ABANDONING ANIMALS

I was originally going to write this just for my writing club, but I believe the subject is much too serious for me to keep it confined to my writing friends (and sometimes critics.) I feel I need to write this because an idiot in a small, dark car dropped off a Persian cat on our doorstep last year about a month before winter. I cannot remember if it was a blue car, or a brown one – or maybe it was black. It was strangely clean, so it was from the city. A country vehicle would be dirtier, even if you had just cleaned it.

The cat was obviously an indoor cat. Her fur was pristine white, and brushed. She was (is) very friendly, and she kept trying to get into our house. She would not eat the mice our cat, Tinker, brought her at first. I do not think she knew what to do with them, because she watched Tinker eat his mice with curiosity. When she figured it out, she was all too happy to munch.

We tried every name we could think of on the abandoned kitty. Fluffy, Furball, Princess, even Cleopatra. We gave up and just decided to call her Samwise, after Sam in LoTR. (Yes, we know Sam is a guy, and the cat is a girl. Nevertheless, we like ‘Sam’ for her name!) What a shock! She responded to Sam. I think her full name must have been Samantha before we renamed her. She actually meows when we say Sam. The other names she would look at us as if we were stupid. Got to love cats and their attitudes.

You know what we have recently out? Those low lives – those dirt bags that even scum despises – had her declawed! They forced a declawed cat that was obviously strictly an indoor cat into the country without her primary source of self-defense!

There is no excuse for those dimwits to have done what they had done to Sam. Only someone who is very selfish would have kicked a declawed cat out into the country. My family has had many cats over the years, and some of them came from homes that did not want them anymore. The rest were born on our acreage.

Animals that we have made part of our family are not human, but that does not mean they do not require respect, love, and a safe place to call home. We have no right- none at all - to take a cat, dog, or anything home with us unless we are going to be responsible. This means even if something happens and you cannot keep your friend – be it allergies, or money or lack of preparedness for a pet – you only have the right to find a place for the animal without dumping them.

Outdoor animals may take care of themselves, and do not require our help as much. True, we feed them, and provide them with their own house, but they usually find a better place to sleep anyway. Like, say, that wonderful place right above your bedroom, so they can wake you in the middle of the night by walking.

But what of indoor pets? This is more important, as most animals that are dumped are strictly indoor pets. We, the humans, are in charge of food, sleeping areas, and anything else our little (and sometimes quite large) non-human family member will need. That is a lot of work. Only someone who is mature, and has the time, can take it on.

Pets are such wonderful additions to a family! They are loyal. They do not judge us. They do not lie, cheat, steal or harm us, allergies non-withstanding. Allergies are not an attack on us, either, as it is our own bodies that do the damage.

When we tell our pets, “This is your home too! I will take care of you, don’t you worry!” we had better not lie to them.

That is exactly what that moron did when he or she dropped off Sam at our home. They took her in. They made such a promise to keep her safe that they removed her major form of defense. Then what did they do? They took her to a strange place, and threw her out like a piece of garbage. Why? I do not know, and frankly, I do not care. To abandon an animal makes you selfish, lazy, and stupid.

We have had animals we could not take care of before. We found places for all of them quickly. We are a rather strange family in that we are not very active in the community, and we are way out in the country. If we can do it, what gives someone from the city (or more rarely, the country) the right of not finding a home for his or her pet? They are closer to sources that will take the pet.

Is it because some places charge? May I ask why these idiots think those in the country have money to take on an unexpected pet? Also, if they don’t want their so-called “beloved” pet to die in a shelter, what makes them think the animal will live in the wild? These sick people choose starvation over euthanasia for their pets. Wow, can you feel the love?

I have noticed in the city, pets are for indoors. In the country, pets are mostly outdoors and to have them inside is rather odd. So that is just more evidence of dumb people. Oh, a nice country barn should keep Fluffy during the winter! Forget that Fluffy is used to constant warmth in the house, and that barns are nowhere as warm as a house in the summer, forget when the weather hits minus thirty!

Grow up people. Animals are not a fad, nor are they accessories, dolls, or toys. Throwing them out is nowhere near the same as getting rid of that jacket from last winter. Yet, abandoned pet rates are so high each year that no one can say how many are left for dead. Pets eat, poop, sleep, have fears, and play. They breathe. They grow and think. They are alive. Can a jacket do that? Is a jacket alive?

Being human, I naturally think abandoning a child is worse than abandoning a pet. But I think the evils are quite close, though. Animals are not humans. However, humans are animals - it is sad that we have forgotten that fact.