Should we hide from the truth of cat abuse?

I get it: nice people become sensitised to uncomfortable pictures of abused cats. They don’t want to see them anymore and they complain if such a picture is presented to them either deliberately or accidentally.

It is so much more pleasant to not see and read about cat abuse of any kind. But is it the right way to behave? Let’s take it to extremes. Fictionally every cat advocate refuses to read about and see cat abuse pictures. For them the problem has gone away; brushed under the carpet, problem solved. Not solved. Problem gets worse.

Hard to look at. We need to remind ourselves.

Cat advocates who refuse to get involved in cat abuse stories are thinking of themselves rather than the welfare of cats. You could argue that it is a selfish decision. A cat advocate’s role is to try and improve cat welfare. You can’t do that effectively shutting yourself away from reality and looking at the world of cats through rose tinted spectacles.

The Cat’s Whiskers

The Facebook page, The Cat’s Whiskers does this. They refuse to allow posts of reality. It is all fluffy pink. Charming personal tales of how beautiful my cat is followed by chat about the wonderful world of domestic cats.

Even when it is essential to get a message out to Facebook users about the evils of declawing they refuse to discuss it. My post was deleted in 3 minutes. This group is failing as cat lovers.

We have to steel ourselves to face and fight cat abuse if we are warriors in the fight for cat welfare. And cat welfare must come first. We must do our bit for cat welfare before we have fun chatting about cat appearance.

PETA

This is why I admire PETA. They relentlessly turn out articles about the most unpleasant animal abuse. They don’t shy away from confronting it head on day in and day out. It is difficult to face and even put up with as I receive post notifications. I delete some of their emails before reading them because I don’t want to see anymore animal abuse. But I have to steel myself and deal with it again. Humanity needs people like PETA. Unchallenged animal abuse can only lead to its escalation.

Without cat advocates being strong willed and persistent the welfare of cats would be in a much worse state than it is today. Humans have short memories. If we don’t see cat abuse pictures for a while we forget it. We forget it and it will never go away. Let’s occasionally discuss cat abuse and not bury our heads in the sand.

Please comment here using either Facebook or WordPress (when available).

TLDR Advice – Michael, this is way too long, feel free to delete/chop away. It’s an issue with a lot of conflict for me, bad experience etc.
__________________________

Never turn or walk away.

But, and it is a big ‘but’, a person needs to be emotionally strong to process horrific images. Everyone has a personal limit as to what they can cope with seeing/hearing

Severe emotional distress can cause serious and enduring trauma, not forgetting the physical problems that also arise from unrelenting exposure.

Maybe some of those who turn away or complain are aware just what exposure to this record of abuse can do to them, they sense impending harm, they are frightened. In a simple visceral manner, it’s one of our oldest and important reflexes, fear.

I have known a few excellent cat advocates eventually fall to pieces, mentally and physically, simply because they did too much of it, they went beyond their own limits.

Why did they do this?

BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ONE ELSE TO DO IT!

Get the message folks, the few who care enough to stick with pursuing, exposing the most depraved, obscenities committed against cats and trying to end these acts, are few and far between. We need more cat advocates who can establish their own safe limits to exposure.

My idea is that if more took up the cause, then the bulk of exposing all forms of abuse might not have to only fall on the shoulders of the few. No individual should feel like they are dealing with all of it and feeling very, very alone. Share out the task between all!

As for PETA, I used to respect their anti-fur campaigns, the anti-vivisection campaigns et al. Then I looked a bit closer and found them to be yet another bunch of hypocrites, parasiting off the backs of animals and making a lot of money in donations. I am sure many are aware of the misguided, abusive, fraudulent methods of promoting an extreme and not very well thought out vegan world vision that promotes killing animals rather than allowing an animal to be cared for in a good home by humans. Any organisation that has a leader who would happily kill her own healthy, pet rabbit with their own hands has got to be in need of at least a course in PR Info’ Technique, if not, placing away from all living beings forever.

Ask PETA about the kill figures for their single shelter in Virginia (?) PETA started out shockingly well as a radical animal rights org, they shook up a much needed storm, doing what no one else did… They showed cruelty in it’s crudest, most brutal form. Fine stuff. The whole issue of our relationship with even species we sort of created (cats/dogs) & PETA’s ethos has become muddled, misguided and very greedy. Animals are the ones who lose out every time now.

People got fed up of being faced with images of real gore and horror on their way to work, popping up in their mail, or as full page colour ads in their favourite fluffy magazine. People also get sick of being asked for money. This is where explicit ads not only fail, they do worse. The person who has “compassion fatigue” is going to carry that image, the sleazy, real message that asks for money, with them, ergo, the ad has virtually chased that person away from ever looking at anything that may contain images of animal abuse.

