A changed Kitten

[SeaCat]

Well as I sit here tonight I have a very changed kitten laying in my lap.

Yesterday we brought Magellin to the Vet to fix a leaky Plumbing Problem. He tended to mark his territory not to mention chase after his sisters and mother when they went into heat.

We dropped him off yesterday morning. We picked him up this evening. He is traumatised, he doesn't undestand what happened. He is moving slow and yet he doesn't move from near me. If I sit down he is in my lap. If I walk through our place he is right there. I expect that when I go to bed he will be there as well. (He has always been a love bug but this is crazy.) If move out of sight he howls.

What was funny was when one if his sisters came up to him. He sniffed her and licked her as usual. Hell he even curled up around her when she lay down but as soon as I sat down he was in my lap.

Next comes the females, all three of them.

That should be fun. (I well remember how friendly Smokey was after her surgery.) I won't be able to move without a cat underfoot.

Cat

 

[Brains_N_Boobs]

So cruel to do this to a cat.

 

[SeaCat]

So cruel to do this to a cat.

I do feel obligated to ask how fixing/neutering a cat is cruel.

Cat

 

[Guest]

So cruel to do this to a cat.

De-clawing an animal is cruel.

Spaying and neutering makes for a happier, healthier animal. Ask ANY vet. Less fighting, less stress on the animal, less incidence of cancer of reproductive organs (yes, this does happen) not to mention lessening the thousands of unwanted dogs and cats that are destroyed each year because their irresponsible owners allowed them to breed.


Cat - we have one more kitty in our household to fix. She actually went into her first heat a few days ago so we have to wait a bit before taking her in.

Poor thing was miserable. She paced the floors and yowled constantly.

She'll be much happier soon.

 

[Guest]

And I forgot to add -

Kisses for your poor kitty. Hugs and snugs tonight - he'll be his former formidable self tomorrow, of course.

 

[TE999]

Awwww...poor little kitty cat.

I took one of our female cats to an old country vet one time to be 'fixed'.
When I opened the carrier after bringing her home she ran and stayed under our bed for two days. No food, no water, nothing.

When I finally got a look at her tummy, it looked like the old coot thought he was gutting a deer from the size of the incision. She lived nineteen more years, though.

Pets. They really get inside your heart.

 

[glynndah]

We had to have our yellow kitten taken to the vet for cosmetic surgery on his poor little ear. (The blood vessels were either injured or defective which allowed blood to pool in it and not drain out.) When he returned from the vet, all he wanted to do was snuggle with his littermate who wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. The tabby growled and hissed whenever the yellow one came near. A month later or so later, when the tabby had to have the same surgery, the same result. He wanted comfort; his brother thought he smelled disgusting.

 

[starrkers]

So cruel to do this to a cat.

What bull. Far more cruel to allow litter after litter of unwanted kittens to be abandoned to their potential doom.

Oh dear, this has just reminded me of an upcoming expense - the two waifs we found will have to be done. Thankfully they're male, so it won't bankrupt me.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Well as I sit here tonight I have a very changed kitten laying in my lap.

Yesterday we brought Magellin to the Vet to fix a leaky Plumbing Problem. He tended to mark his territory not to mention chase after his sisters and mother when they went into heat.

We dropped him off yesterday morning. We picked him up this evening. He is traumatised, he doesn't undestand what happened.
Cat

Of course he is traumatized. Wouldn't you be?

Actually, I agree with what others have said. It was the thing to do for many reasons.

 

[Vermilion]

One of our cats got attacked by another cat and the wound got infected so he had to go to the vets. When he got back his pupils were all dilated and he was acting like he was on crack or something - hiding under the table, seeing imaginary bugs and shadows... it was both sad and funny!

Later on he got the munchies and wolfed down the hugest amount of cat food, then got all snuggly and wouldn't leave us alone for wanting cuddles.

Poor things... they don't like the vets and they don't know they need it, but that's what us humans are for - spending a fortune to keep them healthy even though they hate it.

(Oh - and all ours are neutered too. We got them from the Cats' protection League and they do it as standard to prevent unwanted kittens)
x
V

 

[rachlou]

My neighbours spent a fortune on a pedigree cat despite knowing nothing whatsoever about cats. They looked at me blankly the day I asked them when they were planning on having the cat neutered (it was male). The husband seemed to think this was 'cruel' in some way, and the cat should be allowed to have its fun.

Oh it had its fun alright... It spent happy days wandering all over, fighting and shagging itself sensless. They eventually decided to get the cat neutered at six months old -by which time it was a tom in every sense. It was an aggressive, huge cat by then. One day it went off on its travels and got run over and killed on the main road.

Whilst it might have been hit by a car anyway at some point, i doubt it would have happened quite so quickly had it been neutered as soon as it was old enough. It would have been less likely to go off in search of trouble.

