Why Is Fate So Cruel To Some Cats?
I find it very sad that all cats don’t know the happiness and contentment of living in a good home. I tell Walter and Jozef when they turn their noses up at good food, or protest about having to stay in for a while, that they don’t know how lucky they are.
Poster by Ruth aka Kattaddorra
But jokingly of course because why should they know, it wouldn’t make life any better for the cats who are not as lucky. There are many different ways a cat’s life can turn out:
- Cats in good homes, loved and understood and respected as well as being physically cared for.
- Cats in bad homes, living their lives in fear of being yelled at or punished.
- Some pestered by the child and/or dog of the family.
- Some fed poor diets, some neglected, some ignored.
- Cats in laboratories, being used by scientists for experiments, living in steel cages, their only escape will be death when they have outlived their usefulness.
- Cats on farms, living outdoors, some fed, but some expected to live on the rodents they are kept to hunt.
- Feral cats, in some places cared for having been trapped, neutered and returned and have people caring for them and feeding them.
- But in some places living on what they can scavenge, being chased away, having litter after litter of kittens to face the same hard life.
- Show cats, forced to endure bathing and grooming and being toted around Cat Shows, being examined by a strange vet, sitting in a cage for hours, being gawped at.
- Breeding cats, giving birth to litter after litter of kittens to be sold, some of those cats loved and cared for by the breeders, but some just used as money making machines.
- Stray abandoned cats, struggling to survive, wondering why the people they trusted cast them out, living in danger, especially the declawed ones.
- Shelter cats, having been abandoned or relinquished, shut in cages wondering why they have no home of their own any more.
In kill shelters they may lose their lives just because no one wants them and room must be made for more cats the same.
Why are all the bad things happening to the unfortunate cats of the world? Surely they all, each and every one of them, deserve a happy fulfilled life. We who care can never seem to be able to do enough to help those cats and it breaks my heart.
| Useful links |
|---|
| Anxiety - reduce it |
| FULL Maine Coon guide - lots of pages |
| Children and cats - important |
I often have to remind myself of this quote:
‘Saving one animal won’t change the world but it will change the world for that one animal’
It’s like hitting your head off a brick wall trying to even help some folks, the people who Ruth told about the CP free neutering scheme just didn’t want to know and now we see the first of the very young queen cats starting to fill out and put weight on and coming to our house and grubbing about for crumbs that have fallen from Narla’s plate on the wall. So what do we do? Do we put extra food out for the poor little thing and attract all the antisocial neighbours 5-6 cats and the visiting toms, risking Walter and Jozef and Narla’s health by fighting or germs, or by them chasing the cats away and being hit by a car, and the wrath of neighbours who don’t approve or do we stand by and watch a young, thin, permanently hungry pregnant queen cat search for food while the house that she lives at stands opposite with doors closed and three well fed dogs (with well fed and quite unpleasant owners who we really daren’t tackle again) happily ensconced in there looking out of the windows. Life is so unfair to cats and this will be happening all over the country, all over the world in fact, and it breaks my heart.
Another to add to your list is the scumbags who deliberately breed normal moggies time after time and then sell their kittens from as young as 6 weeks old on the internet 🙁 I wish the government would ban the sale everywhere of puppies and kittens
yea thats sad leah esp moggies. I just love the moggies they are the best breed i believe. . i guess the thing is i believe all cats esp females need to be fixed then this would stop the problem. Also theres too many domeseticaed cats in shelters and this is just not fair. i know pedigree are lovely but where do they gett off paying 500+. My sister dog just had puppies Bullmastive she had a big 7 and all of them have already got homes.( 36*92 greetings from jasmin as she walked across the keyboard 🙂 The last one she had, she had to get help with the vet she was a big pupp.
Thanks Leah, It’s always a struggle to get more laws to protect animals but we will succeed one day in banning the sale of animals on the internet! Hoping the CP manifesto goes through for a start, being forced to have all pets neutered would make a huge difference.
exactly it should be mandatory
Well, we love so much cats that we feel so sorry for their fate in almost every place you can know. At least, be happy for the ones you have now in care, give them all that the others can’t have. And try to help all others that you can according to your abilities. Sad to think that there is a crude reality out there…
Hi Pedro. Nice comment.