How does that encourage anyone to get involved?

Surely we humans who can achieve so many amazing feats in pretty much every field there is, can come up with some way of exposing animal abuse, that does not mince tentatively around the edges of truth/reality, does not scare people off, yet at the same time encourages positively, that those people get involved, they can make a difference.

It is wrong to ignore abuse, of whatever living being is being abused by whoever is abusing them. There is no getting away from it, graphic depictions/descriptions of abuse are distressing. It’s up to the individual to establish and keep their own limits. They must stay safe.

We are the lucky ones, we are just reading or looking at the abuse, maybe mulling it over, over a cup of the nicest coffee. We aren’t enduring the agony, the cat, or any other animal, is.

The poor cat can’t turn the page or click through to rainbow fluffy land. The terrified, mutilated, beaten, burned, eviscerated cat cannot walk away.

You can, and that is exactly why you never should.

Reply ↓

Comments

Should we hide from the truth of cat abuse? — 1 Comment

Jane Carter on June 18, 2018 at 11:10 am said:
TLDR Advice – Michael, this is way too long, feel free to delete/chop away. It’s an issue with a lot of conflict for me, bad experience etc.
__________________________
Never turn or walk away.
But, and it is a big ‘but’, a person needs to be emotionally strong to process horrific images. Everyone has a personal limit as to what they can cope with seeing/hearing
Severe emotional distress can cause serious and enduring trauma, not forgetting the physical problems that also arise from unrelenting exposure.
Maybe some of those who turn away or complain are aware just what exposure to this record of abuse can do to them, they sense impending harm, they are frightened. In a simple visceral manner, it’s one of our oldest and important reflexes, fear.
I have known a few excellent cat advocates eventually fall to pieces, mentally and physically, simply because they did too much of it, they went beyond their own limits.
Why did they do this?
BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ONE ELSE TO DO IT!
Get the message folks, the few who care enough to stick with pursuing, exposing the most depraved, obscenities committed against cats and trying to end these acts, are few and far between. We need more cat advocates who can establish their own safe limits to exposure.
My idea is that if more took up the cause, then the bulk of exposing all forms of abuse might not have to only fall on the shoulders of the few. No individual should feel like they are dealing with all of it and feeling very, very alone. Share out the task between all!
As for PETA, I used to respect their anti-fur campaigns, the anti-vivisection campaigns et al. Then I looked a bit closer and found them to be yet another bunch of hypocrites, parasiting off the backs of animals and making a lot of money in donations. I am sure many are aware of the misguided, abusive, fraudulent methods of promoting an extreme and not very well thought out vegan world vision that promotes killing animals rather than allowing an animal to be cared for in a good home by humans. Any organisation that has a leader who would happily kill her own healthy, pet rabbit with their own hands has got to be in need of at least a course in PR Info’ Technique, if not, placing away from all living beings forever.
Ask PETA about the kill figures for their single shelter in Virginia (?) PETA started out shockingly well as a radical animal rights org, they shook up a much needed storm, doing what no one else did… They showed cruelty in it’s crudest, most brutal form. Fine stuff. The whole issue of our relationship with even species we sort of created (cats/dogs) & PETA’s ethos has become muddled, misguided and very greedy. Animals are the ones who lose out every time now.
People got fed up of being faced with images of real gore and horror on their way to work, popping up in their mail, or as full page colour ads in their favourite fluffy magazine. People also get sick of being asked for money. This is where explicit ads not only fail, they do worse. The person who has “compassion fatigue” is going to carry that image, the sleazy, real message that asks for money, with them, ergo, the ad has virtually chased that person away from ever looking at anything that may contain images of animal abuse.
How does that encourage anyone to get involved?
Surely we humans who can achieve so many amazing feats in pretty much every field there is, can come up with some way of exposing animal abuse, that does not mince tentatively around the edges of truth/reality, does not scare people off, yet at the same time encourages positively, that those people get involved, they can make a difference.
It is wrong to ignore abuse, of whatever living being is being abused by whoever is abusing them. There is no getting away from it, graphic depictions/descriptions of abuse are distressing. It’s up to the individual to establish and keep their own limits. They must stay safe.
We are the lucky ones, we are just reading or looking at the abuse, maybe mulling it over, over a cup of the nicest coffee. We aren’t enduring the agony, the cat, or any other animal, is.
The poor cat can’t turn the page or click through to rainbow fluffy land. The terrified, mutilated, beaten, burned, eviscerated cat cannot walk away.
You can, and that is exactly why you never should.
Reply ↓