I was somehow not too surprised when they bought another pedigree cat, but elected to keep this one house bound...

I think all cats should be neutered/spayed. Its is far kinder as most sensible people know. There are enough unwanted kittens in the world without adding to the numbers needlessly.

 

[SeaCat]

My neighbours spent a fortune on a pedigree cat despite knowing nothing whatsoever about cats. They looked at me blankly the day I asked them when they were planning on having the cat neutered (it was male). The husband seemed to think this was 'cruel' in some way, and the cat should be allowed to have its fun.

Oh it had its fun alright... It spent happy days wandering all over, fighting and shagging itself sensless. They eventually decided to get the cat neutered at six months old -by which time it was a tom in every sense. It was an aggressive, huge cat by then. One day it went off on its travels and got run over and killed on the main road.

Whilst it might have been hit by a car anyway at some point, i doubt it would have happened quite so quickly had it been neutered as soon as it was old enough. It would have been less likely to go off in search of trouble.

I was somehow not too surprised when they bought another pedigree cat, but elected to keep this one house bound...

I think all cats should be neutered/spayed. Its is far kinder as most sensible people know. There are enough unwanted kittens in the world without adding to the numbers needlessly.

I have always had my cats Spayed or Neutered. I insist on it, although sometimes it does have to wait while finances catch up. (Sometimes with rather heart rending results.) Here in Southern Florida you can't go to a shelter to drop off an unwanted cat right now. Not if you want it to live. The no-kill shelters are over full. They are not accepting any felines regardless of the circumstances. (There are so many strays and Ferals right now because of the storms that they are everywhere.) The Kill Shelters are holding them for a much shorter time now before destroying them. Believe me I know this too well. I had absolutely no intention of having six cats but,,,,,,,,,

Also All of my cats are indoor cats. The closest they come to going outside is the screened in Patio. I do this for several reasons not least of which is our living right next to a very busy main road. Almost every day we see a cat or a dog that has been hit by a car. One of my neighbors has just lost her cat in this manner. She let it out to run and it hit the road. This is the third time this has happened in less than a year with her. (Or so I have been informed by other neighbors.) She came over all teary eyed the other day knowing I had more than one cat and wanting to take one off my hands. I refused her without even talking about it. I have put too much time, effort and love into these critters.

Cat

 

[SeaCat]

Awwww...poor little kitty cat.

I took one of our female cats to an old country vet one time to be 'fixed'.
When I opened the carrier after bringing her home she ran and stayed under our bed for two days. No food, no water, nothing.

When I finally got a look at her tummy, it looked like the old coot thought he was gutting a deer from the size of the incision. She lived nineteen more years, though.

Pets. They really get inside your heart.

We had just moved to Florida when it was time to have "Smokey" fixed. (This is the one we call Crack Kitty.) We asked around and found one of the better Vets in the county to do the work. When we got her home something didn't seem right. She refused to come out of the carrier. Hell she barely responded when I reached in and touched her.

I became concerned when she hadn't moved after four hours. I removed the top off the carrier and was shocked by what I saw. Oh he had fixed her all right. She looked like she had been gutted. She ahd been opened from pelvis to sternum. She also had what looked like stitches on both front paws. Oh it got worse.

I very gently lifted her out of the carrier and placed her on a blanket on the bed so I could look her over. The Vet had fixed her all right, and he had de-clawed her as well. (Not to mention it seems he had somehow managed to break one of her front legs.) I set her front leg and made some phone calls before taking her to the Animal Hospital.

$5K later we got her back again. She still walks with a limp and is even more spooky than before. She will not allow people other than my wife and myself to even come close to her and unfortunately is occasionally incontinent of Stool. (We can't punish her for this as she has absolutely no control of it.) Thankfully for us she remains in one of two places, on top of either my dresser or my wifes dresser. (Both of which I have thickly coated with PolyCoat so they are easy to clean.) She refuses to move away from the dressers and hopped right back on top of them after each of our moves. She allows us to pick her up, but as soon as we do guess what else we have in our arms?

Oh I did sue the Vet and got the money to cover the Hospital Bills. He has also been disallowed from practicing in the state of Florida.

Cat

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

The heck with the cats - I feel sorry for all the little birdies they kill. Imagine, some little tweeter who just flew 5,000 miles from Brazil, totally knackered, starving. alights in your yard for a break, and WHAM!, skewered by a spoiled little fat-cat looking for some excitement between its third bowl of tuna and fourth nap of the day.

Cat owners - please keep them indoors.




(Apologies to Seacat for using his thread to climb onto one of my hobbyhorse rants.)

 

[SeaCat]

The heck with the cats - I feel sorry for all the little birdies they kill. Imagine, some little tweeter who just flew 5,000 miles from Brazil, totally knackered, starving. alights in your yard for a break, and WHAM!, skewered by a spoiled little fat-cat looking for some excitement between its third bowl of tuna and fourth nap of the day.