Yes Pedro you are right, we can only do our best.
Fate is unfair for so many domestic and stray cats. Fairness is not part of this world. I may be cynical but it is the way it looks to me a lot of the time. Think about a person born in Somalia and a person born in the home counties in England.
You are right Michael, it’s an unfair world and I don’t understand why?
One thing for sure God couldn’t have created it – too much of a failure. The human species is a mistake. It was OK until homo sapiens arrived.
Yes all other species have a purpose, but what is our purpose? All our progress destroys other species along the way and humans never were/are satisfied, wars are always started by humans who want more power. Animals, birds and fish are content to live as Nature intended but humans are not.
Sadly not all human beings treat cats or dogs well. To them they are just a pet and not a family member. Some don’t even pay attention to their dogs.They stick them outside on chains and ignore then. Don’t give them water and feed them when they remember to. Also many cat owners let the cats out and feed them when they see them or leave their food outside and who knows who eats it. I can’t imagine people treating animals like this because i love my cat and my dogs when i had dogs but sadly these precious cats and dogs and horses too that i have seen neglected and starving are neglected so badly. Maybe the laws need to be stronger for cruelty to all animals. Jail time and education on the fact that animals have feelings too. They feel hunger, neglect and need love and a home to be safe and secure by people who love them.
Yes we have people around here who shove their dogs outside and don’t bother much with them, so why do they get them? Cats too, our Cats Protection will pay for neutering for people on low incomes but those people would rather let the queens come into heat and the un-neutered toms come from far and wide.
People who don’t want babies don’t get them (well mostly anyway lol) so why do they get pets they can’t be bothered to care for?
I always say we need more education about animals, children need to grow up knowing that like humans, animals have feelings too and need to be cared for, loved and respected.
Ignorance, stupidity or just plain don’t care i think is the answer for many who have animals. They treat them like slaves tied up and neglected, not shown any love or affection. Having had dogs when my kids were growing up and then adopting cats i cannot imagine being mean in any way to my baby girl. She is spayed, feed, given water, petted, claws trimmed, played with her toys, and hugged ( even though she does not want it sometimes 😉 ) ) and kissed and combed every single day.My baby girl and i love her to pieces. Sadly not all pet owners feel that way. I say if you don’t love cats or dogs and want to take real good care of them DON”T get them ! They deserve to treated with love and respect because they have feeling too.
Great poster, R.
There’s no fairness in the cat world and no explanation either.
It’s not like any cat ever did anything to cause their unfortunate circumstances.
Thanks Dee, what you say is very true!
I feel so sorry for cats that end up somewhere deliberately cruel like laboratories or unconsciously cruel like with ignorant people who treat them casually as though their lives aren’t precious. I hate to see cats wandering about cold, wet, hungry, uncared for, easy come easy go, get rid of “it” get another kitten, get rid of “it” because the real baby has come, or a dog has come etc etc. I would so much love for each and every cat to know only kindness and compassion, in an ideal world this would happen and every cat would be well cared for ( yes and ever child and every dog as well).
Me too, it makes me feel lacking as well as sad that we can’t help them all, I wish more people were like you and our PoC family who care about cats and do everything they can to try to help as many as we can.
I should have included cats who are exploited, the most famous being ‘Grumpy Cat’ of course, she doesn’t look at all happy being constantly toted around and laughed at and held by strangers for photos.
Maybe people who exploit their cats do love them in a way but they love money more, that’s a fact!
Ruth,
Your posters tell it all- all the time. Trite as it may be, “a picture speaks a thousand words”. Great question.
Rudolph, I think the difference lies in those of us who are “guardians” to cats- or any other animal- how can one “own” a life? That is slavery.
One day I pray that this will be the way humans feel about their animals- not that they OWN them but are blessed by sharing their lives with incredible creatures for awhile.
