipped up backpack left outside the shelter
Trillian was inside a zipped up backpack left outside the shelter
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats
The manager of the London branch of the Wood Green The Animals Charity in Lordship Lane, says that companion animal abandonments at their rescue centre are weekly occurrences and symptomatic of the disposable world we now live in. Do you think the world is becoming more and more casual about companion cat care?

Trillian was dumped in a zipped-up rucksack or backpack outside the charity’s back gate on May 29, 2014. I think Trillian is a male cat. I do know that he was 10 months of age when rescued.

abandoned cat in this rucksack
The rucksack (backpack) in which Trillian was zipped

The next day another young cat, this time in 1-year-old ginger and white male cat named Maxwell was brought to the rescue centre by a member of the public. They found him abandoned in a cat carrier which had been placed on the roof of the person’s car apparently. Bizarre.

At the time of writing this post, I believe, that both cats are available for re-homing.

The other side of the coin of “retail therapy” (buying things for the pleasure of it) is the disposal of those purchases

This brings me on to the point of the post which is this. I tend to agree with the manager of the London branch of this cat charity. I tend to believe that we are living in a more disposable world.

However, I think the concept of disposability goes with the territory of living in a relatively wealthy country. I’m thinking of countries in Europe and North America for example but there are others.

With disposable income you can get disposable possessions. I am referring to inanimate possessions such as washing machines and fridges etc. But once a person gets into the swim of the idea that objects are disposable then I believe that it can rub off on to companion animals.

This is because a lot of people don’t really see a companion animal as they see a human family member. They perceive the companion animal as something lesser; something in between a fridge and a person.

If people do perceive companion animals this way and have got into the habit of disposing of unwanted items for whatever reason then you can see how that attitude could carry over to abandoning a domestic cat.

I don’t believe the concept of disposability is anywhere near as prevalent in poorer countries. I know in places such as India they recycle and repair machinery ad infinitum.

I also note that in my childhood back in the 1950s in England, we did not have the mentality of disposability. We used things as long as they were usable and we repaired items. We had far fewer clothes than most people have today in the West. We were less possession-orientated.

To this day I find it difficult to spend money and I do not like possessions particularly, although the possessions that I do have are high-quality. I don’t get pleasure out of possessing objects which appears to be a spin-off from the attitude of disposability. What I mean is that the other side of the coin of “retail therapy” (buying things for the pleasure of it) is the disposal of those purchases.

The conclusion is that the domestic cat is becoming more disposable in the developed world. This may be why we not infrequently see pedigree cats at animal shelters.

Original story in Tottenham & Woodgreen Journal.

Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.

53 thoughts on “Cat Abandonments – The Disposable World We Now Live In”

  1. Cat-Shelter/Sanctuary = What they now rebadged for cat-hoarders to make it sound more socially acceptable.

    You’re advocating for a mental-illness. And this doesn’t bother you? ROFLMAO!

    Of course not! You can’t see the very mental-illness of which you yourselves suffer from. After-all, how can a damaged brain detect its own damage? It CAN’T!!!

    LOL

    Really? Are you really ALL this fuckingly brain-damaged? How are those toxoplasma-gondii worms in your brains working out for you? LOL!!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Dee (Florida) Cancel reply

follow it link and logo