Cat owners - please keep them indoors.




(Apologies to Seacat for using his thread to climb onto one of my hobbyhorse rants.)

Climb away. I say much the same thing but I also extend it to those people who just can't be bothered to walk their Pooches in the early morning or late at night and just open the door for them.

Cat

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Our cats have always been outdoor cats. We have enough non-road area around here that they are fairly safe (didn't stop one cat from getting run over, but the others survived without much incident).

Our latest cat was a little insane when we got him from my sister (her second son is allergic), but we figured he would calm down after neutering. He didn't. A few months later he is still as insane as ever. The little ankle biter dive bombs your legs from a yard away. He's insane...

 

[Brains_N_Boobs]

Tell me SeaCat, how would you like it if you were to be "fixed"?

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Our cats have always been outdoor cats. We have enough non-road area around here that they are fairly safe (didn't stop one cat from getting run over, but the others survived without much incident).

Our latest cat was a little insane when we got him from my sister (her second son is allergic), but we figured he would calm down after neutering. He didn't. A few months later he is still as insane as ever. The little ankle biter dive bombs your legs from a yard away. He's insane...

Your cats are almost certainly mass murderers with body counts in the hundreds if not thousands of innocent wild birds and small mammals. Shame.

 

[lipsofanangel]

I've had several cats over the years and with the exception of one, they were all indoor cats and were all fixed/front paw declawed.

While my next cat may not get declawed, they will definitely be spayed/neutered. Especially since I will adopt a homeless cat from a shelter and a lot of the ones I've been looking at (all adults already) have already had that taken care of.

I hope your kitty feels better soon, Cat!

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Tell me SeaCat, how would you like it if you were to be "fixed"?

I'll bet it would majorly suck, since as a human you would know and understand exactly what had been done and what you had lost.

Good thing Cat's fixed cats are cats, not humans. They don't have a clue, other than the discomfort of the vet's and the procedure - bet they wouldn't want to have to do that again. Lucky them . . .

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Your cats are almost certainly mass murderers with body counts in the hundreds if not thousands of innocent wild birds and small mammals. Shame.

Our one cat (now deceased, poor kitty) brought us all kinds of presents. Mice, birds, a snake. I loved that cat...

Our lastest brings us mice and moles and such as well. Crazy little guy

 

[Guest]

Tell me SeaCat, how would you like it if you were to be "fixed"?

Oh, for pete's sake. Are you serious?

Domesticated pets, non-pedigreed animals, have no reason to further propagate the species, especially as many of their progeny will probably be destroyed at shelters.

This is not an endangered species.

If you think I'm being callous, let me share that our cats are a serious part of our family. They've been wonderful for our kids, helping to teach responsibility, tenderness, love - Personally, I still grieve for the 19-year-old cat I lost more than 10 years ago.

And going to the vet is traumatic for any animal. The look in their eyes when we drop them off for a procedure always makes me feel sad. But it is the best for them, even though they don't know it.

Of course, I had a similar reaction when we had to get vaccinations for our children. Children didn't know better, but it was certainly in their best interests, don't you think?


Oh, and Roxelby?

I'm certain all those birdies and little bunnies deserved it!

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Oh, and Roxelby?

I'm certain all those birdies and little bunnies deserved it!

Really? Whew! I feel so much better now. You mean the little bastards had it coming to them? Well, that's alright then.


(BTW - What did they do?)





(That's what I thought. )

 

[Guest]

Really? Whew! I feel so much better now. You mean the little bastards had it coming to them? Well, that's alright then.


(BTW - What did they do?)





(That's what I thought. )

Reference the food chain hierarchy.

Kitties rule.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Reference the food chain hierarchy.

Kitties rule.

Well, I have no problem with the food chain (especially the part about me, my family and friends being on top of it), but here's how I understood our agreement regarding how to acquire food once we left the state of nature and entered civil society:

I will grow food for myself, my family and any creatures I choose to keep - including kitties - or I will produce some other product or service that I can trade for that food. You will do the same for you and yours. We agree to leave alone those things that exist outside the food production system we have created, to whit, the wild birdies and small mammals, except for certain limited exceptions (such as carefully regulated and limited sports hunting.*)

Did I miss a step there? Because neither I nor any living things under my care have killed a single creature that exists outside the food production system I understood we'd ageed to limit ourselves to. What are all those sports hunting regulations and limits if not part of that agreement?


*There are some other exceptions, primarilly fishing. Not surprisingly, not being subject to property rights (meaning enforceable exclusive use by identifiable persons), fishing in the wild has created a classic 'tragedy of the commons.' But that is outside the scope of this discussion.)



PS. I'm not really such a rigid hard-ass about this - I'm not going to condemn any of my friends over this. But it is an area where some consciousness raising would be a good thing. And I love kitties too, and have a good rapport with them.