Just my .03
Thanks Jo, that is exactly how I see it too! We don’t ‘own’ any animal, we are merely honoured to be their caretakers on this planet.
I wonder which cats are the happiest? I think the ones with good homes must be and quite possibly the ferals and farm cats who know no different life are happy too, the rest just accepting of their fate as cats do. They don’t know envy and jealousy as we do, I think it’s only humans who think ‘the other man’s grass is always greener’
Ruth aka Kattaddorra as a blogger writer myself i am your fan regarding hilarious and educational “CAT POSTERS”.If you have read the novel “Animal Farm” then it will answer your question as to why all cats are not equal and the same applies to us humans that own them .I always tell my two cats they they live a life of “Cat Royalty”,lucky to have a owner that gives them the freedom of prowling around the house and not confined to cages or have their claws declawed.
Thanks Rudolph, I love your blogs too, I read some when you put a link on PoC a while back and I must remember to go back and read more 🙂
I read Animal Farm a long time ago and can’t remember much of it now so that’s something to read again.
Yes it’s the same for people, fate is cruel to some and kind to others, you are so right.
You create a protected and emotionally warm home for your cat companions. But for you life would be pretty tough in India. Hell, it is tough for a lot of people too.
Very Right Michael.Life is tough in India as we do not have any “SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS” like they have in England and other First World Country’s.I have to fend for myself “FINANCIALLY” while my cats live the luxurious cat life.We pet owners are real eccentrics !
LOL. Your cats are on Social Security – permanently and you are the government. They are like the people in Britain who live off benefits only your cats are much nicer, much much nicer 😉
Thanks for the compliments Michael.I am very proud to be my own employer and my cats a part of my small private enterprise!
My rebel came from a house that had over 25 cats the girl is what i would class as a horder. Thats why i think he overeats or eats quickly. Yes its really sad those cats that will never get to see what a wonderful home would be like. They never get to stay comforty and warm, not have someone to forever look after them. To not experience life outside, or inside a home. To not have a comforty bed or have owners that dont love them. Or worse for me is to have his/her claws declawed and to be hurt in anyway. I wish i could save them all. Ive done my best in saving the ones i did. Its just horrible some shelters in america never get to have a forever home and be in Cages. 🙁
I suppose with 25 cats in the house Rebel had to eat quickly and cats never forget do they.
Yes I find it sad that some cats never have anyone to love them and yes dreadful that some are declawed by the people who say they love them, how on earth can they say that!
yea she was an usual girl and ended up being kicked out of that house. Yea i can only imagine how horrible it is for any cat to not know life or to not know true love from a cat companion.
Lucky, lucky Rebel. It is comforting to know he is with you forever Kylee. One of the lucky ones. Great poster Ruth.
Thanks Dorothy x
Yea rebel was very happy to come with me when i picked him up that first time didnt complain or anything. even when i put him in the cage he just went right on in. Yea hes a great cat always been close but i love them all
You should see how our feral rescues eat. It’s hard to explain to them they don’t have to overdo it because another meal will always be there. Ferals don’t understand that. Sealy still wolfs down his food like he’ll never see another meal. He used to eat so fast he’d throw it back up then eat some more. I feel for cats who have to worry where their next meal is coming from.
We found out after taking Henry in that he was the one who came and ate around 4 times each night. After he began living inside the cat food left on the porch would usually be there in the morning. Laura fed him outside for 8 months before the coyote problem began and it wasn’t safe for him to remain a stray. I’ve been sitting at the desk tonight listening to the coyotes in the woods. Henry has PTSD when he hears them. I wonder how many times he had to find a hiding place.
Yes some ferals have a very hard life and I suppose they don’t take it for granted that their next meal will be always there for them. Our Jozef had a feral father and although he himself has never had to go hungry he still covers up any food left on his plate and covers Walters too, then he walks away, job done, it must be instinct inherited from his dad.
Elisa, it is tough for some cats. They are uncomplaining though. People have similar problems tho’. It is the way of the world. How can it be God’s world?